We expected this one

The Nationals lost to the Houston Astros 6-3 in a game that went pretty much the way one would have expected. Andy Pettitte was too much for the Nats, allowing two runs and only four hits over eight innings. Pettitte was just as strong as advertised, mixing pitches, fooling Nationals' hitters, and generally appearing to be dominant.

Ryan Drese, meanwhile, had another bad outing, allowing six runs (five of them earned), nine hits, and three walks over 5 1/3 innings. This pitching match up was heavily tilted in favor of the Astros, and they capitalized on it right from the beginning, scoring one run in the first, two in the third, and three in the sixth. Robinson was particularly critical of Drese after the game, which isn't surprising given that Drese isn't giving the Nationals much reason to keep him in the starting rotation. Robinson said, "[n]umber one, he can't consistently throw the ball where he wants to throw it. ... You don't know what you're going to get from one hitter to the next, from one pitch to the next." Ouch. All true, but it can't bode well for Drese.

The Nationals' offense was, once again, anemic. They didn't score until the seventh, when Preston Wilson hit a two-run homer to make it 6-2. Jose Guillen homered in the ninth to make it 6-3, but that was as close as the Nationals could get. Robinson was at least as critical of the offense as we was of Drese's pitching: "I don't see any hope offensively." Wow. No hope? That seems right to us: the Nationals cannot mount any consistent offense these days, and there is no reason to believe that it will change any time soon.

Looking back on this series, one would have expected a loss in tonight's game, so it's hard to reach any apocalyptic conclusions based on it. Yes, Vinny Castilla made a bone-headed error in the sixth inning, but the absence of any error wouldn't have stopped the Astros from scoring and therefore wouldn't have had a material effect on the outcome. It does, however, show that the Nationals are collapsing in nearly every facet of the game right now.

What really hurt is the Nats' inability to take the first two games in the series against weak starting pitchers. The Nats didn't win those games, so they're now stuck 3 games behind the Astros and falling, meaning that based on their recent play one would expect the Astros' lead to grow.