Nationals Do Not Join the Mile High Club, Get Swept by the Rockies

The Colorado Rockies (45-39) have been on a tear since firing former manager Clint Hurdle. Since late May, Colorado has gone 25-11 under their new skipper, Tracy O’Dowd.

The hot streak continued this week as Washington came to town.

Game 1
 

Monday night saw one of the hottest pitchers in Major League Baseball, Jason Marquis, take on a young pitcher who may have finally found himself, Craig Stammen.

Stammen took the mound in Colorado with a great confidence that showed early. It seemed the young righty was unhittable in the notorious hitters park, Coors Field. Through seven innings he allowed only five hits, one earned run, and struck out three while only walking one.

The young pitcher learned a valuable lesson, however, as he received no run support for his outstanding performance. Jason Marquis, the veteran, simply out-pitched him.

The 30-year-old lefty blanked the Nats through eight innings, scattering seven hits while walking two and striking out three. The Rockies went on to win his MLB leading 11^th game, 1-0.

Game 2
 

Tuesday night saw Jordan Zimmerman’s least effective start in months, a five-inning bullpen performance that allowed no earned runs, three Nationals errors, and a late-inning loss for the Nats.

Zimmermann only allowed four runs, two earned, through four innings Tuesday night. The young hurler, however, walked four and, through four innings, threw 94 pitches, only 59 of them strikes.

The defense is what unraveled for the Nats this game however.

The club committed three errors. One by relief pitcher Jeff Biemel, who has a shockingly high three errors now on the season. This is an alarming amount when you consider he only pitched 33 innings. Another error came from Cristian Guzman, who continues to look more and more lost by the day. Yet another error came from Willie Harris, who had been applauded by the Nationals organization for his outfield defense, but now was playing second base.

Despite a four-to-four tie late in the game, the Rockies took the lead 5-4 in the eighth with a Clint Barmes' sacrifice fly, allowing Gonzalez to score.

Game 3
 

Ross Detwiler has been up and down in this his rookie season. He was down Wednesday night.

The young hurler pitched only four innings, allowing eight hits, six earned runs, and three walks.

The early blow wasn’t enough for the Nationals to overcome, losing 10-4.

The defense in this game was atrocious for the Nationals. While all the runs put on the board by the Rockies were earned, the three defensive gaffs by Washington can not be overlooked concerning its mental affects on the team's performance.

Adam Dunn, the teams supposed best player had two errors in the field, both with his glove.

Most embarrassing, however, was Wil Nieves’ drop of a simple pop up in foul territory.

Manny Acta later forgave Dunn’s misplays, saying that the Big Donkey wasn’t brought in for his defense, but to hit 40 homers year. While this may be true, I think the skippers reaction to this is indicative of the overall problems on the field throughout the season; lack of accountability and low expectations.

If you make $10 million a year, you need to catch a ball..period.