This was an ugly one all around. A very short outing by Wade Miley and some more uninspired defense from the Nationals made it a little difficult to pick out highlights, but I have done my best. Well maybe not my best. I definitely tried hard though. The weather was really nice again!
Much has been made of Miley’s pace when he’s on the mound. After watching guys like Beckett, Buchholz, and Lester, it’s definitely a breath of fresh air to see Wade get the ball, toe the rubber, get the sign, and hurl. Similar to Mark Buehrle, when he’s going well and pitching that quickly, it’s really tough for hitters to get comfortable and it’s a lot of fun to watch. On the flip side, when he’s firing up ball after ball, and giving up walks and hits in quick succession, it makes you want to scream at the TV for him to take a breath and collect his thoughts.
After giving up a pair in the first, he set down 5 in a row before giving up a homer to Ian Desmond in the 3rd on a slider that was down and in. It was a good pitch, Miley hit his spot, but the wheels seemed to come off after that. Single, walk, walk, Wilson Ramos’ bases-clearing double, yanked. His final line was ugly: 2.1IP, 7ER, on 5 hits, walking 3, and striking out 1.
This team’s firepower means they’re never really out of a game, and they were able to pull within 3 runs with three full innings left to play, but Robbie Ross Jr. gave up a 2-run homerun to Tyler Moore in the top of the 7th, and that was all she wrote.
Offensive highlights:
Napoli is starting to drive the ball and has raised his batting average to .129 after getting off to an atrocious start.
Brock Holt! had a great at-bat in the bottom of the 6th. Facing Gio Gonzalez with home plate fully immersed in the shadows, he had an 8-pitch at-bat, culminating in a ground rule double. The thing had some hair on it. In his first AB he smoked one that was caught by a perfectly positioned Yunel Escobar at third base. He ended up being 1-4, dropping his average to an anemic .533. The guy should be getting regular at-bats. Our buddy Liam wrote a whole blog on this subject, you should check it out.
Hanley homered again, giving him 4 long balls already on the young season. Lefty touched on this in an earlier recap, but I have a theory that Hanley Ramirez and Manny Ramirez might be the same person, and it’s not just because they make playing left field look like so much fun. Hanley’s balance is incredible. Watch him sit back on this breaking ball and absolutely nuke it.
When they showed the side angle of him anticipating the pitch, he has the same load position, and same “hammer” angle (the angle of the bat when it comes forward, right before it comes through the zone) as Manny. For some frustrating reason MLB isn’t showing multiple angles on homerun highlights, so I can’t show you a screenshot, but you’ll have to trust me on this one.
However, I can show you their follow-throughs:
Their helmets both even do that thing where they flip up in the front after they swing. Maybe Manny took Hanley under his wing back when he was just a young pup in the Red Sox farm system and looked like this:
Notes:
–Allen Craig looks like a guy who’s simply forgotten how to hit. I have no witty analysis to offer. Here’s hoping he figures it out soon.
-Before the game, Boston Marathon bombing survivors Jeff Bauman and Patrick Downes threw out the ceremonial first pitches, and at 2:49PM the entire stadium observed a moment of silence for the victims of the Marathon attacks. Usually during these things there are some people screwing around and talking, but it looked and sounded like everyone was silent and reverent. I think that reflects how deeply connected everyone in Boston felt to what happened that day, grieving for the victims and their families, being incredibly proud of the heroes who saved so many, and being inspired by the survivors who have shown incredible spirit and tenacity in the two years that have passed.