On Soriano's shaky last few days

There was a stretch earlier this season where Rafael Soriano wasn't just notching saves and recording scoreless innings. He was nearly untouchable. From June 15 through July 12, Soriano made 12 appearances. He didn't allow a single run in that span, surrendered just four hits and two walks and struck out 13. Opposing hitters had just a .103 batting average against Soriano in that 12-game run, with a .249 OPS. Even earlier this month, from August 1-9, Soriano had a mini dominant stretch, throwing four scoreless innings with just one hit allowed and five strikeouts. He's capable of these type of performances, and probably doesn't get enough credit for the times when he is totally on his game. Over the last three days, however, Soriano has had a couple of dangerously close ninth innings, frames where he's ended up earning a save but nearly given away a multi-run lead. On Wednesday night in New York, Soriano was given a 3-1 lead in the ninth, only to serve up a solo homer and then allow the Mets to put runners on second and third with one out. He wiggled out of that jam by getting a ground ball to short and a tapper back to the mound. Last night, Soriano was handed a 5-3 lead in the ninth, but three hits and a Pirates run made it a one-run game and put the tying run on third with two outs. A popup behind home plate that Wilson Ramos grabbed just in front of the screen closed out the win and let Nationals fans breathe easy for another night. This will tend to happen with Soriano at times, just as the quiet dominant stretches will happen. And over the last few days, it appears that the issue has been Soriano elevating some pitches, not keeping the ball down in the zone. That's part of Soriano's game plan at times, but he's gotten burned by it lately. "Well, he does pitch up in the strike zone some," Matt Williams said last night. "And that's for effect, as well. It is part of the season, it's part of things that pitchers go through or hitters go through. It doesn't mean that next time out, he isn't going to go 1-2-3. We've got confidence in him that he can do that, and he's certainly got confidence in himself that he can do that. So the next time it presents itself, he'll have the ball again." Soriano hasn't missed many bats lately, failing to strike anyone out in this three-game stretch in which he's notched three saves. (It should be noted that on Thursday night, he worked a 1-2-3 ninth, notching a save over the Mets.) He is averaging nearly a strikeout per inning this season (45 Ks in 48 1/3), which isn't bad, but isn't up there with many of the flame-throwing closers these days, who pile up the strikeouts quickly. Overpowering hitters isn't the only way to get them out, of course, and Soriano has found a way to get the job done while throwing 91-93 mph for much of the season. His velocity doesn't concern Williams, and the Nats skipper says he'll continue to trust Soriano going forward, despite this shaky stretch. "You have starting pitchers that don't come out and throw 100, and they work themselves through lineups, too," Williams said. "He's done this a long time and been pretty successful at it. So we've got confidence in him. "And like I said, next time it presents itself, he'll have the ball again."