Nationals 11, Padres 7: Two Home Runs Short Of Victory

The last game within green walls for awhile. This losing streak has been a trying time for everyone. Probably more for the Padres than for us. Robbie Erlin faces off against Stephen Strasburg.

1st Inning

Carlos Quentin had a single, but the other 3 Padres in the inning struck out.

Nationals started the run scoring early. After a single, wild pitch, and a ground out, Bryce Harper singled home Denard Span.

Nationals 1-0

2nd Inning

King Jesus Guzman stepped up to the plate for the first time today and hit it right at the centerfielder. He's out. Hitting streak in jeopardy. Kyle Blanks is trying to be like Jesus and did the same exact thing Guzman did. Nick Hundley was then hit by a pitch in what seems to be some sort of collusion between the Nationals and the NL West in order to take out all of the Padres catchers. Rene Rivera is probably already asking to be send back down to Tucson. Alexi Amarista making the rare appearance at second base today singled to get Hundley into scoring position, but Robbie Erlin could not deliver his first hit, so the rally ends.

3rd Inning

After 2 strikeouts, Carlos Quentin entered the batter's box. Suddenly, he's taking a ball off his knee. Really, Nationals? Now we're taking out the knee specifically? This is getting very suspicious. Unfortunately for them, that left knee is probably the one forged with titanium. With one swing of the bat, Chase Headley sent the ball off the centerfield wall and birthday man Glenn Hoffman sent Carlos barreling towards the plate. The throw is high and Wilson Ramos can't hold on to it. Quentin is safe on Headley's RBI double and this game is tied!

TIE FRIAR GAME 1-1

In the bottom of the inning, it got bad. Stephen Strasburg was walked, Ian Desmond walked, and Bryce Harper reached on an "infield single". Next up to bat was Ryan Zimmerman. Before I realized that he was batting, he was done batting. And had already rounded the bases. A first pitch fastball clears the wall for a grand slam. But, that wasn't the end of the scoring. A single was followed up by a home run for Anthony Rendon, the guy whose mullet took out Grandal yesterday.

Nationals 7-1

4th Inning

Nick Hundley walked to 1st without having to be hit this time. Alexi Amarista came to the plate looking to get another hit and hit it he did. A deep home run to right gets the Padres 2 more runs after Homerista crosses the plate.

Nationals 7-3

5th Inning

Jesus Guzman singled. Hit streak in tact. Spot in the All-Star game as an injury replacement still possible.

I missed the bottom half of this inning and because I missed it, I have no idea how to piece together what exactly happened in this inning. Multiple box scores are being consulted to try and figure out what all these words about the inning mean. From what I can piece together, there was a Harper/Zimmerman double steal and a Hundley error got Zimmerman to 3rd and Harper across the plate. There was a walk, then Yasmani Breaker singled home a run. An Everth Cabrera error loaded the bases, then a double play scored a run. Stephen Strasburg of all people singled home a run to push in the 4th run of the inning. Lost in the shuffle was Robbie Erlin exiting the game. 4 innings pitched and he had 3 strikeouts, but gave up 6 hits and 4 walks for 9 ER including the 2 home runs in the 3rd inning.

Nationals 11-3

6th inning

Alexi Amarista singled for his 3rd hit of the game. Pedro Ciriaco was hit by a pitch. 3rd Padre player today to get hit by Stephen Strasburg today. At this point, should a Padres pitcher accidentally hit a player, they'll probably be given a 5 day suspension. Everth Cabrera walked to load the bases. Will Venable grounded out to score Alexi. This was also Strasburg's last inning pitched.

Nationals 11-4

7th Inning

Chase Headley led off the inning with a double. After Guzman grounded him over to 3rd, Chris Denorfia reached first on an error and scored Headley. Hundley singled Denorfia to third base. Alexi Amarista then grounded out to score Denorfia.

Nationals 11-6

Dale Thayer got into a bit of trouble by loading the bases, but got out of it on a Harper fly ball.

8th Inning

Everth Cabrera got his first hit of the weekend and his first since coming off the disabled list. Will Venable grounded to the 1st baseman but turned on the jets to beat out the throw to the pitcher running towards first. Carlos Quentin sent a bloop single to left and Everth Cabrera turned on his jets to beat the mishandled throw home. However, the run scoring stopped after another reliever was brought into the game and forced 3 straight outs.

Nationals 11-7

9th Inning

Padres were down by 8 runs after 5 innings. Going into the 9th inning, the margin is 4. Nick Hundley came to the plate and battled Tyler Clippard. Foul ball after foul ball until it wasn't. A strikeout ends the at bat for Nick. Alexi Amarista stepped to the plate and had a kerfuffle of his own. His ended with a pop up to right field. Mark Kotsay came into the game and got the count full, but the wrong number got to 3. Strikeout ends the rally that never began and the game that would never end.

Nationals 11-7

Nine straight. Padres made me sit here and write words for nine straight losses. Today, the Padres out hit the Nationals 12-11. I hate those green walls. What's worse is that I realized that there are quite a few teams that play on a field surrounded by green walls. Places like St. Louis after the All Star Break. But, that's not for awhile. Padres head home to Petco to try and come out on top against the NL West rival Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants in a 7 game homestand before the All Star break. Tomorrow, Edinson Volquez will face Tyler Chatwood. Win tomorrow, Padres. Do it for us. Do it so we have something great to talk about in the recaps again.

Roll Call

Total comments: 167

Total commenters: 9

Commenters: chris.callahan.7777, EvilSammy, Faith Keeper, Friar Fever, grizzlysd187, jodes0405, johnlichtenstein, TheThinGwynn, Zen Blade