Soriano Stays, no Nationals player traded on deadline day; Nationals Finally Win another Game

The deadline came and went, and while rumors flew, no trade was announced at the deadline, nor after.

"At the end of the day, it was a very simple decision for us: Keeping Alfonso was the best thing for the Nationals," GM Bowden said. - “I’m Happy” article on SI.com.

Soriano's happy, the players & manager Robinson appear to be happy, some fans are happy (some would have preferred rebuilding the farm system to renting a player for two months, or signing a long term contract with Soriano which might cause the team to end up with an aging overpriced player that no other team will want in five years; response: see Mike Stanton; response to response: see difference between bullpen pitcher and outfielder/infielder career longivity). Time will tell if Soriano will still be on the team after this season, or if the team will have to settle for the two compenstory draft picks (time will also tell which outcome would have been better).

Hernandez, Ortiz, & Armas were all discussed as possible pitchers to be moved through trade. None were moved. Some talk about whether one, or any could or would be moved through waivers (either attempted trade (up to August 31) or salary dump). Time will again tell what will happen with them.

Monday Night:
Nationals defeat Giants, again, this time in San Francisco. The Nationals jumped out to an early lead
in the first inning with two outs. Soriano lead off with an out (lined
out to left), Lopez was second and he doubled. Zimmerman grounded out, but moved Lopez to third. 2 outs, Johnson up. Lowry throws, misses the catcher, and Lopez runs home. Scoring: Wild Pitch. Score: 1-0 Nationals (Johnson will walk and Kearns will strike out to end the inning).

Astacio kept the Giants off the board in the first inning, and Lowry shut down the Nationals in the second, but the Giants came back and tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. Feliz lead-off and was out. Greene doubled (a pattern?). Lowry singled, moving Greene to third (no pattern). Winn Sac flies, and Greene scores, Vizquel ends inning by striking out. Score: 1-1.

The score remains 1-1 until the fourth inning, when the Nationals add 5 runs. Kearns lead off with a double. Church also doubles, driving in Kearns. Jackson walks. Fick singles, Church and Jackson advance. Bases loaded. Soriano hits it over the fence, but ball bounces first, ground rule double. Church and Jackson score, Fick on third, Soriano on second. Lopez sac fly, Fick scores. Zimmerman singles, Soriano scores. Johnson grounds out to end inning. Score: 6-1, Nationals.

Astacio kept the Giants off the board in the bottom of the 4th inning, but gives up 2 runs in the bottom of the fifth. Vizquel tripled (driving in Winn), and Durham singled (driving in Vizquel) to push the score to 6-3.

Corriea replaced Lowry in the sixth and other than giving up a single to Soriano leading off the inning, Corriea shut down the Nationals. Astacio pitches the sixth and keeps the Giants off the board. Mike Stanton, remember Mike Stanton?, pitched the seventh inning. Stanton gave up a single to Kearns, but otherwise shut down the Nationals.

Astacio starts the seventh and Schneider comes in to catch. Winn leads off with a single, and Vizquel hits another triple - Winn scores (score: 6-4). Ryan Wagner, of the Reds trade, enters the game, relieving Astacio. Durham grounds out to catcher, Bonds walks, Finley attempts sac fly, but Vizquel thrown out at home by Soriano (2 outs in play, 2nd and third outs).

Wilson relieves Stanton for the 8th inning, and gets Wagner, the pitcher, to ground out. Soriano singles, then steals second. Lopez walks. Zimmerman walks. Bases loaded, 1 out. Kline relieved Wilson. Immediately strikes out Johnson - 2 outs, bases loaded. Kearns doubles - clears bases. Score now: 9-4. 2 outs, runner on second. Church doubles, Kearns scores. Score now: 10-4, 2 outs, runner on second. Jackson walks, but Schneider flies out. Nationals ahead 10-4. Up 6 runs.

Wagner starts bottom of 8th (the reason he hit in the top of the 8th). Hillenbrand hit by pitch to lead off inning. Feliz singles, Hillenbrand moves to second. Greene walks. Bases loaded. Sweeney pinch hits for pitcher Kline. Winn hits into fielders choice, runner out at second, only 1 out in play. Vizquel singles, but no one scores. 1 out, bases loaded. Corcoran relieves Wagner. Gives up single to Durham. Score 10-7, 1 out. Cordero relieves Corcoran,
Anderson enters and plays second. Bonds flies out. Inning over? 2 outs
recorded? Some part of the play-by-play missing. Whatever happened,
score at end of 8 innings: Nationals ahead 10-7.

No more runs
score. Astacio picks up second win, though gave up 4 runs in 6 innings
pitched. Wagner gives up 3 runs in first 1.2 innings as a National,
ERA: 16.20. 15 strikes in 27 pitches thrown, faced 9 batters. Cordero
picks up 18th save.

ESPN box score

Tuesday:
RHP Livan Hernandez (8-8, 5.70) vs. RHP Matt Cain (7-7, 4.87)

Cain faced Hernandez & Washington in last start on July 27, 2006. Hernandez won, Cain lost. In July Cain was 1-1 with an era of 4.02. Cain is better at home (relatively), with a record of 4-4, and an era of 4.36. Also: since All-Star game, ERA: 3.80 in 3 games started.

Hernandez
has had three striaght wins, as mentioned (or implied above) last game
was against Cain and the Giants. Hernandez was 2-0, with an ERA of 6.18 in July. He is 2-0, with an ERA of 4.26 in the three games since the
All-Star game. Hernandez has a better record away from RFK, with a
record of 4-3, ERA of 5.23. Hernandez played for the Giants from
1999-2002 (record of 45-45).