Wow, this is a tearjerker. Matt Chico goes on the board with the best start for the Nats this year, 8IP, 5H, 1BB, 3K. He'll get the loss.
A questionable ninth inning decision to use the struggling Jon Rauch resulted in two more runs, as Rauchie's ERA rose to 9.00. His fastball is only hitting about 86, and while he's no flamethrower, he's usually more in the 91 range, which makes me wonder if he's hiding an injury. Either the Jesus or Saul Rivera would probably have made much better choices for the ninth, but I'm not the manager.
The Nats offense has continued a proud tradition of lying down for Tim Hudson. I've got to dig up his lifetime numbers against us. The man's good, but he's not this good. Zimmy's average has dropped back under .200, which is sort of to be expected - he generally has pretty terrible starts, but it's really ugly to watch, especially with the team having lost eight in a row. They're a sorry bunch at the moment. Wish I had more to write, but damn, it's hard to get up much momentum when it's loss after loss.
Tomorrow we'll see a battle of the Johns, Lannan versus Smoltz. Also, it should be noted that a decision has to be made about the rotation pretty soon in light of Shawn Hill's impending return. It looks like Lannan will be the odd man out, because Matt Chico definitely removed himself from the chopping block with his performance tonight. Something is amiss with Jay Bergmann, too. He's now pitched four solid in two straight starts and then imploded in the fifth. It's painful to see, but hopefully he can work out whatever is causing these little collapses pronto.
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I think Bergmann's problems stem from his control being rather loosey goosey. He's got good pitches, but consistency is a problem. Also, it's sad to see Lannan go, but I figure it won't be too long till he's back.
If you haven't seen highlights from the Caps game, you need to - Ovechkin's goal was sick and Brashear is a goal scoring phenom.
Talk about giving it all for your team: "Green's initial shot left Flyers winger Patrick Thoresen writhing on the ice (he was hospitalized with severe testicular trauma)..."
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