Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Coming into this series in St. Louis, the Washington Nationals (66-65) had a chance to make a statement at Busch Stadium, a place where the team hasn’t won a game since 2012. They’ve held a 5-3 late in the game each of the last two nights, but have failed to win both games. Last night, it was Brandon Moss’ three-run home run off of Casey Janssen in the bottom of the ninth that capped another St. Louis comeback in which they scored five runs in the final two innings.
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With Mike Matheny’s squad now at 86-46 on the seasonwith their win last night, I think back to some comments Nats’ president and general manager Mike Rizzo made to Bob Nightengale of USA Today about how he said the team knows how to win:
"“We think we have the talent on this team when we put it together to win a championship,” Rizzo said. “We are the defending National League East champions. We won it two of the last three years, so these players know how to win.” (h/t Bob Nightengale, USA Today)"
Rizzo might be right about the Nats in the past, but every team is different. This Washington team hasn’t been able to find ways to win this season, but rather different ways to lose. In fact, Rizzo should look at the opposing dugout and look at a team that has 34 come-from-behind wins this season. That’s a team that knows how to win. Now, the Nats are 6.5 games behind the Mets (who lost last night) with 31 games to go.
On a positive note last night, Bryce Harper added another footnote to his historic season. Harper, who went 2-for-2 with a double, a RBI, and two walks is now at 100 walks for the season, which puts him in an exclusive category:
Harper is the 1st player 22 or younger to have 100 BB, 30 HR in a season since Eddie Mathews in 1954.
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) September 2, 2015
Before Max Scherzer takes the mound against Michael Wacha tonight (8:15 PM ET, MASN2/ESPN), check out my takeaways from last night’s 8-5 loss:
Next: Nats Offense Has Big Inning Against Gonzales