The Nationals victory on Thursday night seemed to come in spite of their bats. Washington’s pitching was just too good to let them lose, something the Nationals should not get used to.
The Nationals had the benefit of having a pitching staff that allowed a total of one run and the offense was able to just squeak by.
Probably the night’s most important offensive cog was center fielder Nyjer Morgan. Morgan tied the game in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out RBI single to drive in Ian Desmond. To that point, the Nats were trailing 1-0 in a game where Livan Hernandez looked too good to lose.
Hernandez went seven innings and struck out a season-high seven batters. The one run he allowed in the top of the first was all that the Mets would get.
“He’s given us a chance just about every time,” Manager Jim Riggleman said. “He’s gone deep in the ballgame, he’ done all the things you want a starter to do.”
Hernandez recognized the challenge facing him with a pitcher of Santana’s caliber. “Santana pitched a good game. Everybody knows Santana’s a great pitcher,” Hernandez said. “The sinker was working very good. The combination of the pitches I throw, I hit the perfect spot.”
Santana matched Hernandez’s outing by also going seven strong innings while giving up just one run.
After tying the game in the seventh, Morgan laid down a beautiful one-out bunt for a base hit which really set up the rest of the inning and put Willie Harris into scoring position.
“Get it down, trying to make it happen,” Morgan said. “At least get sweet Willie Harris to second base.”
Somehow a game winning sac fly from Ryan Zimmerman seemed appropriate for the team that had trouble getting the big hit.
Underlying the victory was still the sense of the team struggling at the plate against a great pitcher in Johan Santana. Despite his known ability, Santana gave Washington many opportunities.
“Just felt like it was not going to be a good night for us. When Zim hit his ball into right center and Francoeur made a play. Morse hit a ball over the center fielder’s head and made a play,” Riggleman said. “Felt like it was going to be a bad luck, tough luck night.”
Zimmerman, the clear leader of the team, had no disillusions about the poor play of the team over the past month and is looking to take a win where he can get it. After all, the month of June left the team 11 games under .500. The Nationals’ record over the course of the month was a paltry 8-19. A win on Thursday night seems to give them a bit of hope for the coming month.
“We’ve ran into some tough pitchers lately. He’s one of the best in the league. Anytime you can scrape out a run and get him out of the game it’s a plus for us…to win this game is huge for us,” he said.
“This is a good way to start and we’ve a long ways to go.”
