Williams discusses Nats' 4-2 loss to Brewers

This was a bit of a strange ballgame from the get-go. We had a weird umpire ruling in the bottom of the first when Denard Span was called out for unintentional defensive interference and Anthony Rendon was allowed to take first base despite being thrown out on the play. We had two Nationals relievers get the laces dangling off the gloves trimmed by head trainer Lee Kuntz at the directive of the umpires. We had Stephen Strasburg striking out nine and walking just one, but still allowing seven hits and four runs, evening his record at 7-7 on the season. All that in the first game back from the All-Star break. The end result was a 4-2 Nats loss, which, coupled with the Braves' win over the Phillies, moved the Nats back into second place in the National League East. Here's what Matt Williams had to say after the loss. On Strasburg's outing: "They hit a couple of solo homers, but that's not the one that got us tonight. The one that got us, he made a good pitch on (Aramis) Ramirez and he hit a ball into right field with guys on second and third. If he gets that out, it's a different game. But Stras is a fastball pitcher and they're a home run-hitting club. That's gonna happen sometimes. If you're gonna give up a homer, you want it to be a solo homer. But the one that got us was the two-run single." On Strasburg having high strikeout numbers and low walk totals, but allowing more hits this season: "I think, for Stephen, I think it's fastball command. The home runs were fastballs where he didn't want to throw 'em. With any club, especially a club like this that hits a lot of balls over the fence, you can get in trouble that way. But when he does have fastball command and spots his fastball, then everything else works off of that. He had really good velocity, throwing the ball hard, felt great. Just on those two pitches, the location wasn't there. The location on the ball to Ramirez was there, but that's baseball. That happens sometimes." On the incidents where Drew Storen and Craig Stammen were asked to have the laces on their gloves trimmed: "It's a directive from Major League Baseball regarding replay. So, umpire's discretion. If the strings are too long and there's a replay issued, let's say there's a swipe tag and the pitcher's covering home plate and the string touches a baserunner, the umpire must rule him out. So directive has come from Major League Baseball to shorten those up a little bit." On the request not coming from the Brewers dugout: "No. It's coming from MLB. They sent a directive out a little bit before the All-Star break letting everybody know. It's up to the umpires now to police that." On the incident where Span was called out at second in the first inning: "So Angel (Campos, second base umpire) ruled that he had interfered with the throw to first base. My contention was that Angel had called him safe and he was sliding into the base. There was no indication that he did anything on purpose besides beating the throw to second. Once interference is ruled, the ball is dead. So that's why Anthony was awarded (first). My argument on the play, which is an unreviewable play, is that he beat the throw and he called him safe anyway and he was simply sliding into the base. If the fielder elects to throw the ball to first base, that's on him. I don't think Denard went out of his way to interfere, but that was the ruling on the field and it was unreviewable."