Nationals vs Cardinals, Game 3

[spidernat]

GAME!!!!!!!!

[I ride Nats]

what a great day!!! a great start by Martis, and a HUGE victory for the caps!

[sportsfan882]

CAPS WIN CAPS WIN CAPS WIN!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[zoom]

it's fun watching Laich.  I used to get season tix for the Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) and watched him for a couple years (ages 18-20).

[BerkeleyNat]

This series will probably go 7

[hammondsnats]

Damn he sounds confident

HAHA i like it.  as long as he continues to challenge hitters and not walk, he's going to be solid for us and will have a spot in the rotation.  i like when he pitches to contact, b/c his change-up is hard to get a bat on, the 6 k's were nice.  on monday he was walking hitters and it seemed he backed down a bit. 

excellent job shairon today.

[eckseid]

Watched a few bats of this game, but grats to Martis on a great game.

[sportsfan882]

Martis > Balester and Acta just said as much in his post-game presser

[hammondsnats]

varlamov was in full beast mode today.

[hammondsnats]

Martis > Balester and Acta just said as much in his post-game presser

yeah, martis has pitched better than balester.  hopefully balester continues to pitch well in cuse and then gets the call-up and we can have a steady, sound rotation for years to come.

[sportsfan882]

yeah, martis has pitched better than balester.  hopefully balester continues to pitch well in cuse and then gets the call-up and we can have a steady, sound rotation for years to come.

definitely. I hope both are studs. It'd be nice if Collin had another good start tonight to put more pressure on Rizzo to get rid of D-crab.

[PatsNats28]

I missed the whole game... nice job Shairon

[PANatsFan]

Good feeling about the pitching matchup - plus Kearns and Willingham are fresh.

I'm smart.

[houston-nat]

definitely. I hope both are studs. It'd be nice if Collin had another good start tonight to put more pressure on Rizzo to get rid of D-crab.

That would be the ideal scenario, yes.

[hammondsnats]

definitely. I hope both are studs. It'd be nice if Collin had another good start tonight to put more pressure on Rizzo to get rid of D-crab.

yeah stammen has pitched well too, but imo, bally has better stuff/more upside.  it's good we have options though.  olsen has been better recently, he may be have a chance to stick around long-term.

[Senators2005]

Wow...complete game from Martis?  Too bad it had to happen on a day when most Washingtonians were glued to hockey.  Unfortunately because of the Caps game - almost nobody will know about it.

Keep the ball out of the hands of the bullpen - I guess that's the answer!   

[MrMadison]

bullpen cant blow the game if they are never in it.

[sportsfan882]

see, this is where Acta and I disagree:

Said Acta after this game: "Moments like this, games like this, they're worth five of those losses that we had before. Because this is what we're working for here -- to develop these type of kids."

[hammondsnats]

The Nationals also got a little luck when Cardinals first baseman Chris Duncan dropped Ryan Zimmerman's foul pop that would have been the last out of the fifth inning. Zimmerman then singled to left to put runners on first and second for Dunn, who hit his seventh homer.

"I've been horrible the past week or so," Dunn said. "To be able to produce in that situation was obviously big for us and for a little confidence booster."

Acta sensed the big blow was coming as soon as he saw Duncan bobble, then drop Zimmerman's pop near the right-field stands.

"It was huge," Acta said. "We were talking among the coaches there and I said right here, we should be able to make it hurt because it's happened to us enough already. We came through."

[hammondsnats]

see, this is where Acta and I disagree:

i said the same thing, that's a terrible thing to say manny.  a win is a win.  sure it's a sweet one, but i'd take five boring wins and a heartbreaking loss, over a solid win and five heartbreaking losses.

big game tomorrow hopefully we can split with the cardinals.  john lannan needs to get a win.

oh and guess who is undefeated at creating gameday threads  

[PatsNats28]

that just seems like what usually happens to us.

[Air Zimmerman]

i think it's time Shairon gets some respect 'round here. Martis opened a lot of eyes today with his masterful outing- but he's been undervalued prior to today. i think he's legitimately better than Lannan.

[hammondsnats]

i think it's time Shairon gets some respect 'round here. Martis opened a lot of eyes today with his masterful outing- but he's been undervalued prior to today.

yeah he did.  i've bashed him when he tries to get cute and nibble the corners too much leading to walks and falling behind in counts and then serving up bombs (ie, vs. yunel escobar, vs. ryan howard).  today and in his wins he was pretty outstanding (ask cmdterps, i was very, very, very impressed with his win against the braves (where he gave up 3 runs in the first off 2 walks, 2 hits) and settled down and only gave up 4 hits, 2 walks the next 5 innings. 

the supposed ceiling for martis is back end of the rotation, i don't care what the scouts say, i'll take more of these starts.

p.s. once again he has the best change-up in the system and in my opinion it's not debatable.

[shoeshineboy]

i think it's time Shairon gets some respect 'round here. Martis opened a lot of eyes today with his masterful outing- but he's been undervalued prior to today. i think he's legitimately better than Lannan.

Martis should have had more respect all along. JZ got top prospect attention, but Martis has more years of pro experience, has proven he can pitch the innings throughout the year, had a no-hitter in the WBC when he had yet to turn 19, and was as effective in ST as JZ despite still being younger. At some point this season, and maybe fairly soon, JZ and Martis are quite likely to emerge as the clear best two pitchers on this year's staff. But JZ is most likely to be shut down in September. Martis may go longer.

[DPMOmaha]

He had a better spring training too, at least statistically.