Nats Knock Off Bonds, Giants – The Post
Fritz and I went to last night’s game at RFK. Since we were with a group, we wound up sitting in better seats than we usually do — section 516. We had the RBI Baseball view of the action.
The Nats got to Giants starter Matt Morris early. He hit LF Alfonso Soriano and gave up a single to SS Felipe Lopez. 3B Ryan Zimmerman knocked Soriano in and Nick Johnson knocked Lopez in.
The lead did not last long. With the bases loaded P Matt Morris hit a ground rule double past CF Ryan Church to tie the game. Church got a bad jump and probably should have made the catch. Ramon Ortiz was able to get out of the inning without further damage.
In the bottom half of the inning Church hit Morris with a line drive and reached first base safely. No runs would score, but that contributed to Morris faltering in the third when the bats exploded for five runs. Morris was finished.
Over the next several innings, the Giants picked up three runs on homers by C Eliezer Alfonzo and 2B Ray Durham, making the game much tighter than expected. The Nats got an insurance run in the eighth after Durham hit another dinger in the top of the inning.
The ninth was vintage Chad Cordero. Another throwing error by Lopez allowed a runner on and PH Mark Sweeney singled to make put two on with no outs. After that, Cordero shut the door getting a fly ball, ground ball (nearly a double play) and another flyball to win the game. Bang! Zoom!
Oh, in case you were wondering, Barry Bonds was held hitless last night. He was booed throughout.
More from The Wash. Times: Nats win fourth straight
Boxscore – ESPN
Bowden Waits to Roll the Dice – The Post
Jim Bowden is talking “pitching, pitching, pitching” again, which in the past has been decoded to mean “I’m going to get another toolsy outfielder who once played for the Reds.” We shall see what he manages to acquire for Soriano.
Bowden in his own words (The Wash. Examiner)
THOMAS BOSWELL – For Nationals, Greed Is Very Good – The Post
Jim Bowden is in heaven. Sitting in the Nationals’ dugout before last night’s game, he beat the trade drums so loudly that you could hear them from Los Angeles to Chicago and Detroit back to New York. “The fire department is in my office right now hosing down my phone because all it does is burn,” Bowden said.
Some men have a destiny. George Washington was meant to win the War of Independence and Albert Einstein to unravel relativity. Bowden was born to hear his boss whisper the words, “Trade ’em all by next Monday.”
Yup, that pretty much sums up what Bowden is all about, doesn’t it?
Nationals’ Soriano Laughs at Trade Rumors – AP/The Wash. Examiner
Soriano is taking the his situation in stride.
Vidro on DL; no trade likely – The Wash. Times
2B Jose Vidro has a “timely” strained hamstring, which means in all likelihood, he is staying in D.C. He has gone on the DL. Kory Casto, whom I saw play Saturday night in Harrisburg (more later) was called up to take Vidro’s roster spot.
More from The Post: Vidro Heads to Disabled List
In addition to an exciting win before a lively crowd, I had the pleasure of meeting a WWN reader, Crash Riley. He hooked me up with a couple of the red rally towels from Sunday’s giveaway. He joined Fritz and me for an inning or so as well.
Before we headed up to the seats, we chatted at the Food Court. Right in front of us inside the press dining room was none other than Stan Kasten and Tim Kurkjian.
Good to meet you Crash! Thanks for the the towels.