It’s getting ugly early for Nationals fans and once again the team lost another series, this time at the hands of the Braves. Things kicked off on Tuesday when the Nationals lost their fifth straight game in an 8-0 shutout. Matt Chico had a rough start and Ray King was hit for four runs in relief. In the meantime, the hitters racked up just three hits. It wasn’t pretty.
Then the Braves scored eight more runs yesterday to make it six straight losses. Jerome Williams actually wasn’t that bad in his five innings but Ryan Wagner and Jon Rauch each gave up three runs each their inning of work. Rafael Belliard had a good game with the stick and he had three hits and two RBIs.
Then the Nationals finally got some pitching. Jason Bergmann threw six shutout innings and three relievers combined for three more shutout innings as the Nationals won it 2-0. Both runs came in the eighth with Belliard’s RBI single being the game winner.
Next up is three against the Mets, which could get ugly because that team can score some runs. I like our chances in the first game though. John Patterson will take on rookie Mike Pelfrey.