The music in the clubhouse was loud, but not overwhelming. Several Nationals players sat in various states of undress simply eating food and watching another baseball game on the clubhouse televisions.
They had just won for the eighth time in a row – this one a 4-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles – but there wasn’t exactly a fiesta going on afterwards. No Gatorade baths. No shaving-cream pies to the face of the game’s hero. Wonder of wonders, maybe the Nats are actually getting used to winning?
Michael Morse broke a tie game with a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Washington added an insurance run on an Ivan Rodriguez double during that same frame. The bullpen did the rest, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings vs. Baltimore on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park.
“I think we’re getting close, man,” said catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who added an insurance run in the seventh inning with an RBI double and also threw out an Orioles runner trying to steal second. “I think we’re doing good. All this that’s happening right now to us is happening for a reason. Just feeling something very positive around here. But we have to keep playing.”
| NATS NOTES |
| » With the win, Washington now trails the Battle of the Beltways series to Baltimore 18-17 since baseball returned to the District in 2005. |
| » Orioles left fielder Luke Scott left the game in the fourth inning thanks to mid-back spasms. Felix Pie took over in left field. |
| » Attendance on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park was 36,614. |
The Nats (35-36) are now just a game below the .500 mark. The last time the franchise put together a stretch like this? An eight-game winning streak from Aug. 2 to Aug. 9, 2009. That is now tied with the current run for the second-longest since moving back to the District in 2005 – and at the time it actually improved the team’s record to 40-72. It was that bad a season.
This one more closely resembles the magical 10-game winning streak from June 2 to June 12, 2005. By early July of that year Washington had ripped off 25 wins in 31 games and was 19 over .500 and in first place in the National League East. Even if they did briefly move to within four games of the wild-card leaders early Saturday evening, this year’s crew still has a ways to go to match that. But the Nats are 13-5 in their 18 games since May 31. And a win Sunday would be the latest Washington has been at .500 since the final day of that 2005 season (81-81).
The two teams traded solo home runs in the first inning – Adam Jones for the Orioles and Ryan Zimmerman hitting his first since returning from a 58-game stint on the disabled list this week. His blast sailed down the left-field line, stayed inside the foul pole and landed near the top row of outfield stands.
But both starting pitchers settled in. Jordan Zimmermann labored with a high pitch count, falling behind batters early with two walks in the second inning and two hits allowed in the fourth. But Baltimore couldn’t take advantage of those opportunities. After Felix Pie’s pinch-hit single in the fourth, Zimmermann retired eight of the next nine hitters he faced and the only Oriole to reach base did so on an infield hit.
Brian Matusz was more efficient. A line-drive double play got him out of the second inning. He walked two batters and also gave up an infield hit through the fifth, recording 12 of 16 possible outs. But things went awry in the sixth. Matusz gave up a one-out double to Zimmerman and Morse followed with a rocket homer to right-center.
That homer gave Morse a career-high 42 RBI. He had 41 in 98 games in 2010. He’s also now hit 28 home runs in 466 at-bats dating to the start of last season. Matusz then gave up a single to Danny Espinosa and left the game with a 3-1 count to Jerry Hairston when the trainer came to the mound. That was an ominous sign for a player who just returned this month after missing April and May with a strained intercostal muscle, though it turned out to be left hamstring cramps on a warm day. But with a 4-1 lead, Zimmermann faced his own troubles in the top of the seventh. He gave up three hits, including an RBI single by J.J. Hardy.
“I didn’t have my best stuff and I fell behind it seemed like every hitter,” said Zimmermann, who is now 5-6 with a 3.08 ERA and has held the opposition to three runs or less in nine straight starts. “And for me to be really effective I’ve got to throw strike one and get ahead and then I can mix everything else in there. It was a battle for me all day today.”
Henry Rodriguez eventually came on in relief. Control is still the issue with the 24-year-old fireballer. But he got Nick Markakis to fly out to left and then dropped an 83 mile-per-hour slider on Jones, fired a 101 mile-per-hour fastball past him and then got the strikeout with another slider at 83. The Nats led 4-2 after seven. Rodriguez also retired three of the four batters he faced in the eighth. Drew Storen recorded three consecutive outs in the ninth to secure the victory.
“The pitching and defense has been there all year,” Zimmerman said. “And now we’re starting to gain a little confidence offensively. And the pitching and the defense has kept us afloat while our offense has been [on a] roller coaster. Now we’re getting some healthy guys back and it’s a lot easier to be consistent when you have some main pieces there. They grinded while a couple of us were hurt and now we’ve got everything back together.”
