Nyjer Morgan charged the mound and started a bench clearing brawl after a pitched sailed behind him as the Washington Nationals fell to the Florida Marlins 16-10 last night.
Morgan has been involved in several controversial plays within the last week and last night was the final straw. Last week Morgan was suspended seven games by Major League Baseball for throwing a ball at a fans head in Philadelphia. Morgan, who is appealing the suspension, ran into St. Louis catcher Bryan Anderson last Saturday when there wasn’t even a throw home and was benched by manger Jim Riggleman for his unprofessional actions.
Tuesday night in the top of 10th inning at a close play at the plate, Morgan ran into Marlins catcher Brett Hayes and separated his shoulder. This play was not as dirty, but he would have been safe if he would have slid and since his action within the last week has been crazy, the Marlins took offense. Everybody knew that Morgan would be hit with a pitch last night, but it didn’t come until the forth inning. The whole controversy would have been over, but Morgan stole two bases that frustrated the Marlins, who threw behind him in the sixth inning. After the pitch from Chris Volstad sailed behind him, Morgan charged the mound and the benches cleared as well. Morgan got one good punch on Volstad, but was than tackled by first baseman Gaby Sanchez, who was later hit by a pitch by Doug Slaten.
Four pitchers and both managers were ejected from the game and suspensions are sure to come from the outcome.
Lost in all the controversy was the slugfest of the game. The Nationals were losing 14-3 after three innings and battled back to make the game close only to fall in the end. Ian Desmond led the team going 3 for 4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Scott Olsen did not make it out of the second inning going 1 2/3 inning allowing nine runs on eight hits.
The Nationals now head to Pittsburgh for a weekend series before returning home to face the New York Mets and the Marlins. Next weekend series with the Marlins should be interesting to see if anything else spills over from last night.
Florida Marlins · MLB · Nyjer Morgan · Stage Front Tickets · Washington Nationals
30
Orioles Complete First Ever Season Sweep of the Angels
No comments · Posted by Jesse Ogle in News
Jeremy Guthrie out dueled Jared Weaver as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 1-0 yesterday afternoon to complete a season sweep.
The Orioles completed the weekend sweep by dominating the Angels on the mound. Brad Bergesen, Kevin Millwood, Guthrie, and the bullpen allowed one run all weekend.
Guthrie pitched 8 1/3 innings allowing no runs on four hits while striking out five. The Angels had runners on the corners in the ninth, but Mike Gonzalez and Koji Uehara came in and finished off the game.
The Orioles lone run came in the seventh inning when Matt Wieters hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Luke Scott. This was the first time that the Orioles have had a season sweep (6-0) over the Angels. It was also the team’s first road sweep since 2009 when they sweep the Philadelphia Phillies. In addition it was the team’s first back-to-back shutouts since July 2007.
They have dominated the Angels this season and hope to continue the stellar pitching as the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays come to Baltimore this week. The Orioles can play spoiler this week in such a tight American League East and the wild card standing. Hopefully the O’s will continue their hot ways and shake up the standing this week.
Ian Desmond hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Washington Nationals an 11-10 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals last night in a thrilling game.
The Cardinals scored four runs in the top of the ninth to take a 10-8 lead, but Roger Bernadina hit a two run homerun in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
In a rollercoaster game that took 4:35 minutes to play, both teams were scoring runs back and forth. Finally the Nationals ended it in the 13th after using all of their available players. Nyjer Morgan was hit by a pitch while trying to bunt to start the inning. He was than advanced to third after a single by Alberto Gonzalez with one out. Desmond finished the game with a RBI single up the middle past the drawn in infield to end the marathon.
Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujos achieved a personal milestone by belting his 400th homerun in the forth inning to cut the Nationals lead to 3-2. Pujos nailed a 0-1 fastball over the right center field wall of Jordan Zimmerman, who was making his first start since coming back from Tommy John surgery over a year ago.
Doug Slaten (4-1) picked up the win pitching a scoreless inning. The bullpen pitched strong in the extra innings after Drew Storen blew his first save in the ninth. Finally the Nationals bust out of their team slump and explode for 11 runs and 16 hits. In other Nationals news, Bryce Harper, the number one overall pick was introduced before the game and took batting practice on the field before the game.
The Baltimore Orioles hit four homeruns last night to defeat the Cleveland Indians 14-8 to continue their winning ways since new manger Buck Showalter took over.
The team is now 7-1 under Showalter, who took over the team last Tuesday and has sparked this team to recent success.
The Orioles exploded for four in the fourth, three in the fifth, and sixth in the eighth to open up the game. Felix Pie, Corey Patterson, Matt Wieters, and Luke Scott all homered to help extend the lead.
Jake Arrieta (4-3) pitched six innings allowing five runs on six hits while striking out three. Arrieta struggled at times but battled his way through six and gave the team a chance to win.
Pitching has been the key to the recent success, but the hitting was on display last night. The Orioles have come alive since the manager change and maybe this should have been done a long time ago. Guys are hustling and seem to be enjoying the game during this winning streak. Hopefully this will continue and help the team climb out of the basement and finish the season on a good mark.
Alex Rodriguez belted a first inning homerun over the center field fence for his 600th career homerun as the New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 yesterday afternoon.
A-Rod became the seventh member to join the 600 homerun club that includes Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Willie Mays (660), Ken Griffey Jr. (630), and Sammy Sosa (609). A-Rod became the youngest person at 35 years and 8 days to accomplish this feat. The next youngest was Ruth at 36 years and 196 days.
This is a great accomplishment for Rodriguez, but some of it will be speculated after his steroid scandal last year. Some will challenge to see if he belongs in the hall of fame, but if they but Bonds in than they should put him in.
A-Rod will now chase Bonds record, which may be hard to catch unless he keeps hitting over 30 homeruns a year. At the current pace he is going, he will struggle to get there, but you never know and he may be able to break the record. This is a great accomplishment for Rodriguez and will be interesting to see if he catches Bonds in the next few years.
Miguel Batista was called into an emergency start after Stephen Strasburg was scratched as the Washington Nationals defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-0 last night in front of a sold out crowd at Nationals Park.
Strasburg was scratched minutes before the game was supposed to start because he was feeling tight when warming up. After going through his normal warm-up routine and throwing a few pitches in the bullpen, Nationals Pitching Coach Steve McCatty called general manager Mike Rizzo and the two agreed to play it safe and sit down the young starter.
Batista (1-2) pitched five scoreless innings allowing three hits while striking out six batters to pick up the win. It was Batista first win as a starter since 2008 when he was a member of the Seattle Mariners. Batista pitched amazing and was mowing down everyone throughout the Braves lineup.
The Nationals got on the board early in the first inning when Nyjer Morgan hit a single before stealing second. Morgan than stole third and scored on the play when Braves catcher Brian McCann threw the ball into left field. The Nationals scored two more in the second inning after an error by Chipper Jones left runners on second and third when Ian Desmond hit a single to center to drive in both runs.
It was nice to see the Nationals win, but the bigger story was Strasburg. X-rays and an MRI showed no structural damage after the game and he is listed as day-to-day. It is unclear whether he will make his next start on Sunday and we should know more information in the next few days. This team needs him to come back strong or else they could be in a world of trouble for the remainder of the season.
MLB · Stage Front Tickets · Stephen Strasburg · Washington Nationals
Matt Garza threw the first no-hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history as they defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-0 last night to finally be on the right side of a no-hitter.
The Rays have been on the opposite side of the diamond twice this season as two perfect games have been thrown against them since July of last season.
Garza faced the minimum of 27 batters as he mowed down everyone in the Tigers lineup striking out six batters an only allowing a second inning walk to Brennan Boesch.
The Rays only managed three hits on Monday night and their first one didn’t come until the 6th inning when Matt Joyce hit a gram slam to give them the lead off one swing. Carl Crawford added a solo homerun in the 8th inning to add one more run on one swing.
The year of the pitcher continues as this is the first time since 1991 that there have been at least five no-hitters in one season. It’s also the first time in 37 years that there has been two no-hitters in the same ballpark in the same season as Edwin Jackson did so a few weeks ago.
This year has been crazy with all the no-hitters and perfect games and it is great for the game to see some great pitching. It shows that the MLB is not all about steroids and homeruns and games can be fun to watch when the pitchers are dominating. It’s nice to see some great pitching and defense every once in a while and hopefully it will continue throughout the season.
Matt Garza · MLB · No-hitter · Stage Front Tickets · Tampa Bay Rays
The Washington Nationals jumped out to a big lead during the middle of the game, but had to hang on for an 8-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds last night in front of a sold out crowd.
Everybody was there to see rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg (5-2) who pitched 5 2/3 innings allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out seven batters. Strasburg, who turned 22 on Tuesday pitched well early on before running out of gas in the 6th inning. Facing his toughest test of the season against the league best hitting team, he held his own and pitched another solid performance.
The offense finally came alive scoring eight runs on nine hits including two homeruns. Cristian Guzman led the offense going 2 for 5 including a two run homerun in the 5th inning to give the Nationals a 3-1 lead. Willie Harris hit a pitch hit homerun in the top of the ninth to give the team a three run lead and they needed all the runs they could get because of a shaky bullpen performance.
The bullpen had a hard time throwing strikes last night walking four batters in 3 1/3 innings. Drew Storen, Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard, and Matt Capps allowed two runs on three hits, but the walks killed them as they let the Reds back in the game after a comfortable lead.
Finally the bats came alive and hopefully they will continue as the road trip moves on. Strasburg pitched another solid performance, but his pitch count limited his night. The sell out crowd was the Reds first of the season and everyone wanted to see Strasburg including Pete Rose.
MLB · Stage Front Tickets · Stephen Strasburg · Washington Nationals
20
Nationals End Scoreless Drought but Drop Third Straight
No comments · Posted by Jesse Ogle in News
The Washington Nationals ended their scoreless streak, but fell 7-2 to the Cincinnati Reds last night to drop their third straight game.
Nyjer Morgan drove in a run in the 3rd inning to stop the Nationals scoreless streak at 23 innings. Cristian Guzman went 1 for 4 with a RBI single to drive in the other run, but the Nationals have been struggling from the plate recently. They team only had four hits off Johnny Cueto, who won his 9th game on the season.
J.D. Martin (1-5) pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Nationals allowing six runs on six hits while striking out two. Martin had a wild second inning including three walks that led to four runs in the inning.
The Nationals have been struggling both pitching and hitting and show no signs of turning it around. Everybody is in slumps at the plate and the pitchers are having problems throwing strikes. The team will need to turn it around quickly before they fall further into last place in the National League East.
The Nationals have three more games against the Reds before heading to Milwaukee for a three game series. The team returns to Nationals Park on July 27th when the team has a six game home stand against Atlanta and Philadelphia.
14
McCann Leads NL All-Stars to First Win since 1996
No comments · Posted by Jesse Ogle in News
Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann hit a three-run double in the 7th inning to lead the National League to a 3-1 victory over the American League last night to win their first mid-summer classic since 1996.
The pitchers have dominated all year and last night was no different as many guys came in and mowed down the opposition. A combined 4 runs on 13 hits in the entire game was the lowest run total since 1997 when the American League started the 13 game winning streak.
The American League got on the board first in the 5th inning after Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo put them in good position after throwing a routine groundball over San Diego first baseman Andrian Gonzalez to put men on second and third. New York Yankee second baseman Robinson Cano hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria to give the American League a 1-0 lead.
They held the lead until the 7th inning when AL Manger Joe Girardi made some questionable moves. He bought in his own man Phil Hughes, who gave us two hits than he bought in Chicago White Sox reliever Matt Thornton, who loaded the bases before McCann send one to the wall to clear the bases and broke the losing streak for the NL.
Washington Nationals closer Matt Capps struck out Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz to end the 6th inning and received the win. Hughes took the loss and Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton recorded the save after help from Texas Rangers center fielder Marlon Byrd. With Ortiz on first with one out, John Buck hit a blooper to right and Byrd made a great throw to get the slow Ortiz at second to kill the rally.
It was an interesting game and nice to see the NL break out of their slump. McCann was named MVP for his clutch hit. The NL champion will now have home field advantage in the World Series and the AL champion can blame Girardi for his poor managing to let the game slip out of his hands.
Andres Iniesta scored in the 116th minute to lead Spain to a 1-0 win over the Netherlands last night to claim their first ever World Cup.
After a game with many different opportunities from both sides to crack the score, Iniesta scored right before the overtime was over to end the drama. Both teams had breakaways and failed to convert after big saves by the opposing goalies.
The game was a physical one including 14 yellow cards and one red card, which is a new World Cup record for cards in a final. The previous record was six set in 1986 by Argentina and Germany.
Spain won its last four games by a score of 1-0 and had a tough road to win the cup. They only scored 8 goals in the entire tournament, which is a new record for fewest by a champion.
Spain’s goalie Iker Casillas was named top goalkeeper for the tournament and proved he is one of the best in the world. Uruguay’s Diego Forlan received the Golden Ball, which is awarded the World Cup best player. Germany forward Thomas Mueller won the Golden Boot given to the player who scored the most goals.
This World Cup was a very interesting one filled with great games and many bad calls by referees. The final featured two of the best teams in the world and many games were filled with exciting ending. There was controversy with many different refs making some bad calls that cost teams goals. Instant replay was a huge talk as a goal was not allowed in the Germany-England game and most likely will be installed before the next World Cup. The month long tournament was exciting and ended with Spain proving to be the best team in the World.
Netherlands · Soccer · Spain · Stage Front Tickets · World Cup
Carles Puyol scored in the 73 minute to lead Spain to a 1-0 victory over Germany and send the country to their first ever World Cup Final.
Spain pressured Germany for the majority of the game and had the better scoring chances. Puyol finally broke the scoreless draw with a header off a corner kick that sent their nation into the final.
Spain advances to play the Netherlands on Sunday afternoon, which will be an amazing game and feature two of the top five teams in the world. The Netherlands made it to their third World Cup Final after defeating Uruguay 3-2 on Tuesday. Sunday will feature two countries who have never won a World Cup, so the luck will change for one country.
This marks the second time that Germany has lost to Spain in a big game. In the 2008 European Championship Final, Spain defeated Germany 1-0 on a Puyol goal in the second half. It is ironic that the same thing happened yesterday in the second half that send Germany out of another major tournament.
Germany had a great run in the World Cup knocking off many different great teams including England and Argentina. They just ran out of gas and were unable to make it to the final.
Sunday’s game will featured many top players in the world and will be a very exciting one to watch. Most people are unaware of the Netherlands, but they will give Spain a tough game and it should be an interesting final.
Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth to give the Washington Nationals a 6-5 win over the San Diego Padres last night at Nationals Park.
Zimmerman connected on his second homerun in the game after the Nationals blew a three run lead in the eighth inning. Tyler Clippard could not hold the 5-2 lead after Livan Hernandez let the first two guys get on to start the eighth inning. Clippard, who has had some control issues recently gave up two hits and gave up the runs to tie the game.
Hernandez pitched a solid game going seven innings giving up four runs on nine hits while striking out four. Hernandez pitched solid considering home plate umpire Tim Mcclelland had a small strike zone.
Nationals All-Star Matt Capps (3-3) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get the win. Zimmerman’s two homeruns led the offense, but right fielder Mike Morse had three hits including two RBI’s.
The Nationals defense struggled again as it almost cost them another game. Shortstop Ian Desmond committed his 21st error on the season in the eighth inning after throwing a ball in the dugout to let the Padres tie the game. Their defense will need to get better as they continue to make mistakes and give teams more chances to drive in runs.
It was nice to see Zimmerman break out of his month long slump and hopefully this will propel the Nationals into a winning streak. If the team can continue to hit and stop making errors in the field than they might be able to win some more games and get back to .500.
The World Cup is down to the final four teams and it has been an interesting tournament and a great ride for the teams that have made it this far.
The first semifinal will kick-off this afternoon between Uruguay and the Netherlands. Uruguay, who won Group A defeated South Korea 3-1 in the second round and overcame Ghana in the quarterfinals in penalty kicks after being tied 1-1 after regulation. The Netherlands, who won Group E defeated Slovakia 2-1 in the second round and upset the top ranked Brazil 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
The other semifinal which kicks-off on Wednesday will feature Germany and Spain. Germany, who won Group D crushed England 4-1 in the second round and killed Argentina 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Spain, who won Group H defeated Portugal 1-0 in the second round and squeaked by Paraguay 1-0 in the quarterfinals.
These two match-ups will be great and featured many top athletes in the game. All four teams have had difficult roads to make it this far and it will only get tougher as the ultimate prize is on the horizon. This look to be an exciting week in soccer as the finals are schedule for Sunday as the whole world will be watching to see who captures the trophy.
The Baltimore Orioles rallied from a three run deficit to defeat the Washington Nationals 4-3 yesterday afternoon to complete a three game sweep.
The Orioles have won a season-high four game in a row and have come from behind in all four wins. In their three game sweep this weekend, they trailed by six runs on Friday, five on Saturday, and three on Sunday.
Miguel Tejada went 2 for 4 including the go ahead RBI in the eighth inning to secure the win. Adam Jones continued his hot hitting and drove in another run in the fifth inning and has raised his average to over .270.
David Hernandez (3-6) came on with two runners on base in the top of the eighth and struck out two batters to record the win. Alfredo Simon pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his ninth save of the season.
Hopefully the Orioles will continue swinging the bats well and continue to win some more games. It is nice to see them contend and put some runs on the board. The Nationals on the other hand have lost 10 out of their last 12 and have fallen to 10 games under .500. They need to get some better pitching and timely hitting to get out of their funk and get back on their winning ways.
Baltimore Orioles · MLB · Stage Front Tickets · Washington Nationals
The Washington Wizards selected John Wall, a point guard from Kentucky with the number one overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft last night.
Everyone knew that the Wizards were going to draft Wall with the first pick, who should help changed this franchise around, but the Wizards were did not stop there as they made a few trades as well.
A few hours before the draft began, the Wizards made a trade with the Chicago Bulls acquiring guard Kirk Hinrich and the 17th overall pick in the first round. The deal can not be official until July 8th, but the deal sends Hinrich and Kevin Seraphin (17th overall selection), a 6-foot-9 forward from France to the Wizards for a future second round pick. The Bulls are trying to clear cap space in order to be a serious contender to sign Lebron James. The trade should work out for the Wizards and the Bulls will pay $3 million of Hinrich $9 million salary for next season.
The Wizards were not done from there as they package their 30th and 35th pick overall, which ended up being Lazar Hayward from Marquette and Serbian forward Nemanja Bjelica respectively to the Minnesota Wolves for forward Trevor Booker from Clemson and the 56th pick in the second round, which was Rutgers 6-11 center Hamady N’Diayne.
The Wizards obviously picked up great players in Wall and Hinrich, who should work well together. They will now have three strong guards with Arenas as well and hopefully the three of them play their own roles and not want the ball every second.
The second trade the Wizards made will be interesting to see if it works out. Booker was solid in college, but will be under sized in the NBA. They needed a center and hopefully N’Diayne will work out, but he will probably be a project. Seraphin was recently hurt and will not be able to play right away and might have to go back to France to play next season.
Draft night was crazy for the Wizards and hopefully everything will work out well in the long run.
John Wall · NBA Draft · Stage Front Tickets · Washington Wizards
24
Strasburg Strikes Out Nine in First Major League Loss
No comments · Posted by Jesse Ogle in News
Stephen Strasburg pitched another solid performance, but lost his first Major League game as the Washington Nationals fell 1-0 to the Kansas City Royals yesterday afternoon.
Strasburg (2-1) went six innings giving up one run on nine hits while striking out nine batters. The Royals were getting their hits, but a lot of them were off the end of the bat or hit weakly into the outfield. Strasburg has now struck out 41 batters in four starts, which broke the record held by Herb Score, who struck out 40 in his first four starts in 1955.
The Nationals have been struggling hitting recently and didn’t help Strasburg at all yesterday. In two games of the series, they combined for 10 hits and somehow found a way to win one game. The team has been hitting some solo homeruns recently, but besides that they have not been getting timely hits with runners in scoring position.
The lone run came in the 5th inning when Royals right field Jose Guillen hit a single to right with runners on first and third to drive in David DeJesus. Guillen extended his hitting streak to 18 games.
Strasburg will make his next start Monday night in Atlanta before making his next home start on July 3rd against the Mets unless anything odd happens. The Nationals need to start hitting again before the fall too far into last place and end any hopes of having a good season. The Nationals will travel to Baltimore this weekend for the battle of the beltways, which is always an interesting series.
Stage Front Tickets · Stephen Strasburg · Washington Nationals
23
Donovan’s Late Goals Send U.S. into the Second Round
No comments · Posted by Jesse Ogle in News
Landon Donovan scored in the 91st minute to defeat Algeria 1-0 and send the United States into the second round of the World Cup after winning Group C.
Donovan finished a rebound from a shot by Clint Dempsey eight yards out to send the U.S. into the knock out round. This goal is one of the biggest goals in U.S. soccer history after being three minutes away from elimination.
The Americans outshoot Algeria 22-19, but the U.S. had the better scoring chances for the majority of the game. This was the first win for the U.S. in the World Cup in eight years and will set up a round of 16 game on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
This would have been a disappointing tie and knock out if they wouldn’t have scored after having many different scoring chances throughout the game. England defeated Slovenia 1-0, which secured the United States winning the group based on more goals scored. This was the first time since 1930 that the U.S. has accomplished this feat.
The United States will play the Group D runner-up, which will be a difficult game and an exciting one to watch. Today’s victory was so thrilling and hopefully the U.S. can carry the momentum into Saturday.
The Washington Nationals hit two solo homeruns to defeat the Kansas City Royals last night 2-1 to end their six-game losing streak.
Mike Morse and Cristian Guzman hit solo homeruns in the 2nd and 6th inning respectively to lead the Nationals offense, who only mustard four hits, but found a way to win the game.
Livan Hernandez pitched a solid performance after his worse outing of the year in his last start. He went seven innings giving up one run on eight hits while striking out five batters. Hernandez won his sixth game of the season after Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Matt Capps picked up his league leading 21st save to close out the game.
It was nice to see the Nationals win after not winning a game in the past week. They have dropped in the standing and look to rebound this week with two more games against the Royals before playing the Baltimore Orioles in a weekend series.
In other Nationals news, the team optioned opening day starter John Lannan to Double-A Harrisburg after struggling in his last three games. He was 2-5 with a 5.76 ERA and has pitched horrible this season. Lannan has struggled to get hitters out and this was a decision that needed to be made a few weeks ago.
Gelson Fernandes scored on a rare Swiss shot as Switzerland shocked World Cup favorite Spain 1-0 yesterday afternoon in the opening match for both teams.
This was a huge upset and has the potential to be the biggest shocker of the tournament. Spain dominated the majority of the game having 74% of possession and out shot the Swiss 25-9. This was only Spain’s second lost in their last 50 games; the other was to the United States in the Confederations Cup last year.
Even though Spain controlled the game, they only had five shots on goal and had a hard time cracking the Swiss defense. They spent the majority of the time in the offensive third including 12 corner kicks, but were unable to find the back of the yet.
Chile beat Honduras 1-0 in the other Group H opening match. This puts Spain in a must win situation in their next game or they could be in deep trouble of not advancing to the next round.
The World Cup has been lacking goals and excitement until this game. Most of the games have ended in 0-0 or 1-1 ties, which are interesting to most soccer fans, but not the casual fan. Hopefully this will spark some more exciting games and some more scoring.
