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Behind Bonds Looms Nats' Loss
Barry Bonds connects for a mammoth home run at RFK Stadium and Moises Alou hits a three-run shot in the ninth to help the Giants down the Nats, 4-2, Tuesday. (Katherine Frey - For The Washington Post)
(Katherine Frey - For The Washington Post)
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"We know Alou as well as we know Bonds," Robinson said. "And we know he's a very dangerous hitter, especially on the first pitch. And we didn't make a good pitch."
It took just one, a slider, and Alou hammered it over the left field wall. Instantly, the 2-1 lead became a 4-2 deficit.
It would have been plenty of drama, more than the Nationals have any right to handle. Yet given the way this season -- Washington's first with baseball in 34 years -- has gone, why not add more? Try Vinny Castilla's one-out double off Giants closer Armando Benitez in the ninth. Add Brian Schneider's ensuing walk. Add a walk from pinch hitter Ryan Church. You want drama? How about the bases juiced, down by a run, and rookie Ryan Zimmerman -- at 20, less than half Bonds's age -- at the plate?
Twenty years old, and the game on the line, Zimmerman was on a 3-1 fastball, fouling it back. Benitez threw another fastball, and Zimmerman lofted it to left. "I just missed it," he said. The sacrifice fly scored pinch runner Brandon Watson from third, making it 4-3.
So here came Wilkerson, and he swung at a 1-1 fastball. Church, on first, watched the ball off the bat. "I'm scoring easily," he said he thought.
"Wow," Wilkerson thought as he ran. "We might win this game."
But as Church tore toward third, he watched third base coach Dave Huppert.
"I saw Hup put up the stop sign," Church said, "and I heard the crowd go, 'Awwww,' and I knew."
It was the sound that has become, recently, all too familiar, the sound of a heart-breaking loss that, by now, just means the season is thumping, plodding, toward its inevitable, painful end.
