Washington Nationals’ rally in ninth falls short in 5-4 loss to Chicago Cubs – The Post
A chance for drama falls flat – Nats Insider
The table was set for another Ryan Zimmerman walk-off home run. He came to the plate with a runner on second, down by two in the bottom of the 9th. The Washington Nationals had come to life in the 9th, scoring three times on the Chicago Cubs closer Carlos Marmol. The Nats had the most prolific walk-off hitter of the last five years at the plate with two outs. Zimmerman connected with a Marmol pitch and sent deep to the right field corner, the opposite field. It was not deep enough though and Kosuke Fukudome caught it on the run. Another 12 feet and it would have cleared the fence and Natstown would have erupted in celebration. It reminds me of a previous Nats vs. Cubs game in 2005, the first meeting between the two teams. Down 6-3, Jose Guillen came to the plate the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. He hit a shot to just about the same spot in right, about 12 feet short of the RFK Stadium fence and the Nats lost. Had it gone over, I think we’d still be celebrating.

The Nats got in the hole courtesy of two bad John Lannan sliders that landed in the seats. Is there still a SINE SORIANO 1!!!!1! crowd? The could say “I told you so” after Alfonso Soriano, owner of the single finest individual season by a Nat (2006), hit a 3-run homer in the 2nd inning. He was on 1st aftera throwing error two innings later when Tyler Colvin put another slider over the wall.

Lannan’s opposite number, Carlos Zambrano was much more successful. Zambrano went 7 1/3 innings and struck out 8, allowing only one runner.