Nats fall to Phillies 5-4; losing streak now at 11 games
With one swing of the bat, the Nationals' losing streak reached 11 games.
Jason Werth hit a hanging curve ball from Steven Shell over the wall in left field to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead in the eighth, the same score they would win by. It was their only lead of the game. Phillies closer Brad Lidge retired the side in order in the ninth for his 31st save of the season. Lidge is 31 for 31 in save opportunities on the season.
Jason Bergmann was very good, but settled for a no-decision. He gave up four runs, three earned, on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four.
The Nationals jumped out to the 1-0 lead on Willie Harris' solo home run in the first. It was his 10th of the year. Harris went 2-5 on the night and scored two runs.
Philadelphia tied the game in the second on a sac fly from Greg Dobbs. Shane Victorino's double put runners on second and third and Dobbs' fly ball to left was deep enough to score Ryan Howard with the tying run.
Washington got the run back in the fourth, on a single from Jesus Flores. Flores, on the 11th pitch from Joe Blanton, singled to left scoring, Lastings Milledge, who singled to lead-off the inning.
Kory Casto looked to add to the 2-1 lead, but Ryan Howard snared Casto's liner, preventing extra bases and at least one run.
In the fifth, the Nationals took a 4-1 lead on an RBI triple from Ryan Zimmerman, his first triple of the season, and a run scoring single from Ronnie Belliard. Belliard went 4-4 on the night.
The Phillies got both runs back in the bottom of the inning. Victorino tripled to lead-off the inning and scored on an error by Harris. Harris was handcuffed on the shallow fly off the bat of Dobbs; it hit off the heel of his glove and fell in for the error. Dobbs stole second and moved to third on Chris Coste's single. Pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins' sac fly scored Dobbs to make it a 4-3 game.
The Nationals had a chance to add to their lead in the sixth, but failed to capitalize. They had runners on first and second with nobody out. Bergmann laid down a bunt, but it went right to Chad Durbin and he fired to third to nail Austin Kearns for the first out. Emilio Bonifacio and Willie Harris couldn't produce a hit and the Phillies got out of the inning unscathed.
Philadelphia tied the game in the seventh on Coste's sac fly, the third RBI sac fly for the Phillies on the night.
After Casto's single in the sixth, Phillies pitchers allowed one hit the rest of the night and Casto was erased on a stolen base attempt.
Postgame Notes
Ronnie Belliard went 4-4, including his 300th career double. He's hitting .440 in the month of August.
Emilio Bonifacio went 0-5, lowering his average to .216.
Final Linescore
Nationals 4-11-1
Phillies 5-7-0
WP-Madson (3-1)
LP-Shell (0-1)
SV-Lidge (31)
HR-Harris (10), Werth (17)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Phillies scoring, 8th inning
Steven Shell, who has been outstanding this year, hung a 1-2 curve ball and the Phillies have their first lead of the game.
Shell got ahead of Jason Werth and tried to sneak a curve by him, but Werth waited on it and hit it into the seats in left for the 5-4 lead. With the wind blowing in from left, Werth crushed the 75 MPH hanger.
Bergmann's solid outing
Bergmann did all he could to keep the Nationals in the game and the Phillies in check. Bergmann allowed four runs, three earned, on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four while throwing 92 pitches. It will go down as a quality start because only three runs were earned, but I doubt Bergmann really cares about that. He would rather the Nationals snap their 10-game losing streak.
6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. 92 pitches, 59 strikes.
Phillies scoring, 7th inning
Jason Bergmann pitched 6 1/3 innings of solid ball, but he'll have to settle for a no-decision. The Phillies scored the tying run on Chris Coste's sac fly in the seventh.
Shane Victorino reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to third on Greg Dobbs single to center. Steven Shell replaced Bergmann, but Coste did a nice job of getting the ball in the air, allowing Victorino to score easily.
Strange play
A bizarre thing occurred in the bottom of the seventh. With speedy Shane Victorino on first and Greg Dobbs at the plate, Jesus Flores threw to first to try and pick off Victorino. Flores' throw sailed and went down the line in right allowing Victorino to end up on third. Home plate umpire "Cowboy" Joe West called the play dead. The ruling was umpires interference. When Flores was making his throw, he made contact with West, making it a dead ball.
Dobbs ended up singling Victorino to third, so does it really matter? Yes, because Victorino would've scored on the play. Also, it keeps the double play in tact. I can honestly say that I have never seen that before.
Bergmann thru 6 innings
After giving up two runs, one earned, in the fifth, Bergmann retired the side in order in the sixth, on 10 pitches. He struck out Jason Werth and got Chase Utley to pop out and Ryan Howard to ground out. That shows signs of maturity. Bergmann's pitch count is below the 15 pitch amount per inning that Randy St. Claire likes.
6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. 83 pitches, 54 strikes
Phillies scoring, 5th inning
The fifth inning seems to be the Achilles heel for Nationals pitchers this season and tonight is no different.
Shane Victorino led-off with a triple and scored on Willie Harris' fielding error to cut the Nationals lead to 4-2. Harris tried to make a basket catch on Greg Dobbs shallow fly, but the ball went off the heel of his glove and fell in for an error. Ronnie Belliard should've gone out to help Harris, but never left his position at short.
Dobbs stole second and moved to third on Chris Coste's single that went off Belliard's glove. Pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins fly ball to left was deep enough to score Dobbs with the second run of the inning. Because of the error, it was an unearned run.
Nationals scoring, 5th inning
The Nationals added two more runs in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead on the Phillies.
Willie Harris hit a one-out single and Ryan Zimmerman tripled him home, his first three-bagger of the year, for the 3-1 lead. Ronnie Belliard followed with a broken-bat single, his third hit in as many at bats, to give Washington a 4-1 advantage.
Nationals scoring, 4th inning
Washington got three straight hits, to start the fourth, to take the one-run advantage.
Lastings Milledge and Ronnie Belliard singled to put runners on the corners. Jesus Flores singled in the hole between third and short, on the 11th pitch of the at bat, to put the Nationals up 2-1.
If it wasn't for a great defensive play by Ryan Howard at first, on Kory Casto's liner, the Nationals would have at least a 3-1 lead.
Belliard's 300th double
Ronnie Belliard hit his 300th career double in the second inning, his 18th of the year. Belliard has been a good addition to the Nationals the past two seasons. He's hitting .265 with 10 HR and 37 RBI this year and hit .290 with 35 doubles, 11 HR and 58 RBI last season. Belliard may be a role player, but he knows what his job is and doesn't complain about it.
Bergmann thru 3 innings
Bergmann retired the side in order in the first and third, but gave up a run in the second. He's allowed two hits and struck out one, while throwing 42 pitches, 27 for strikes. Bergmann, who put runners on second and third, in the third, did a nice job to only give up the one run, getting two weak fly ball outs.
3 IP, 2 H, R, K.
Phillies scoring, 2nd inning
Jason Bergmann gave up a lead-off single to Ryan Howard and a one-out double to Shane Victorino before Greg Dobbs sac fly scored Howard to tied the game at 1-1 in the second.
Nationals scoring, 1st inning
On a breezy night in Philadelphia, with the wind blowing out to right field, Willie Harris hit what he thought was a lazy fly to right. The wind got a hold of it and it kept carrying until it landed in the seats, giving the Nationals the early 1-0 lead.
The home run was the 10th of the season for Harris, a career high.
Starting Line-Ups
Nationals
2B Emilio Bonifacio
LF Willie Harris
3B Ryan Zimmerman
CF Lastings Milledge
SS Ronnie Belliard
C Jesus Flores
RF Austin Kearns
1B Kory Casto
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 Joe Blanton
Game Preview
Nationals (44-81) at Philadelphia (66-58)
Riding a season-high 10-game losing streak, The Nationals begin a three-game series with the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park, where they took two of three in the first week of the season.
During their losing skid, Washington's offense has been virtually non-existent and the starting pitching has been awful. Nationals' hitters have produced 22 total runs, just 2.2 runs per game, while the starters are 0-8 with a 6.97 ERA.
Washington, who just finished 20 games in 20 days, went 6-14 including 3-5 on their most recent road trip. The Nationals are 21-42 on the road this season, the worst in the Majors, and 5-12 since the All-Star break
The Phillies, who led the NL East most of the season, find themselves 1 ½ games behind the Mets entering play Tuesday night. Philadelphia, 32-27 at home, is 4-6 in their last 10 games and 7-9 in August.
With one of the most potent offenses in baseball, the Phillies lead the NL in home runs with 166. They are fourth in RBI and runs with 571 and 595 respectively.
Prior to June 13th, the Phillies were 41-28 and hitting .265 as a team with 99 homers in 69 games. Since then, they are 25-30 with a .236 average and 67 long balls in 55 games.
The two teams have played each other nine times this year with the Phillies winning six, including five straight.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Jason Bergmann (2-9, 4.51) is hoping for a better outing than the last time he took the mound. Last Wednesday, Bergmann suffered his worst loss of the season, a 12-0 blanking by the NY Mets.
Bergmann lasted just three innings and gave up 10 runs, six earned, on eight hits and six walks. David Wright's sac fly in the first put NY up 1-0. In the second, Fernando Tatis took Bergmann deep for the 2-0 lead.
Things got really ugly in the third and Bergmann was left to fend for himself. The Mets sent 13 men to the plate and scored eight runs on four hits, an error, and five walks. He needed 51 pitches to get out of the nightmare.
This is Bergmann's third start against the Phillies this season. He has two no-decisions despite a 3.65 ERA. The last time he faced Philadelphia, May 20th, Bergmann was outstanding, tossing seven scoreless innings in the Phils 1-0 win at Nationals Park.
In his first game against the Phillies, Bergmann gave up five runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings at Citizens Bank Park on April 3rd. Washington jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first, but Bergmann couldn't hold it.
With one-out in the sixth, Bergmann gave up four consecutive singles allowing two runs to score. Saul Rivera relieved Bergmann and the Phillies collected two more hits, scoring three runs. Four of the five runs were charged to Bergmann.
In his career at Citizens Bank Park, he is winless in four starts with a 5.94 ERA.
RHP Joe Blanton (6-12, 4.79) is making his sixth start for the Phillies since being acquired in a trade with Oakland on July 17th. He's 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA and has had mixed results with his new team.
In three of his starts, Blanton has allowed two runs or fewer. In the other two outings, four and five runs respectively. The Phillies are 3-2 when he starts.
In his last start, August 13th, Blanton gave up four runs on nine hits in five innings against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. He was handed leads of 4-0 and 6-1 and kept the Dodgers in the game. Blanton left with a 6-4 lead, but the bullpen couldn't hold it and the Phillies lost 7-6.
Blanton has faced the Nationals once in his career, June 9, 2005, and gave up all four runs in Washington's 4-3 victory. He's making his third start at Citizens Bank Park.
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