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Nats fall to Mets, SantanaApril 24th, 2008
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Just when the Washington Nationals showed a glimmer of straightening out …
One day after beating the Atlanta Braves and legendary pitcher John Smoltz in Atlanta on the historic night he recorded his 3000th strikeout, the Nats fell to another formidable pitcher at Nationals Park.
Johan Santana threw seven innings, gave up two earned runs and hit two doubles, helping the New York Mets defeat the Nats 7-2 on Wednesday night. His record improves to 3-2.
Nats pitcher Tim Redding threw five innings and was pulled in the top of the sixth for Ray King after giving up a single to centerfielder Carlos Beltran. Rightfielder Ryan Church reached safely on an infield hit to third, where he ultimately ended up after Nats third baseman Ryan Zimmerman’s errant throw also allowed Beltran to score what proved to be the deciding run. Redding falls to 3-2 on the season.
Redding, who leads Nats pitchers with three wins, looked strong throughout his outing. His fastball consistently notched the late 80s and early 90s, according to the Nationals Park speed gun. He also helped his own cause by hammering a double to deep center in the bottom of the fourth, scoring rightfielder Wily Mo Peña and catcher Wil Nieves, giving the Nats a 2-1 lead.
The Mets evened the score in the next inning when second baseman Luis Castillo beat out a two-out infield hit to second, scoring catcher Brian Schneider.
Shortly after Zimmerman’s error in the sixth allowed the third Mets run to score, leftfielder Angel Pagan squeezed out an infield single, scoring Church. Pagan then stole second and third before Schneider knocked him in on a roller to the mound, bringing the score to 5-2 Mets. The Mets added two more runs in the top of the ninth.
The Nats looked to be on the upswing. Shortstop Christian Guzman, Nieves and Peña each had two hits. But Zimmerman, who hit what seemed to be a promising deep fly to the left-center warning track in the first, was futile at the plate. He went 0-4, including a watched third strike from Duaner Sanchez in the eighth. The error was his second of the season while his batting average slipped to .215.
Closer Billy Wagner secured the win for Santana, whose was stranded after doubles to deep center in the third and right in the sixth.
On Tuesday night, the Nats scored the only run they would need off Smoltz in the second, one inning before the 20-year veteran became the 16th pitcher in history to join the 3000 strikeout club. Smoltz went seven innings but lost to John Lannan, who allowed five hits and no runs over seven innings. He’s 1-2 on the season.
The Nats then exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth, winning 6-0 and snapping their three-game losing streak and the Braves’ five-game winning streak.
Wednesday night’s game marked the Nats return from a three-city nine-game road trip that saw them lose seven of those games. They have lost 16 of their last 19 games and register Baseball’s lowest winning percentage at .273.
Despite their poor record, Nationals Park was nearly 80 percent full, according to the Nationals. Excluding Opening Night, Wednesday marked the highest attendance of the seven other home games at the new stadium.
Shawn Hill was scheduled to pitch for the Nats against Oliver Perez of the Mets on Thursday night before the Chicago Cubs come to town for a three-game weekend set.
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April 25th, 2008 at 12:53 am
[...] TnFullQuiver wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBut Zimmerman, who hit what seemed to be a promising deep fly to the left-center warning track in the first, was futile at the plate. He went 0-4, including a watched third strike from Duaner Sanchez in the eighth. … [...]