If it’s a one-run game then the Nats must be celebrating afterwards. Make it 12 of 15 since June 1 in games decided by a razor’s edge. That seems extremely unlikely to continue. But if Washington’s bats get hot? Well, then all bets are off, I guess. Rookie second baseman Danny Espinosa made that point after the game. Check out the details in our game story here. Tyler Clippard was again magnificent. Drew Storen closed things out. And, of course, the Nats needed some luck when a truly awful throw by local kid Jeff Baker – a Woodbridge, Va. native and Gar-Field High grad – turned a routine double play into a two-run error. The Cubs never recovered.
So what do we make of this club? Ryan Zimmerman is still trying to figure things out at the plate after missing 58 games following abdominal surgery and Jayson Werth is a train wreck right now. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a double play.
“I think he’s bottomed out,” Nats manager Davey Johnson said.
Maybe. But each time we think Werth is showing signs of life he regresses. He must be feeling the pressure. Maybe he isn’t physically all there, either. There’s no question Werth plays the game hard – as he proved with Monday’s extra-inning heroics. But even if he’s fighting the mental and physical side of the sport at the same time he has to be better. The whole lineup does.
“I have no complaints [about the pitching staff],” Johnson said. “My complaint is my offense. I keep saying it’s going to start going. And it shows signs of life, shows signs of life. But we’re not getting the clutch base hit. We hit some balls hard tonight. That was great. But we score on a wild throw to second that gives us two runs. I know we’re a lot better than that.”
For now they will rely on consistently solid starting pitching and a bullpen that seems to shake off a bad outing by one of its own. Heck, Cole Kimball is hurt and the Nats ship the effective Collin Balester in and out of town like he’s produce and the bullpen still gets the job done most nights.
“Well, that takes pressure off everyone,” said All-Star set-up man Clippard. “You’ve got 25 guys that all have a job to do and if somebody doesn’t get it done on a particular night nobody’s really worried about it because we’re the type of team at any given moment somebody’s going to pick somebody else up and we’re going to get the job done. That’s how it’s been going and that’s how we’re going to continue to do it.”
Meanwhile, a little levity for Espinosa, who was selected a few days ago to catch the ceremonial first pitch on Tuesday with First Lady Michelle Obama hovering a few feet away. That was a first for the 24-year-old, who chatted amiably with Obama on the mound, posed for pictures, grabbed a quick hug and even had the confidence to gently chide the Chicago native for her family’ s proclivity to sport Cubs and White Sox gear and nothing with the ‘ol curly “W”.
“Said no Chicago hats next time,” Espinosa cracked.
Espinosa made a phenomenal play to end the game when a chopper by Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney took a nice hop and allowed Espinosa to charge it and just gun a throw to first base. That ended an anxious few moments following a dropped ball by first baseman Alex Cora – inserted into the game for his defense – on a potential game-ending double play the at-bat before.
The Cora play and a shaky first batter by reliever Todd Coffey in the sixth inning – he allowed a double to Cubs catcher Geovany Soto – had Johnson muttering to himself in the dugout. He’s paid to make decisions big and small and it seemed like the baseball gods were intent on thwarting him this night.
“I got my Ouija board out and usually it works pretty good,” said Johnson, who last managed in the big leagues in 2000 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. “But it’s a little bit shaky right now. I need a little more seasoning here. Cora missed the throw. I thought ‘Holy, moly.’”
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