Milwaukee Brewers at Washington Nationals: (The I Didn't See The) Game Report...

     I really don't like having to miss games, and it's rarer still that I actually choose to, but tonight was the first time since 1992 that the Pittsburgh Penguins were to play in a Stanley Cup Finals game and having cheered for the franchise since 1984 when Pittsburgh, ahem, earned the right to draft le Magnifique, Le Meilleur Joueur d'hockey dans le monde, Mario Lemieux, I've never missed a Penguins' Stanley Cup Finals game so, I figured, Why start now?...

...And besides, there's MLB.tv's archive now, and so much one can glean from the boxscore, starting with the fact that the Nationals lost the second of this four game series with the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2, and John Lannan didn't look to have his best stuff, going 5.0 innings, and allowing 4 hits, 2 runs and 1 HR to Brewers' outfielder Corey Hart, with Lannan collecting 4 K's, Joel Hanrahan and Jesus Colome each giving up a run, and Charlie Manning coming on to end it with a scoreless inning in the top of the ninth. 

Corey Hart went deep off of Lannan, and Mike Cameron sent one out off Colome, while Lastings Milledge was 2 for 4 with 1 HR, his second of the season, and 1 RBI. Elijah Dukes was 2 for 4, or as Doghouse wrote in the Comments section, "Dukes 2-4! He doubled his average!" to .111 when the night ends. Wil Nieves collects a 2B and an RBI, and Ryan Zimmerman and Felipe Lopez each single, but with runners left on left and right, and the Brewers' bullpen combining for four scoreless after starter Seth McClung pitched 5.0 innings and gave up 4 hits, 2 runs and 1 HR the Nationals were unable to mount a comeback. 

Game Notes and News...

The Nationals signed another former Cincy Reds player, but it appears as if Pokey Reese has been signed to fill a hole in the Triple AAA roster according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson's article entitled, "Nationals sign infielder Reese."

Washington Post writer Chico Harlan has an interview at the "Nationals Journal" blog with the Manager of the Nationals' Double-AA affiliate in Harrisburg, PA, John Stearns, who reports on the progress of reliever Zech Zinicola, and outfielders Justin Maxwell and Roger Bernadina, among others. The Harrisburg Senators, currently 29-17, just a half-game out of first in the Eastern League's Southern Division, are led offensively by Expos' Draft pick, 24-year old catcher Luke Montz's .317 AVG, 9 HR's and 35 RBI's, and on the mound by pitchers Marco Estrada (5-2, 2.45), Bobby Brownlie (4-0, 2.83), Corey VanAllen (3-0, 2.16), and Zinicola (2-1, 1.80, 5 SV). 

Tomorrow's game is a 1:35 start. The Nationals can guarantee a split, and then go for the series win on Monday, with Tim Redding on the hill Sunday, and Jason Bergmann to follow with the holiday start. 

Nationals now 21-29.