September 8, 2014 – Nationals 2, Braves 1—Nationals Park

A committee of one?

Umpires: HP: Joe West. 1B: Alan Porter. 2B: Marty Foster. 3B: Rob Drake.

Weather: 70 degrees, cloudy.

Wind: 15 mph, In from RF.

T: 2:39.

Att: 25,448.

Venue: Nationals Park.

Following Rafael Soriano’s most recent blown saves and at least temporary demotion from the closer’s role for the Nats, Matt Williams has insisted that he will be employing a “closer-by-committee” approach to finishing off close ballgames, at least until Soriano is straightened out. After watching Drew Storen handle the ninth inning the last two days, however, one has to wonder whether or not Storen may be winning the role for good, regardless of a possible Soriano resurgence.

Although the Monday night crowd was not especially large, the game had a playoff atmosphere throughout. The Nats struck quickly for a run in the top of the first on singles by Rendon, LaRoche, and Desmond. The starting pitchers dominated the game through the first six innings, with the Nats’ only other threat being in the bottom of the third – Werth and LaRoche reached third base and second base with two outs, but Desmond hit a foul fly to Jason Heyward in right to end the inning. Doug Fister was even better for the Nats, not allowing at Atlanta runner past first base in his first six innings.

Fister faltered a bit in the seventh, walking Freddie Freeman to lead off the inning and Tommy La Stella with two outs. This prompted a mound visit by manager Matt Williams, who elected to leave Fister in to the delight of the crowd. The Nats starter then finished off his seven innings of shutout ball by inducing a grounder to short by Andrelton Simmons.

After the stretch, the Nats added an important insurance run in the bottom of the frame, as pinch-runner Jeff Kobernus scored from third on a Rendon grounder, after the inning started with a Ramos single and an Asdrubal Cabrera double. This run proved crucial when Tyler Clippard and Matt Thornton, the other two members of the closer committee, combined to allow an Atlanta run in the top of the eighth before Craig Stammen came in to prevent further damage. There was no such suspense in the ninth, as Storen came in to strike out the side, given him 5 Ks in six batters faced in his Sunday and Monday saves.

Section 135, Row R, seats 10-13 – lower level, down the right field line. Prime foul ball territory; none came our way, but there was one in the section next to us. The drive down was uneventful, but the traffic on the freeway and 14^th-street bridge on the way home was even slower than usual. We finally discovered that a “milling and paving” project was underway that closed the right two lanes of the bridge as we got close to Virginia, meaning that not only couldn’t we take our usual ramp to the northbound GW Parkway, but we also couldn’t reach the southbound Parkway or take the shortcut around the Pentagon parking lots. We finally got off on Glebe Road and had a leisurely drive through Arlington, finally reaching the Parkway near the Chain Bridge. (Of course, since it was a start by the quick-working Fister, I still made it home slightly before midnight.)