Wednesday, April 29, 2015

An Incredible Come Back by the Nats



When you are down 9-1 by the end of the second innning. Well it’s very unlikely that you come back and win a game.

A.J. Cole started for the injuried Max Scherzer. This was hismajor league debut. He lasted two innings, giving up nine hits and nine runs, four earned. He commited a very costly error when he went to cover first base. He missed judged the ball and didn’t catch it. It lead to five unearned runs and a seven run second for the Braves.

Well game over. I mean come on. The way the Nats have been playing a six game loosing streak. The team with the most errors in baseball. They committed four on Monday night alone. Two by Doug Fister on pick off attempts. You figure well no way. Why tune in and watch another slaughter.

This game shows why you watch to the end of the game. It’s like leaving early at a concert you miss all the encores which are usually some of your favorite songs.

And come back the Nats did. The Nats scored 4 runs in the 5th. One run in the 6th inning. Then 3 in the 7th innning.

A little more detail from the Post:
Down 9-1 by the top of the third, the Nationals got a run back on a sacrifice fly from Jayson Werth. They scored four more in the fifth. Span doubled, Ian Desmond reached on an error, and Werth hit another sacrifice fly. Zimmerman singled, and Lobaton hit a three-run homer, his first of the year. Span homered in the sixth, but the Braves got one back against Tanner Roark in the bottom of that inning

In the seventh, Uggla’s triple scored Bryce Harper and Lobaton, both of whom had walked. Reed Johnson doubled home Uggla to cut it to 11-10. But the Braves scored off Blake Treinen in the seventh for a two-run lead.
The Braves got one in the bottom of the 7th. No runs scored in the 8th.

Come the 9th inning the Nats were down 12-10. I started watching around the 7th on and off. I thought well they made a good try. They came back or at least put pressure on the Braves. I figure a moral victory if not an actual win.

Then up comes Dan Uggla. Danny Espinosa is on first and Jose Lobatón is on second. With the count 0-2, Uggla swings. (Right before the pitch I said please hit a home run.) And that’s exactly what he did. You knew as soon as he hit it the ball was gone. Nat’s lead 13-12.

Uggla said afterwards: “You know, these are some crazy dudes in here,” Uggla said. “They get excited and love to show it. It fired me up. I’m a pretty low-key, mellow guy, but seeing them excited ... I was already pretty jacked up, but seeing how excited they were, just the energy that flows through your body and flows through the dugout like it did, it was cool.”

I really like what David Schoenfield from SweetSpot blogger:
Dan Uggla, the veteran second baseman whom the Braves released in July but who is still getting paid more than $12 million by them, hit a three-run home run against Jason Grilli, off what was pretty much an 0-2 meatball, giving the Nationals the improbable 13-12 victory once Drew Storen locked it up. It was Uggla’s first home run in the majors since hitting two April 14, 2014. He entered the game hitting .135 in 37 at-bats with two RBIs. Tuesday, he tripled and homered and drove in five runs.

From ESPN Stats & Information: Over the past five seasons entering tonight, teams with an eight-run lead had gone 1,031-5. A little baseball miracle and suddenly things are a little less gloomy in the nation’s capital.

Great story about the reactions of people to Uggla's home run.

Here's a link to the video of Uggla's home run.

Video that recaps the Nats scores.

Here's hoping this is the start of something big.

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