Well, we knew the pitching wasn’t going to be good and so far it hasn’t. This weekend, the Nationals needed six runs and fourteen inning just to take one game in their series against the Marlins. The other two games were downright ugly and the end result is a major league tying worst six wins.
Friday’s game was the win and even that one was scary. The Nationals jumped out to a 5-0 lead and eventually gave up each of those runs and the game went into extra frames. Then in the fourteenth, Chris Snelling lined one off of the second baseman’s glove and Ryan Church scampered home for the game winner. Austin Kearns and Ronnie Belliard each finished with three hits and Belliard had three RBIs in the 6-5 win. Shawn Hill had a solid start and he gave up two runs in six innings and Jesus Colome picked up the win with a shutout inning of relief.
It went downhill from there. Matt Chico was roughed up for five runs and he walked seven in 4 2/3 innings. Ryan Wagner was also bombed in a 1 2/3 inning relief appearance and he gave up four runs. Ryan Zimmerman finished with two hits, a run and an RBI in the 9-3 loss.
Jerome Williams was even worse today. He gave up ten runs on nine hits and four walks in six innings and he dropped to 0-4. Ryan Zimmerman provided most of the offense with a grand slam and Jesus Flores drove in two runs in the 12-6 loss.
The Nationals get a day off tomorrow and then it’s three against the Phillies. Jason Bergmann will get the start in the opener and our best chance will probably be on Wednesday when John Patterson takes on Jon Lieber.