The beatdowns continue

By Dan Kolko

Nationals

September 06, 2012, 4:39pm

Comments

Poor Dale Sveum. The Cubs' manager probably wants to pull his hair out right about now. And he doesn't even have any hair. Sveum said that last night's game, a 9-1 throttling by the Nationals, was like men playing against boys. Tonight hasn't been much different. The Nats lead the Cubs 7-2 after 4 1/3 innings and have now put up 27 runs over their last 20 frames. They've scored in three of their four times to the plate tonight. In the one inning they didn't bring a run across, the Nats loaded the bases before the Cubs got a double play ball from Ian Desmond. Bryce Harper got it all started with a triple and a hustle play in which he scored on a simple groundout back to the pitcher. Kurt Suzuki added a three-run homer in the second and Ryan Zimmerman plated two with a single in the fourth. After not homering in his first 15 games as a National, Suzuki now has three homers in his last seven games. Jordan Zimmerman, meanwhile, has really settled down after a shaky start which saw him give up a run in both the first and second innings. He's retired 10 in a row and struck out seven through five innings. With the exception of a 2-1 Nats win on Monday, this series has been a complete beatdown. Tonight is no different.