BOTTOMFEEDER BASEBALL BLOG

Dedicated to the constructive criticism of the Washington Nationals.

ALL ARTICLES AND PICTURES UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ARE (C) DAVID W. NICHOLS

E-mail us at: natsnewsnetwork@gmail.com

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

GB&U: Lopez Dogs It To First

RESULT: Nats lose to Phillies 1-0.

GOOD: Jason Bergmann. Where did this come from. All he's done since returning to the rotation is throw 14 innings of shout out ball against two of the better hitting teams in the National League. Totals: 14 IP, 0 runs, 8 hits, 5 walks, 14 Ks.

BAD: Jon Rauch. Charged with pitching the ninth and holding the Phils to a tie to give the home teama chance to win, Rauch came in and got smoked for three hits and a run--and it could have been more if not for a tremendous relay from Guzman and outstanding effort from Flores to block Dobbs off the plate and keep him from scoring.

UGLY: Down 1-0 with runners on first and third with two outs, and having just watched the previous two batters reach via walk--including several balls in the dirt--Felipe Lopez swung at a slider on the first pitched and rolled it over to second base. That's bad enough--TAKE A PITCH FELIPE!!! But as he jogged out of the box, Utley bobbled the slow bouncer. Had Lopez run hard from the start, it would have given Utley something to think about instead of calmly noticing that he had time, settle, and throw out the barely jogging Lopez. Bad baseball.

NEXT GAME: Tonight, the rubber match against the Phillies. Matt Chico (0-5, 6.07) takes Shawn Hill's scheduled turn and faces ageless Jamie Moyer (3-3, 4.89).

Photo courtesy of A. Amobi, DC Sports Box

No comments: