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Thursday, August 11, 2005

 

Hernandez Hits Home-run; DC Unbeaten in 5 straight games

11,883 fans at RFK cheered on Washington as they won 3-0, pushing their record to 10-6-5, and 4-0-1 in their last five games. Too bad I'm talking about D.C. United and not the Nationals, who I understand lost their game (game was "too late" for any of the newspapers or, apparently the local sports radio, which continues to be obsessed with the NFL).

My understanding is that the team lost 7-6 (or 7-4) and that at least two of the RBI's in the game came off the bat of Hernandez. The Nationals now fall back to being 2 games behind Houston in the Wild Card race. If they lose tonight, they will fall a seemingly unsurmountable three games back. At least tonight's game is on television, so I'll be able to keep up with the game.

DC United Match (since I talked about them).

Go Nationals! Win! Or I'll sell the rest of my season tickets to a talking dog!




Right, we do live in the age of the Internet (obviously), so here's what happened in the game:

Washington scored early, giving them an early 1-0 lead, but Houston struck back quick, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first. Nationals tried to come back in the second but fell one run short (score after two: 4-3). Hernandez then kept the Astros from adding more runs until the bottom of the fourth. In the meantime, the Nationals offense tied up the game in the top of the fourth (4-4). The run allowed by Hernandez in the bottom of the fourth was the winning run, as the Nationals were shutout after that . . .. Um, why does the overall run total on the ESPN box score page say 6 runs scored for the Nationals and 7 for the Astros, but the inning total only shows 4 runs scored by the Nationals and 7 runs scored by the Astros (2 more in the sixth)? The line-up section shows 6 runs scored by the Nationals and 7 scored by the Astros. Truly, I don't know what actually occurred over in Houston.

Because of a cavity, Guzman was not in last nights game, Carroll played in his place.

Last night's Losing Line-up:

B Watson LF 0 for 5, 1 RBI (2), .200
J Vidro 2B 2 for 4, 1 HR (7), 1 RBI (26), 1 R, 1 BB .267
N Johnson 1B 1 for 5, 1 2B (24), 1 RBI (47), 1 R, 1 SO .314
V Castilla 3B 2 for 4, 1 BB, 1 SO, .245
B Wilkerson CF 1 for 5, 1 RBI (44) 1 SO .257
P Wilson RF 0 for 2, 1 R 1 BB 1 SO .251 (Guillen PH'd for him in the ninth - SO)
B Schneider C 2 for 4, .291
J Carroll SS 0 for 3, 1 R 1 SO .240
L Hernandez P 3 for 3, 1 2B (2), 1 HR (2), 2 RBI (6), .237

Hernandez pitched 6 innings, giving up 10 hits and 7 runs (only 5 earned, but he was the one that caused two more to score due to error), 4 walks and striking out 5. He threw 118 pitches and faced 32 batters. Carrasco pitched 1.2 solid innings and Eischen finished the game by getting one strike-out in the 8th.

ESPN box score (again). Nationals.com recap (which also has the score 7-6).

Quote by Guillen in the Nationals.com preview on why he didn't play Wednesday:
"I told [bench coach Eddie Rodriguez] to let [Brandon Watson] play. They won the game, and I don't want to cause a distraction. [Watson] has another day to prove that he can hit a lefty. He can hit a right-hander." (also a separate article on the Guillen situation: Notes of importance: "Robinson said Guillen will start against the Astros on Thursday night. Robinson does not know who he will bench between Watson and Wilson. . . . With the Nationals in the playoff race, Robinson has not ruled out using Carroll more often down the stretch if Guzman doesn't improve his hitting. Entering Tuesday's action, Guzman is hitting .188, while Carroll is hitting .243"). Oh, and that toothache that kept him out of Wednesday game is blamed for his poor defensive play: "Guzman had the same dental problem during Spring Training, but it reoccurred during Tuesday's game, which caused him to look shaky on defense."

Tonight:
Drese (7-11, 5.55) vs. Pettitte (9-8, 2.64) (despite the Washington Post still thinking that Armas is pitching tonight).

Guillen will start, not sure if Watson or Wilson benched (see above).

ESPN stat pack. Nationals.com preview.

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