Nats Fail to Hold Early Lead in Loss to Braves

The Washington Nationals blew an early three-run lead and fell to the Atlanta Braves 5 to 4

in the first game of an important eight-game road trip.

Starting pitcher for the Braves was Grant Holmes. He has 6 wins and 4 losses for the year

with a 3.79 ERA.

Starting for the Nationals was Jake Irvin. He was activated off the 60-day injured list just

before game time. He has 2 wins and 4 losses for the year with a 5.23 ERA.

FYI, what’s kind of hard to figure out is this statistic: The Nationals have the 2nd best road

record in the Major Leagues with 32 wins and 20 losses and the worst home record with 21

wins and 32 losses. Hmmm…

Washington got the scoring going in the top of the 2nd as Daylen Lile hit his 12th home run of

the year. 1-0 Nationals.

They added a run in the top of the 3rd as Luis Garcia blasted a 423-foot home run, his 23rd

, to right field. 2-0 Washington.

In the top of the 4th, Daylen Lile hit his 13th home run and 2nd of the game to center field. 3-0

good guys.

The Braves did not manage a hit over the first 3 innings as Irvin threw just 23 pitches, the

lowest 3-inning total by any Nationals’ pitcher this year.

But things changed in the bottom of the 4th

.

Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a shot over the center field wall for his 23rd home run of the year. 3-1

Washington.

The Nats missed a golden opportunity in the top of the 5th with runners at 2nd and 3rd and no

outs. What followed were 2 strike outs and a pop up to shallow left field.

And then the bottom of the 5th happened. With 2 outs, Dominic Smith hit a sinking line

drive to right field that was almost caught by James Wood. And of course, the next batter,

Mike Yastrzemski then launched his 7th home run over the right field fence. 3-3 tie.

The Braves took the lead in the bottom of the 6th off walks to Drake Baldwin and Ronald

Acuna, a wild pitch, and a 2-out single off the bat of Ozzie Albies. 5-3 Atlanta.

The Nationals got one back in the top of the 7th when James Wood walked and came home

courtesy of a triple off the bat of Luis Garcia Jr. That gave Garcia a home run, a double, and

a triple for the game.

But the Nats couldn’t get another run across the plate and lost a heartbreaker 5 to 4.

That defeat dropped them back to .500 for the year with 55 wins and 55 losses.

Game 2 of the 4-game series is tomorrow at 7:15 ET.

Dave’s Dime…The Origins of the Game.

Sometimes when I’m in a pensive mood, I wonder about many things. Like how did I get

this old, why are so many people always in a hurry, when will someone come up with a

product that actually regrows hair, how did Taylor Swift become so popular…and so on.

And then I think about sports. Why do we have sports? Where did they come from? Many

books have been written on the subject, I’m sure, and I don’t want to go into a lot of detail

concerning the subject, but let’s just think a little bit about the history of the game we all

love: baseball.

We’ll limit our discussion to the development of the game in the United States.

An early form of the game, called “rounders” was brought over to America by immigrants in

the 1700’s. The first actual mention of “baseball” was found in a diary written by a student

at Princeton University in 1786. An interesting rule in the game of “rounders” was that

fielders could put out a runner by hitting them with a thrown ball. Well, I guess Americans

wanted to think of themselves as a little more civilized (which I doubt they were) by having

players tag bases instead of hitting opposing players with the ball.

In 1845 something called the “Knickerbocker Rules”, was introduced. They were a set of

rules put together by William Wheaton and Willian Tucker of the Knickerbocker Base Ball

Club. Some historians of the game think this was the basis for at least a few of the rules

that still apply to the game we know today.

Several of these early rules are kind of interesting and show how much the sport has

evolved.

The ball was pitched underhand like a horseshoe until 1884. Foul balls were not

considered strikes until 1901.

One of the guidelines from this 1845 document, and still true today, was the three-strikes

and you’re out rule.

However, there were originally no strike zones. This led to players standing at the plate and

not swinging at any pitch they didn’t like. Like today’s home-run derby. The called strike

was introduced in 1858. The called ball became a rule in 1863. The strike zone was not

officially defined until 1887.

Catching a fair ball on the first bounce was recorded as an out until 1865.

Early in the history of the game, players would leave their gloves on the field and could be

used by the opposing team. This habit wasn’t officially outlawed until 1954.

I’m sure most of you have heard of Abner Doubleday. Abner was a United States Army

officer and a major general for the Union in the Civil War. He actually fired the first shot in

defense of Fort Sumter in 1861 and fought at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863.

But Abner Doubleday is best remembered as the inventor of baseball. The supposed first

game was played in a cow pasture in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. This claim was

made in 1908, by something called the Mills Commission, fifteen years after Abner’s death.

Doubleday actually never made such a claim, and most baseball historians think there’s no

basis behind it. But it’s a fun history fact. And we all like those.

We’ll dive into this subject a little more next week. Have a good weekend. I sure hope the

Nationals do.