Nationals Trade RHP Ayala to Mets

After some confusion with the press releases this morning from the team, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports:

"The Nationals traded right-handed relief pitcher Luis Ayala to the Mets on Sunday morning for a player to be named later, but that player is expected to be infielder Anderson Hernandez.

Ayala requested the trade weeks ago because he wanted a change of scenery. He was going through a divorce and had other off-field problems.

Ayala has struggled this season, compiling a 1-8 record with a 5.77 ERA in 62 appearances.

Hernandez will join the Nationals on Tuesday against the Phillies. He will be a backup infielder for the remainder of the season."

At least the man with two last names is healthy and a legitimate shortstop, instead of having to run Ronnie Belliard and Pete Orr out there.

Ayala leaves the Nats/Expos organization after five major league seasons. His career record is 37-32 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. This year has been his worst as a pro though, going 1-8 , 5.77, 1.47 and his struggles recently have been worse than that. He's given up six earned runs over 6.1 inning in his last six appearances. He was once considered one of the best set-up men in baseball, but Tommy John surgery after his injury in 2006's World Baseball Classic has reduced his capacity and he has not been the same pitcher since.

Hernandez used to be a pretty decent prospect in the Mets organization, however, the luster has really fallen off of his star. He's hit over .300 several times in his seven-year minor league career, but this season is undoubtedly his worst. With Triple-A New Orleans, he's batting .201/.264/.306 with 5 HRs, 35 RBIs and 11 SB (with 7 CSs) in 441 at bats. Some of that can be attributed to the Mets yanking the starting 2B job from him last year in the Luis Castillo trade, but he's not made any reason for the Mets to regret their decision, despite Castillo's deflating numbers.

Anderson has not made an appearance for the Mets this season. He has a lifetime .139 average in 87 major league at bats.

GB&U: It Comes and It Goes Just as Quickly

RESULT: Nats lose to Brewers 7-1, swept in four-game series.

GOOD: Willie Harris went 2-for-5. Ryan Zimmerman went 2-for-4. Luis Ayala rebounded with a perfect inning pitched. Way to keep your chin up, Luis.

BAD: Garrett Mock. He got pounded in his spot start. 4.2 IP, 4 ERs, 5 hits, 3 BBs, but 9 Ks. That's right, 9 of his 14 outs were strikeouts.

UGLY: The whole darn weekend. Getting swept is never fun, but at least it was against the second best team in the NL and on the road, away from the legions of fans that flock to Nationals Park but apparently don't watch the team on the TV. Plus now the news that a former low-level scout is the head of a major internet gambling ring. Ew.

DRAFT PICKS: At least the Nats inked their third and fourth round draft picks, SS Daniel Espinosa and LHP Graham Hicks, to go along with second round pick OF Destin Hood and recently signed 5th rounder C Adrian Nieto. All that's left is to get the #1 pick, RHP Aaron Crow, to agree to terms. This one's liable to go down to the wire, which is this Friday, August 15, at midnight eastern.

NEXT GAME: The Nats return home to face their division rival New York Mets this week. These are important games for the Mets, who find themselves tied with Florida 2.5 games behind the Phillies in the division and 5.5 games behind Milwaukee for the wild card.

Tomorrow night at 7:10 pm Odalis Perez (5-8, 4.10) takes on Johan Santana (9-7, 2.85) from Nationals Park.

GB&U: Muscled Out in Milwaukee

RESULT: Nats fall to Brewers 5-4 in 13 innings.

GOOD: John Lannan. Six innings of one-hit ball. This guy can't buy a break.

Lastings Milledge. He's been on a tear this week. Sunday he went 3-for-6 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Ryan Zimmerman went 3-for6, Ronnie Belliard went 2-for-5 and Cristian Guzman went 2-for-6. Austin Kearns hit his monthly home run.

BAD: Emilio! Bonifacio went 0-for-6 and is hitless in his last 17 at bats. Also, our pinch-hitters went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.

UGLY: Luis Ayala. Now that Wily Mo is gone, do we need to re-name the "Ugly" award? One batter faced. One home run allowed. One Loss. ERA stands at 6.04. This is what his manager had to say about him after the game:

"We can't even hide him now," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "He comes into situations like this and he's just not making pitches."

That ain't good.

NEXT GAME: Nats try to avoid the 4-game sweep at 2:05 eastern, Garrett Mock makes the start (0-2, 4.91) facing David Bush (6-9, 4.50)

Bullpen Implodes to Waste Lannan's Effort; Nats Lose 8-2

Denver -- For six innings, Washington Nationals starting pitcher John Lannan cruised through the Colorado Rockies line-up like it was a minor league team. He mixed his off-speed pitches with fastballs on the corners to baffle last year's National League Champions. But a mistake to pinch-hitter Ian Stewart, turned around for a game-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, opened the door and the rest of the Rockies came crashing through in the eighth, scoring six runs against three Nationals relievers on just three hits, and Colorado wrested a victory where before it looked like another defeat. The loss snapped Washington's modest four-game winning streak since the Major League trade deadline of July 31.

Lannan's line for the night tells the story so often repeated for him this season: seven innings pitched, two earned runs on five hits and two walks with 8 strikeouts -- but no decision. It was just another hard-luck game for Lannan, whose record stands at 6-11 with a credible 3.55 ERA this season.

"He's given us a lot of quality starts without much to show for it," manager Manny Acta said. "He hasn't been the beneficiary of a lot of run support."

After Stewart's homer -- his fifth of the season -- things got plain weird for the Nats in the bottom of the eighth. Luis Ayala relieved Lannan and retired Jeff Baker on a ground out to first, but could do no more good. Slugging OF Matt Holliday flipped a double down the right field line that landed on the chalk, 1B Garrett Atkins drew a four-pitch walk and Ayala then hit C Chris Ianetta. Manager Manny Acta had seen all he cared to of Ayala (L, 1-7, 5.81) and called for lefty Charlie Manning. Rockies OF Brad Hawpe met Manning with a bloop single to shallow center that scored both Holliday and Atkins, with Ianetta moving up to second. SS Troy Tulowitzki, batting just .238 for the season, walked to load the bases. Manning managed to strike out Stewart for the second out, and then gave way to Saul Rivera, who had pitched brilliantly the night before. But there would be no magic in his right arm Tuesday night, as he hit OF Willie Tavares, walked Jeff Baker and allowed an infield single to Holiday, each play scoring a single run and further burying the Nats.

The ugly totals for the bottom of the eighth: three hits (none hit hard), four walks and two hit-by-pitches, resulting in six earned runs and one big loss for the Nationals. "You always see something new and I don't remember the last time I saw four walks and two hit by pitches in an inning," Acta said.

The Nats got their runs courtesy of poor defense again by the Rockies. In the second inning, Austin Kearns (2-for-4) singled, took third on an error by Garrett Atkins on a bunt play by Lastings Milledge, and scored on a sacrifice fly by C Jesus Flores. In the fifth inning, Ryan Langerhans led off with a walk, took second on a sacrifice by Lannan, advance to third on an Emilio Bonifacio ground out and scored on a wild pitch by Rockies starter Jorge de la Rosa.

Washington had a chance to increase their lead in the top of the seventh. 1B Ronnie Belliard led off with a single to left field and Langerhans followed up with another clean single, putting men at first and second with no outs. Lannon struck out trying to sacrifice, but Belliard stole third base anyway to get into scoring position. However, in one of the strangest plays in a night of strangeness, Bonifacio hit a one bouncer to third right in the direction of Belliard, who couldn't decide to advance or retreat. Instead, he did neither and 3B Clint Barmes fielded the ground ball, tagged Belliard quickly and threw to first to get the speedy Bonifacio by a step. Just like that, rally over.

And that's when the real weirdness started.

The Nationals go for the rubber game Wednesday at 9:05 eastern, sending Odalis Perez (4-8, 4.16) to the hill against Jeff Francis (3-7, 5.67), making his first start in more than a month on the disabled list with inflammation of his left (pitching) shoulder.

NATS NOTES: The loss drops the Nats record to 42-71, 19.5 games behind division-leading Philadelphia.

Colorado pitcher Manny Corpas pitched one inning, allowing two hits, to earn the win. His record is 2-3, 6.55.

Washington SS Alberto Gonzalez had an MRI on his injured backside. The team announced he has a "contusion" of the hamstring and is day-to-day.

Ryan Zimmerman returned to the line-up at 3B and went 1-for-3. SS Cristian Guzman and OF Elijah Dukes did not play.

Photos (c) C. Nichols 2008.

GB&U: Set-Up for Losing

RESULT: Nats lose to Giants 6-4.

GOOD: Ryan Zimmerman. He went 3-for-5. Feels good to type his name again. Jesus Flores. Who else? Homers and drives in two. Leads the team in RBIs. Not bad for a guy who the team felt they had to go out and sign TWO GUYS to block his play. Wee Willie Harris! Just another 2-for-5 day.

BAD: Cristian Guzman. 1-for-5, 1-for-9 since signing his new contract.

UGLY: Luis Ayala. Another 8th inning implosion. Issued a four-pitch walk. Gave up three earned on three hits. Pitching "backwards" and leaving soft breaking balls up and over the plate. Where's his nasty slider? Pitching coach Randy St. Claire doesn't know either.

INJURIES: Sounds like Lastings Milledge will be back this weekend from the groin injury he suffered a month ago. He's been hitting the ball solidly at Columbus on his rehab stint.

NEXT GAME: Today at 3:35 pm, the finale in San Fran. Looking to avoid the sweep, Tim Redding (7-4, 4.17) takes on hard-luck Matt Cain (5-8, 4.08). Boy, are we accustomed to that kind of story.

Ayala Implodes, Nats Lose 6-4

San Francisco--The Washington Nationals took a precarious 4-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning against the home-standing San Francisco Giants Wednesday night, and turned the game over to set-up man Luis Ayala as scripted. But as Ayala has done much of the season, he struggled, got behind in the count, walked a man, and surrendered three earned runs to erase the lead and lose the game 6-4.

Ayala (1-6, 5.77) was called on to start the eighth inning and had trouble from the start. The first batter he faced, Nats killer Bengie Molina (lifetime .400 hitter against the franchise) lead off with a solid single to left center, completing an 3-for-4 night for him. D.C. native Emmanuel Burriss then pinch-ran for the sloth-like Molina and promptly stole second. Ayala issued a four-pitch walk to first baseman John Bowker, and after a eight pitch at bat, despite falling behind 0-2, Rich Aurilia finally found a pitch to handle: a hanging breaking ball right down Broadway The veteran hammered the offering to straight-away center field for a two-run double, wresting the lead away. Omar Vizquel, hitting just .183 in this, his 21st big league season, followed with his own double to center, and it was all over but the crying for the Nats. Ayala was allowed to remain on the hill to get the final two outs, but the damage was done.

Washington tried to mount a response in the ninth inning as Ryan Zimmerman (3-for-5) singled with one out and Jesus Flores was hit with a pitch with two outs. But Kory Casto, pinch-hitting for Ayala, could not deliver the blow that would tie the game up to force extras, as he struck out against the Giants All Star closer Brian Wilson.

The Nats actually had a late-inning lead to protect thanks to a three-run inning of their own. Against tiring Giants starter Kevin Correia in the sixth, Austin Kearns singled to lead off, and on the very next pitch, catcher Jesus Flores drilled a pitch to the left field bleachers for his sixth home run of the season, and team leading 41st and 42nd RBIs. Several batters later, pinch-hitter Johnny Estrada singled to center, driving in Ryan Langerhans, who was aboard via a double to right field. Red-hot Willie Harris (2-for-5) followed with a single to put two on with two outs, and Manager Bruce Bochy finally went to his pen for lefty Alex Hinshaw. Hinshaw, one of several rookies in Bochy's bullpen, calmly got All Star Cristian Guzman to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning without further damage. As it turned out, Hinshaw may have won the game right there.

Collin Balestar started for the Nationals and despite some early struggles settled down to pitch fairly well overall. He went five full innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits and two walks, striking out two. Steven Shell, Charlie Manning and Saul Rivera all followed with shutout performances through the sixth and seventh innings before Ayala came on. Giants rookie Geno Espineli, making just his second appearance since his recall last week, pitched two-thirds of an inning to earn the victory, and Wilson recorded his 27th save of the season.

The Nats finish the series with San Francisco, hoping to avoid the sweep, at 3:35 eastern time today with Tim Redding (7-4, 4.17) on the hill. The Giants send out hard-luck starter Matt Cain (5-8, 4.08).

NATS NOTES: Washington has lost two in a row, and are 4-6 in their last 10 games. Overall, their record stands at 38-63, tied for worst in the majors, and 16 games behind Philadelphia and New York Mets, tied for first in the NL East.

CF Lastings Milledge, on the DL since June 28 with a right groin strain, has hit well during his minor league rehab stint with Triple-A Columbus and the team hopes to activate him during the series with the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.

GM Jim Bowden, on a talk radio appearance and later confirmed by other media sources yesterday, indicated the team would not tender P Chad Cordero a contract at the end of the season. Cordero, who apparently was not made aware of this before Bowden's public announcements, was surprised by the news. Cordero responded, "I'm shocked he would say it now and make it official. It's a bit upsetting. It's early. I understand that it's a business."

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

GB&U: Another Walk Off Win

RESULT: Nats beat Angels 5-4.

GOOD: Lastings Milledge. 2-for-4, home run (7), two RBIs. Dukes was 2-for-3 with two walks. Flores has the game-winning hit after going 0-for-4 with 3 Ks. Redding gave up two earned in six innings. There was a lot to like last night.

BAD: Luis Ayala. One-third of an inning, two runs on two hits. He's just not getting it done right now. He's given up more runs than innings pitched three of his last six appearances. Yuck.

UGLY: Pete Orr. Another defensive replacement assignment. Yet another error. Sorry, he's just not a major league player.

NEWS: Shawn Hill placed on the 15-day DL today. After meeting with the doctors, the prescription was rest and therapy. I guess it's wait and see with Hill.

NEXT GAME: Friday at Nationals Park against the Baltimore Orioles, in for a three game set to FINALLY wrap up interleague play. Odalis Perez (2-5, 4.09) will come of the disabled list to face Daniel Cabrera (5-3, 4.46).

Photo courtesy of MLBAM.

GB&U: Still No Support for Lannan

RESULT: Nats lose to Rangers 5-3.

GOOD: John Lannan. Another quality start: 6 IP, 2 ERs, 4 Hits, 0 BBs, 6 Ks. All he gave up was two solo homers. He threw 90 pitches, 56 for strikes. But despite the low strike %, he didn't walk anyone and had 6 Ks. Fairly amazing. Anyway, until he learns to be a little more economical with his pitches and can get through another inning or two, he's going to keep experiencing these tough days. At least he wasn't saddled with another loss.

BAD: Wily Mo. 0-for-3, .209 for the season. His starts are getting more infrequent. Maybe Manny is tiring of the juggling act in left field.

UGLY: Ayala and Hanrahan. 2 IPs, 3 ERs, 4 hits, 3 BBs, 3 Ks. Ayala earns the loss, Joel throws gas on the fire. It's tough watching this day-in and day-out. Steven Shell (NOT a good name for a pitcher) was perfect in his MLB debut though.

NEXT GAME: Tonight against free-swinging Vladamir Guerrero and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the USA. Jason Bergmann (1-5, 5.03) faces John Lackey (4-1, 1.73). It's what you would call a 'reverse lock'.

GB&U: Wind Blowing Out In Pittsburgh

RESULT: Nats beat Pirates 7-6.

GOOD: Ronnie Belliard. Welcome back!!! His two homers -- and RBI single -- led the Nats to victory. Other homers by Meathook, Flores and of course, the game-winner, from Blastings Thrilledge.

BAD: Luis Ayala. He faced three batters in the bottom of the eighth. All reached, two scored, temporarily allowing Pittsburgh the lead. Look, I love Ayala and Rivera as much as the next guy. Probably more. But with all the over-use, they are spent right now and it's not even the all-star break yet.

UGLY: Wily Mo Pena. I'm not getting off of his back. 0-for-4 lowers his average down to .200. He saw 15 pitches in four at bats, grounding out to the left side three times and weakly flying out to left in his last at bat.

NEXT GAME: Wednesday at Pittsburgh. John Lannan (4-6, 3.47) takes on Ian Snell (2-6, 5.65) in a 7:05 pm game at PNC Park.

GB&U: Game Two to New York

GOOD: Zimmy's two-run shot. He only went 1-for-4, which actually ups his average! But I'm not complaining about the power.

BAD: Luis Ayala--leading the league in appearances and generally ineffective of late. 1.1 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB.

UGLY: Outfield defense. Milledge with an official error inthe eighth leading to two runs, and Kearns unoffical error in the sixth, allowing MVP candidate Ryan Church to drive in two more runs against his former team.

NEXT GAME: Wedenesday against the Mets at Shea at 7:10 pm. Tim Redding (4-3) against the just-recalled Claudio Vargas (0-0).

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008

Nats Lose 5-4; Swept by Marlins

Washington, DC--On a drizzly Mother's Day Sunday afternoon, it appeared the Washington Nationals had found the recipe to defeat the visiting Florida Marlins. Shawn Hill's seven strong innings pitched and home runs by little-used Aaron Boone and Ronnie Belliard gave the Nats a 4-2 lead entering the eighth inning. But overworked reliever Luis Ayala was unable to hold the Marlins at bay in the frame, as he allowed three earned runs on three hits--including two home runs--to allow the Marlins to complete the sweep and send the Nationals out on the road wondering what they have to do to actually win against the team from south Florida.

The decisive eighth inning was ugly indeed for Ayala (1-3, second blown save), making his league leading 23rd appearance of the season. Slap-hitting Alfredo Amezaga reached on an infield single to start the inning. It was a hard one-hopper to first that Boone was able to knock down, but Ayala couldn't get to the bag quick enough to get the speedy Amezaga. On the next pitch, Jeremy Hermida jumped all over Ayala's fastball and sent it screaming into the right field bleachers to tie the game. Ayala was able to coax Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu into making outs, but couldn't fool Marlins' red-hot second baseman Dan Uggla, who ripped a 2-2 pitch into dead-away center field stands, just barely avoiding becoming the first batter in Nationals Park history to reach the batter's eye. It was Uggla's second homer of the game and third of the series.

The Nationals were able to get their lead-off hitters on base in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings, but to no avail. Belliard, one-for-three on the day with a homer and two RBIs, walked to start the eighth against Marlins reliever Renyel Pinto (hold--7), but Ryan Zimmerman promptly grounded into a double play to quash the burgeoning rally. In the ninth, Lastings Milledge led off with a walk, but Willie Harris popped out to right, Elijah Dukes popped out to second and catcher Jesus Flores bounced out to Marlins closer Kevin Gregg (save--7) to end the Mother's Day festivities.

Florida reliever Logan Kensing pitched the seventh inning, surrendering just one hit, and earned his second win of the season with no losses. Marlins starter Scott Olson settled down after a rough start to keep the Marlins in the game, and allowed four earned runs on six hits and two walks in six innings pitched.

Nationals' starter Shawn Hill deserved a better fate. He looked really strong all game, and allowed two earned runs on just five hits and no walks in seven innings. He gave up one run in the second as he hit Uggla, allowed a single to Luis Gonzales that moved Uggla to third, and a sacrifice fly to first baseman Wes Helms. Hill also surrendered Uggla's first home of the day, a solo shot in the sixth. Hill still has no decisions in five starts this season, with a 3.56 ERA, with 18 strikeouts in 30.1 innings pitched.

Aaron Boone, starting for Nick Johnson against the lefty, went three-for-four on the day, coming within a double of hitting for the cycle. He homered in the second, tripled in a run in the third and singled in the sixth. His last at bat ended with a fly out to right field.

Washington begins a four-game series with the division rival New York Mets Monday, with Odalis Perez (0-3, 3.43) facing Nelson Figueroa (2-2, 4.81) at 7:10 pm in Shea Stadium.

NATS NOTES: The loss drops the Nationals' record for the season to 15-23, 8.5 games behind division-leading Florida. Washington is 9-16 against division rivals and 1-8 against Florida this season.

Washington will be on the road for the next week, playing four in New York and a three-game weekend series in Baltimore, the traditional "geographic rival" portion of interleague play.

Reliever Chris Schroder was recalled from Triple-A Columbus, replacing left-handed starter Mike O'Connor, who was optioned back to Columbus following the game. O'Connor was 1-1 while with the big club, but was hammered in his only start Saturday evening.

The team has not announced a starter for Thursday's game in New York, which would have been O'Connor's turn to start.

Nats Lose 5-4; Swept by Marlins also posted at DC Sports Box

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008