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A Short Night for Nats' Day; Chavez, Hammonds Called Up
The Dodgers beat Jose Guillen, above, and the Nationals, 4-2, by chasing Zach Day from the game in the fourth, and getting a solid start Jeff Weaver.
(Kevork Djansezian - Associated Press)
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The moves, though, are almost certainly temporary. The Nationals are still carrying just 10 pitchers, but because they are off Thursday, Bowden felt the best move was to give Robinson the best offensive options for the end of the Dodgers' series.
Yet the team is already looking toward the weekend series in San Francisco. Tony Armas Jr., on the disabled list with a groin injury since the season began, will make his fifth start for New Orleans on Thursday, meet the team in San Francisco on Friday, and likely be activated early next week. Should Armas be inserted in the rotation, someone would have to move to the bullpen.
That would almost certainly be Tuesday's starter, Zach Day, who managed to escape the first three innings without allowing a run, and was staked to a 2-0 lead on Church's RBI single in the second and Nick Johnson's RBI double in the third.
In the fourth, though, Day allowed two runs, the second on a single by Hee-Seop Choi. With the bases loaded, and with Day having allowed nine base runners, Robinson turned to Jon Rauch, who worked out of the jam. Day's ERA is now 5.06, and only once has he pitched as many as six innings.
"It's been tough," Day said. "I know Frank has had a short leash on me. Maybe I'm putting a little more pressure on myself."
Rauch, though, allowed the Dodgers to take the lead the very next inning, giving up a two-out walk to Jose Valentin. That set up Phillips's double, a play on which Valentin scored from first by knocking the ball from Schneider's glove with a hard, clean slide.
"Curveball. Hanging. Bad pitch," Rauch said. "Just can't do that to a hitter like that."
Still, the Nationals, depleted as they are, looked to be in good shape to at least tie things up in the seventh when Schneider walked, driving Weaver from the game, and Guzman singled, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
That brought up Baerga, and his single arched a bit before dropping in front of center fielder Milton Bradley.
"I saw the ball off the bat," Schneider said, "and I had to freeze up, with nobody out."
"I didn't think he got a good jump," Huppert said. "I didn't want to take a chance there, with nobody out and the top of the order coming up."
So Schneider stopped. But when Guzman looked up, he was dead. Bradley threw him out trying to go back to second.
"I wasn't going to point fingers," Schneider said. "It's a coach's decision."
With that, Tony Blanco pinch ran for Baerga -- and nearly got picked off. But a poor throw from reliever Kelly Wunsch allowed Blanco to steal second. Another chance? No. Center fielder Brad Wilkerson struck out, and Johnson flew out to left, and the Nationals ended their long, hectic day watching their best chance to win pass by.
