The Nationals missed an opportunity to overtake the Astros in the wild card chase, dropping a tough 4-3 decision against the Phillies last night. Esteban Loaiza coughed up four earned runs on 10 hits and a walk in 5.2 innings. Bright spots for the Nats included Vinny Castilla’s 3rd inning homerun, and Luis Ayala, Joey Eischen, and Gary Majewski combining for 2+ innings of scoreless, hitless relief. The Nats managed to cut the Phillies’ lead to 4-3 in the top of the 7th, and had the tying run on third with one out, but neither Carlos Baerga (pop up) nor Ryan Church (ground out) could get the job done.

With one out in 9th and Jose Guillen aboard representing the tying run, Frank Robinson made what might have been his most curious, if not his worst, managerial decision of the season, sending Tony Blanco to the plate to pinch hit for Brian Schneider. Apparently Frank didn’t like the lefty-lefty match up with Schneider and Phillies closer Billy Wagner, but Blanco was clearly overmatched, flailing helplessly at Wagner’s 95+ MPH heat. Schneider was 0-2 in his career against Wagner, and Blanco was 0-2, so it’s not as if the decision was based on some overwhelming piece of statistical data. And even if such statistical data existed, it’s unlikely that Frank would have (a) known about it or (b) cared about it. And it still wouldn’t have justified the decision to pull Schneider, who has been tearing the cover off the ball lately; with his 7th inning double last night, he extended his hitting streak to 10 games. During those 10 games, he’s hitting .438 (14-32), with 3HR and 6RBI. He’s also hitting .273 for the year against lefties. Tony Blanco. Tony Blanco!? Seriously!? We’re talking about a rookie who has spent most of the year on the DL, had his last at bat almost a week ago (Aug. 11th), and hasn’t gotten a hit since June 5th! It just doesn’t add up. Lefty-lefty match up be damned, you take your chances with Schneider.

(AP Photo taken by Rusty Kennedy)