San Francisco Giants struggle against Washington Nationals 5-2 - Part 1
Washington Nationals put in a good performance as they beat San Francisco Giants 5-2 at Nationals Park, Washington on Sunday, May 1.
Even though sports analysts believe that the future performances of a team cannot be determined by their performance early in April, it is becoming increasingly hard to expect anything from the reigning World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants.
As they suffer their second defeat at the hands of the Washington Nationals, one has to wonder if the team that won the World Series last year after defeating the very best has any more fight left in them. The Giants’ pitching is suffering like never before
even with the presence of Tim Lincecum who has often been compared to All Star pitchers like Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay. Aubrey Huff has gone on a run strike as he managed to do everything but score for almost eight games.
For the second time the Nationals defeated the Giants on Sunday. Ivan Rodriguez stole the show from the Nationals’ side as he belted out a two run single in the eighth inning that sealed the victory for his team. After reliever Tyler Clippard issued a walk
in the eighth inning, Rodriguez threw out Darren Ford, the pinch runner. By the end of the inning, Ivan had given his team extra runs.
Rodriguez put on a display of great defense. He said, "That's like if I hit 4 for 4, to be honest with you, throwing a guy out late in the game like that, that's a game-saving play right there. To cut the rally right there is good for us. That's why I always
take a lot of pride in my defense."
Things weren’t looking to good for the Nationals before Rodriguez came and gave them a boost of confidence that they required. They had been given chances throughout the match to score but failed to cash in on them.
Jordan Zimmermann, in the duration of six innings allowed two runs and six hits while walked two and striking-out four. This play effectively put an end to his three game losing streak. He had Tommy John surgery around August of 2009 and the 107 pitches
he threw in this match were the highest number of pitches thrown by him since his return from the surgery.
In the first seven innings, Washington went 1 for 11 with runners at scoring positions. Between the second and fifth inning they surprisingly stranded a runner on third base four consecutive times. Still, with all their mistakes and missed opportunities,
they ended up winning the match and that is what ultimately counts.
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