Nats blanked 4-0; Myers tosses complete game
Tonight's 4-0 loss, the Nationals 12th consecutive set-back, can be blamed on the offense. Washington left nine men on base, four in the first two innings where they had three base hits, a walk and two men who reached base on errors; and they didn't score.
Brett Myers tossed a complete game shutout, scattering nine hits, striking out nine and walking one. He threw 119 pitches, 82 for strikes.
Ryan Zimmerman was thrown out at the plate, on a great throw from Pat Burrell in left field to end the first inning. Third base coach Tim Tolman sent Zimmerman when he should have held him. Zimmerman was two strides from third base as Burrell was about to unleash his throw to the dish. The play wasn't close and the ball was waiting for Zimmerman at the plate.
Washington had runners on first and second with one out in the second and again, didn't score. Collin Balester failed to get a bunt down so the runners could advance and both were left on the bags.
After the second, the Nationals had only one runner reach third and just five base runners total. The shutout was the 19th of the season for the Nationals, one shy of the franchise record of 20 set by the 1972 Expos.
Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the third without a base hit. Gregg Dobbs walked to lead-off the inning and moved to second when Balester hit Chris Coste. Myers sac bunt attempt was too hard and right at Balester. He threw the lead runner, Dobbs, out at third.
Jimmy Rollins hit a grounder to second that looked to be an inning-ending double play, but the relay throw, by new shortstop Anderson Hernandez, was wide of first and Coste scored from second. Replays showed Myers didn't slide into second and Hernandez was probably blocked by the big pitcher, causing him to throw the ball away.
The Phillies broke the game open in the fifth with a three run inning. Shane Victorino led-off with a single and scored ahead of Dobbs' 2-run homer to right. It was Dobbs' sixth of the season.
Coste followed with a single and moved to third on Rollins' single. Jason Werth, trying to protect the plate, blooped a double just inside the foul line in right, scoring Coste to make it 4-0.
Marco Estrada, making his Major League debut, tossed two scoreless innings in relief. He allowed a single and a bloop double. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter, and 19 of his 29 pitches were strikes.
Postgame Notes
Anderson Hernandez went 3-4 in his Nationals debut.
Emilio Bonifacio went 2-4 with a stolen base.
Ronnie Belliard had two hits in four at bats. He is 6-8 in the first two games of the series.
Austin Kearns, Jesus Flores and Willie Harris went a combined 0-12
Washington is 2-20 with runners in scoring position in the two games in Philadelphia.
Final Linescore
Nationals 0-9-1
Phillies 4-9-2
WP-Myers (6-10)
LP-Balester (2-6)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Marco Estrada's debut
Marco Estrada's debut turned out to be a good one. His first pitch to Chris Coste was a ball; a little high. Coste singled on a 2-2 pitch, but was thrown out trying to steal second. It looked like Brett Myers missed a sign on the play and Coste was out by five feet. Myers struck out looking on a nice curve ball that buckled Myers knees. Estrada got Jimmy Rollins to roll over on a outside fastball and he grounded out to second base. The rookie right-hander threw 11 pitches, seven for strikes. Not a bad debut for the kid from California.
Balester's night
Balester started off hot, retiring the first six Phillies, but things began to unravel in the third and fifth innings. He allowed one hit thru four innings and gave up five in the fifth inning alone, when the Phils scored three runs. Of the four runs he allowed, only three were earned so it goes down as a quality start. He threw 87 pitches, 30 in the fifth.
6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, BB, 4 K, HR. 87 pitches, 56 strikes.
Phillies scoring, 5th inning
The Phillies may be hitting .202 as a team in the month of August, but the long ball is very effective.
Shane Victorino led-off the fifth with an infield single. Greg Dobbs followed with a 2-run home run, his sixth of the season. Dobbs was behind in the count early, but got it back to 2-2 when he launched a 92 MPH fastball into the seats in right, giving the Phillies a 3-0 lead. Chris Coste singled, moved to third on Jimmy Rollins' single and scored on Jason Werth's bloop double. Collin Balester allowed one hit in the first four frames, but allowed five in the inning.
Balester thru 3 innings.
Balester retired the first six Phillies before walking Greg Dobbs, on four pitches, and hitting Chris Coste, with the next pitch. Five of the six outs are fly ball outs. He did a nice job getting the lead runner on Brett Myers sac bunt. He fielded the ball cleanly and threw to third to get the force out. Balester got Jimmy Rollins to hit a Taylor Made double play ball, but Anderson Hernandez's relay throw sailed wide of first, allowing a run to score.
3 IP, 0 H, R, BB, K.33 pitches.
Phillies scoring, 3rd inning
The Phillies did what the Nationals couldn't do; take advantage of an error.
With runners on first and second, Jimmy Rollins hit a perfect double play ball to second. Emilio Bonifacio made a perfect throw to new National Anderson Hernandez at second for the force out. Hernandez's throw to first sailed wide of Ronnie Belliard at first and Chris Coste scored on the play to give the Phillies the 1-0 lead.
Nats 1st inning
You know things are going bad when you have two hits, a walk and the opponent makes an error and you don't score a run.
Washington got a lead-off infield single, from Emilio Bonifacio, but he was erased on a ground ball double play. Ryan Zimmerman reached on an error and Lastings Milledge walked. Ronnie Belliard singled to left, but Zimmerman was thrown out at the plate by Pat Burrell to end the inning. It was Burrell's 12th assist on the season.
Starting Line-Ups
Nationals
2B Emilio Bonifacio
LF Willie Harris
3B Ryan Zimmerman
CF Lastings Milledge
1B Ronnie Belliard
C Jesus Flores
RF Austin Kearns
SS Anderson Hernandez
P Collin Balester
Phillies
SS Jimmy Rollins
RF Jason Werth
2B Chase Utley
1B Ryan Howard
LF Pat Burrell
CF Shane Victorino
3B Greg Dobbs
C Chris Coste
P Brett Myers
Game Preview
Nationals (44-82) at Philadelphia (67-58)
Last night's loss was a tough pill to swallow. The Nationals had a 4-3 lead going into the seventh but Steven Shell let the Phillies tie the game on Geoff Jenkins sac fly.
In the eighth, Shell hung a curveball to Jason Werth and he launched his 17th home run into the seats in left and Washington's losing streak reached 11 games.
Jason Bergmann had another quality start, but got a no-decision to show for it. Bergmann tossed 6 1/3 innings of four run ball, only three earned.
Tonight, Collin Balester looks for his third win of the season and hopes to snap the losing skid. The Phillies send Brett Myers to the bump.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Collin Balester (2-5, 5.06) is coming off an up and down outing against the Mets last Thursday. He retired the first six batters and nine of the first 10 before experiencing control problems. Balester had trouble keeping the ball down and throwing strikes.
The Mets made adjustments and scored five runs on four hits and five walks in six innings in New York's 9-3 win. Balester allowed two runs in the fourth on a single, double, groundout and sac fly.
In the fifth, former National Brian Schneider hit a 2-run homer off Balester to put the Mets up 4-0. Carlos Delgado led-off the sixth with a solo homer to make it 5-0. Balester walked two batters in the inning but escaped without any further damage.
Balester is making his second career start against Philadelphia. On July 29th, he squared off with Brett Myers at Nationals Park. Balester gave up two runs in six innings but took the loss in the Phillies 2-1 win. Chase Utley's 2-run homer in the third provided all the Phils offense.
The rookie right-hander is making his fifth road start of the season. Balester is 1-2 with a 5.23 ERA with a .211 batting average against. At Nationals Park, he's 1-3 with a 4.91 ERA and .300 batting average against in four starts.
RHP Brett Myers (5-10, 5.02) is making his sixth start since being recalled from the Minors on July 21st. Since returning, Myers has been a different pitcher, going 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA in five starts.
Prior to being sent down, Myers was 3-9 with a 5.84 ERA and he allowed 24 home runs in 102 innings.
Myers has faced the Nationals twice this year. He's 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA. In his last outing, July 29th, Myers out-dueled Collin Balester, giving up one unearned run on four hits in seven solid innings.
In his career vs. Washington, 29 games, 19 starts, Myers is 8-8 with a 4.61 ERA and four saves. At Citizens Bank Park, Myers is 4-3 with a 3.48 ERA and a .211 batting average against in nine starts.
Philadelphia is 7-15 when Myers toes the rubber.
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