"Three bad games -- out of how many? I think that's what's going on. It happens to everybody." --Ryan Zimmerman, June 21, 2009.
THE RESULT: The Toronto Blue Jays got four runs in the first inning, one in the second and one in the third and never looked back, defeating the Washington Nationals 9-4 on Father's Day, halting the Nats' season-high winning streak at four games.
Unfortunately, the Nats never got close enough to let Ryan Zimmerman try to play hero on yet another Father's Day, but considering Zimm's 0-for-5 day with two strikeouts and six left on base, maybe he himself was a big part of why the Nate were never in this ballgame.
Zimmerman completed this series against the Blue Jays 0-for-15 with six strikeouts. Since his average peaked on May 16 at .364, Zimmerman has hit .214 over his next 31 games to his present .293.
To make matters worse, the Jays scored all but one of their runs with two outs today, and all but two runs having two outs with no men on base.
"You've got to be able to smell the blood in the water when you've got two outs with nobody on," Acta said, "and finish up the hitters and get out of there."
Starter Shairon Martis (L, 5-2, 5.13) struggled through five innings, allowing six earned runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out just one.
THE TAKEAWAY: The Nats took two series in a row from AL East teams, and continue interleague play with the Boston Red Sox this week. The team is showing signs of life, but today's game was all too familiar from early on.
THE GOOD: Josh Bard. He went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. He really hit the ball hard every time up.
THE BAD: Joel Hanrahan. One inning, three earned runs on three hits and a walk. Yuck.
THE UGLY: Zimm. He's gotta find a way out of this slump. As good as he was for a month and a half, he's been every bit as bad for a full month now.
NEXT GAME: Off Monday, then a three-game set with Boston. The park will be full of chowda heads and bean eaters. Try to keep a level head and just repeat this mantra: "They're paying for Strasburg's signing bonus."
NOTES: Despite MLB's transaction page processing a move recalling Tyler Clippard, as widely reporter earlier today, the Nats did not in fact call Clippard up from Triple-A. Apparently, some sort of paperwork confusion happened and the league processed the move erroneously.
THE RESULT: The Toronto Blue Jays got four runs in the first inning, one in the second and one in the third and never looked back, defeating the Washington Nationals 9-4 on Father's Day, halting the Nats' season-high winning streak at four games.
Unfortunately, the Nats never got close enough to let Ryan Zimmerman try to play hero on yet another Father's Day, but considering Zimm's 0-for-5 day with two strikeouts and six left on base, maybe he himself was a big part of why the Nate were never in this ballgame.
Zimmerman completed this series against the Blue Jays 0-for-15 with six strikeouts. Since his average peaked on May 16 at .364, Zimmerman has hit .214 over his next 31 games to his present .293.
To make matters worse, the Jays scored all but one of their runs with two outs today, and all but two runs having two outs with no men on base.
"You've got to be able to smell the blood in the water when you've got two outs with nobody on," Acta said, "and finish up the hitters and get out of there."
Starter Shairon Martis (L, 5-2, 5.13) struggled through five innings, allowing six earned runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out just one.
THE TAKEAWAY: The Nats took two series in a row from AL East teams, and continue interleague play with the Boston Red Sox this week. The team is showing signs of life, but today's game was all too familiar from early on.
THE GOOD: Josh Bard. He went 3-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs. He really hit the ball hard every time up.
THE BAD: Joel Hanrahan. One inning, three earned runs on three hits and a walk. Yuck.
THE UGLY: Zimm. He's gotta find a way out of this slump. As good as he was for a month and a half, he's been every bit as bad for a full month now.
NEXT GAME: Off Monday, then a three-game set with Boston. The park will be full of chowda heads and bean eaters. Try to keep a level head and just repeat this mantra: "They're paying for Strasburg's signing bonus."
NOTES: Despite MLB's transaction page processing a move recalling Tyler Clippard, as widely reporter earlier today, the Nats did not in fact call Clippard up from Triple-A. Apparently, some sort of paperwork confusion happened and the league processed the move erroneously.
THE TAKEAWAY: Despite starter Ross Detwiler's 
