‘1ST_1380’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Last night’s Nat game was awesome … and that’s not because We Love DC was there (but come on, that’s ONE of the reasons, right?)

But really – here are the details: John Lannan threw 107 pitches, 71 for strikes, bringing the Nats to 8-7 (yes, that IS over .500, please allow the happy dance to ensue). There was a 3-0 deficit to overcome after the Rockies came out hitting, scoring 3 runs over 3 innings, but the Nats got it done.

Washington rallied in the 3^rd and again in the 8^th to eventually seal the deal for Tyler Clippard (3-0, 0.77) who gets the win and Matt Capps gets his seventh consecutive save after zipping balls over the plate for the victory march in the 9th.

How’d they score? Catcher Wil Nieves got the start behind the plate, and proceeded to hit the go-ahead RBI double in the 8^th putting the Nats ahead. Adam Dunn crushed four runs in the 3^rd inning with a two run double down the left field line, not to mention Josh “The Hammer” (please, someone find out where this nick name came from, I’d really like to know) Willingham continues his hitting streak having hit safely in 11 of Washington’s 15 games this season by going two for four.

All in all, it was definitely a good night at the ball park. Next game is this afternoon at 4:35. Livan (2-0, 0.00), who is coming off a killer complete game shut out from this past Saturday, faces Ubaldo Jimenez (3-0, 1.29) for the final game of the Rockies series.

Disabled List Update: Jason Marquis was placed on the 15-Day list and Ryan Zimmerman was forced from last night’s  game in the 7th inning due to a right hamstring injury after hitting a double off the right field wall. We’ll see if he makes the start this afternoon or gets some rest as the day proceeds.

Zimm Update as of 12:33 pm (via Adam Kilgore): “Ryan Zimmerman is out of the #Nats lineup today. Willie Harris is batting 3d, Alberto Gonzalez playing 3rd. Day off for Hammer. Guzman in RF.”

Rachel Levitin

Rachel moved to DC in the fall of 2005 to study Journalism and Music at American University. When she’s not keeping up with the latest Major League Baseball news, she works on making music as an accomplished singer-songwriter and was even a featured performer/speaker at TEDxDupont Circle in 2012. Rachel has also contributed to The Washington Examiner and MASN Sports’ Nationals Buzz as a guest blogger. See why she loves DC. E-Mail: rachel@welovedc.com.