Author Topic: Gameday Thread: Nationals @ Pirates, Game 3 (Curly W)  (Read 15225 times)

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Offline Senators2005

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.....vs.....
Livan Hernandez; 6-8, 5.94 ERA........Paul Maholm; 3-8, 5.10 ERA

Yesterday's Recap:

Quote
PITTSBURGH -- The Nationals have talented players like Alfonso Soriano, Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro, Livan Hernandez and Chad Cordero. They were supposed to be even better after getting outfielder Austin Kearns and infielder Felipe Lopez in a trade with the Reds on Thursday.  Yet, Washington finds itself in fifth place in the National League East and struggling against teams like the Marlins, who had a fire sale last winter, and the Pirates, who have the worst record in the Major Leagues.

After Saturday night's heartbreaking 7-6 loss in which Pirates rookie catcher Ronny Paulino drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning, manager Frank Robinson was asked why the Nationals can't beat struggling teams like the Pirates and the Marlins, and the skipper didn't hesitate with his answer.

"It's right in front of you," Robinson said. "Almost every night, you leave 14, 15 men on base. You are not taking advantage of your opportunities. It's very simple."

The ultra politically correct Brian Schneider couldn't hide the fact that something was wrong with the Nationals. A couple of months ago, he didn't believe that the Nationals were in disarray after getting swept by the Reds in late April.

"I can't sit here and tell you [what's wrong]. I don't know," Schneider said.  "We had a lot of chances to score. It's tough to look into it more than that. One or two hits away. We are just not getting the big hit."

The Nationals had the lead three times on Saturday, but left 14 men on base. Their biggest chance to break things open came in the second inning against right-hander Ian Snell.  Jose Guillen had already drove in two runs in the inning with a double with nobody out. Schneider walked to give the Nationals runners on first and second. Starter Pedro Astacio then advanced the runners one base. Soriano was walked intentionally, but Lopez struck out and Vidro flied out to left field to end the inning.

"We are not clicking," Robinson said. "We left 14 men on. You get leads off one run. The pitcher goes out and we give them right back."

It was also a game in which the Nationals pitching was almost non-existent. Astacio couldn't hold a 4-2 lead. He gave up RBI doubles to Freddy Sanchez and Jose Randa in the third and sixth innings, respectively. Astacio was out of the game when reliever Kevin Gryboski gave up Jack Wilson's bunt single, which allowed Joe Randa to score the tying run, but the run was charged to Astacio.  Astacio pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up five runs on eight hits. With Astacio out of the game, it meant Robinson had to use his overworked bullpen again.

"We can't get our starting pitchers deep into the ballgames," Robinson said. "It was the case tonight [that] as soon as we battle here, he went back out and gave them up.  "It's a battle to stretch him out. You just stretch your bullpen. It's a tough way to play. It's a tough way to manage. It's a little frustrating. You have to try to overcome things every night to try to win a ballgame."

The Nationals bullpen was short one man. Jon Rauch was attending to a personal matter in Washington, D.C., so Robinson had no choice put to use reliever Roy Corcoran for more than an inning.  The Nationals had a 6-5 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but Corcoran couldn't hold it. Wilson singled to shallow center field and Luis Matos' throw back in was offline, which allowed Randa to score the tying run.  In the top of the ninth with one out, Robinson let Corcoran hit for himself, because Rauch was not available and the skipper had no one to pitch behind closer Chad Cordero.  Robinson said he didn't want Corcoran to pitch in the ninth inning.

But leaving Corcoran out there proved to be a disaster. He walked Jason Bay and allowed singles to Sean Casey and Jose Hernandez before Paulino ended the game with a one-out walk-off single.


"I'm not happy at all. It was a bad outing. I didn't make pitches when I needed to," Corcoran said. "As far as getting the leadoff batter on, it's the last thing you want to do. They preach about that.  "Paulino battled. If I got the ball down, it would have been a different result, [but] I kept getting the ball up."


WASHINGTON
1.  A. Soriano LF .278
2.  F. Lopez SS .265
3.  J. Vidro 2B .304
4.  N. Johnson 1B .296
5.  R. Zimmerman 3B .291
6.  A. Kearns CF .269
7.  J. Guillen RF .216
8.  R. Fick C .276
9.  L. Hernandez P .257

PITTSBURGH
1.  J. Bautista CF .277
2.  J. Wilson SS .267
3.  F. Sanchez 3B .359
4.  J. Bay LF .290
5.  S. Casey 1B .308
6.  J. Burnitz RF .228
7.  J. Castillo 2B .272
8.  H. Cota C .219
9.  P. Maholm P .161

Offline Senators2005

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1-2-3 inning for the Pirates to start off game three.  Now lets see what kind of Livan we're gonna get today.   :?

Offline Senators2005

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Offline PC

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Quote from: "Senators2005"
1-2-3 inning for the Pirates to start off game three.  Now lets see what kind of Livan we're gonna get today.   :?


The kind of Livan that doens't get out of the first inning, runless.  :x

Offline Senators2005

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Pittsburgh 1
Washington 0

Offline sportsfan882

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Livan sucks

Offline spidernat

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Same old Livan up to his usual tricks. There is a huge difference in watching a bad team like the Pirates still execute with RISP and watching the Nationals' incompetence. Last night was a perfect example, 2 outs and a man on 3rd and Wilson bunts him in. Conversely, the Nats struggle mightily with RISP and less than 2 outs, not to mention how awful they are with RISP with 2 outs.

Offline spidernat

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This guy can't possibly bring anyting in return in a trade. It looks like the BP better get ready for another long outing. And FR better prepare to have his head called for again because he lost another one!

Offline Senators2005

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Pittsburgh 3
Washington 0

Offline spidernat

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Yeah Frank has to go. He just gave up another 3 runs in the 1st and the inning isn't over yet. He's left Livan in way too long...oh wait if he goes to the BP now he will have overworked the BP again and cost us the game!

Offline PC

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Will Livan make it out of the first inning?

Offline Senators2005

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Nick Johnson with the leadoff double!   8)

Offline PC

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How do you get an infield single to the shortstop?  How could he not throw him out?

Offline Senators2005

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two men left in SCORING POSITION.  

Offline PC

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You could have taken a few pitches, Robert!

Nationals0726

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Quote from: "PC"
How do you get an infield single to the shortstop?  How could he not throw him out?

Uhhh....first of all were rooting for the Nationals. Second, can you throw an accurate, stronge throw from your knees while bending the opposite direction from where your throwing it? No.
-------------
By the way, great. Guillen swang at ball 4 on the last two swings and struck out.

Offline PC

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Quote from: "Nationals0726"
Quote from: "PC"
How do you get an infield single to the shortstop?  How could he not throw him out?



Uhhh....first of all were rooting for the Nationals. Second, can you throw an accurate, stronge throw from your knees while bending the opposite direction from where your throwing it? No.


It was just a query.  I didn't say I wasn't glad that he made it to first.  Since I can't see the game, I was just wondering.

Offline PC

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#29!!!

Offline Senators2005

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HOME RUN !!!

Alfonso Soriano!

Pittsburgh 3
Washington 1

Nationals0726

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Quote from: "Senators2005"
(Image removed from quote.)HOME RUN !!!(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.)Alfonso Soriano!(Image removed from quote.)

(Image removed from quote.) Pittsburgh 3
(Image removed from quote.) Washington 1


GOD! I was cooking hot dogs!

Oh well, go nats!!!

Offline Senators2005

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Nick Johnson with a leadoff hit AGAIN.   :|

Offline nats2playoffs

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Quote from: "PC"
#29!!!

Soriano is still on a pace to hit 51 HR's, which would top Frank Howard's 48 with the Senators.

Offline sportsfan882

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NJ leads off with a hit then three straight outs.  I thought Soriano and Zim struck out alot, but Kearns/Lopez strike out an inordinate amount.

Offline Senators2005

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that's five strikeouts for Paul Whats-His-Name.

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That's right baseball managers, if you need the strikeouts!  If you need to lower that ERA!  Do you want your mediocre no-name starter to look like the next big thing?  THEN PLAY THE NATS and you too can have a Roger Clemens on your roster!"  

 :roll:

Offline sportsfan882

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Yep, we can't ever string hits together and we make awful pitchers (Corcoran-TB, Maholm-Pit, etc, etc...) look like studs.  Every pitcher we have seen in this series (Duke, Maholm, Snell) are below avg. ML pitchers.  The only one with any chance at being good is Duke.  I also find it funny that our pitchers make terrible hitters look amazing (Jack Wilson, Khalil Greene, Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, Josh Willingham, etc, etc..)