Tag Archives: Ben Revere

Nationals homer their way past the Phillies, Gio Gonzalez goes seven strong

WP – G. Gonzalez (7-3) LP – C. Lee (10-3)

The Washington Nationals were able to pound out four solo homeruns off Cliff Lee to beat the Phillies in hopes of splitting this series. Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos hit back to back homeruns in the top of the fifth inning. Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth duplicated their teammates effort in the top of the sixth, crossing the crucial three run mark that seems to dictate when the Nationals will win or lose.

The Nationals fared well against the left-handed Lee after back to back nights of poor hitting against two other Phillies left-handers. They were able to get nine hits off Lee, giving him only his third loss of the season.

Gio Gonzalez went seven strong innings, only allowing a solo homerun to Darin Ruf in the bottom of the seventh. He gave up one run on six hits, two walks while striking out five. Gio lowered his season ERA to 3.03 with his last start before the All-Star game.

The Phillies seemed to have difficulty with Gonzalez off-speed and breaking ball all night. The biggest change from the first two games of the series was that Ben Revere only managed to get on base one time which was a source of most of their momentum in the earlier games.

Carlos Ruiz was the only Phillies hitter to manage more than one hit on the game and only he and Ruf managed to be on base more than once either.

The Nationals managed an extra run in the top of the ninth on an swinging bunt by Denard Span that brought Rendon in to score from third. Tyler Clippard pitched the eighth and Rafael Soriano closed the game out in a non-save situation in the ninth.

The Nationals are now 47-44 on the year, and 42-10 when they manage to score at least three runs in the game. The Nationals now trail the Atlanta Braves by five games in the National League East.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005

Errors costly for the Nationals again, lose 4-2 to the Phillies

WP – C. Hamels (4-11) LP – T. Jordan (0-2)

S – A. Bastardo (2)

Cole Hammels came into the game a loser of eleven games and the Washington Nationals hitter made him look like a Cy Young candidate.  He pitched eight solid innings, giving up one run on six hits, a walk while striking out four.  He gave up a solo homerun to Jayson Werth in the second inning and the Nationals didn’t threaten to score again until the eighth, where Ryan Zimmerman and Werth both failed to capitalize on a bases loaded opportunity. 

The Nationals scored off the closer in the ninth inning for the second night in a row but it was too little too late.  Wilson Ramos drove in Anthony Rendon with a pinch hit double giving him nine RBIs in the four games since his return.

Taylor Jordan pitched an excellent game again, only to see a second consecutive good start go to waste due to errors.  In the fourth inning, Kurt Suzuki was charged with an error when he dropped a perfect throw from Werth at the plate allowing Chase Utley to score.   Replay showed that Utley failed to touch the plate but Suzuki never applied a tag as he attempted to throw Domonic Brown out at second base.

In the sixth inning, Jordan got Utley to ground into what should have been an easy double play to Adam Laroche, but Laroche threw the ball off of Jimmy Rollins back, allowing the ball to go into centerfield.  Ben Revere scored on the errant throw, while Rollins advanced to third base.  Michael Young then doubled to centerfield, scoring Rollins and Utley.  This was all the Phillies would need to beat the Nationals for the second evening in a row.

The Nationals continued to struggle against left-handed pitching.  They came in batting a woeful .215, tonight they continued this trend, batting .218 against Hamels and Bastardo.  The coaching staff has got to figure something out, getting batters to adjust their stance against lefties as they are consistently unable to reach the outside strikes that these pitchers are feeding them. If they do not find an answer for this issue in the second half of the season then it will be difficult to reach the postseason.

The Nationals fall to 46-44, and 5-33 in games they fail to score at least three runs.

Additional: Scott Hairston had a fairly successful debut with the Nationals going 2-for-5 leading off, playing leftfield.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005

Former National John Lannan keeps the Nationals grounded, Phillies win 3-2

WP – J. Lannan (2-3) LP – D. Haren (4-10)

S – J. Papelbon (19)

John Lannan, like most other left-handers this season, baffled the Washington Nationals for eight innings.  He struck out four while scattering four hits and two walks to keep the Nationals scoreless.

Jonathan Papelbon came on for the ninth and ran into the only challenge Nationals hitters posed on the night.  He allowed Bryce Harper to single up the middle and a double to Ryan Zimmerman before Jayson Werth came up just a couple feet short of tying the game with a blast to centerfield.  Both runners tagged, scoring Harper.  Zimmerman scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Laroche to center and with two outs pinch hitter Chad Tracy hit a little fly ball to center to end the game.

The Philadelphia Phillies scored early on Dan Haren, getting two runs in the bottom of the first inning.  Haren again struggled with control, allowing one of the runs to score on a bases loaded walk.  He allowed two or more base runners in three of the five innings he pitched.

The Phillies would add one more run in the bottom of the sixth against Fernando Abad on a single by Jimmy Rollins to center field.  Ben Revere pestered Nationals pitching all night, going 3-for-5, with a stolen base and two runs scored.

The Nationals this season have had consistent problems with left-handed pitchers that throw a variety of off speed stuff.  The biggest problem is that the Nationals hitters seem to fail to adjust in the batter’s box to be able to consistently hit the off speed pitch on the outside half of the plate with any power.  Lannan induced fifteen ground balls from the Nationals tonight keeping them off balance on what pitch was coming all night.

Additional:  The Nationals completed a trade with the Chicago Cubs today for Scott Hairston and a player to be named later for a minor league pitcher and a player to be named later. 

The Nationals fall to 46-43 on the year, and 5-32 in games that they score less than three runs.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005