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

The Pitchers To Be Pitied

Last night in San Diego, we had a bit of a formidable opponent: the umpire.

His strike-zone was erratic; Jon Miller even had the guts to bring it up, multiple times, and Dave Flemming corroborated (naturally). Lincecum wasn't getting anything at the knees to speak of. (Hoffman got something at the knees in the tenth, which gave a very amusing reaction from Burriss. Good boy.) But because of that, he had to rely on that changeup again to strikeout people; he relied on it as late as the seventh. Which, he did. In the bottom of the first, he struck out the side. Of course, he struck out the last two after four reached in a row, and the Padres scored a run.

But fortunately for us, this tied the game instead of gaining a lead. That's right, the scoreless inning streak was over from the beginning. Thanks to the youth (big surprise), we hit the ball hard all night. Lewis sac-flied to allow Winn to score the first run. Then, he went 2-2; his base hit led off the sixth, Molina followed up with a single of his own, and even though Rowand double-played his AB, Lewis scored off a passed ball to take the lead. (This is the last time for the post that I will mention Rowand offensively, mind you: he did nothing.)

At this point, I'd like to bring up a few other immediate positives that made me happy about the team regardless of the outcome:

1) We FINALLY had youth at 2B and SS - at the same time! That's right; thank God, Burriss started at 2B and Ochoa started at SS. Ochoa started the game with a hit, and Burriss is solid defensively; he's finding 2B a warm home, I think, more so than SS.

2) The youth FINALLY had a game where they could show their stuff as a team. Everyone performed well, even though the stats didn't show it completely. Almost all the youth hit the ball hard at least once, and all of our scoring was because of at least one key contact-hit by a youngster or two.

3) Bowker was particularly interesting this time, because although Bowker made a baserunning error by advancing at a precarious fly ball, he hit the ball deep every time and led the seventh off with a double up the wall. I believe he's coming into his own, slowly, because surprise-surprise: he's being played every day.

However, naturally because of that last point being good, the management shocked me again and pulled Bowker after his baserunning naivete. They replaced him with Aurilia in the bottom of the seventh, defensively. I agree that Aurilia is better defensively with a slim lead, so I really don't have a problem with it. But I won't say I expected the switch. I would expect more of a double-switch from Bochy, actually. But so be it. Aurilia made the first out of the seventh himself, and I'm sorry, but I like Richie. He's the only vet I want to see playing for my team at this point (sorry Aaron). I mean, dude, look at how lame the rest of the players' walk-up music is, compared to Richie's that's given last.

For his own piece, Timmy The Kid still had 9 Ks through six innings himself. He would finish with 11, over seven full innings, with 114 total pitches. He didn't even allow a runner to reach scoring position since the first inning run. His being pulled out after seven innings and striking out most of the last two innings at least brought shades of his last start, I will admit. But an excellent showing nevertheless by Tim.

Bochy may have finally gotten the hint about Walker, using him for only a one-pitch groundout to start the eighth and then bringing in Jack [Taschner]; I know that Giles was next and it was lefty-lefty matchup. But, since Jack obviously didn't get traded, I have a feeling that Walker was being put on show to see, if he could hold well, what prospects we might have obtained for him. Shrewd, if it weren't for the fact that Walker wasn't viewed as desirable by others in the first place.

In contrast, Tasch struck Giles out with a 93mph fastball on the outside corner. Confident, and excellent. It's hard not to like the guy - except when he blows it. So of course, Tasch immediately gave up a one-pitch, bleachers-in-LCF HR to Adrian Gonzalez. Immediately, Romo was warmed up. That was the second HR Gonzalez hit against Jack this year. One should know that the one guy on SD who's having a good year, and is a real threat to Jack in particular, should have been walked - immediately. Instead, immediately Tim was robbed of another win.

It doesn't really matter what the outcome of the game was, or that at one point S.F. had doubled S.D.'s hit count. Although, a win is always nice and the game going into extras made putting Richie at 1B a prophetic move.

The thing that mattered primarily is that, I'm sure, Lincecum and Cain have a lot to talk about lately. Maybe my award can become "The Pitchers To Be Pitied" now. I suppose in a certain way, we can include the bullpen entire in that as well, though obviously they are pitiable because they keep ruining things for the starters - not because they earn something that they lose because of something other than their own doing. So maybe not. Just Tim and Matt will do, for that honor.

Come to think of it, there's at least one good young guy per game that deserves to be pitied. So perhaps that makes it a new "per-game award". Necessity is the mother of invention. And recognition.

-MSH


PS
OK, how we won does matter. Burriss knocked a hit off Hoffman in the tenth after reacting humorously to a bad call, and Velez came in as a PH (youth, I'm telling you, really, what did I say?). Velez doubled off the scoreboard to score Burriss (because youth is quick). Winn was intentionally walked. Ochoa's first swing at a strike was a foul-off. Unforunately, he lined out; but it looked solid.

Brian "The Animal" Wilson came on to get a ball - at the knees. Aurilia got the first out with a great backhander. Did I mention that I like Richie? I have no idea why, except for his usual precision and his attitude. Brian hit 97mph easily, multiple times in fact. He unfortunately gave up a liner single up the middle next, because the slider hung. He then gave up another single to Giles. Thank goodness Edgar Gonzalez had a horrible jump when his elder brother got the third straight hit.

I held my breath for the final outs; but I'll give you one reason why I was ecstatic about the double-play when it looked like Wilson was falling off the wagon: Ochoa, a youth, touched 2B and turned the double-play to Aurilia. The youth were responsible for every major game-saving pitch or double-play, and every single run in some direct way; Lincecum, Lewis, Wilson, Velez, Burriss, Ochoa: the youth.

Thank God.