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A Zim-Tastic Affair

By Matt's Bats on May 14, 2013 • ( 0 )

After sweeping the Tigers but losing 2 out of 3 to the Cubs, the Nationals head to the West Coast to take on the Dodgers, Padres and Giants. The NL West is the most disliked place if you are a die-hard baseball fan on the East Coast because the games usually start at 10:00 p.m., which is way after a lot of people go to sleep. The good news is that the Nats took the first game of the road series, beating the Dodgers 6-2. That’s good news because it keeps the Nats just 1 game behind the Braves and the Nats have not been good on the road this year.

The good news is that the Nationals’ unexpected ace, Jordan Zimmermann, is pitching twice on the long 10-game road trip. He started against the Dodgers on Monday and will face the Padres again on Saturday.

J-Zim pitched last night against the Dodgers. He entered the game with a league-leading 6-1 record and an ERA under 2.00. The Nationals don’t usually have a lot of luck against the Dodgers (2-4 last year, but clinched their playoff spot against them but lost the game), especially at Dodger Stadium. They got swept there last year, which is the series that Bryce Harper made his debut. Bryce Harper was also a big part of the story in last night’s game. In the battle of Bryce vs. Wall, this time Wall won.

This is the second major collision he has with a wall chasing a ball. In Atlanta is ran into an outfield wall and bruised his left side. But he caught the ball! In L.A., he ran face-first into the out of town scoreboard wall chasing a fly ball. He went down hard and had a lot of blood on his face and neck, but he walked off the field and everyone cheered for him.

Here are some additional highlights from last night’s this game since I know a lot of you didn’t stay up late to watch it. (I didn’t either, but I get up early and watch replays, read stories online and write my Matt’s Bats posts).

In the first inning, Ryan Zimmerman grounded into a 4-3, but Denard Span, who singled to lead off, scored. 1-0 Nationals, and Zim’s first RBI of the game.
In the top of the 3rd, Ryan Zimmerman hit a 2-RBI double. J-Zim and Lombo scored. 3-0 Nats
The next batter, Adam LaRoche grounded into a 3-1 but Bryce Harper scored. 4-0 Nats
In the 5th, Ryan Zimmerman reached on a throwing error by Javy Guerra. Lombo scores to make it 5-0 DC
Again, the next batter, Adam LaRoche, singles. Bryce scores. 6-0 Washington and 2 RBIs for LaRoche.
In the bottom of the fifth, on an A.J. Ellis hit, Bryce Harper banged into the scoreboard. He needed 11 stitches, but he’s OK. He’s probably not going on the DL and may be back as soon as tonight. Ellis got a triple on it and later scored in the inning. 6-1 Nats.

If you don’t see the video, click here.

In the 8th, Matt Kemp singles in a run for the Dodgers, making the score 6-2.
Drew Storen was in in the 9th to close the game. Drew had a 1-2-3 inning and the Nats win, 6-2.

I’d award Ryan Zimmerman and Jordan Zimmermann as the players of the game. Ryan had 3 RBIs out of 6 runs scored. Jordan got his MLB-leading 7th win on Monday, so Hurrah for the Zimmerman(n)s. Bryce also gets a trophy for being the toughest outfield in the MLB. Hopefully on Sunday I’ll be writing the same type of post!

TheNationalsArchive.com illustrated this series hash tag:

#NoWayLA

NATS GAME TONIGHT

NATS AT DODGERS, 10:10 PM

DAN HAREN (4-3, 5.17 ERA) VS. CLAYTON KERSHAW (3-2, 1.62 ERA)

GO NATS!

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