Nats 6, Mariners 5
I had a nice little story written. I really did. The Mariners are a year ahead of the Nats in the pitching-and-defense rebuilding philosophy. It took them from 101 losses in 2008 – just missing out on the No. 1 draft pick, which became Stephen Strasburg – to 85 wins in 2009. And after some regression last year due to a historically horrendous offense, Seattle has a winning record again and entered the day one game back of Texas for first place in the American League West.
Pretty good story and one general manager Mike Rizzo hopes his club can continue to emulate – well, maybe with a better offensive attack. So after the Mariners’ defense stole a few runs from Washington on Tuesday – Dustin Ackley’s diving stab of a Ryan Zimmerman’s sixth-inning smash turned into a double play and appeared to crush the Nats’ hopes – I made that the focus. After all, Seattle starter Doug Fister was otherwise awesome going eight innings with three hits and a walk allowed.
With a story on deadline all but complete I should have known trouble was afoot when Justin Smoak botched an admittedly hard grounder by Jayson Werth towards first base. But after Zimmerman grounded into his third double play of the night everything seemed good to go. Instead, I should have been warming up my “delete” key in the bullpen. Because 10 minutes later the Nats were somehow celebrating a win at home plate when rookie Wilson Ramos crushed a three-run homer to left. All it took was three quick singles by Jerry Hairston, Michael Morse – his an infield hit off the leg of closer Brandon League – and Danny Espinosa. Then Ramos crushed a meatball change-up from Seattle reliever David Pauley, who was only in the game because League couldn’t continue after Morse’s shot. I still can’t believe it. Check out the details in our game story here. Ramos admitted it was the best hit of his career.
“The guy is so strong that when he makes solid contact like that it’s a different noise off the bat and the ball just flies,” Espinosa said.
Still too early to be talking about Nats magic or anything like that. This team gets another chance tomorrow night just to get to the .500 mark. But these are definitely the kind of wins that help a team hang around the playoff chase all summer. Washington is now 36-37. It has won nine of 10 games and is 14-6 in its last 20. With the Mets losing on Tuesday the Nats are again alone in third place in the National League East and five games behind Atlanta for the N.L. wild-card spot.
There were some rough moments, of course. Livan Hernandez got singled to death, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits. Not quite the masterpiece he tossed last week against the Cardinals. And Zimmerman hit into three double plays – granted, the second one that brilliant stop by Ackley. Last time that happened by a Washington/Montreal player was Expo Fernando Seguignol on April 26, 2001, according to the good folks at STATS, LLC.
But, really, who cares about the negative on a night like that? The last time Montreal/Washington overcame a four-run deficit in the ninth inning was on June 29, 1999. That game, too, was 5-1 heading into the final frame. John Rocker was the pitcher for the Atlanta Braves that night. A pair of doubles by Orlando Cabrera and Mike Mordecai made it 5-2. Rocker hit James Mouton with a pitch. After pinch hitter Ryan McGuire flew out to left, Jose Vidro singled to load the bases. A weak grounder by pinch hitter Wilton Guerrero forced Vidro at second, but scored a run to make it 5-3 with runners at first and third. Then Vladimir Guerrero stepped to the plate and ripped a home run over the wall in left-center for a 6-5 victory.
It’s in the game story, but reliever Collin Balester had the line of the night when he described the post-game scene in the clubhouse like this: “We’re jumping up like we’re 5-years-old and won a tee-ball game and are about to go get a sno-cone.” Nice. Welcome back to the big leagues, Mr. Balester.
Because the televisions in the main clubhouse are on a delay, Balester and the pitchers who didn’t need to be in the dugout – Hernandez, John Lannan, tomorrow’s starter, and fellow reliever Ryan Mattheus, who also had already pitched Tuesday – heard the screams of the clubhouse attendants in a side room before it happened on the screen in front of them. Only then did they see Ramos crushing a 1-1 change-up.
“People are running around in here doing cartwheels, having a great time. It’s awesome to do that,” Balester said. “Everyone’s just excited to be part of this team and everyone has a lot of fight. We never want to give up.”
Okay, Balester admitted no one did any cartwheels. But you get the gist. This was a happy group that is starting to believe more nights like this one are in store in 2011.
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