Nationals @ Orioles, Game 3

[hammondsnats]

Actually weird chick

[PC]

Who did you want him to bring in? Burnett has been nails.

Since he's been pitching the 8th this year, has he ever been in this situation.  One-run lead with two power hitting righties and a switch hitter who hits lefties very well?

I'm sure this is the first time it's happened this year.

This was lazy managing on Davey's part.

[jhuterp]

You score 5 runs this series ... That's your answer for a series loss.

That's the exact same number of runs the Orioles scored and they won the series.  The Orioles got several breaks/bounces that went their way, the Flores liner on Friday, the Harper double play today.  My point being neither team's offense was very good.  The fact that both Nats losses were by a run makes them tougher to take, but this series could have easily gone to the Nationals.  Braves lost today, hopefully the Mets lose tonight. Time to move on and forget about this inter-league BS.

This said I agree w/the sentiment that the middle of the order needs to stop sleep walking through these games.

[OldChelsea]

We've got the pitching that can win any match...but we've got the hitting that can lose any match.

[nats2playoffs]

JCA ALERT:
Red Sox Kevin Youkilis has been traded to the White Sox, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports. (Sun Jun 24)

No word yet on who the White Sox will send back, but Zach Stewart has been scratched from his start Sunday night in Triple-A. Youkilis would assume the third base role in the South Side from Orlando Hudson should this trade go through.


Paper or plastic?

[santanaf]

JCA ALERT:
Red Sox Kevin Youkilis has been traded to the White Sox, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports. (Sun Jun 24)

No word yet on who the White Sox will send back, but Zach Stewart has been scratched from his start Sunday night in Triple-A. Youkilis would assume the third base role in the South Side from Orlando Hudson should this trade go through.

(Image removed from quote.)
Paper or plastic?

I'm so happy this dudche didn't end up on the Nats.

[OldChelsea]

JCA ALERT:
Red Sox Kevin Youkilis has been traded to the White Sox, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports. (Sun Jun 24)[...]

...re-tracing a route taken by Carlton Fisk over thirty years ago.

[of course circumstances were different - Fisk left in free agency rather than a trade - but that journey was a trail of tears for many a Red Sox supporter back then]

[imref]

JCA ALERT:
Red Sox Kevin Youkilis has been traded to the White Sox, Rob Bradford of WEEI reports. (Sun Jun 24)

No word yet on who the White Sox will send back, but Zach Stewart has been scratched from his start Sunday night in Triple-A. Youkilis would assume the third base role in the South Side from Orlando Hudson should this trade go through.

(Image removed from quote.)
Paper or plastic?

i just posted in the MLB out of town thread, Youk & $5.5 million to CWS for Stewart and Brent Lillibridge.

[imref]

Since he's been pitching the 8th this year, has he ever been in this situation.  One-run lead with two power hitting righties and a switch hitter who hits lefties very well?

I'm sure this is the first time it's happened this year.

This was lazy managing on Davey's part.

Oh please.  Burnett has been lights out this year, he's the best setup guy in the pen and was absolutely the right choice to pitch the 8th.  He got hit, it happens.

[PC]

Oh please.  Burnett has been lights out this year, he's the best setup guy in the pen and was absolutely the right choice to pitch the 8th.  He got hit, it happens.

Yes, losing in gut-wrenching fashion to the Angeloses certainly does happen. 

[Mr Clean]

Does anyone think the Nats will trade for a bat in the next few weeks?

[MarquisDeSade]

Does anyone think the Nats will trade for a bat in the next few weeks?

No. The only things we have to trade are trash.

[spidernat]

Does anyone think the Nats will trade for a bat in the next few weeks?

Lerner: "Only if he brings a ton of cash with him."

[PANatsFan]

Burnett is a great pitcher - how about the Nats score more than 1 run against a mediocre pitcher?

[spidernat]

Burnett is a great pitcher - how about the Nats score more than 1 run against a mediocre pitcher?

"sanity" 

[Slateman]

Since he's been pitching the 8th this year, has he ever been in this situation.  One-run lead with two power hitting righties and a switch hitter who hits lefties very well?

I'm sure this is the first time it's happened this year.

This was lazy managing on Davey's part.

Davey is old school. This is the way it's done now. Guy who specifically pitches the 8th. Guy who specifically pitches the 9th. Doesn't matter who is coming up to bat or what the situation is.

[Kevrock]

Davey is old school. This is the way it's done now. Guy who specifically pitches the 8th. Guy who specifically pitches the 9th. Doesn't matter who is coming up to bat or what the situation is.

Your first two sentences don't mesh.

The "new school" bullpen systems of having an 8th inning guy is idiotic. We've been fortunate to have an 8th inning guy who's all-world and faces LHBs better than he faces RHBs (Clippard).

[PC]

Ultimately, it probably wouldn't have mattered.  These exact same hitters faced Clippard yesterday so they saw what he had. Even if he'd gone to Clippard in the 8th, it probably would have ended in a similar fashion.  The solution is to score more runs so your pitching doesn't have to be perfect.

The offense is at fault for this loss.

[Kevrock]

I'm apathetic to these losses at this point. We've been in a couple dozen one run games. We win the one run games a bit more often than we lose them, and we're a team built to win one run games a bit more often than we lose them.

It's like a coin flip. I can't even get pissed when we lose the coin flip anymore. We'll probably win it the next time it's flipped.

[Slateman]

Can we please dispell the myth that Burnett is a "great" pitcher. He's good. This season he's playing way above himself. It was bound to happen that he would do something like this. He's not a premiere relief pitcher. He's a lefty specialist at worst and a middle reliever at best.

[PC]

Can we please dispell the myth that Burnett is a "great" pitcher. He's good. This season he's playing way above himself. It was bound to happen that he would do something like this. He's not a premiere relief pitcher. He's a lefty specialist at worst and a middle reliever at best.

Wrong.  He's an above average reliever who happens to be a lefty with very good stuff.  That's not to be dismissed as you so blithely did.

This just wasn't a good position to use him.  This wasn't a good position for any left handed reliever to be honest.  You're tempting fate by sending a left handed pitcher out to face that 3-4-5.

Again, the key to this was to score more runs so that he actually had a little room for error.

[Slateman]

Wrong.  He's an above average reliever who happens to be a lefty with very good stuff.  That's not to be dismissed as you so blithely did.

This just wasn't a good position to use him.  This wasn't a good position for any left handed reliever to be honest.  You're tempting fate by sending a left handed pitcher out to face that 3-4-5.

Again, the key to this was to score more runs so that he actually had a little room for error.

Uh ... I said he was good.

Bullpen's job is to not let the opposing team score more runs. They failed.

[Fan037]

I went to the game today.  I kept thinking our demise would come because we stranded so many runners especially early on when we could have gotten to their starting pitcher.

I was glad to see Ryan Zimmerman get two hits.  I love watching Harper but he can't do everything himself.  The crowd really gets into it when he's at bat.

I do not blame Burnett at all.  The blame is squarely on the poor offense and its inability to drive in runs with men on base.  The only reason we're in most games is because of the fantastic pitching.

On to Colorado and hopefully we can put these Baltimore losses out of mind.  Strasburg will be back on the mound.

[d_mc_nabb]

Most important lesson to learn from this game was that Detwiler is not qualified to be the #5 starter 

[GburgNatsFan]

Right, agree. I mean, if a pitcher can't make his offense to score runs, what's he doing on the mound?

Most important lesson to learn from this game was that Detwiler is not qualified to be the #5 starter