{"id":445,"date":"2009-04-30T09:19:48","date_gmt":"2009-04-30T14:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/?p=445"},"modified":"2009-04-30T09:21:58","modified_gmt":"2009-04-30T14:21:58","slug":"nationals-wash-our-win-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/?p=445","title":{"rendered":"Nationals wash our win streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

All the Washington Nationals needed to do to protect a lead was give the ball to a reliever who hadn\u2019t saved a game in three years.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Scott Olsen pitched neatly into the sixth inning and Washington\u2019s beleaguered bullpen held on as the Nationals snapped the Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 five-game winning streak with a 4-1 victory Wednesday night.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Olsen (1-3) allowed one run and six hits, striking out six. Garrett Mock pitched 1 1-3 hitless innings, Kip Wells worked the eighth and Julian Tavarez finished for his first save since May 28, 2006, for Boston.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cOne thing about him is he\u2019ll throw strikes,\u201d Nats manager Manny Acta said of the well-traveled Tavarez. \u201cThat\u2019s one thing we know he\u2019ll do. They\u2019ll either hit him or he\u2019ll get them out. He takes the walks out of the equation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Olsen shut down an offense that scored 33 runs in the previous three games, including 20 against Nationals pitching.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Nationals, who have the worst record in the majors at 5-15, avoided being swept for the fourth time this month. They got a rare flawless performance from a relief corps that has blown six saves and is a combined 0-7.<\/em>
\n<\/em> Joel Hanrahan had been Washington\u2019s closer until he allowed Raul Ibanez\u2019s game-winning grand slam in a 13-11 loss on Monday night. It was his third blown save in five chances.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe know we are better than our record shows in this clubhouse,\u201d Olsen said.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Anderson Hernandez had three hits and drove in two runs for Washington out of the No. 8 spot in the lineup.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s gotten a lot better lately,\u201d Acta said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting quality at-bats and is very confident. That\u2019s why we like him back in the lineup.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Shane Victorino hit a solo homer for the Phillies. Brett Myers (1-2) gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I did a good job of locating my pitches, but other than that, not much I can take from it other than I got beat,\u201d Myers said.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Elijah Dukes and Hernandez hit RBI singles in the sixth to put the Nats ahead 3-1. Ryan Zimmerman led off the inning with a double to left-center, extending his hitting streak to 18 games.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

After Adam Dunn struck out, Dukes hit a grounder up the middle to score Zimmerman. Hernandez hit a two-out single to right-center to drive in Dukes.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Olsen left after allowing singles to Ryan Howard and Ibanez in the sixth. Mock came in and retired Pedro Feliz on a fly ball to end the threat.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Victorino hit a liner to the seats in left to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the first. Olsen struck out four in a row after the homer and six of the next eight batters.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

The Nationals tied it at 1 in the third when Myers had control problems. After Hernandez hit a one-out double, Myers walked Olsen. He walked Nick Johnson to load the bases with two outs and walked Zimmerman to force in a run.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to get the eight-hole hitter and pitcher out in the National League,\u201d Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Olsen pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, retiring Chris Coste on a grounder to third to end the inning. Zimmerman made a fine play going to his right, and his strong throw to first beat the slow-footed Coste.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey made adjustments the second time around the lineup,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cI made counter adjustments and we were able to escape the fourth without any damage.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Olsen has pitched well in his last three outings after two poor starts. The left-hander has lowered his ERA from 14.63 to 6.08 in that span. -yahoo.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Well that was a tough and boring game to watch. \u00a0After our bats were swinging so well I thought for sure we would bring in at least 8 vs this team last night. \u00a0But that was not the case at all. \u00a0Our one and only run came from Shane Victorino with a solor shot. \u00a0Hopefully we can get our bats swinging yet again. \u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All the Washington Nationals needed to do to protect a lead was give the ball to a reliever who hadn\u2019t saved a game in three years. Scott… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[482,481,479,480],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philadelphia_phillies","tag-nationals-win","tag-phillies-lose-today","tag-phillies-winning-streak-snapped","tag-phillies-winning-streak-to-an-end"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.homeboyznetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}