Foster Griffin’s Arm and James Wood’s Bat lead the Nats to Victory.

A ninety-two-minute weather delay tested the fortitude of the casual fan as he or she

waited for the first pitch in tonight’s Philadelphia vs Washington baseball contest at Nationals Park.

But commence it did, and the Nats wasted little time putting on their game-faces. As well

they should. With the All-Star break coming up in a little under three weeks, and the Nats

fighting to stay in contention for a Wild Card spot, this four-game series against the Phillies

is indeed an important one.

James Wood, Washington’s leadoff hitter, scorched a double to center field and the good guys were off and running (and hitting). Dylan Crews followed a couple batters later with a run-scoring single to left field. 1-0 Nats.

Luis Garcia launched his 11th home run in the bottom of the second to make it 2-0 good

guys.

In the top of the 7th Brandon Marsh homered to right to give the Phillies their first run. But

Washington answered in the bottom half of the inning with James Wood starting it off with a single to center followed by Curtis Mead’s 12th home run to left field giving Washington a 4 -1 lead --And that’s the way it ended. Foster Griffin pitched a masterful game going 7.1 innings, striking out 9, and surrendering only 4 hits. Richard Lovelady got a couple outs to hold the lead and Clayton Beeter finished the game for his 6th save of the year.

The win puts Washington 1 ½ games behind the Phillies and 8 ½ behind the division leading Atlanta Braves.

Dave’s Dime…

Speaking of the casual fan…he or she might be surprised to hear that the Washington

Nationals are an exciting young team with a bright and exciting future. And that bright and

exciting future could include the rest of this season. The Nats currently lead all of Major

League Baseball with 395 runs batted in. We also lead the majors in total runs scored for

the season. Adding to those impressive stats, the Nats are tied for the MLB lead with 24

road wins. Our young star outfielder James Wood (who went 2 for 4 tonight while scoring two runs and driving in one) is second in the National League with a .408 On Base

Percentage (OBP). He also leads the National League in runs scored.

I have a good feeling that better times are a-coming. Now just you watch…since I wrote

these two paragraphs praising our impressive young team, they’ll come out tomorrow

evening and get blown out 35 to 6.