I found a new way to kill two birds with one stone – exercise and watch my favorite pastime. Picture this, bottom of the 9th with two outs. The usual ace closer then allows a double and walks the next two batters to load the bases when his team only leads by one after a monstrously successful sixth inning. Right, so from the bottom of the sixth on is when I realized I was firming up those glutes at the same time I enjoyed watching my favorite baseball team! And they’re firm now, I tell ya, after that clencher of a game!
The baseball gods decided to teach Livan a lesson. The Nationals went through their lineup plus one in the top of the beautiful and lucky 6th inning, scoring five runs to bring the score to Nationals 5 Braves 2. Nick Johnson led off with a bouncer that jumped right past LaRoche at 1st (should’ve been an easy out) and steamed to 2nd safely. Marlon Anderson followed with a single to second baseman Giles, which he just missed getting. Johnson advanced to third. Francoeur caught Brendan Harris’ (spotting Zimmerman again) fly for the first out and threw directly home, blocking Nick from scoring. “Schneiderman” hit a grounder to left field for a 2-RBI double, bringing home Johnson and Anderson. Damian Jackson (CF) lined to center field on an 0-2 count for a single and took 2nd on an error to Andruw Jones on his throw over the cutoff man, advancing Schneider to 3rd. Livan grounded to 2nd baseman Giles who threw home despite no force and missed the catcher, scoring Schneider (RBI to Livan) and Jackson (error) and putting Livan on 1st. Soriano was intentionally walked. Clayton grounded to short for what would have been an easy double play to end the inning, but Soriano slid and mowed down the second baseman, blocking any throw to first. Vidro knocked a safe grounder to right field that scored Livan for the fifth run in the inning.
And that’s all she wrote for the Nats. Livan, who started out rather shaky with a seemingly high amount of walks and missed locations, got out the next two batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth. Chipper Jones grounded to first and Andruw Jones flew out to center field right at the wall. I think Livan felt he had the game in hand and smirked something huge after the Jones flyout. The baseball gods were not happy and made him pay. (Yes, I’m getting loopy)
Like I said, Livan started out shaky, but then seemed to return to form, taking the Braves out 1-2-3 in the 4th and 5th innings. If only in the sixth. The first two batters were retired in order, but he walked LaRoche. Those walks’ll get ya! Jeff Francoeur then hit a home run to bring the Braves within easy striking distance of 5-4.
The remainder of the game included the glutes workout. For one thing, Clayton proved yet again in the 8th that he can’t bunt very well. But nothing was as exciting as the bottom of the 9th. While I understand Cordero is known for getting into and then squeaking out of jams, this one was awfully scary! Down by only one run after that one exciting inning, I hoped for a quickie 1-2-3. Hahaha! The baseball gods were still making their point that nothing is easy and a lead should never be taken for granted. Cordero did retire the first two batters (sound familiar?). Then Renteria hit a liner to right for a double. Chipper Jones was walked. Then Andruw Jones was walked (I swear these weren’t intentional!). Randy St. Claire made a brief mound appearance somewhere in there. LaRoche, bless his heart, hit a hard line grounder to Vidro (who I would kiss if I could), who managed to get the ball somehow and throw to first to end the game.
Frank’s doing my exercises too!
Whewwww! I can breathe now! Nationals squeak out with a one run win 5-4. Cordero managed as big a squeaky outing as fresh cheese curds are on the teeth. Ha!
The Nats were very lucky last night. To say Cordero was not sharp would be an understatement. He is not the same automatic saver that he was last year.