With the Nationals’ offense in an extended rut, they have depended on pitchers being near perfect in order to scratch out a victory. Friday night they had the displeasure of facing a pitcher who was hitting on all cylinders and playing behind one who could not get out of the fourth inning.
Coming into Friday’s game, the Mets' pitcher, Jon Niese had put up respectable numbers and proved to be just too much for the Washington’s offense.
For starters, Niese struck out a career high eight batters, and that was only after four innings. He wouldn’t record a single K the rest of the night, but he did not need to. He allowed just one run and that was in the seventh inning when a solo shot from Josh Willingham was just a small dent in a 5-0 lead.
“He’s got good stuff,” Manager Jim Riggleman said. “He’s 5-0 now in his last five starts. He’s found something because he’s much tougher than what we’ve seen in the past.”
The previous game, on Thursday evening, showed a Nationals team that depended on an outstanding one-run performance from Livan Hernandez in order to give them a chance to come back to get a win 2-1.
Atilano has been a hit-or-miss type of pitcher since he made his major league debut earlier this season. Tonight was a miss. More specifically, the fourth inning was a miss.
The young righty gave up a leadoff double to Mets’ third baseman, David Wright. To make matters worse, Atilano walked the next two batters to load the bases.
He was almost able to get out of the jam as Rod Barajas popped out, failing to drive in the run and Jeff Francoeur lined out to short. But light-hitting Alex Cora crushed a ball off the wall in right over the outstretched glove of Michael Morse. It was a bases clearing triple.
“I wasn’t on top of hitters, that’s why I ended up in trouble,” Atilano said. “In the fourth inning the two walks, that can’t happen, and I made one bad pitch.”
After the triple, Atilano gave up a double to Niese which put the Nationals down for the count, 5-0. Recently for this team that sort of deficit all but ends a game and tonight was no exception.
The Nats’ bottom of the ninth proved a microcosm of the team’s troubles. The heart of the lineup was able to get a few runs on the board but it was too little, too late. The winning run was sent up to the plate but Roger Bernadina was picked off at second base to end the game. A frustrating miscue to end what seems to be an all too typical game for Washington.
“I was late,” Bernadina said on making the last out. “That’s all I can say there.”
Manager Jim Riggleman said he had not seen a game end that way before but he was looking at the glass half-full and hopes Bernadina can take something away from the mistake. “It’s got to be a learning experience not only for Bernie but for the other players,” he said. “When we get in that situation we won’t make that mistake again.”
Even after Thursday’s win, it seems to be apparent that even with the new month, the team is dealing with the same lingering problems.
You can reach this staff writer at slindauer@theeagleonline.com.
