{"id":9878,"date":"2014-10-08T08:52:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T12:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=9878"},"modified":"2014-10-08T08:52:04","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T12:52:04","slug":"nlds-post-mortem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=9878","title":{"rendered":"NLDS Post Mortem"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Not<\/a>

Not Aaron Barrett’s finest moment. Photo via lockerdome.com<\/p><\/div>\n

So, if you told me that the Nats would lose the deciding NLDS game because Matt Williams<\/strong> chose to work the 7th inning with Matt Thornton<\/strong>, Aaron Barrett<\/strong> and then Rafael Soriano<\/strong> as the savior, I would have asked you, “was everyone else in the bullpen dead?”<\/p>\n

Instead of going to war in a tie game with any of his three longest serving and most effective relievers (i.e., Craig Stammen<\/strong>, Tyler Clippard<\/strong> or Drew Storen<\/strong>) he went with a waiver claim, a rookie, and a deposed starter with an ERA after the all-star break north of 6.00.<\/p>\n

I get bringing in Thornton to go against the first two lefties in the 7th; why the hell do you leave him in to face the Giant’s best hitter in Buster Posey<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

When Posey inevitably singles to put guys on first and second with one out … clearly the key point in the game and the post-season … why do you bring in a frigging rookie instead of your #1 shut-down, high leverage reliever (Clippard)?<\/p>\n

Was anyone really shocked when Barrett walked the next guy to load the bases?\u00a0 Was anyone then subsequently surprised when he overgripped, overcome by the moment and bounced a mid 90s fastball to the fence?\u00a0\u00a0 Wilson Ramos<\/strong> looked like an amateur trying to “block” that pitch, stabbing at it backhanded like someone who’s never caught before, but whatever.\u00a0 The damage had already been done.\u00a0 If it wasn’t a wild pitch, it would have been a deep ground out, or a sac fly; the run expectancy<\/a> of bases loaded with one out is more than 1.5.\u00a0 I won’t even go into the little league IBB wild pitch; the poor guy was clearly still thinking about the run he just gave up and the weight of the team’s season was on his shoulders.<\/p>\n

For the record, you’re not going to win a ton of games where you get just four hits.\u00a0 Gio Gonzalez<\/strong> once again proved he wasn’t up to the task, and the Nats were lucky to get out of the 5th without giving up a run (also a bases-loaded, one-out jam that Tanner Roark<\/strong> mostly created on his own but also mostly got out of thanks to a ballsy 2-0 changeup to Pablo Sandoval<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

No, the story of this game and this series can be summarized with the following list of lines<\/a> for the 4-game series:<\/p>\n