The Nats Stand Alone

Today it was Correia against Maddux. I like Maddux, and respect his knowledge of the game, but the chance for a sweep looked good to me after discovering that his last win had come after a 14-game winless streak. Not that this is any better, or out of range, for the backend of our pitching staff. The expectations for the two sides were proven similar, and fulfilled, at plenty of points. The fact that it was mainly a pitcher's game is hard to state, but it was a fact. And by now, one almost has to expect it to survive a season.

I will say, however, that such a chance for a sweep was corroborated at first by the 1st inning, surprise-surprise. Roberts popped up, yes, but Burriss was then HBP and stole 2B easily. A single by Winn scored Burriss easily as well; this kid's speed is unreal. We led 1-0 after Molina grounded in to a DP.

Correia got the first two batters to pop up, but walked Giles and had a long count on Gonzalez. However, he did make Gonzalez look bad on a bad swing in the AB, and Burriss handled the ground out: easily.

Maddux was showing signs of errancy in the 2nd as well, and the only reason why Rowand struck out is because he couldn't smack a hanging breaking ball. I think that says enough about Aaron on this trip, honestly; but one man, a team does not make.

The same goes for Correia, but he did manage to hit someone and walk the subsequent batter. He had two outs, no one on and the seventh-placed batter up when this began. Naturally, then, Correia nearly walked Maddux, and then because of a fat pitch allowed Maddux only his fourth hit of the year, which tied the game for S.D. Correia finally got out of it on a changeup, but couldn't help his own cause when coming to bat in the top of the 3rd.

Roberts did single, and stole 2B on Maddux, because Maddux gave Bard no chance to throw him out; but Burriss had a rare normal moment and grounded out to end the inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Correia was thankful Petco is a pitcher's park, because both of the first two outs were deep fly outs. Gonzalez struck out after long count.

Nothing in the 4th to speak of for the offense, naturally, but Correia's fourth was more solid: three straight outs, the last of which being a strikeout on three straight pitches. Too bad Maddux's top of the 5th was exactly the same. And the 6th.

Not so for Corriea. His slider was both a good night's rest and a small dog's constant yap in the evening. A leadoff double to Giles; a BB to Gonzalez. Kevin caught a break because Bowker caught a ball in foul territory on a good effort. Correia walked the Headley, the killer, and a sac fly lost the tie. Aaron Rowand made up for his offense all series (almost - maybe just his offense all day) with a fantastic diving catch to end the damage; end of six: 2-1, SD.

Proof of Maddux's possibly last year came when, after just six innings and a lead of any kind, he was pulled for Mike Adams. Adams has been decent, but that still doesn't hide the fact that Greg has regularly been out after at least six innings most of the year. Not saying he's bad - he'll be a first-ballot HOF player for sure - just that it's time to consider retirement, win or no win. Rowand managed a BB with two outs, something that made me think his offensive bad luck would end - which should communicate the obvious. But poor Bowker struck out to get to the 7th Stretch.

Correia got his necessary out in the 7th, but Hinshaw was put in immediately following. Hinshaw had 33 appearances, and when he's good, he's near perfect. When he's good. He looked that way getting a strike on the first pitch, at least. The hanging curveball on the fifth pitch did not. A double came off of that pitch, and a two out single by Giles, of course, scored that run. A further example of Giants' playing luck today, the inning ended when the batter struckout, but Molina decided to throw out Giles stealing, even though it was unknowingly unnecessary.

Aurilia led the 8th off with a bloop single, although if he was a runner anymore it could have been a double. But we'll take it. In a good judgment, Lewis became a PH for Vizquel next. Lewis' eye improved, and seemed to draw a BB on four pitches, but even he couldn't believe the fourth pitch was a ball. And that may have tipped the umpire to "change" his mind quickly, because the "ball" was called a strike, and Lewis would walk on the sixth pitch, instead of the fourth. Velez came up as PH next, showing bunt but not committing. A well-hit pop instead would have been a sac fly, but again Richie doesn't run and wouldn't have made it anyway. A strikeout next. To end it, Burriss almost beat the throw, and two men were left.
Matos took over in the 8th, and wasted a few pitches before giving up a HR to Kouzmanoff. That's right, the same guy that has hit DP balls for us all series and botched plays on the defensive side as well. He got a HR. 420 ft. Matos did get out of the inning, but without any hope gained, and whatever hope remained completely lost.

In the 9th, Winn did run out a routine grounder that Kouzmanoff botched (see above paragraph for the expectations about that). Randy was basically allowed to steal, and Molina almost hit him in save for a stellar play in CF to catch a liner that tailed away from the player. Matching play quality from a diving catch by Giles couldn't advance Winn farther than 3B, although Rowand's offensive power seemed to almost return by the power on the ball. Bowker's strikeout allowed Winn to enjoy the view from the left-corner base. The Nats stand alone as the only team we've swept all year. Hence the title.

FINAL: 4-1, SD. We finished the current road trip 3-3, scoring just an average of just over two runs a game. It's absolutely fantastic that we didn't finish it 1-5, or even 0-6. Given the scores and how we won those three games, that rationale is not irrational in the slightest.

All I'm going to say is this:

Last night, Cole was wearing his jersey. Today, he wasn't even interested in his hat.

-MSH