Umpire killed Gio on the missed strike 3 call on Beltran
Pen is solid though, for my money, not quite to the level of our pen (Reds). Matheus, Stammen, Gorzelanny or Michael Gonzalez -- one of those likely next depending on the matchup. Burnett usually sets up later. The Nat's not so secret bullpen weapon is Drew Storen, the resurrected, defacto closer. The more secret weapon is Garcia. Young guy with great stuff who was one of the last adds to the roster. I'd personally like to see him starting in place of EJax, who makes any Nats follower extremely nervous.
Last edited by 1940757690; 10-07-2012 at 05:13 PM.
Many will say lucky to escape the 5th unscathed but Gio deserves big credit. He's a superb pitcher who, with an obviously off day, held the Cards to just 2 runs. Highest walk number of the year though. He won't go past the 6th I don't think. Pitcher's spot doesn't come up next inning unless there's a serious rally.
Gio's line today is
5 IP
1 Hit
2 ER
5 K
7 BB
110 pitchers
It's a strange game. Lots of walks. Lots of baserunners. Very little scoring relatively. Nats have a tendency to win whacked-out games like this. Has happened a lot this year. Outings like this, where the Nats win, are why Gio's unlikely to get the Cy Young. That'll be RA's I think.
Frickin' Espinosa. I swear, he's Stubbs with more power and bit more ego.
3 inning in a row with a lead off single for the Nats, but then they do noting but miss pitches or pop up, Espinosa has put up 3 atrocious AB today he hit a long foul and missed everything else by 3 feet or took pitches down the middle.
One other note on the Nats' pen. Tyler Clippard. Classic example of how the Yankees are great at offloading their problems when others don't realize it. Bigtime controversial. Was the closer most of the year because Storen was out recovering from surgery. Has been totally unreliable the past few months. Davey kept putting him in, mostly in big lead situations and the guy would give up a run or two or more every time. Storen's now the closer without any announcement being made about it. I hope we don't see Clippard at all this post season unless there's at least a 5 run Nats lead.
Morse is a beast and carries that nickname. Strongest on the team. Longest homers.
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