(August 3, 2012, by Stephen Walker at Nationals Park)

Anyone who pitched in Little League quickly learns that you can’t pitch well if you lose your composure.

In an otherwise brilliant performance, Washington Nationals’ pitcher Gio Gonzalez came temporarily unglued after allowing a single to Miami Marlins’ pitcher Josh Johnson with one out in the sixth inning. After a Emilio Bonifacio line out, the temperamental Gonzalez (13-6) allowed the next four Marlins to reach base, leading to three runs and turning a 1-0 lead into a two-run deficit in a game the Nationals eventually lost, 5-2, to earn a split of the two-game Friday night set. (Washington, behind John Lannan, won the first game, 7-4).

Miami Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson pitched brilliantly, going 8 2/3 innings to defeat the Nationals, 5-2 and earn a split of the Friday night doubleheader in Washington. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The one-inning meltdown in a game where Gonzalez went 8 innings and struck out 10 was one inning too many because Gonzalez’s rival, Marlins’ starter Josh Johnson pitched even better. Johnson (7-7) gave up a scant 5 hits, walked none, and fanned 9. As a reminder of the bad old days in D.C., Johnson improved his career mark against Washington to 9-1.

After a Stephen Lombardozzi triple to lead off the game, Johnson kept the Nationals off balance with a stunningly accurate and effective array of change-ups, hard sliders, and curve balls. Early in the game, the Nationals hit many balls hard, but right at Marlins’ defenders. Later, Johnson induced weak contact. Any batter unfortunate enough to have a two-strike count looked utterly helpless as Johnson threw every pitch in his arsenal for strikes. To beat him, Gonzalez needed to be almost perfect and, with the exception of one inning, he nearly was.

Only a Michael Morse infield single on his 115th pitch with two out in the 9th could Chase Johnson from the game. On the play, Bonifacio injured his hand and Bryce Harper scored the Nationals second and final run when the Marlins’ second baseman weakly flung the ball toward the infield.

Marlins’ manager Ozzie Guillen removed Johnson for Steve Cishek. Cishek did not throw a single pitch over the plate, but slumping Danny Espinosa, who had a miserable game, swung at all but the first one and struck out with Roger Bernadina, who had hit the ball hard on three occasions across the two games, left on deck representing the tying run. Cishek’s one out save was his sixth of the season.

The loss dropped the Nationals record to 63-43 and, since the Braves beat the hapless Houston Astros earlier in the evening, reduced their lead over Atlanta to just two games. So far on this home stand against two struggling division rivals, the Nationals are 2-3.

Champ of the Game: Johnson, who is no longer a power pitcher, but, when he can throw his breaking pitches for strikes, is still tough to beat.

For the Nationals, despite his one bad inning and inexcusable loss of composure, Gonzalez pitched well and helped preserve a tired bullpen that, other than Tyler Clippard in game one, had a miserable evening.

Chump of the Game: Espinosa went 0-4 with three strikeouts, chasing numerous pitches that were all far from the strike zone. He even bounced a few throws to first that Adam LaRoche deftly scooped. He also made a killing mental mistake that cost the Nats a run in the 8th inning (see Unsung Hero below). Espinosa looks tired, but cannot take a day off as the Nationals lack anyone else to play shortstop.

A dishonorable mention goes to Craig Stammen, who failed to retire Johnson (who went 2-3) with two out in the top of the 9th and allowed a run to put the Nationals even further behind. Stammen, dominant early in the season, has slumped, having difficulty throwing his biting slider for strikes. He may have an undisclosed injury that is limiting his effectiveness.

For the Marlins, Austin Kearns went 0-3 with two strikeouts and, in his other at-bat squelched a potential rally by swinging at the first pitch and bouncing into an easy double play.

Unsung Hero: Jose Reyes for the Marlins went 3-5 and scored two runs, including the back-breaker in the 8th inning. After legging out a double (and getting a charitable safe call at second from umpire Fieldin Culbreth after Harper made a strong throw to Espinosa to apparently nail Reyes), Reyes took off for third as Carlos Lee chopped a grounder to Espinosa. The Nationals shortstop never looked at Reyes, who simply made the turn at third and kept going. LaRoche’s throw to the plate was far too late and the Marlins had a three-run lead.

Next Game: Tomorrow, Saturday, August 4, 7:05 at Nationals Park. Jordan Zimmermann (8-6, 2.28 ERA) July’s National League Pitcher of the Month faces Mark Buehrle (9-10, 3.60) who spurned the Nationals offer for the Marlins 4-year deal. Buehrle dominated the Nats the last time he faced them and Zimmermann has been fabulous for Washington, so the game shapes up as a potentially fine pitchers’ duel.

But onto some more important news…

The Nationals tried to avoid getting swept by the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night, with Chien-Ming Wang toeing the mound as a starter for the first time this season. After showing signs of promise last season (4-3, 4.04 ERA) as well as on Saturday night (3 IP, 1 ER), there was reason to believe that Wang had a shot against the struggling Josh Johnson (2-3, 4.87 ERA prior to last night’s game). However, Johnson was able to out-duel Wang, going 2 more innings and giving up 1 less run. Johnson also struck out 5 (as to Wang’s 4) and walked only 1 (as to Wang’s 3). Wang took the loss, giving him a 1-1 record on the year. Johnson walked away with his third win of the season (3-3) and Heath Bell was able to close his third consecutive game of the series.

The Nationals offense struck early last night, tacking on 3 runs in the first 4 innings. A leadoff triple by Danny Espinosa would start the Nats scoring in the second inning, setting up a Roger Bernadina sac-fly to Bryan Peterson, bringing the score back even headed into the bottom of thee second.

The Nats would strike again 2 innings later, once again thanks to Espinosa and Bernadina. The second Nationals run would score on an Espinosa single to right field, plating Adam LaRoche from third. Bernadina would follow that up with a double to deep-right center field, once again driving in Espinosa.

For the time being the Nats would have a 3-1 lead, until singles by Josh Johnson and Chris Coghlan tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the 4th. The Nationals would then watch as the Marlins would score 2 more runs over the course of the late innings courtesy of RBIs by John Buck and (who other than) Giancarlo Stanton (solo shot), giving the Marlins a 5-3 lead.

Washington would threaten one more time in the top of the 9th, however Rick Ankiel would not be able to keep the inning alive with 2 outs, stranding runners on first and third (tying run at first) to end the game.

Next Game: The Nats will look to turn their recent misfortunes around tomorrow night, sending Stephen Strasburg (5-1, 2.64 ERA) to the mound against fellow 2009 1st-round pick Mike Minor (2-4, 6.98 ERA). Game time is 7:05 PM ET at Nationals Park.

Our Season Preview series led off with an examination of the New York Mets. Next to the plate, the Miami Marlins. 

Heading into the offseason it seemed pretty certain that the Marlins were going to pursue one of the premiere free agent pitchers available. The team was determined to spend big this winter, an effort to justify the taxpayer-financed stadium that is set to open in the coming weeks.

Early on all indications seem to point towards the Marlins pursuing C.J. Wilson and in the end, they were one of the finalists in the hunt to land the left-hander. But as negotiations continued to progress, the Marlins were simultaneously negotiating with what was perceived to be their Plan B, Mark Buehrle. On December 9th the team announced their four year, $54 Million contract with Buehrle. Wilson’s signing with the Angels would be announced the next day.

Mar 16, 2012; Jupiter, FL. USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Mark Buehrle (56) delivers a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Marlins 5-0. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE

Now Buehrle, who had spent his entire career with the Chicago White Sox before reaching free agency and who has been reunited with his former manager in Ozzie Guillen, is set to help anchor the Marlins rotation in 2012. The veteran has been reliable, throwing 200+ innings each of the past 11 seasons with a 3.83 ERA and an average of 15 wins per season. He and a hopefully healthy Josh Johnson should form a fairly strong 1-2 punch atop the Miami pitching staff. Health is ultimately going to be key for the pair of players.

Buehrle doesn’t have a checkered injury history like Johnson does, but he’ll be 33 on Friday and pitchers generally do not have a good track record as their arms and bodies continue to age. As for Johnson, he’s hoping to return to form after missing nearly the entire 2011 season. In the 9 starts he did make he posted a 3-1 record with a 1.64 ERA and 8.4 K/9 in 60.1 innings. He was on pace for another typical season from the right-hander.

Beyond the co-aces atop the rotation, the Marlins will likely send out Anibal Sanchez and Ricky Nolasco in the next two turns through the rotation. Each pitcher has their strengths but also their weaknesses. Sanchez also has an injury history, but has shown flashes of dominance when healthy. The two sides were rumored to be discussing terms of a contract extension throughout much of the past two months but there are no indications that a deal is close. Could the lack of long term security drive Sanchez to put up big numbers this season?

The last spot in the rotation appears to be going to Carlos Zambrano, though I’d prefer Wade LeBlanc fill the role rather than serve as the team’s long reliever. At this point in his career, I don’t expect much from Zambrano. He has to go a long way to prove that he is still capable of being a big-game pitcher.

While we all followed the rumors and rumblings surrounding the top free agent starting pitchers, the Marlins also seemed to sneak in and land the biggest bullpen option available on the market this winter, closer Heath Bell.  It was an expensive week for Miami. Bell signed on December 3rd. Jose Reyes signed two days later. Buehrle’s contract was announced two days after that.

Bell has saved 40+ games each of the past three seasons and will help anchor the Marlins bullpen. With all of the other additions this team made over the winter, they’d all be for nothing if the team didn’t have the ability to finish out games. Plus, considering the still unresolved situation that Juan Carlos Oviedo finds himself in, there was a definite need for an experienced and reliable arm at the back of the bullpen.

Right-hander Ryan Webb and left-hander Michael Dunn seem to be the most likely options to work the later innings ahead of Bell. Lefty Randy Choate and righties Steve Cishek and Eduardo Mujica figure to round out the rest of the bullpen. An area of concern to take note of, there isn’t significant depth in the Marlins organization on the pitching front. Their top pitching prospects (RHP Jose Fernandez and LHP Chad James) are not close to being MLB ready.