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• BANE!!!!: Mike Trout's amazing leaping catch at the wall? So two months ago. Roger Bernadina, ahem, I mean Roger "The Shark" Bernadina has made a habit of making spectacular leaping catches in the outfield over the last couple years and he did it again tonight in the Washington Nationals' extra-innings win over the Houston Astros in Minute Maid Park. That's why they call him the Shark after all... or The Shark Knight... the Nats' 28-year-old outfielder went 0 for 2 with two walks, a K and a run scored in tonight's game, ending the night with a respectable .276/.362/.379 line in 89 games and 174 at bats on the year, but it was his leaping catch in center field in Houston that had the baseball world buzzing. Here it is...
• [CHOMP!] 2 on, 2 out, bottom of the 12th. 3-2 Nationals and Astros' 1B Brett Wallace thought he'd won the game. Look at his face when he connects. He's sure it's at the very least a game-winning hit. Then the Shark smells blood, takes off and leaps into the center field wall to save Tyler Clippard from a blown save and rob Wallace of a game-winning walk-off hit. Reckless abandon on the Shark's part. Craig Stammen leaping up and down with delight like the bullpen's been given snow cones. The Shark does it again.
"I knew I had a shot all the way," Bernadina told reporters after the game, "And I made the catch."
'I didn't hit [the wall] that hard," the Nats' outfielder said. "That moment you don't think about it, you just go for it. I'm good now."
• Here via the Twitter, are the Nats' reactions to Bernadina's catch:
Roger Bernadina: "I didn't hit (the wall) that hard... but in that moment you don't think about it. You just go for it. I'm good now."
— Amanda Comak (@acomak) August 8, 2012
Stammen on seeing Bernadina: "He caught it. I was like, 'Is he dead or alive?' "
— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) August 8, 2012
Davey on Bernadina's catch: "He disappeared and came out holding the glove high. I said, 'Man, this is great. Let's get out of here.'"
— Amanda Comak (@acomak) August 8, 2012