(Entry written by DCist contributor Chris Kelly)
The Nationals saw their 12 game home winning streak come to an end yesterday at RFK as a result of a 9-5 roasting at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. Orlando Hudson of the Jays broke a 5-5 tie in the 8th with a two-run home run off of Luis Ayala. Sunny Kim gave up two more in the 9th to put the game out of reach. On the heels of another bad start the last time out against Texas, Tony Armas Jr. continues to tease; and disappoint – after an unhittable start, he didn’t make it through 5 innings yesterday. With the loss, and Atlanta’s 8-1 shellacking of the faltering O’s, the Nats lead in the NL East stands at 3 games over the surging Braves.
The Nats get a well deserved day off today before welcoming the Pittsburgh Pirates to RFK for a three game set before heading to Chicago for three with the Cubs over the weekend. Ryan Drese takes the hill Tuesday for the Nats against Pittsburgh’s Josh Fogg.
After another dud by Armas, the big question remains whether the Nationals have enough pitching to make it through the dog days of summer. Obviously, pitching will determine if the Nats are contenders or pretenders. The answer is in the arms. Unfortunately the Nats can’t pitch Livan Hernandez every day (although he’d probably take the ball every time if you asked him). The ace of the staff had another stellar performance Saturday night. Esteban Loaiza was solid on Friday night and has been much, much better than his 3-5 record shows (he’s gotten no run support); and Jon Patterson, bad back permitting, should be fine. But the ability of the “other guys” filling the fourth and fifth slots in the rotation will have as much to do with a serious run for the playoffs as any other factor. Armas is certainly not cutting it. On-again-off-again Ryan Drese is nothing but a big question mark. Who else? Sunny Kim is a crapshoot. Zach Day is almost ready to return, but he was awful before going down with a fractured arm. Is there any reason to believe he’ll be any more effective now?
