Washington Nationals routed 1-6 by San Diego Padres as Stephen Strasburg struggles - MLB
Starter Stephen Strasburg leaks runs as the Washington Nationals are routed 1-6 by the San Diego Padres at Nationals Park, Washington, D.C. in second game of the two match series on May 15, 2012.
The Padres level the series in style. By roughing up Strasburg, they managed to halt a pitcher who is being touted as among the best at the moment.
Their catcher John Baker does the anticipation and draws immediate dividends. His hit against Strasburg led Chase Headley and Yonder Alonso to completing runs.
Three run lead the Padres managed in the first set the stage for victory. Demoralised by initial run-rampage by Padres, the Nationals struggled to find hits later in the game.
Excluding a homer by right-fielder Bryce Harper, none of the Nationals’ hitters reached home plate.
Pillars of the offence, third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman and second baseman Danny Espinosa went hitless. This was the weak-link where one can trace the clubs’ failure.
Despite having the talent, hitters are not being consistent.
One day the Nationals’ hitters will strike few hits and just when an improved performance is in order, the batters take a definite nosedive.
What happened with centre fielder Roger Bernadina is not any different. During last few games he was hitting pure, but as he went 0-for-4 in the game, he was unable to repeat even a fraction of what he has done so far.
After being unable to manufacture runs for the Nationals late in the innings, Espinosa spoke of difficulty he had to face in anticipation of the pitches.
"Until you get up there and get an idea of what kind of life he has on his fastball, and what his changeup and slider are like, you don't have a true sense of how you need to react to the pitch," Espinosa said. "He had everything going today."
Strasburg will like to take the game as an exception and will hope to move on unhampered.
As he gave up four runs and allowed two walks in four innings, he will be disappointed for causing a loss to his side.
Instead of finding flaws in their rotation, manager Davey Johnson will do well by working out frailties in the offence. This is an area that potentially can cause more misery.
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