{"id":2004,"date":"2007-04-13T09:59:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-13T09:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yurasko.net\/wfy\/2007\/04\/the-lead-and-how-to-swing-it.html"},"modified":"2007-04-13T09:59:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-13T09:59:00","slug":"the-lead-and-how-to-swing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yurasko.net\/wfy\/2007\/04\/the-lead-and-how-to-swing-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lead and How to Swing It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington 2 ATLANTA 0 (<span style=\"font-style:italic;\">ESPN<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/sports.espn.go.com\/mlb\/boxscore?gameId=270412115\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Boxscore<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>I turned on the Nats game (which was on MASN 2 for no good reason) around the 2nd inning last night. I was surprised to see there was no score and even more surprised to see <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Jason Bergmann<\/span> with several strikeouts.  Not surprising, Bergmann&#8217;s opposite number, <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">John Smoltz<\/span>, was having his way with the Nats for the most part. Inning after inning continued and I kept wondering when a fly ball would be dropped or Bergmann would hang one over the plate. I figured <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Andruw Jones<\/span> would get a pitch he liked and put it over the wall. When it comes to Jones and the Nats, I can&#8217;t help but be reminded of Dick Enberg constantly saying, &#8220;you cannot stop him, you can only hope to contain him,&#8221; about Emmitt Smith whenever NBC would get a Cowboys game back in the day. Yet, Jones was kept in the park and got fooled by several pitches.<\/p>\n<p>Following his last start, Bergmann was chewed out by GM Jim Bowden for allowing six walks. This time around he allowed four over six innings, but that can be forgiven because Bergmann gave up only one hit and had <b>eight<\/b> strikeouts in six innings of work. <\/p>\n<p>In the eighth inning, fortune finally favored the Nats. <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Chris Snelling<\/span> got hit by a Smoltz pitch (second time in the game). PH <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">D&#8217;Angelo Jimenez<\/span> sacrificed Snelling to second. <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Felipe Lopez<\/span> walked and Snelling advanced to third on a wild pitch. I was wondered why <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Bobby Cox<\/span> still had Smoltz in there. 2B <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Ronnie Belliard<\/span> made Smoltz and Cox pay, singling to  right to score Snelling and give the Nats their first lead during a game this season. 3B <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Ryan Zimmerman<\/span> singled to knock in Lopez. Smoltz struck out Austin Kearns and Ryan Church to end the inning, but the damage was done. I turned the game off at that point and went to bed, preferring to sleep on a lead for a change.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Jesus Colome<\/span> and <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Jon Rauch<\/span> both got 1-2-3 innings in relief with Colome getting the win. <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Chad Cordero<\/span> came in and had a typical save, putting the tying runner on base before getting the third out. I&#8217;m sure <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Charlie Slowes<\/span> was going nuts.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/04\/12\/AR2007041202491.html?hpid=moreheadlines\"><b>Nationals Follow Through on Lead<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">The Post<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"post-article-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/sports\/20070413-010931-6955r.htm\"><b>Finally, Nats get ahead<\/b><\/a> &#8211; <i>The Wash. Times<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Tonight, the Nats continue their road trip in Flushing Meadows against the Mets. <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">John Patterson<\/span>, the Nats &#8220;ace&#8221;, says his recent poor performances are due to rust, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/sports\/20070413-010932-2121r.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">not arm problems<\/span><\/a> (<span style=\"font-style:italic;\">The Wash. Times<\/span>). He&#8217;ll face <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Mike Pelfrey<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Ray King<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/04\/12\/AR2007041202104.html\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">has been sent to the DL<\/span><\/a> (<span style=\"font-style:italic;\">The Post<\/span>), costing the Nats a lefty in the bullpen. RHP <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Saul Rivera<\/span> was called up to take his place.<\/p>\n<p>Yestrday, <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Frank Robinson<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/a-671286~Frank_Robinson_returns_to_D_C__for_Jackie_Robinson_honor.html\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">stopped by GWU<\/span><\/a> (<span style=\"font-style:italic;\">AP\/The Wash. Examiner<\/span>) to pick up the <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Jackie Robinson Society Community Recognition Award<\/span>. He is still keeping tabs on the Nats. <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Dave Feldman<\/span> interviewed Robinson for <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">WTTG<\/span> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.myfoxdc.com\/myfox\/pages\/Sports\/Detail?contentId=2914909&#038;version=2&#038;locale=EN-US&#038;layoutCode=VSTY&#038;pageId=6.1.1\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Part I<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.myfoxdc.com\/myfox\/pages\/Sports\/Detail?contentId=2914921&#038;version=1&#038;locale=EN-US&#038;layoutCode=VSTY&#038;pageId=6.1.1\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Part II<\/span><\/a>). <span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">Roger Kahn<\/span>, author of <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">The Boys of Summer<\/span>, was the keynote speaker. Also: GWU <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gwu.edu\/%7Enewsctr\/pressrelease.cfm?ann_id=25328\"><span style=\"font-weight:bold;\">press release<\/span><\/a> from earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>A Balmer columnist dumps on D.C. sports in <span style=\"font-style:italic;\">The Sun<\/span>, but do any of us care what he thinks? Didn&#8217;t think so, no link for him.<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\">&copy;MMX William F. Yurasko<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington 2 ATLANTA 0 (ESPN Boxscore) I turned on the Nats game (which was on MASN 2 for no good reason) around the 2nd inning last night. I was surprised to see there was no score and even more surprised to see Jason Bergmann with several strikeouts. Not surprising, Bergmann&#8217;s opposite number, John Smoltz, was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1222],"class_list":["post-2004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natsmlb-2007","tag-nats"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Lead and How to Swing It - William F. 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