Ok, I’ll try my best to live-blog this game. 1:05 PM in Vero Beach at Holman Stadium the Nationals take on the Dodgers. Shawn Hill is the first starting pitcher against the Jason Schmidt. The designated hitter will be used in this game:

NATIONALS:

1. Felipe Lopez, 2B
2. D’Angelo Jiminez, SS
3. Ryan Zimmerman, 3B
4. Austin Kearns, RF
5. Ryan Church, LF
6. Alex Escobar, DH
7. Brian Schneider, C
8. Larry Broadway, 1B
9. Nook Logan, CF

DODGERS:

1. Wilson Valdez, SS
2. Juan Pierre, CF
3. Nomar Garciaparra, 1B
4. Jeff Kent, 2B
5. Luis Gonzalez, LF
6. Wilson Betemit, 3B
7. Mike Lieberthal, DH
8. Andre Ethier, RF
9. Ken Huckaby, C

Top 1st:

(Darn, XM is carrying the Dodgers broadcast)

1. Lopez grounds out – slow roller to 1st
2. Jiminez walks
3. Zimmerman pops up to short
4. Kearns fouls two and strikes out looking

Bottom 1st:

1. Valdez grounds to short and is safe on Jiminez throwing error (high)
2. Pierre at bat, Valdez steals 2nd – Schneider’s throw airmailed (E2). RBI single line to left scores Valdez.
3. Pierre takes 2nd on WP or PB. Grounds out 2nd to 1st. Pierre to 3B
4. Grounds out SS-1B, Pierre scores
5. Grounds out to 1st

0-2

Top 2nd:

5. Church – leadoff double to RCF on full count
6. Escobar bloops over SS head (?) tries to stretch to double and is tagged out. Church to 3rd
7. Schneider walks
8. Broadway grounds into double play 1-4-3

Bottom 2nd:

6. Betemit grounds out to Lopez on full count
7. Lieberthal grounds out to Hill (on the hill – haha)
8. Ethier single grounder to RF
9. Huckaby pops up to pitcher

Top 3rd: (Mark Hedrickson pitching)

9. Logan chops to short, ball dropped, E6 – Nook on 1st
1. Lopez (full count) walks
2. Jiminez lines for single. Logan scores, Lopez to 2nd
3. Zimmerman singles into center just past Kent. Lopez scores (ties game! 2-2). Jiminez to 2nd
4. Kearns singles to right to load bases
5. Church On base on an error to Valdez which scores Jiminez and Zimmerman. Kearns to 3rd.
6. Escobar safe but Church thrown out at 2nd on force. Kearns scores
7. Schneider flies out to center at warning track
8. Broadway out 4-3

5-2

Bottom 3rd: (Chris Michalak pitching)

1. Valdez slow roller to Lopez and beats throw (off Broadway’s glove but not error)
2. Pierre sac bunt 1-3. Valdez to 2nd
3. Nomar to SS, Jiminez drops for another E6. Damian Jackson (!!) in as runner
4. Kent (fouls a near-homerun that hooks) 8 pitch walk to load bases. James Loney pinch runner
5. Gonzalez F8 to Logan. Valdez scores, Jackson to 3rd, Loney stays at 1st
6. Betemit – Pops out to Lopez at 2nd

5-3

Top 4th: (Jackson at 2B, Loney at 1B)

9. Logan flies out to right
1. Lopez strikes out swinging
2. Jiminez grounds to 2nd and beats Jackson’s throw from edge of grass
3. Zimmerman HOME RUN LeftCenter Field!!!!

Pitcher replaced…. Matt White (talking about his billionaire quarry…)

4. Kearns grounds out to short

7 (!!) – 3

Bottom 4th: (Lopez moves to 3B, Womack comes in at 2nd, Josh Wilson SS)

7. Lieberthal grounds out to short
8. Ethier strikes out swinging
9. Huckaby grounds out to 2nd

Top 5th: (Bigbie RF, Freeman CF, Repko RF, Tatis 3B, Stinnett C)

5. Church flies out to Damian Jackson (poo!)
6. Escobar flies out to right
7. Schneider (boy, they’re still raving about White’s rock quarry) full count strikes out swinging

Bottom 5th: (Chris Schroder pitching, Chris Snelling LF, Danny Ardoin C)

1. Valdez singles to short RF
2. Freeman batting – WP advances Valdez to 2B. Freeman strikes out looking after a bunch of pitches
3. Damian Jackson flies out to Nook. Valdez tags and goes to 3rd.
4. Loney (full count) C’mon Schroder… one more out…. dang.. ball 4
5. Bigbie (heehee So far I’ve kept up with the changes in ScorePad!) Dang – Home run to right. Score is now 7-6. How quickly things change.
6. Tatis flies out to LCF where Snelling gives way to Logan

Top 6th: (Chin Lung Hu SS (pronounced ‘who’), G. Miller Pitching)

8. Broadway grounds into center for single
9. Logan bunts too hard, so Broadways is thrown out at 2nd.
1. Womack (?? well, I did screw up ScorePAD and missed something while fixing it – how Logan got to 2nd)2. Wilson (?? sorry still messed up) slow roller to 3rd thrown to 1st for out to home to get Logan tagged out (DP)

Bottom 6th: (Luis Martinez pitching – Dodger announcers desperately looking for info on him. Pitched last two years in Japan, Jorge Toca at 1B)

7. Lieberthal pops out to Womack at 1st
8. Repko gets a 4 pitch walk
9. Stinnett LD off glove of SS Josh Wilson for single. Repko to 2nd
1. Hu – Out but I missed how. Runners stay
2. Freeman grounder stopped by diving Josh Wilson but no play. Keeps anyone from scoring but bases are loaded.
3. Jackson singles to left (darnit) to score Repko and tie game – bases still loaded
4. Loney grounds out (?) to end inning

Top 7th:

3. Kory Casto grounds out 5-3
4. Michael Restovich F9 at warning track
5. Snelling grounds past Loney for base hit
6. Joe Thurston PH – grounds out to 2nd (4-3)

Bottom 7th: (Jesus Colome (pain in the butt guy) pitching)

5. Bigbie – ground rule double to RF
6. Tatis – Strikeout (foul tipped into glove)
7. Andy LaRoche (replacement) lines right into 3B Kory Casto’s glove (”nice play by Casto”)
8. Repko – doubles to deep CF and Bigbie scores to bring Dodgers ahead 8-7
9. Stinnett F8

Top 8th: (Rudy Seanez pitching)

7. Ardoin flies out to center against the wall – apparently Freeman really chased it down
8. Toca blooper to 2nd, easy play for Damian Jackson (4-3)
9. Wayne Lydon (from Fairfax, VA) strikes out swinging to end inning

Bottom 8th: (Oh the jokes about “Hu’s (who’s) leading off in the bottom of the 8th) Emiliano Fruto pitching

1. Hu doubles off base of right field wall
2. Freeman (they’re making fun of Fruto’s size) strikes out swinging
3. Damian Jackson walks
4. Loney CRUD! grounds to RF corner for double that scores both Hu and Jackson (now 7-10)
5. Bigbie hits homerun to RF (now 7-12) Sigh.
6. Tatis strikes out looking for 2nd out
7. LaRoche (man there is one loud woman near the broadcast booth) Ha! Now the announcers laugh and mention the fan – “we know you can hear her”. Singles to center
8. Repko walks

(Pitching change…. Felix Diaz)

9. Stinnett singles to left field, but LaRoche is thrown out at home plate to end inning

Top 9th: (Joe Beimel pitching, Abreu replaces Jackson at 2nd)

1. Jesus Flores, Rule 5 catcher making his premier! singles to left off Hu’s glove (Who’s glove?)
2. Wilson singles to short center. Flores to 2nd.
3. Casto 4-6-3 double play
4. Restovich – caught by Abreu to end inning/game

FINAL: Nationals 7 Dodgers 12

This entry was posted on Friday, March 2nd, 2007 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Gameday, Washington Nationals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.