Message #473474

[sportsfan882]

"We just were flat, and that's not acceptable," Riggleman said in his postgame media session. "We got down a run, and it was almost as if, 'Well, let's see what we can do here to get through it.' You know, I just wasn't pleased with the overall intensity of the game. The thing is, the other guy (Mets' starter John Maine) was throwing a pretty good ballgame; good pitching will make you look flat. But we can't allow that to happen. We've got a lot of guys on this ballclub that are fighting to make an impression for the future, and so I just reminded them that these last couple weeks count. You can't play with a lack of energy. If you do, it's gonna show up in somebody's mind who's gonna be making a decision about your future."

A few of Washington's veterans weren't quite as harsh in appraising the energy level. Adam Dunn, in fact, vehemently disagreed with the assessment that the Nats were flat.

Asked if he thought Washington's energy level was lacking, Dunn began by saying, "That's tough. I was in the game; I'm not going to sit here and say I was flat because I don't think I was and I can only speak for myself. As far as the team -- I don't think we came out... I'm gonna say no, I don't think we were flat. I don't. I just think that we ran into some guys that pitched pretty good, we weren't swinging the bats really well, and I think that's the problem.

Later, Dunn added, "It's easy, man, [to keep your energy level up]. Good weather. What else are you going to do? Energy -- that has nothing to do with it. We've playing one-hundred-and-X amount of games. Why would we decide on Sunday whatever-the-day-is to not play hard? That's bullcrap. That's one thing we do. Winning or losing, we do play hard."