Young tossed, Nats come back!

I was very tempted to head out to RFK last night to take in the Nationals game against the Colorado Rockies, but sleep won out - I'm never one to take naps, but after only getting about three hours of sleep on my flight to Dulles Airport, I got to my Georgetown hotel, ate breakfast and promptly took a two hour nap. I did a little organzing once I got up, caught up with all of my family and a few friends and made a quick CVS stop before the rains hit at 2:30 in the afternoon. Around 4:30, I get groggy again and take a second two hour nap. By the time it's 6:30 and it's looking like I'm not going to get to the game... which was OK. It was going to be on MASN, The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network for those of you that don't live near DC/Baltimore...

So I took in the Nats game on TV and not five minutes into it, Matt Chico promptly gave up a two-run homer to the second batter in the game, Troy Tulowitski! The Nats would come back to get a run in the bottom of the frame on a Ryan Zimmerman RBI double, to make it 2-1. Dmitri Young would argue a called third strike in the bottom of the third inning and get tossed from the game, making the crowd of just over 20,000 a little unhappy! Chico would get hit by the long ball again as Garrett Atkins would hit another two-run homer in the top of the fourth to give the visitors a 4-1 lead. The rain then came a little after 9PM, and it turned out to have a HUGE impact on the game. The Nats got a run in the sixth inning to make it a two run game. In the bottom of the eighth, one play would totally change the complexion of the game. After a one out Ryan Church single to right, Austin Kearns would get hit by a 1-2 pitch by Rockie reliever Jeremy Affeldt. Jesus Flores then came up to hit for Ryan Langerhans and promptly delievered an opposite field single to right, easily scoring Church. Rockie right fielder Matt Hawpe appreared to have an easy play on the ball, but the ball didn't take the normal hop it should have due to the wet field and the ball went under his glove and between his legs! Kearns would score and Flores would wind up at third. LaTroy Hawkins would come in for the Rockies and close out the inning and it would remain a 4-4 game into the bottom of the 10th inning. Kearns again got on base, singling to begin the inning for the Nats. Catcher Brian Schneider sacrificed Church to second... Hawkins then uncorked a wild pitch (which ended up being called a passed ball) to put Church at third. D'Angelo Jimenez then came to the plate to pinch hit for Nats reliever Jon Rauch. For Jimenez, 2007 had been nothing short of awful before last night. With only one hit in 25 at bats (including NONE in 19 at bats as a pinch hitter), his batting average stood at an anemic .040. Finally, something good happened to Jimenez as he lined a pitch up past Hawkins and into center field to score Church and leave the crowd of 20,573 happy! For the Nationals, it was their sixth win in their past nine games.

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