It’s a Beautiful Day

It was gray and raining this morning in DC with an 80 percent chance of rain for the afternoon game.  After starter Craig Stammen was hammered for six runs in the first two innings it was business as usual, but by the end of the afternoon the news copters were circling the stadium, U2 had broken into its familiar theme and the Nationals were in the clubhouse waiting for the Prez to invite them over for beer.

The sun came out in the middle innings and so did the Washington Nationals offense.  They scored 12 runs starting in the fourth inning to take a 12-8 decision against the Florida Marlins.  It was more than the smiling fans.  This was a huge win with large upside psychological benefits.  The reasons why this game means more than others:

• The five game win streak is the longest of the season.
• The sweep of the Marlins takes it to a team that has beaten the Nationals like a drum over the past few seasons.  They swept the Nationals in two April series to account for much of the misery in the first month and had won nine straight 2009 games against the Nationals before this series.
• Jim Riggleman’s tenure as manager has seen a turnaround in team fortunes generally.  They are 10-11 with Riggleman, a big difference from Manny Acta’s .299 win pct.

Getting to this point has been slow and steady, and a team effort.  It is the better defense that started with the trade for Nyjer Morgan.  It is the improved bullpen that started with Mike MacDougal taking over from Joel Hanrahan and got better with the addition of Sean Burnett from Pittsburgh and Tyler Clippard and Jason Bergmann from Syracuse.

More than anything however, it is the rebirth of the offense in the late innings as Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham have been punishing the ball for all the bad things it did to them in the first half.  And Nyjer Morgan has given the offense a starting motor–the first real leadoff hitter since Orlando Cabrera left Montreal.

Ryan Zimmerman is still the heart of this team and it was his 4-for-4 with a homer, a triple and three RBI that kept the team coming back all day long.  But one of the important differences was the bullpen.  Riggleman paraded them in starting in the third inning and at the end of the day seven men had pitched for the Nationals.  But the last five kept the Fish off the board while the Nationals were tacking on the tying and winning runs.

The winning runs came against two old friends–Luis Ayala and Brendan Donnelly.  Ayala was a capable arm for Washington for several seasons, but he was overused and has yet to effectively rebound from arm problems.  Brendan Donnely was the pitcher who Frank Robinson accused of doctoring the ball one night in Los Angeles in 2005.  It was one of the biggest broohahas of that season.

He won the challenge and Donnelly was thrown out of the game and the Nationals went on to win against an apoplectic Mike Sciosia.  Those were the good old days, but maybe they are coming back.  Maybe the offense can win enough games to make up for a still weak starting rotation.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.  It has been five seasons of maybe in Washington.  Every one is looking for that old same thing and for one day in Washington, DC we found it.  The sun was shining, the breeze off the river was cool, and all the good looking women were right here in Nationals Park.  Nothing could have been more beeyootiful.