+3
Reliever Doug Slaten served up a ninth inning walk-off home run to snap the Nationals road winning streak at nine.
The Washington Nationals are looking to get to .500 with a win Tuesday night, the Florida Marlins are looking to play the part of spoiler in that regard and both teams have struck to put each put a numbers on the board. The Nats lead the Marlins 2-1 in the sixth
The Marlins gained first blood in the bottom of the third inning after Nationals starter John Lannan gave up a sacrifice fly to former National Emilio Bonifacio which scored Matt Dominguez. However, the Nationals answered back in the top of the fifth when outfielder Michael Morse hit his team leading 31st home run of the season, his second in two nights against the Fish. Then in the top of the sixth shortstop Ian Desmond was able to cash in Steve Lombardozzi on a RBI single to give the Nats the 2-1 lead.
Lannan has gone five innings giving up one run on two hits. He has walked two and struck out three.
On the one hand, there’s little reason to ask Ryan Zimmerman to play in the final two games of the Washington Nationals’ 2011 season while dealing with soreness in his hamstring. The Nats, of course, have long since been eliminated from playoff contention. On the other hand, it’s not as if Zimmerman would be risking long-term injury necessarily or jeopardizing his chances to be productive in 2012 by playing in the season finale Wednesday.
He’s already been scratched from Tuesday night’s game against Florida, and might not suit up again this season. My guess is that he’ll play on Wednesday if the Nationals win on Tuesday. The club is hot, having won 10 straight on the road, and with wins in their final two, Washington would finish above .500. Definitely something worth playing for.
Davey Johnson sounds like he’s open-minded about Wednesday, but would prefer to err on the side of caution with his third baseman.
“A pulled hamstring, it’s something that stays with you,” Johnson said. “What’s the stakes? I’d like to see him play. Obviously, he gives us a better chance. But it’s not worth the risk.”
Zimmerman isn’t ruling out playing though in the finale.
“If I feel good tomorrow, I’d like to play the last game,” Zimmerman said.
For the season, Zimmerman is batting .289/.355/.443 with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs in 440 plate appearances. He missed significant time in April, May and June recovering from an abdominal muscle injury.
First pitch between the Nationals and Marlins Tuesday night is scheduled for 7:10 pm EST in South Florida.
There are two more games in the Washington Nationals 2011 campaign and though they have already clinched their spot in the standings and they will play no other part than being the last two games of the season, they are big ones in the minds of the team and Washington fans. If the Nationals can win Tuesday and Wednesday's games they will have finished with an above .500 record for the first time in their history since baseball returned to D.C. in 2005.
To do that, they will have to take two more from the NL East rival Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium. Beating the Marlins, let alone in their own park has not been an easy task for the Nationals in recent seasons, but the Nationals are screeching towards the 2011 finish line on fire and are winners of nine straight road games. If Nationals starter John Lannan (10-13, 3.73 ERA) and the Army of the Potomac can win Tuesday night, they will have had the most consecutive road wins in franchise history since 1994. Marlins pitcher Javier Vazquez (12-11, 3.77 ERA) will be opposing the Nats and will be looking to sour the end of the season for Washington.
Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was given the night off as rookie Steve Lombardozzi takes his place at third and outfielder Jayson Werth moves to Zimmerman's third spot in the line up.
Nationals Line Up
Ian Desmond - SS
Roger Bernadina - RF
Jayson Werth - CF
Michael Morse - LF
Danny Espinosa - 2B
Chris Marrero - 1B
Wilson Ramos - C
Steve Lombardozzi - 3B
John Lannan - SP
Nationals Vs. Marlins Final: Nationals Miss Winning Opportunity With 3-2 Loss To Marlins
The Washington Nationals dropped Tuesday night's game against the Florida Marlins 3-2 in heartbreaking ninth inning walk-off style and ended their hopes of finishing with a winning record for the first time since baseball returned to Washington D.C. in 2005.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, it was up to reliever Doug Slaten to get the outs to put the game into extra innings. He got the first two outs. He would not get a chance to make a third. With two outs Bryan Petersen took a Slaten first pitch fastball and deposited it into the Sun Life Stadium seats for a Marlins 3-2 walk-off win. It was yet another poor showing for Slaten who is 0-2 with a 4.41 ERA.
Nationals outfielder Michael Morse hit his 31st home run of the season and shortstop Ian Desmond collected a RBI single in the loss. Nationals starter John Lannan's final start of 2011 ended with him pitching six innings and giving up two runs on six hits, three walks and four strike outs. Lannan finishes the season 10-13 with a 3.73 ERA.
The Nationals are now 79-81 with one game left to play. Due to bad weather and cancellations, Washington is playing only 161 games this year, the best they can finish now is 80-81.
Sep 27 10:11p by Andrew Kinback