Pittsburgh 3 WASHINGTON 2 (ESPN Boxscore)
Typically, the 2007 Nationals have played well when Matt Chico is on the mound, giving the rookie a big cushion when it comes to runs. It didn’t work out that way yesterday though as the Nats lost. Chico went seven and gave up only the two. That was good enough to keep them tied with Pittsburgh until the ninth when Jason Bay homered (The Wash. Times) off of Chad Cordero, ending the closer’s 12 inning scoreless streak (The Free Lance-Star). The Nats coulnd’t score in the bottom of the ninth, losing the game and the series.
2B Felipe Lopez was benched after he didn’t run out two ground balls.
1B Dimitri Young’s first inning homer was the scoring for that Nationals.
Nats’ Loss Comes With a Message – The Post
Not hustling lands Lopez on the bench – The Wash. Times
The MLB draft was yesterday and the place to go for draft coverage is Nationals Farm Authority which live-blogged the draft. Here is how The Free Lance-Star summed it up:
Yesterday, in a cramped boardroom tucked away in the team’s RFK Stadium offices, the Nationals methodically selected five high schoolers and three college prospects, striking a balance between close-to-the-majors talent and high-ceiling high schoolers on the first day of MLB’s draft.
Nats Miss Out On Sluggers, Opt To Draft Pitching – The Post
Lefties start off draft for Nats – The Wash. Times
Even though the Nats were hoping to land a slugger early, they went with “pitching, pitching, pitching” with three of their first picks. Thomas Boswell is excited (The Post) and throws lines like “by nightfall, the Nats’ front office practically needed sedation” and “please God, don’t let Jim have a Red Bull.” Thom Loverro is pleased that first pick Ross Detwiler is from Chuck Berry’s hometown (The Wash. Times).
The experiment to turn a mediocre hitter into a bad switchitter is over — Nook Logan will only bat from the right side (The Free Lance-Star) from now on.
The Nats head to Minnesota for a three game series, but SS Cristian Guzman isn’t talking about his former team (The Post).
Young, Austin Kearns and Ryan Zimmerman will be the DH during the series.
There isn’t much talk about the fact the Twins were the original Washington Senators. So far, the only article I have seen was one from the Pioneer-Press, St. Paul’s paper, about Harmon Killebrew’s D.C. recollections. Left unsaid was Clark Griffith’s decision to move the Senators was because he was a big racist.
Meanwhile, down on the farm (The Free Lance-Star)