Nats 6, Giants 3: The Giants have won two of three of the last six series, not counting the two two-game splits in Chicago and Colorado. That ain't bad. Today they were shut down by a ghost of Christmas past, former farmhand Shairon Martis. He was impressive, giving up just two hits in seven innings, although the Giants lineup without Bengie Molina would make a cardboard cutout of Keiichi Yabu propped up on the mound seem impressive.
I promised to be impressed if Barry Zito held the Nats in check, and for the most part I am because he did. It wasn't a smooth outing, but he made great pitches when needed. All five of his Ks ended an inning, usually with runners on base. Merkin Valdez let in two of the four runs charged to Zito, and Valdez was not impressive. He faced two batters. The first, Josh Willingham, nearly cleared the bases with a liner that Pablo Sandoval leaped to snare. The second batter Elijah Dukes was down two strikes and Valdez hung a slider. Dukes's bat shattered, but because the ball was up he muscled it into center field for a two run single. For all his great stuff, Valdez hasn't had a single clean outing this year. Let's hope he puts it all together soon; we're all waiting.
The Giants had some good at-bats late to score a few runs -- both Rich Aurilia and Bengie Molina missed home runs by this much -- but the key at-bat was Sandoval in the first. Men on 2nd and 3rd, one out, and he grounded back to the pitcher.
Next up: The Mets for a four-game series. As Meatloaf Jr. once sang, three out of four ain't bad.
SMALL PRINT UPDATE: Pat Misch up, Osiris Matos down.
