Reds at Nats

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Back home with the tied-for-first-place-in-the-NL Central (too-many-unnecessary-hyphens) Cincinnati Reds. Nationals have lost 14 of their last 20 and are now 26-29, five games behind the torrid, frontrunning Atlanta Braves.

Thunderstorms might be a problem the whole series, although they shouldn't result in long delays. It will be interesting to see the crowd Friday night, as this was initially rumored to be the day Strasburg would make his debut. People snapped up alot of tickets, but some people now are just ditching them for less than what they paid. Should still be a good crowd as long as the weather holds though.

Obviously an important series for the Nats, who cannot afford to get further under .500 with two series coming up at AL parks, where the Nats are at a disadvantage.

Washington has the guy it wants going tonight in Livan Hernandez, although its been a month since his last win. Aaron Harang (4-5, 5.48 ERA) is not the ace he appeared to be a couple of years ago, but he's still a capable one, and he goes for the Reds.

As usual it boils down to pitching and defense for the Nats. The Reds are near the top of the NL in almost every batting category. Joey Votto (.320, 11HR) is an all-star, and Scott Rolen is mashing the ball like he hasn't done in years (.289, 13HR).

As this is a team that hits the ball hard, the Nats better get back their defensive mojo. They now lead the NL in errors after a very promising defensive start to the season. It's been horrible of late, and the Nats have no chance to be successful if it doesn't get better soon.

[Jollay]

Great crowd tonight. I'm going to go ahead and guess 34,124 for the attendance without even looking.

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33,774. Damn, I'm fairly good.

In any case, thank God for Livan Hernandez and Drew Storen. Storen pitched the eighth, which was sort of interesting, while Clippard pitched the seventh in the Nats' 4-2 win.

Flawless defensive performance was a nice change from recent games. Roger Bernadina's diving catch on silly-hitting pitch Micah Owings in the sixth was key. Owings hit a liner down the line with two on that Bernadina made of diving catch on, that saved at least one, probably two runs.

Matt Capps got his 18th save but allowed two baserunners. Man, has he been shaky of late. If he implodes its nice to have Storen and Clippard as viable options. Still Capps got the job done and generally continues to.

All runs by both teams came on singles tonight, so the chicks left unsatisfied. Desmond, Dunn, and Guzman with two hits apiece.

Red phenom 1b (Leake as opposed to Chapman) versus Atilano Saturday night. True phenom countdown:

3 days

[Jollay]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVU6Tur3b7w[/youtube]

Please enjoy Roger signing autographs a couple weeks ago and revel in his greatness... He's only hitting .247 but congrats! He's at the top of the Delta pledge class (for Nats' right fielders).

Of course say what you want about them, Willie Harris and Roger have won several games this year with their gloves at least...

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Carlos Maldonado went on the DL with a hurt thumb (foul tip). Jamie Burke is up, although he's just had six games to get warmed up this year in the minors. He's just a body until Pudge returns, which could happen by Strasburg's debut.

Same lineup as last night for the Nats against Leake, who I'm eager to see.

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Nats lose 5-1 in Game 2.

Not much to say. Nats wouldn't have scored if not for a cheap error from Joey Votto. Mike Leake was absolutely dynamite. Seems like he has four pitches with good movement and he's able to mix speeds about as well as I've ever seen from a young pitcher. He gave up some hits, but it's obvious he's a top notch pitcher. Not a bad hitter as well (two hits tonight).

Atilano was very good again tonight, although he got the loss. If he gets sent down to make room for Strasburg or even Olsen it'll be a minor travesty. The guy just guts out situations (a sixth?? inning at-least 10-pitch AB versus Bruce comes to mind) and gets the job done. Like his sinker and his movement. Even his average speed seems fast on this generally slow-tossing rotation.

The other issue with the game was obviously the umpires. They're really almost out of control. Even when they make the right call they do it the wrong way. The runner interference call tonight in the 8th on Ian Desmond from the third base umpire as Brandon Phillips rounded second was a bad call, but I can understand at least why he made it (it was close). But the quick tosses of Riggleman and others, as with Desmond last night...it's getting ridiculous. Just a terrible week for the umps all over baseball.

Brandon Phillips beating his chest as he ran over Nieves at home on the next play...well, he got what he deserved when Batista beamed him the next inning. That should be over, but if the Reds retaliate Sunday there's gonna be a real interesting game.

Stammen versus Bronson Arroyo tomorrow day. I see no way Stammen should keep his spot, but hey, you never know.

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Stammen gets an easier Reds lineup today. Reds start Corky Miller, Miguel Cairo, and Laynce Nix instead of Hernandez, Rolen, and Gomes.

Nats go with the same lineup. Good for Nieves gutting it out despite what must be a vicious headache after getting flattened by Brandon Phillips.

And good for the Nats keeping Adam Kennedy on the bench for a while.

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Terrible loss Sunday as Matt Capps blows the save and continues his incredibly shaky streak of appearances. Riggleman's a loyalty guy, and he won't replace Capps for now, but he is now on a much shorter leash I think. Most disturbing about today was that Clippard actually got the first out of the ninth and Capps still couldn't bring it home.

Nice performances today by Stammen (still shouldn't save his spot) and Arroyo for the Reds. In fact Stammen was pulled after only 66 pitches by Riggleman with two outs in the seventh up 2-1 to start Storen/Clippard/Capps. Normally I'd say a very questionable decision to do it with Clippard already sort of overworked, but with an off day Monday can't argue too much.

Kudos to Mike Morse for tying the game at four in the ninth with his pinch-hit double. Hard to do that with the lack of work he's gotten lately, especially off a good pitcher like Francisco Cordero.

Nats now down to four under .500 and reeling. Hopefully Strasburg gives them enough momentum to sweep or at least win the series versus the Pirates.

[Rafael122]

I really think they need to make some moves. The Nats are slowly getting exposed here, see if you can knock the pitcher out of the game have us rely on the already overused bullpen.

[craig01]

Capps is really struggling, but the check swing call on Rolen killed him....(radio announcers were going ballistic

[Jollay]

Capps is really struggling, but the check swing call on Rolen killed him....(radio announcers were going ballistic

Yeah. That was weak. The umpires were just sort of dubious all series--not exactly salvaging their rep after the Galarraga fiasco.