Tonight's Top 5:
5. More Fans For Strasburg Than Johnson: 27,037 turned out last night to see the Washington Nationals' 21-year-old right-handed ace Stephen Strasburg, but only 23,005 tickets were sold for Saturday night's start by Florida Marlins' ace Josh Johnson, and far fewer showed up to watch the 26-year-old righty pitch the same 6.0 scoreless Strasburg posted last night and hand a 2-0 lead to the Marlins' bullpen for the second-straight shutout in the series, one for each team heading into the Sunday matinee...Johnson ends the night with a 15.0 inning scoreless streak which stretches back to a July 2nd start against Atlanta when he gave up an run in the fifth and finished his outing with a scoreless sixth. Since then it's 8.0 scoreless innings pitched against the Dodgers, and 6.0 tonight against the Nats...Johnson's Line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K's, 109 pitches, 72 strikes, 5 groundouts, 4 flyouts...
4. Early Chances Wasted: The Washington Nationals gets back-to-back leadoff singles from Nyjer Morgan and Roger Bernadina in the first. Ryan Zimmerman flies out. Adam Dunn K's swinging at an 0-2 slider inside from Josh Johnson and Josh Willingham rips a line drive right to Dan Uggla at second --Two on no outs = 0 runs...Adam Dunn's other 2 K's tonight both come with two runners on as well...Roger Bernadina reaches safely on a two-out grounder that Dan Uggla muffs. Ryan Zimmerman follows with a line drive single to right and Dunn's up again with two runners on in the third, this time with two outs. Josh Johnson throws another slider inside, this one a 1-2 bender that gets the same single-lettered mark in the scorebook...Livan Hernandez singles to start the Nats' fifth, Roger Bernadina singles with one down, and Adam Dunn's up with two down and he goes down, swinging again, this time at a 2-2 fastball up high...Dunn beats the shift with a single to left to start the eighth, but he's erased on an inning-ending DP grounder by Pudge...Dunn - 0 for 4, 3 K's, 6 LOB...
3. E: 22, E: 76: Marlins' second, Ian Desmond drops back behind second tracking a weak pop up off Dan Uggla's bat, Nats' second baseman Adam Kennedy's charging for it too, and there's an ump out there as well, and AK and the Ump come too close to Desmond and distract him enough that the 24-year-old error-plagued infielder has it go in and out of his glove. Desmond's 22nd error of 2010. The Washington Nationals' league-leading 76th. Result: Not good. Jorge Cantu follows with a single and Marlins' outfielder Mike Stanton takes a one-out walk off Livan Hernandez before catcher Ronny Paulino singles in the only two runs of the game...Livan's Line: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K's, 95 pitches, 64 strikes, 4 groundouts, 7 flyouts, 0 support...
2. 200th Hit!! Livan Hernandez singles to start the Nationals' fifth for the 200th hit of the 35-year-old right-hander's 15-year career. 402 games and 892 at bats into his fifteenth season, Livan takes a 94mph 0-1 fastball back up the middle for a leadoff single. It's Livan's 154th single: 153 1B + 36 2B + 2 3B + 9 HR's = 200!!!! Two triples you ask? August 14, 2002: San Francisco vs Atlanta - Livan lines a triple to the right-center gap off Braves' lefty Tom Glavine. September 24, 2005: Mets vs Nats - RFK Stadium: Really? 3 years after the first triple off Tom Glavine, Livan, then with the Nats, and Glavine, then with the Mets, meet again in the Nats' fifth and Livan triples to the right-center gap, scoring on the Brandon "00" Watson single that follows...
1. 3-0 Almost: Ryan Zimmerman's up against Marlins' reliever Jose Veras in the seventh, runners on first and third, and on a 3-0 fastball, Zim takes a swing, gets the pitch he expects and crushes it but has it sail foul into the stands down the left field line. 3-1 count. Veras hits the corner low and away for a called strike two and then drops a full-count curve out of the sky to get Ryan Zimmerman looking for the third and final out of the inning...The Nationals go 0 for 9 with RISP and produce 0 runs on 11 hits...
• Miss The Game? Some Of The DC Faithful Turned Away, Some Just Had To Look...
• Final Score: Marlins 2, Nats 0.
Nationals now 40-51.
(ed. note - "Sorry, I just can't bring myself to discuss the Adam Kennedy play at the plate...Horrendous all-around on that one, should be an error...")
FULL GAME REPORT:
1 - Florida Marlins' right-hander Josh Johnson gives up a leadoff single to Nats' center fielder Nyjer Morgan. Roger Bernadina works a 1-2 count into a 2-2 count and hits a broken bat bloop single to right. Ryan Zimmerman flies out to left field, Morgan takes third on the play. Adam Dunn K's swinging at an 0-2 slider after fouling off a few 0-2 pitches. Two down. Josh Willingham lines to Dan Uggla at second. Nice inning, no runs for the Nats...Marlins' leadoff man Chris Coghlan flies out to Nyjer Morgan in center. Gaby Sanchez flies to Willingham in left. Hanley Ramirez goes down swinging chasing Livan's slow curve. 0-0 after one.
2 - Pudge Rodriguez grounds back to the mound. One down. Adam Kennedy grounds out to second. Ian Desmond K's looking at a 96mph fastball inside. Johnson's warm now...Dan Uggla gets on when Ian Desmond drops a pop behind second after he and Adam Kennedy almost collide. Jorge Cantu singles to right to put two on for Cody Ross. Ross pops out to Adam Dunn foul of first. One down. Mike Stanton takes a one-out walk to load the bases. Ronny Paulino lines one over a leaping Adam Kennedy at second and into center for a two-run single, 2-0 Marlins. Josh Johnson grounds to second, Kennedy backhands to Desmond at second, to Dunn, double play.
3 - Livan grounds back to the mound and off Johnson's bare hand, but he makes the play. 1 out, Johnson's fine. Nyjer Morgan grounds out to first. Roger Bernadina reaches safely on an infield grounder Dan Uggla can't handle. Ryan Zimmerman lines a two-out single to left, Bernadina to second. Adam Dunn goes down chasing a slider inside...Chris Coghlan K's taking a 2-2 two-seamer inside. Gaby Sanchez takes a cartoon curve to right for a one-out single and takes second on Hanley Ramirez's weak groundout. Dan Uggla grounds out to second, still 2-0 Marlins.
4 - Josh Willingham K's looking at a two-strike bender inside. Pudge Rodriguez flies out to the wall in right, Mike Stanton makes the catch. Adam Kennedy rips a two-out single to the right side of second. Ian Desmond grounds to secon-- Uggla drops it, Desmond safe, Kennedy inexplicably breaks for home and gets thrown out by the Marlins' second baseman. 2-0 Marlins...Livan gets a weak fly ball to right out of Jorge Cantu. Cody Ross K's chasing a heater up high. Two down. Mike Stanton takes another full-count curve for ball four. Ronny Paulino flies out to center to end the fourth.
5 - Livan Hernandez singles up the middle for the 200th hit of his career. Nyjer Morgan K's looking and lets the Ump know he doesn't like it. Gaby Sanchez and Josh Johnson collide at first trying to get to the bag, and Bernadina's called safe on a weak grounder. Ryan Zimmerman works the count full and flies out to the line in right. Two down. Adam Dunn can't check his swing on a 2-2 fastball from Johnson and he's punched out by the third base ump for the third K tonight...Livan Hernandez gets Josh Johnson swinging to start the Marlins' fifth. Chris Coghlan K's swinging at a fastball outside. Gaby Sanchez lines out to Nyjer Morgan in center, 2-0 Fish after five.
6 - Josh Willingham takes strike three from Josh Johnson. One down. Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez grounds out to first. Adam Kennedy flies to center to end the Nats' sixth...Hanley Ramirez K's looking to start the Marlins' sixth. Dan Uggla goes the other way but Roger Bernadina gets there, two down for Livan. Cantu hits a ground-rule double into the right field corner and over the wall. Two-out hit. Cody Ross flies out to right field to end the sixth, still 2-0 Marlins.
7 - Jose Veras gives up a broken-bat single to Ian Desmond to start the seventh. Willie Harris flies out to center, one down. Morgan reaches on a bunt Veras can't get to in time. Roger Bernadina grounds to first, Gaby Sanchez gets the force at second, but Bernadina's safe at first. Ryan Zimmerman up with runners on first and third, and he takes a full-count curve for a called strike three, 2-0 Marlins in the seventh...Mike Stanton flies out to Josh Willingham in left field, one down. Ronny Paulino flies out to center. Pinch hitter Mike Lamb K's swinging to end the seventh.
8 - Adam Dunn beats the shift with a single to left to start the Nats' eighth. Josh Willingham pops out foul of third, but it drops between Cantu and Paulino. Hammer flies out to center on the next pitch. Pudge grounds into the inning-ending DP...Emilio Bonifacio pops out to Adam Kennedy, one down. Gaby Sanchez pops out to second too. Hanley Ramirez grounds out to short, and it's on to the ninth.
9 - Marlins' right-hander Leo Nunez gets Adam Kennedy on a check-swing strike three. Ian Desmond grounds out to third, two down. Cristian Guzman pops up to left, but Bonifacio and Hanley Ramirez let it drop between them. Nyjer Morgan K's swinging over a 2-2 change, ballgame.