Results tagged “iandesmond”

Nationals 6, Braves 3: It's now five on the trot for the Nats, as they got yet another big contribution from Ian Desmond to beat the Braves in Atlanta. The Sarasota, Florida native smashed a solo home run in the second, a two-run triple in the fourth, and scored on pitcher Livan Hernandez's single in the fifth. (He's got potential, folks; though if you're reading your trusty LNA regularly, you already knew that.) Hernandez looked pretty good; the real question with him is whether or not the Nats want to bring him back next season or they want to save that spot in the rotation for a young, albeit unproven arm like J.D. Martin or Ross Detweiler. That's for later days, though; for now, what hasn't been to like about this week in NatsTown? It's been a banner one for the young guys, the role players are contributing, Ryan Zimmerman has been scoring lots of important runs, and every guy in the five-man rotation has had a quality start. So what if it's the end of the season; when your team is the first National League club to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons in 25 years, you'll take the winning streaks when they come, dammit.

Nationals 4, Mets 3: Could the Nationals actually end the season on a positive note? Seems like a possibility after they earned their first back-to-back home victories since early August with a win against the Mets last night. The boys from Queens jumped out to a 3-0 lead against starter J.D. Martin. But the young righty calmed considerably, and looked good after the second inning, going six in total. Middle infielder Ian Desmond -- who has impressed since his callup -- went deep in the fifth to get things moving offensively. (We're excited to see what Desmond can do with a whole year at this level: his .333/.473/.806 in 16 games at the major league level shows a bit of promise, even if his five errors in middle infield will do nothing to help solve the Nats' considerable defensive woes.) Ryan Zimmerman then pushed the Nats into a tie with a two-out base knock. A wild endgame ensued, in which two Mets errors allowed the Nats to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth (hey, it feels good to have this happen to our opponents for a change!), and Elijah Dukes made a fantastic play on a long David Wright fly to end the game. The Nats will go for the sweep tomorrow in 2009's home finale.

Nationals 8, Phillies 7: Everyone knows those moments in life where you find yourself saying "whew, that was close" out loud, directed no one in particular. Well, if they could speak collectively, the Nationals would have certainly had one of those moments on Thursday evening: despite a pair of relievers allowing five runs in the top of the ninth, the Nats still managed to salvage a win in the finale of their last home series of the year against Philadelphia. Until the ninth, though, things looked great for the Nats. Starter Livan Hernandez navigated through a rocky first inning, and didn't allow the potent Phils lineup to cross the plate between the second and the eighth innings. And thanks in part to the impressive debut of shortstop Ian Desmond (2-4, double, home run, 4 RBI), the home team found themselves with a comfortable six-run lead after chasing the normally reliable Joe Blanton from the game during a five-run fifth. Somehow, though, that big lead was reduced to one after Zack Segovia and closer Mike MacDougal just couldn't get any Phillies out; the big blow obviously being Matt Stairs' pinch-hit grand slam, which sent the stadium -- chock full of red Phillies hats -- into a state of nervous excitement. But Nats setup man Ron Villone literally saved the day; truly earning his first save of the season by coaxing big slugger Ryan Howard into a game-ending double play with the tying run on third and one out. Whew, that was close, indeed.