Roy Vey.

 

(Pudge Rodriguez watches the third strike to end the game. Screen grab of TV/MASN.)

"Just happened a little too late."
(Adam LaRoche, via Washington Post, 4/14/2011)

Nationals' late rally falls short; Matt Stairs reportedly seen still standing around at Nationals Park this morning with bat on shoulder

Phillies 3, Nationals 2: Nats finally put up a fight against a fading Halladay in the 9th, but Stairs and Pudge strike out on six pitches to strand the winning run on first, with a little help from a generous strike zone.

Halladay just too good on this night. Too bad Charlie Manuel decided to stick with Roy in the 9th. Here's the account of Manuel's mound visit with the Nats rallying, via Philly.com:

Halladay was at 117 pitches, Jose Contreras was warming in the bullpen, the tying run was on second, and the winning run was on first.

"I said, 'Well, Roy, here I am,' " Manuel said. "He said, 'I got 'em.' "

"That was it," Halladay said. "Short and sweet." (via Philly.com, 4/14/2011)

Lannan deserved better - still can't beat the Phillies.

EIan Desmond strikes again.

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Comments

[Prank Fatterson]

Mr. "Stares" did realize he was supposed to swing at the ball, didn't he?

[gary boss]

Game story was (1) Desmond's 4 bad plays, costing the Nats 2 runs. He was credited with 2 errors, but botched 2 others. The worst when Nats infield playing up to cut down runner at plate. Easy grounder to Desmond was bobbled, allowing runner to score, but runner out at first saving an error charged.

Second line was Matt Stairs taking 3 strikes in bottom of ninth with tying and winning runs on base. His only job is to swing when needed.

[Shoshana]

Third line should be atrocious umping, especially behind the plate. It helped and hurt both teams and likely lead to the non-swings by Stairs and Pudge.