Nats win it with a Willie Harris Web-Gem

Matt Capps entered the 9^th inning with a one run lead and one of the most feared run scorers in the game, Jose Reyes, leading off the inning. Reyes got things started for the Mets singling to center field. Two walks later the Mets had the bases loaded with two outs and one of the hottest swinging New York batters at the plate, Rod Barajas.

Capps reared back and fired a fastball, Barajas turned on it, pulling a line drive to left. Willie Harris charged in and with a backhanded dive stopped the Mets rally and secured the victory with a game saving catch in left. Had the ball landed in front of him, the Mets would have at least tied the game, had it trickled past him, game over.

Harris had entered the game for third baseman Ryan Zimmerman who had left with a tight left hamstring. Harris entered the game as a third baseman in the sixth, and moved to left in the ninth to make the game winning catch. Zimmerman is expected to miss several days.

GAME NOTES:

Say Hey Will(y)ie: Willy Taveras got the start in right-field tonight and helped power the Nationals to their second win of the season. Taveras drove in all four of the Nationals runs on the day with an RBI triple and a bases loaded single. Willie Harris came in and played the hero as he filled in at the hot corner before registering the game winning catch and re-earning his nickname, the Mets Killer.

Clippard Dominates: Tyler Clippard earned his first hold of the season as he looked almost unhittable by pitching three shutout innings in the middle of this one. Clippard allowed one hit and no walks while striking out seven Met batters and even earning a hit in his first at bat. The hard throwing, glasses wearing righty was able to fool batters by using his high fastball an deceptive change-up. In total Clippard tossed 40 pitches in three innings while retiring nine of 10 batters faced.

Desmond continues to produce despite K's and E's: Through five games Desmond has 13 at bats, seven strikeouts, and three errors, however the young prospect is still batting .308, still has three extra base hits, and has four walks. This means that while he is striking out and making errors at a high rate, he is being remarkably productive when he does make contact with the ball and does get on base. This type of production is clearly unsustainable however, and Desmond will have to either start making better contact, or expect his BABIP to plummet.

1-4 goes O-for: The top of the Nationals line up, which was the key to the clubs offensive production last season, combined to go 0-15 today with five strikeouts and only one walk. In fact the Nationals only mustered five hits total on the day but timely hits by Willy Taveras paid off as the Nationals came out on top.

WIN PROBABILITY

The most valuable position player according to WPA (Win Probability Added) for the Nationals was far and away Willy Taveras, the guy who knocked in all of the teams runs. He went 2-4 on the evening with 4 RBI and a strikeouts.

On the mound Tyler Clippard posted a WPA (Win Probability Added) of .331 after his outstanding performance in middle relief. Matt Capps, who surrendered a hit and two walks, and was rescued to get out of the ninth, posted a WPA of .194.

The two biggest plays of the game were Willy Taveras' two out triple which scored two runs, earning a WPA of 2.04, and Willie Harris game winning catch, which subtracted .268 from the Mets winning probability.