Johnson Launches Long, Nick Nice In Nats Win
Going, Going, Gone! Nick Johnson Trumps Greg Maddux
Nick Johnson would be playing somewhere else if Jim Bowden had listen to the blogosphere, who [me included] wanted Johnson out at first in favor of Brad Wilkerson. If Johnson was going to have become a quality first baseman, he would have done it already. Hmmm.
What would this team look like had Johnson moved on to another city? Lets not go there.
Nick Johnson homered and singled and drove in two runs as the powerful first baseman continues to lead the team in walks and on base percentage. With a team of streaky hitters, Johnson has been the single constant in the lineup.
John Patterson looked "off" in the 1st inning as two walks and a wild pitch allowed two runs to score before the crowd of almost 44,000 were even settled into their seats at RFK Memorial Stadium on a gray and misty Sunday afternoon. Greg Maddux then took the hill and retired the Nats quietly in order. Uh-oh.
Not to worry, John Patterson settled down and pitched well the rest of the game, giving up two more runs while striking out six. Maddux pitched well enough, save Nick Johnson's two run home run that put the team ahead 4-3 in the 5th inning.
Neifi Perez -- Oops
Neifi Perez was the Nationals MVP on Sunday, While going 0-5, he also committed two errors that allowed the Nationals to score the winning run. "It's never fun to have a game like that" said Perez, adding "You just try to blank it out of your mind. Sometimes, that's really hard to do. Like today."
The two pitchers of record really shouldn't have been. Hector Carrasco came in to the game in relief of John Patterson, getting a pop up to end the inning on just one pitch. Cubs pitcher Cliff Bartosch lost the game due to Neifi Perez's fielding error. Bartosch gave up no hits in taking the loss.
NATS NOTES
Nick Johnson was the hero, lofting one of the longer fly balls RFK Stadium has seen this year ... Even through 3 consecutive sub-par outings, Patterson's ERA is still below 3.00 ... Offense is still a bit of a problem as the team connected for only 7 hits for the game ... The first 5 players in the lineup had at least one hit a piece. [More to come later -- got to head to church]
# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 1:50 PM 
