Call it a good day spoiled.
A picture-perfect Opening Day — cherry blossoms, temperatures in the 70s and at least some cautious optimism about the 2010 season — all disappeared in one frustrating inning for the Nationals.
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Pitcher John Lannan retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced against the two-time defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. But as well as the day began, it fell apart just as quickly when Philadelphia scored five runs in the fourth inning — two on a monster home run by slugger Ryan Howard — and destroyed Washington, 11-1, before a split crowd at Nationals Park.
“I think the walks would be the negative,” said Nats manager Jim Riggleman, whose six pitchers walked nine batters. “When the other ball club swings the bat the way the Phillies can you just got to try and do the best you can to minimize it. … When you’re walking people not much good is going to happen.”
Lannan faced nine batters in that fateful fourth inning and walked two. Howard’s homer gave Philadelphia a two-run lead. From there, Lannan allowed three soft singles, including a short chopper by Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay that traveled all of 30 feet. But that was enough to score Raul Ibanez from third and make it 4-1 Philadelphia. The Phillies added two more runs in the sixth and the first batter Nats reliever Jason Bergmann faced this season — veteran Placido Polanco — hit a grand slam to left field in the seventh.
“I wanted to go out there and have a different story for Opening Day this year,” said Lannan, who allowed six runs in just three innings in the same situation against the Marlins last spring. “But it’s the first game of many. And I’m not going to let it tell the story for this whole season.”
Making his first start for Philadelphia after a blockbuster offseason trade, Halladay performed as expected. He pitched seven innings and gave up just one earned run on six hits. The Nats scored in the first, but managed just a walk, three singles and a double after that. Catcher Ivan Rodriguez had a nice afternoon in his first game with Washington, batting 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
