Nats End 8-3 Homestand with 8-0 Loss

Photo courtesy of afagen
Mike Stanton has the fly in sight
courtesy of afagen

Want to know how today’s game went for the Nationals? The Miami Marlins number nine spot batted five times and every one of those was taken by Ricky Nolasco. The Nationals sent three different number nine hitters to the plate. Edwin Jackson in the third, Corey Brown in the sixth, and Eury Perez in the ninth. Through six innings Nolasco had faced the minimum and allowed only two base runners in route to a four hit complete game shutout of the Nationals.

There is little to no good that can be taken from this game for the Nationals. In order to take any good out of this one would have to stretch their imaginations and look back to the Nats August 28 9-0 loss to Ricky Nolasco and the Marlins. What followed was a victory over the Marlins, three against the Cardinals, four against the Cubs, and one against the Marlins. In total over the Nats 11 games following their last beat down by the Marlins they went 9-2.

It is a stretch to think that the Nats could have that type of success again, but the road trip they are about to head out on is very important. It starts against the Mets who just finished getting swept by the Braves, and ends with their last head to head series against the Braves of the season. It will be the last best chance by the Braves to make up ground on the Nationals and the Nationals chance to put them away. One way or another it is the most important game the Nats have left on the schedule.

As far as this game went if you are a fan of Giancarlo Stanton and enjoy watching him play at Nats Park he once again had a stellar game at his home away from home. After his homer in the seventh Giancarlo has now hit 11 homeruns at Nats Park. The most he has hit at any road stadium. The second closest is Coors Field where he has hit six homers. All in all Giancarlo is even more impressive when he plays the Nationals at Nats Park.

The only other real takeaway from this game is that even with the series loss to the Marlins the Nationals went .500 in the season series against them and had an amazing homestand. Over the course of a 162 game season games like this are going to happen. The Nats have been almost immune to feeling down as the season has gone on, and with Gio Gonzalez on the mound tomorrow the Nats have a decent shot at getting back to their winning ways.

David Huzzard

David Huzzard was born at Fairfax Hospital in 1981 and has spent his entire life in the Washington, D.C. area. He has been a fan of all the area sports teams either since he was born or since they arrived here. He is also very pleased that his hometown is a burger town.

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