Bucs edge Nats 7-6 OR Pirates plunder plucky pitcher

To borrow a time-worn phrase, "We wuz robbed!"

The Nationals were edged out by the Pirates 7-6 last night, in no small part because the plate umpire blew a crucial call which would have tied the game. In the bottom of the 6th, with the score 7-3 and Ryan Langerhans on 2nd and Tony Batista on 1st, Felipe Lopez doubled, scoring Langerhans easily and Batista was right on his heels and was called out at the plate. All of the announcers and the replays showed that he was safe at home, yet the umpire called him out. The score at that point SHOULD have been 7-6 which would have made the Nats run in the 7th the tying run, possibly sending the game into extra innings.

The Nats began the game well, going up 2-0 in the 2nd inning, but fell behind quickly with a 5-run 3rd by the Pirates. They fought hard to catch up the rest of the game. Starter Mike Bacsik, battling a stomach virus, didn't get as good an outing as he'd hoped, the kind of outings that he's had recently.

The Nats got some hits, 12 of them to be exact. Cristian Guzman got his 5th triple of the year and his 3rd double, going 2 for 5 with an RBI. Brian Schneider, Dmitri Young, Tony Batista...heck, even Mike Bacsik got a hit. Felipe Lopez went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI's.

Ryan Report: Shiver me timbers! Church went 3 for 3 with a walk, Zimmerman went 0 for 5, Langerhans went 0 for 2 but was walked twice, and Austin Ryan Kearns went 1 for 5.

Abreau, Rivera King, Colomé and Cordero came in for bullpen relief. Winston Abreau gave up 1 run, but otherwise the bullpen did fine. Ray King had the shortest outing of any reliever this year so far (if I'm not mistaken) pitching less than 1/3 of an inning. He gave up 1 walk and Manny Acta took him out. Chad "The Chief" Cordero was effective and efficient in closing.

(A propos of nothing, here is a timely article about Pirate speech, for your reading pleasure)

The weather was great, 80 degrees, a perfect night for baseball. Naturally, I got there a little late from work but arrived at my seat in time for the end of the 2nd inning. More corned-beef but no Howard again for a beer. I sat with my friend Bruce and two of his guests, in his extra seat, down in 127. Felt close to the action, that's for sure.

Oddly enough, right after the game, just as I was leaving the stadium, a little bit of rain began to fall. I can only attribute that to the fact that Screech's Best Friend wasn't in attendance that evening, having been forced to be out of town for work, and nature itself was distressed by this anomaly. Unless I'm mistaken, this may very well be the very first Nationals home game in their 3 seasons of existence here that SBF has missed. His wife kept his seat occupied, but this was such an unnerving event that team president Stan Kasten had mentioned possibly postponing the game (ha!) He'll be back in his proper seat tonight, so all will be right on that score and Stan Kasten may rest a little more easily.