Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
In quite possibly their best all-around performance this season, the Washington Nationals had a near-perfect night in their 9-0 victory over the New York Mets.
We’ll start with the offense. The Nationals had nine hits. Five of those nine hits were home runs. Ryan Zimmerman, Denard Span, Wilson Ramos, Jayson Werth and Tyler Moore all had dingers. For Zimmerman, it was his sixth homer in the past seven and Span’s solo shot extended his current hitting streak to five games.
In all, the offense was spread around five players, the one’s who hit all the home runs. Span led the team in hitting going three for five with an RBI and two runs scored. Tyler Moore broke through after going 0-4 Sunday night. He went 2-3 with an RBI, double and a walk. All the more reason to sit Bryce Harper for the remainder of the season. If Moore can keep up that offensive performance, they won’t really be missing much in final 19 meaningless games.
On the mound for the Nationals was Gio Gonzalez and he turned in one of his best performances of his career. Gonzalez needed just 110 pitches for his complete game shutout. Gonzalez took no-hitter into the seventh inning where he allowed a leadoff single to a pinch-hitting Zach Lutz. In total, Gonzalez struck out eight while giving up just two walks and that one pesky hit to pick up his 10th win of the season.
At the very least, they can end the season on a high note. Since the month of August began, the Nationals have been one of baseball’s hottest teams. Since August 1, the Nationals are 22-13 and have been able to put together a couple of five-game winning streaks. While they found some success, it seems to be coming a little too late.
Ending the season as well as they are and missing the playoffs can be a somewhat hollow victory. While it’s great that they have been able to find some success and win ballgames, this is just a reminder of the team that was once picked to win the World Series and has now fallen well short of that mark.
Brian Skinnell is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, Like him on Facebook and add him to your network on Google.
