Game 52 discussion thread: Nationals at Astros

Good afternoon, gentle Nats people, and happy Memorial Day.

And one is better than none.

Interesting contrast in styles of play in the first inning. The Nats, struggling offensively, get the leadoff man in scoring position, and still bunt him over to third and then get him in on a sacrifice fly.

As Earl Weaver would have put it, they played for one run and that's all they got.

The Astros, also struggling offensively, get the leadoff man on first, but don't bunt. They don't play for one run but only get one thanks to a helpful strike call by the ump and an out call on the steal of second (it might have been safe).

To me, I prefer the Astros' strategy, especially with the meat of your order coming up. But then again, the Nats are facing Roy Oswalt and that may have influenced Jim Riggleman's thinking as much as anything.

Gotta give props to BinM, as Harris just walked:

"At least Harris has proven he'll look at pitches before pulling the trigger; Ian can still be suckered into swinging at "out-of-zone" pitches.

Posted by: BinM"

Only problem with Guz as leadoff is a little slowdown in his speed and not looking for walks. But if he hits, he's on base, can't argue with that.

Well, here in the third, the Nats aren't playing for one run. Bases loaded, one out, Dunn up. Time for a big hit...

I'd say the experiment is working so far. Go Adam!

Atta boy, Adam. And good work from Zimm and Listach to get him home from first.

AND... he gets the BIG hit. Thank you, tova.

DUNN!!!! That was awesome!!! Let's score some more!!

OSwalt gone!! Man we are lucky!!!

Threw him out????? What is with these umps?

AND OSWALT'S TOSSED!!!

(almost wish he was still in, after getting those runs and all)

The home plate umpire did the right thing there. You can't show up the ump like that, the ump warned him to knock it off and he didn't do it. That's an automatic move at that point.

OTOH, the ump's had a lousy strike zone today so I know why Oswalt was ticked.

Yeah, I'm not in a hurry to keep facing Oswalt, but he's a veteran and a pro, why didn't he keep his temper?

Need to take advantage and not stop scoring runs, especially with Oswalt gone.

I bet Dibble's pissed that he took vacation for this game. Oswalt having trouble with the plate umpire, getting tossed, this is about as good as it could get for Dibs.

From what I could see, Oswalt had nothing to beef about. He argued about the 2-2 curve to Dunn, but that was clearly inside ("almost hit his kneecap", Knight noted).

And Oswalt says the magic word - GONE! So much for the QS record; 4-1 Nationals.

I think Oswalt blew up because of the season, not because of the game. He's pitching great, but has a losing record, this team stinks, he's let the Astros know they can trade him, so he doesn't know where he's going, if anywhere. He looked like a frustrated guy from the beginning of the game.

Seriously, not that I'm a conspiracy theorist, but the umps are going to toss a pitcher on any provocation after what Joe West did, just to show their authority and their solidarity. West is getting a LOT of bad press, and you have to figure the umps don't want insubordination to infect other games. If I were a pitcher, I would just watch my tongue, that's all.

Well well ......Steve Phillips your phone is ........oh yeah that is right ....it is not ......trade Strasburg for who now ?

Nice to get ahead in the first couple of innings .....now time to put the game away

Oswalt walks Hammer after getting tossed from the game. Wow. What a game. What a team. Glad I'm not an Astros fan.

Re: Oswalt. I understand one problem with trading him is the $29 million contract he has, and the players' association won't let him take a pay cut. What kind of union support is that??? I realize that they have to consider the good of all players, but if the player HIMSELF wants to renegotiate down in order to improve his situation?

Nat_Lady:

Interesting thought, and I surely don't know, but I suspect Joe West is not highly regarded by other umpires.

And Oswalt coming off the mound and pointing his glove at the ump, he MUST get tossed. No ump would tolerate that. He gave the ump no choice, which meant he just wanted out of there.

And that kinda plays into what baltova wrote, that Oswalt is just frustrated.

HA! We traded in Oswalt for this guy who hits a home run???? Can we have Oswalt back?

And now Oswalt's replacement hits a homerun. This game is nuts...

Oswalt was getting squeezed all day IMO. He was giving the ump stares and long sighs/pauses and head shakes and mumbles etc. all day, though.

Atilano gets handed a 4-1 lead, and he gives up a lead-off HR to the PITCHER? Arrr-ggg-hhh; Are you kidding me?

Okay, Luis, we'll ignore that...

Did we not have a game a year or so ago with a early replacement pitcher after we got a big first couple if innings and he hit two home runs in his first 2 at-bats and we lost ........Seems in was Phoenix or Colorado?

Not sure that's what Nyjer was trying to do, but whatever works.

Atta boys!!!

It's easy to laugh at this stuff when it's happening to THEM...

Maldy!!!!

Atilano batting for himself? Sure, why not.

Yay! Offense!

Yay! More Offense!

Love it when Zimm goes to right center.

When it rains it pours! Go Nats!!!

When it rains it pours!!! Go Nats!!!

Wow. We just might get the Pythagoras W-L back to .500, also.

Ladies and gentlemen, your new Nats HR leader - Ryan Zimmerman (11)

Nice to see them score some runs hope it carries over the rest of this series, with Nyjer and Guz getting 3 hits each(so far) just a note to John RDC who posted that Nyjer should be benched, obviously you never played the game in any capacity, Nyjer was the only reason a lot of us continued to watch this team last year i said it once and i'll say it again i'm not giving up on Nyjer i think he's still a good player just need's a confidence builder.

Should take Atilano out so he doesn't run up his ERA.

Keep atilano in for 9. Give the pen a rest.

To hello with his ERA, natslady! Save the arms for a close game. Not like he's a Cy Young contender.

Allright Willie, late innings, pretend you're pinch hitting.

He's not a Cy Young contender, but he is a rookie just up. Riggs did the right thing.

Walker hasn't been sharp lately. Maybe get some kinks worked out in this situation.

Willie Harris is bumming me out, what with everyone else hitting.

OK, .500 it is!

Zang Boom, go the fireworks!

As somebody else posted - Zang, Boom! It's all good today - Swamped the opposition, nobody got hurt & the team is back to .500.

Need to build on this one, don't know if Riggs will keep Guz and Morgan 1-2 but it worked today big time,btw Happy Memorial Day everyone,Braves fans are on cloud nine after they battered the Phils today to take over first we need another solid bat and a pitcher and i like our chances to stay close.

A little perspective: Our 26th win last season didn't come until right at the all-star break. Yowza!

Crazy game, and great to have another curly W in the books.

From the postgame, sounds like Riggs will keep the 1-2 configuration for at least a while. Glad to see Nyjer have a good game. I would have been tempted to have him and Guz as co-players. No wig on Guz in the postgame, so maybe the guys couldn't decide (or maybe Cristian thought it was too itchy)? :-)

And a good Memorial Day to you, too, dargramps!

@jmorrisa: After today's win, it's 230 runs for, 240 runs against.

Strasburg will start June 8 against the Pirates!

A little perspective: Our 26th win last season didn't come until right at the all-star break. Yowza!
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Ironically, that was also against the Astros, and a 13-2 win...

Funny thing re. the Maldonado at-bat. He'd just swung and missed, and my husband is like, dang. I'm like, well, he came up when Pudge was hurt, and I think he's here more for his glove than his bat. So what does Carlos do next? He hits a dinger. Uh, yeah. I so did not call it. OTOH, I kinda did call the reverse lock pitching thingy. :-)

Oh, and evidently the source on the Strasburg date is Bill Ladson's item on the team site (which also contains the disclaimer "provided that a rainout or injury doesn't stand in the way").

40% chance in rain buffalo on the third in buffalo what if start gets postponed

The NL east is the best division in baseball with one team just a game under.500,memorial day is often used by some purist as a hallmark for the rest of the season and with that in mind, I like a lot of you who post on this journal have enjoyed this team so far and i think we're in for a great ride,yes there have been some mistakes made(personel wise) but all in all who would have thought we would be at.500 as we enter June ,there are some question's do we keep Guz at second? how will it affect AK do we use some of our newly found surplus pitching for an outfield prospect? if one becomes available and do we resign Adam Dunn, and in the offseason do we make a serious play for Carl Crawford? just some thought's as i enjoy these surprsing Nat's.

Let me apolgize for poorly formed post watching jeopardy and trying to post doesn't work.

No apology needed here, dargregmag. I took your meaning, and you *did* phrase a lot of it in the form of a question (in honor of Jeopardy, perhaps). :-)

It's been an surprising and fun ride so far, I agree, and this is one good division.

see? i told you guys. Nyger on base makes us way better. Dropping him to 2 might jump start him. gotta love Riggs for the baseball smarts.