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Nats' Bullpen Comes To Rescue Once Again
Jason Bergmann calls his seven-inning, one-run, nine-strikeout outing "a good step in the right direction" toward earning a spot in Washington's 2008 rotation. It was his longest outing since May 14.
(By Preston Keres -- The Washington Post)
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The tallest player in major league history battled Josh Willingham, who fouled off three 3-2 pitches, before walking the bases full again. That brought up Jacobs, who represented the go-ahead run.
"I'd already walked one guy that inning and got myself in a bases-loaded jam," Rauch said. "I knew I didn't want to do it again."
Jacobs, too, dug in. He fouled off five two-strike pitches, then looked at a fastball that was down and away for strike three. Rauch then fell behind Cody Ross -- who had already doubled twice -- but came back to strike him out with three fastballs, eliciting a massive fist pump.
"That was the inning right there," Acta said. "He saved the game."
Those two outs lowered Rauch's ERA to 3.87, and he now has 56 strikeouts and just 19 walks in those 76 appearances.
"It means I'm doing my job," he said. "But at the same time, I've got to look at all those blown saves I have and the chances that I haven't done the job and improve on that."
Cordero, too, could concentrate on his eight blown saves, the most in baseball. But he has saves in almost half the Nationals' wins, and since returning from bereavement leave in May to deal with the death of his grandmother, he has 26 saves in 30 opportunities with a 2.66 ERA -- even with a five-run debacle Aug. 24 against Colorado. Take that away, and his ERA over that time drops to 1.95.
Yesterday, at the conclusion of yet another game in which he and Rauch played an essential role, Cordero went through his ritual with Schneider, headed to the clubhouse, then quietly slipped out, his job done.
