Last night’s loss to Philadelphia was a perfect example of why this season is just going to be plain long, real long, and cumbersome to watch. It was a picture perfect example of what ails the franchise. Unlike last season, the Washington Nationals will not have any problem hitting, scoring, and playing offense well. Problem is, they can’t pitch and the defense stinks, period.
Nationals hit 5 home runs and knocked in a total of 11 runs —- AND LOST! Get used to it.
Ryan Zimmerman had a great night, extending his hitting streak to 16 straight games, smacking two home runs, scoring 3 runs and driving in 3 runs. Elijah Dukes also hit his third homer and Adam Dunn went 3 for 4, hit homer number 5 and raised his average to .311. All together, the Nationals scored 11 runs ion 12 hits. They rank number 11 overall in batting average with a team average of .272 and 17th in runs drive in. A weakness last season, not this year, the Nationals are tied for 9th overall in home runs, thanks to Dunn, Zimmerman, and Dukes.
Shairon Martis started for the Nationals and yielded 8 hits, 7 runs in 5 innings of work. The bullpen wasn’t much better. Garret Mock allowed 3 runs in .2 innings and Joel Hanarhan
blew his third save, not has more blown saves than saves, allowing 3
runs in 1/3 of an inning. Again, another blown game by a weak, weak,
bullpen. The retooling and rebuild of the bullpen last week by GM Mike
Rizzo has failed to respond.
The Nationals have to move on
from Hanrahan as closer. It was a failed experiment. He has not blown
more saves than he has actually saved. It hasn’t worked. The natural
successor would have been Joe Beimel, but he is on the DL.
Heck
at this point, worse for worse, turn it over to who you think may be
your future closer. How about Adam Carr? How about Zechery Zinicola?
The Nats youth movement with Jordan Zimmerman has gone well, and if you
are going to lose, and lose by the bullpen, expose these guys to the
major leagues. Hanrahan is NOT a closer, NEVER was, and SHOULDN’T be.
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- Nats trade Christian Guzman to Rangers
- El-Bashir leaving Post Caps beat
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