That rumor wa going all day long…

I’ll preface this by saying that I live in St. Louis. I’m a Nats fan 162 games a year. I pull for the Cardinals 155 games a year. I say this because… well…. I will get into one of the old unwritten rules.

Lannan pitched a hell of a game. In fact, I’d say he made just one mistake really. The mistake wasn’t the 3-1 pitch to Steve Spiccoli. It was the fact that he fell behind a .209 hitter 3-0. I’m sure he was tiring a bit, though he finished at just 91 pitches through 8. Still, the old adage that you turn a pretty poor punch-and-judy hitter into a monster at the plate when you fall behind like that often holds true. It did tonight, and Spiccoli made him pay. Still, terrific outing by Lannan. He deserved better.

Since he’s a guy who has warranted some discussion on this Nats support group about whether or not he is the long-term answer in RF, Elijah Dukes needs to play like he did tonight all the time. He was outstanding on both sides of the ball, going 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and making a couple of outstanding catches in RF. He needs to bottle that, and from what he showed last year, he’s quite capable of doing so.

Zimm was Zimm for the most part. He had an error on a play where he seemed to lose concentration while fielding the ball a bit. He made up for it with a couple of great plays on the run, including a heads up 5-3 double play that would eventually get them out of the inning where he made the error. He chased a pretty bad pitch in the first with the runner on third and one out, but the Cardinals wisely said that they were going to make someone else beat them, walking him twice, including a four pitch walk in the eighth where nothing was really close to the zone.

Donkey – If they’re playing the psycho overshift and have their second baseman in shallow right field and he bobbles it, you need to beat it out.

Hammer looks like he’s in a bit of a funk. He was working well with the patience and discipline, but he missed badly on a pair of 3-1 fastballs. It’s either gotta be in the happy zone or you’ve gotta lay off it.

Riggles…. Let’s just say I think he’s had better games. Handful of mistakes, with the most obvious one being his decision to see what was in the fourth chamber while playing Russian Roulette. Plain and simple, I could look back and point to all three of the game threads when the Nats played the Cardinals in Washington and find about five times where I said “Don’t let Pujols beat you!” Amazingly (and I do watch a lot of Cardinals games, too), only one team has figured that out all year. That team cut into the Rockies lead in the wildcard race with a 2-0 home win over Colorado tonight. If you heard the one guy screaming “Walk him!” before Pujols’ at bat in the ninth, I think you can probably figure out who it was.

His other mistake (in my eyes) was much more subtle, and the way that Lannan pitched, you could question whether or not it was a mistake. Lannan was at 70 pitches through 6 innings when the Nats had given him a 2-1 lead. With one out and the Bard on second, Alberto Gonzalez grounded out to second. Guz was in the on deck circle, ready to bat for Lannan, but was called back. If Gonzalez drives Bard in there, I think it’s the right move to let Lannan hit for himself. With a runner on third, two out, and a 1-run lead in the seventh, I think you have to try and get that run in, even if it means the end of Lannan’s night. If memory serves, Lannan had just retired Pujols and Holliday to end the sixth. If you can’t trust your bullpen to get out the 5/6/7 guys (Ludwick, DeRosa, Yadi Molina), you shouldn’t have them on your roster. You have to try and get that run in.

The situational hitting did the Nats in a bit again. Zimm’s failure to make contact after Orr got to third on the throwing error by Molina was crucial. That said, LaRussa did exactly what Riggles should have done in the 9th (albeit, this would have been a leadoff walk), giving Zimm the “unintentional” intentional walk with Dennys Reyes on the hill in the eighth to get to Dunn. A) Reyes is a lefty specialist, so it made a bit of sense (though it does ignore the fact that Zimm has been exceptionally better against right-handers) to walk Zimm to get to the lefty on deck…. B) He walked the team’s best hitter on four pitches to avoid letting Zimm twist the dagger.

Beyond that, I want to get into that “unwritten rule.” Admittedly, Bergmann came up and in on Albert the pitch before the inevitable happened (again, Russian Roulette…. There are only six chambers and one bullet. Your best bet is to pass the gun!) with some high heat. Pujols, after hitting the home run (which was an absolute no-doubter…. Though I knew as soon as Gonzalez flew out that the mistake of letting Pujols beat them was going to be exactly how the game ended), stood and watched for a minute. He then threw the bat in disgust. For anyone to say that he wasn’t showing the Nats (specifically Bergmann) up, they would have to be blind. Does he get plunked tomorrow? And, more importantly, should he?

Best player in the game or not (again, I pull for the Cards 155 or 156 games a year), I’m a little disappointed that it’s Stammen pitching tomorrow and not Garrett Mock. Pujols needs a 90+ MPH fastball planted in his back. As a Nats fan living in St. Louis (watching via Extra Innings), the Extra Innings feed was blacked out when they played in St. Louis, meaning I had to listen to the generally pretty bad Dan McLaughlin and the absolutely awful Mad Hungarian, Al Hrabosky. All through the series in Washington, every time that Elijah Dukes came to the plate, Hrabosky went off on him for hitting the walkoff against the Cards last season and thumping his chest (well after he’d dropped the bat… after the ball had cleared the fence, and on his way to first base). The game is being replayed on Fox Midwest right now, and while I really don’t want to watch it, I’m interested to hear Hrabosky’s reaction (I’m sure there won’t be one) to Albert’s shenanigans.

It just seemed like a bit of classless showboating, and I hated to see it from a guy like Pujols. Ordinarily, he seems very respectful of the game and other players. Maybe I’m just nitpicking because he hit a walkoff against us, but it seemed a little over the top.

For me, when Lannan lost concentration against Greene in the 8th was when it went pear shaped. He fell behind 3-0; it just leads to trouble for John. When he pitches ahead in the count he is a machine…but I just knew it was bad when he fell behind and started rushing. Just asking for trouble – if he gets to the 9th – and either he or Macca are against Pujols…I think the Nats might shade it.

In any event, I stand by my comments… Pujols is the best batter ive ever seen. So much better than Bonds.