Nats at Brewers

[Jollay]

Three in Milwaukee before the Nats return home to face the Braves and Phils.

Tonight it's Craig Stammen against lefty Chris Narveson in a matchup of very questionable starters. The Brewers, like the Nats, are weak in starting pitching, and this series will not feature the likes of Yovani Gallardo or Stephen Strasburg.

Livo's complete game yesterday was important for the Nats as it rested the bullpen, which will probably be key in high-scoring games against the Brewers. Stammen's breaking stuff is the kind of stuff that could frustrate the Brewers' RH bats, but you certainly can't count on any type of good performance from the wildly inconsistent Stammen.

Josh Willingham returns to Miller Park, the scene of his two grand-slam day almost a year ago. Unfortunately that game, a Nats win, was one of the few successes the Nats have had at Miller Park lately--the Nats are 2-9 since 2006 there.

Thought about going to this series as I'm from Milwaukee, but its just hard to motivate yourself to travel to see two teams well under .500...

[Jollay]

Brewers win the first game 7-5. Stammen was good until the fifth, where he gave up a couple of runs to make it 5-3. A rested Tyler Clippard and Sean Burnett then promptly gave up four runs, and the Brewers' Kameron Loe and John Axford then shut the Nats out for three innings to seal the win.

As I said, bullpens will be important in this series of god-awful pitching.

Props to Jim Riggleman for switching out Mike Morse after he had two home runs on the day. Can't risk leaving that guy in against the Brewers' righties with his .371 average against RHP.

I was talking about it on the radio last night, Morse is not being given a chance to win an everyday job, and he should. Bernadina can spell Morgan more in center to get his at-bats. I understand it's a defensive thing, but the Nats are already the worst fielding team in the majors--how much worse can it be?

Plus Riggles won't play Alberto Gonzalez. So defense is apparently only important in the outfield...

Manny Parra versus JD Martin today. Get those bullpens ready!!!

[Jollay]

Nats lose again to the Brewers, 4-3. Strange game, where the Nats rallied for a run off Axford in the ninth only to lose it a half- inning later. They were in fact able to load the bases with no outs, but in typical Nats fashion only get one.

JD Martin was removed in the third after hurting his back while pitching, and he is now on the DL with bulging discs in his back. Collin Balester was up for a one-day stint pre-Detwiller to reinforce the bullpen, but he will now stay with the big-league club until further notice. The converted starter sported a 7.27 ERA this year at AAA, which obviously warrants a promotion.

Detwiller goes today in his debut versus Dave Bush. I am eager to see Detwiller again, who along with JZ and Strasburg project at the top of the Nats' rotation next year. He looked great at the end of 2009.

[Jollay]

Two good curveball throwers today in Detwiller and Bush. Too much to ask that both will be on, probably, but could be fun to watch if you're a baseball fan. If not, then at least we'll see alot of offense.

[Jollay]

Nats get swept by the Brewers 8-3. Detwiller looked okay with the exception of the first inning, but was wild with his change and curve for alot of the day.

He gave up five runs in 3.2 IP, but all of them were unearned. Willie Harris at third booted one in the first that led to two runs and Ian Desmond booted and then threw away (only counted for one error) a ground ball from Dave Bush in the fourth. That scored a run, and then Rickie Weeks promptly homered to give the Brewers a 5-0. The Desmond error was on an easy, routine grounder with two outs. By Dave Bush.

Nats run their road record to a stunningly bad 17-36 and go to a season low 15 games under .500.