October 4-5, 2014 – Giants 2, Nationals 1 (18 innings, NLDS Game 2) – Nationals Park

Bummer of a decision, Matt (with apologies to Gary Larson)

Ejections: Washington Nationals second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera ejected by HP umpire Vic Carapazza (10th); Washington Nationals Manager Matt Williams ejected by HP umpire Vic Carapazza (10th)

Umpires: HP: Vic Carapazza. 1B: Tom Hallion. 2B: Hunter Wendelstedt. 3B: Mike Winters. LF: Brian Knight. RF: Laz Diaz.

Weather: 61 degrees, partly cloudy.

Wind: 7 mph, Varies.

T: 6:23.

Att: 44,035.

It’s impossible to beat the first paragraph of Adam Kilgore’s game story in this morning’s Washington Post, so I will repeat it here:

“Saturday night was about heroes and ghosts and everything in between. The marathon at Nationals Park included mastery and meltdowns, players warming their hands by a heater in the dugout and little-known relievers pitching their guts out. The Washington Nationals and the San Francisco Giants engaged in the kind of game that makes you love baseball and curse its existence and pace around the living room and ask the person next to you, what inning is it again? They played the kind of game that makes you feel alive until it makes you sick to your stomach.”

Incidentally, I have been hard on the Post in the past, but I was astonished to retrieve my newspaper around 8:00 this morning and find full coverage of the game, which went a couple of minutes past midnight – front page photo, box score, game story, columns, complete play-by-play, the works. Way to go guys! I hereby forgive them for running the same page of comics on two consecutive days earlier in the week.

For those of you living either on another planet or in a sterile sports-free environment, the Nats and Giants yesterday (and early today) played the longest postseason game in recorded history (breaking the previous record by more than a half hour), tying for the most innings at 18. We should have all been home at a decent hour, enjoying a 1-0 Washington victory, but Nats manager Matt Williams lifted starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann in the ninth inning, one out away from victory. After the game, Williams justified his ill-fated decision as follows:

“Hindsight is a great thing. You know, if our starting pitcher goes out there, and he’s at 100 pitches, third time, fourth time through the lineup, he gets in trouble in the ninth, we’ll go to the guy who was perfect for us since he has been in that role.”

Well, Matt, here goes:

·        In the first place, it’s not “hindsight” for the many of us who questioned his call even before Drew Storen reached the mound. And that’s not a knock on Storen – I wouldn’t have taken JZim out at that point even if I had Mariano Rivera warmed up in the pen.

·        “100 pitches” is hardly an evening-ending load for a veteran stud starting pitcher (with an extra day of rest, no less).

·        They weren’t even particularly stressful pitches. The Giants never had more than one baserunner in an inning against Zimmermann, and the only runner to even reach second base was back in the third inning.

·        He wasn’t exactly struggling. Prior to walking Joe Panik with two out in the ninth, Zimmermann had retired 20 (!) consecutive batters. Giants starter Tim Hudson was quoted as saying the Nats “probably could’ve brought in Sandy Koufax and we would’ve had a smile on our face.”

·        You want “perfect”? Zimmermann entered the ninth on a streak of 19 consecutive scoreless innings, during which he allowed a total of 4 hits – all singles.

·        Today’s closers much prefer to come in to start an inning, rather than in the middle with someone on base. I haven’t checked, but I’m sure that most if not all of Storen’s regular-season saves were of this variety.

Williams also took another risk. If he leaves Zimmermann in the game, he gives up the lead and the Nats lose, JZim gets credit for a valiant effort, and the Nats have their backs up against the wall needing three straight wins. As things unfolded, not only are their backs up against the wall, but they once again have a potential problem at the back of the bullpen, since it’s hard to imagine that Storen could be completely unaffected by being one out away from victory in his last two postseason appearances and unable to close things out either time.

Tom Boswell put it much better than I have in his column in this morning’s Post.

To add injustice to injury, Williams got ejected in the bottom of the tenth inning. So, rather than freezing like us innocent victims, he had a presumably warm and comfortable seat in the clubhouse for the final eight innings.

If Williams is goat #1 in the defeat, the Nats “offense” comes in a close second. Their only run came in the third inning on a leadoff double by Asdrubal Cabrera and a two-out RBI single by Anthony Rendon. Rendon wound up setting a franchise playoff record with a total of 4 hits in the game. Everyone not named Anthony Rendon managed just 5 singles in 55 at-bats, with 19 strikeouts. They were particularly feckless (fecklesser?) in extra innings, with only two hits over the final 9 frames.

There were a few moments of one kind or another, other than the second consecutive transcendent performance by Zimmermann. DC Washington did his usual superb job with the National Anthem and God Bless America. The Nats ditched Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift in favor of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough” for the 7^th and 14^th inning stretches – great song, albeit one whose lyrics rival “Take On Me” in terms of being difficult to sing along to. The oddest sight was when at some point in extra innings I left my seat (right after the Nats finished “hitting”) for the men’s room, only to see about a dozen other men literally sprinting across the concourse in that direction. I had the same luck getting in the slow line as I usually have at the grocery store, with the guy at the very front resembling the Dice-K of urination. By the time I finished, it was completely SRO, with a five-yard line out the door.

Given our loss in Game 1, I decided to change things up for Game 2 – drove down myself instead of catching a ride with the Pierce clan, walked down to Subway to pick up a sandwich, bought a bottle of Coke instead of bringing in water. I did forget to pick up a new rally towel on the way in, so maybe that was the problem.

The drive home actually wound up being quite an adventure. Washington Ave. was completely messed up -- the section leading up to where I get onto 395 South seemed to be closed, so I wound up getting routed in the wrong direction, eventually getting into the 3rd Street Tunnel, going north under the Mall, winding up on Second St NW not too far from the Capitol. Pulled over to get my bearings, decided that trying to get back on the Freeway was too dicey, so I headed west and south, eventually finding my way to Constitution Ave. and then to 14th. Even with that, I got home around 1:20 after leaving the lot at 12:30, which I guess isn't too bad all things considered.

Now we just have to hope that the Nats can pull off what would be a miracle comeback, beginning against the formidable Madison Bumgarner. Otherwise, they may be well on their way to joining the Caps in the local pantheon of perennial postseason underachievers.