Washington Nationals: Wait, What?

Cardinals show Washington, world why they are the
"Defending world champion St. Louis Cardinals"

Davey Johnson Shuffles Deck, Deals Away NLDS to Cardinals

Apparently, I went to bed too early Friday night, along with hundreds of Washington Nationals supporters, and a few fans of the St. Louis Cardinals that gave up when the Redbirds were down to the Nats 6-0 at the end of the third inning.

The season ended like it began for the Nationals: Bizarre, improbable, and unexpected. Not even management expected the Nats to play competitive baseball in October, hence Stephen Strasburg suited up in April rather than May, and used up all 160 of his "doctor prescribed" innings pitched. Would there even be the need for a fifth game against St. Louis Cardinals if Washington believed in their ball club, and started Strasburg in May so he could pitch into the postseason?

Michael Morse's pump fist in the (ahem) third inning,
after his 2-run homerun gave the hometown Nats a 6-0 lead.

In his lone game against the St. Louis Cardinals this season, Strasburg left the mound on September 2nd after pitching six innings, striking out nine batters, surrendering only two hits, and leaving the game with the Washington Nationals leading 2-0. Reliever Sean Burnett coughed up the lead in the seventh inning, therefore Strasburg did not get the win as the Nationals fought back in the later innings to win 4-3. It was that championship fight back the Cardinals are known for, and it made another appearance last night at the worst possible moment for the Nationals.

My question is, if Tyler Clippard is the closer, then how does Clippard pitch the eighth inning ahead of Drew Storen, who pitches the penultimate final inning? Both are right-handed pitchers, so why didn't Clippard end the game as in games past; did manager Davey Johnson mess up his pitching lineup? Maybe the Cardinal batters in the eighth inning were too much of a test for Drew Storen, so Johnson installed Clippard in his place?



Clippard vs STL, 2012 regular season: Six batters faced, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, .000 opponent BA

Daniel Descalso and David Freese on the verge of an EPIC
comeback win for the Cardinals.

Storen vs STL, 2012 regular season: Ten batters faced, 4 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 stolen bases, .400 OBA

From what I can tell, Tyler Clippard pitched better against the Cardinals than Drew Storen. What the statistics don't tell you is Clippard pitched against the same batters he faced last night in the eighth inning: Daniel Descalso (Hit solo home run to bring Cardinal within a run at 6-5, as a matter of fact), Pete Kozma (pop out to shortstop), Matt Carpenter (struck out swinging), and Jon Jay (fly out to center field). In the ninth inning, the non-closer Storen pitched against perennial all-stars like Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina, and last season's playoff MVP David Freese; there are even at least six Silver Slugger Awards between the four of them! It was no wonder that the Cardinals came back to tie, take the lead with four runs in the ninth, and go on to win the game.

NLDS Game 5 Nats starter Gio Gonzalez ponders what might have been,
after a shaky postseason, and shocking early exit after defeat to the Cardinals.

If Tyler Clippard is the closer, then he should close out the game. You can't win a baseball game in the third inning (Hi Michael Morse) or the eighth inning, so if Drew Storen dealt with the bottom of the lineup guys here, then Tyler Clippard could throw his best stuff against the best the Cardinals batters could offer in the ninth. The best versus the best, as it should be. It's all doom and gloom, according to Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, whose article had this to say.

Yadier Molina (4) shows everybody when is the right time
to celebrate a trip to the NLCS.

The season ended as it began with a bizarre and shocking result, except the Nationals lost when it looked like they would do nothing but win. Today's moral of story: Expect the Unexpected.