(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan. Tyler Clippard provided today's "Wow, I've never seen THAT before!" NatsTown Moment with his 8th inning balk on an Intentional Walk attempt, leading to the Astro's 5th run.)
"'Bizarre' is a good name for it. I never seen it before in my life. I've seen guys commit balks, but not while he is walking a guy intentionally."
(Manny Acta, via Washington Post, 7/12/2009)
Manny's Last Stand; Nats Fall Down
Astros 5, Nationals 0: 26-61, but who's counting? This is the end of the road for Manny Acta, though, right?
Riggleman Era begins Thursday?
This just in: The game ended hours ago, but the Nats just stranded another runner on base.
Boatloads and truckloads of guys left on base between innings 6-9. So many, we lost count. 13 LOB for the game? Yes.
Another mostly brilliant performance from J-Zimm goes for naught. 2010 should be fun, though!
According to sources with no knowledge of the situation, Stan Kasten "can't fu*king wait to fire Manny Acta";but will send Mike Rizzo to do the deed anyway.
Defining moment of the season happened in the 8th: Tyler Clippard, attempting to intentionally walk Houston's Hunter Pence, then balked home Berkman. The gory details, via (Not Matt) Chico Harlan, Washington Post:
Clippard was trying to intentionally walk Hunter Pence, a formality that generally doesn't require much in the way of execution. During his delivery, though, Clippard's cleat caught awkwardly on the front of the pitcher's mound. He flinched, took a sad tumble off the mound, and elected not to throw the ball.
Of course, Manny has an excuse for "the kid". He didn't know! (via Canadian Press 7/12/2009)
"He caught his spikes on the dirt," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "But all he had to do was release the ball and let it roll and it wouldn't have been a balk. But he's just a kid and he didn't know."
Meanwhile..Farewell, Ross Detwiler. Say "Hi" to Elijah Dukes for us. Welcome back Garrett Mock. Hope it works out as well for Mock up here as it did in Syracuse since his last demotion. Last time around wasn't so pretty.
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