Nats 5, Phillies 4
Several Nats players claimed a win is a win after Sunday’s walk-off hit-by-pitch victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Taking this one feels just as good as beating the Houston Astros, they would have you believe. Not buying it. Not when the Phillies are the team Washington must measure itself against in the National League East. Not when thousands of Philadelphians made their presence felt loud and clear all weekend at Nationals Park.
In the end, Ian Desmond hit a game-tying home run with his team down to its final strike and Ryan Zimmerman’s leadoff double in the 10th eventually led to Brad Lidge hitting Jonny Gomes with the bases loaded. Game over. Series to the Nats. Read all the details in our game story here.
Now, it’s not like the Phillies are going home crying. At 81-44 they can afford a bad weekend or three. Especially with a bullpen that’s been chewed up by rain delays over the last week. But it was the kind of game Washington has found a way to win this year and sets up a four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks that could have it on the cusp of .500 again heading into late August. That’s no reason to plan a parade. But 61-64 is a big deal for an organization that has often struggled to reach 70 wins, let alone 80. The Nats need to go 21-16 over the final 37 games to post their first winning record since baseball returned to Washington. That doesn’t seem impossible anymore.
“Any time you can beat what I consider probably the best team in baseball it’s a plus,” Nats manager Davey Johnson said. “A lot of good things we did and we learned a lot. That’s a fine ballclub right there. We had them on the ropes a couple times and they had us on the ropes. We came back. Just no give up in this ballclub. Always fun to beat the Phillies.”
Another plus – the performance of starting pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, who continues to show gradual improvement as he returns from two years away from the sport thanks to shoulder surgery. Wang pitched 5 2/3 innings and had his day shortened by rain. Johnson insisted he could have sent Wang out to throw 100 pitches Sunday and not just the 89 he finished with if the weather had held. Even better? He struck out four batters and walked one. In his first four starts Wang struck out three batters total. A pitcher won’t last long missing so few bats.
But Wang had a great warm-up session in the bullpen prior to the game, according to Johnson and pitching coach Steve McCatty. He’d been having issues with left-handed batters during this comeback and – against the Phillies’ lefty stars – he held his own. Wang again stuck with his bread and butter, throwing 63 sinkers out of 89 pitches. He had a better breaking ball, too, striking out three batters with that pitch. Of the 13 outs Philadelphia made on balls in play, 10 of them were ground balls
Yes, he left a pair of sinkers up and paid for it when Carlos Ruiz and Chase Utley homered. But otherwise this has to be considered Wang’s best outing even if he’s pitched into the seventh inning twice so far against the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati. Wang is 2-2 with a 4.33 ERA in 27 innings.
“He’s kind of where I thought he’d be,” Johnson said. “A lot of people were critical of him the first time out [against the New York Mets on July 29]. He gave up a bunch of hits. The second time out [against the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 3] he gave up some hits. But I saw a little progress. I’ve seen that every start. I think if you’d ask [Wang] he’s feeling better all the time, he’s feeling stronger.”
Johnson knocked on the podium in the media room – not sure if that’s wood or not – and said Wang would make every scheduled start the rest of the season. That could be seven more starts and maybe 35 or 40 more innings, giving the organization a good sense as Wang heads into free agency at the end of the season. Can he contribute next season at a high level?
“I keep seeing progress,” Johnson said. “How far he’s going to be able to take it nobody knows.”
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