Overmatched

To give you some idea of the disadvantage under which the Nationals were operating last night, consider these facts:

-- Roger Clemens has a road ERA of only 0.34
-- The Washington Nationals have scored the fewest runs at home of any team in Major League Baseball
-- Christian Guzman has an embarrassingly low OPS of .501, which is the OPS of a minor league player, at best
-- Roger Clemens on the road has allowed an OPS of only .431
-- In the month of July, the Nationals have scored the fewest runs in baseball, and the Astros have scored the most

This was, in other words, a perfect storm of trends that tilted decided in favor of the Astros.

And the outcome was never in doubt. With two outs in the top of the first, Ryan Drese walked Lance Berkman. Morgan Ensberg then hit a ball off the scoreboard in left-center field. He hit the ball so far that the argument about the dimensions of the outfield wall suddenly seemed irrelevant. At 2-0, we sensed that the game was over, and at 3-0 after the third inning, we were convinced it was over. It became 4-0 in the sixth when, with two outs, men on first and third, and Clemens at bat, the cement-footed Brad Ausmus broke toward second. When Brian Schneider threw the ball to Jamey Carroll, Ausmus stopped in his tracks and started to go back toward first. Meanwhile, Adam Everett tried to score from third, and Carroll's throw home was too late. The Astros had outmaneuvered the Nationals, and you had to wonder why the Nationals weren't ready for a play that is about as old as the game itself.

The Nationals had a couple of opportunities against Clemens, but any time there were men on base he simply mowed down the next batch of hitters. He struck out ten and gave up only three hits and no runs. Jose Guillen in particular appeared overmatched in a key situation, swinging at three split-finger fastballs in the dirt with two outs and men on first and second in the bottom of the third. Guzman, too, looked overmatched, but that was to be expected. The fans have begun to boo Guzman, and we're convinced that his time on the field is coming to an end.

The assault was on beginning in the top of the seventh, when the Astros began to stretch their 4-0 lead. It looked a whole lot like batting practice as they scored ten runs over the last three innings. In the end, the score was 14-1, and we left the stadium thinking that the Washington Nationals have a lot of improving to do if they want to make the playoffs.