WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — There was nothing redeeming about playing in the longest game in postseason history, no moral to take or lesson to learn.
The Nationals were one out away from a wonderful moment in Game 2 of a National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants. They were one out from celebrating another brilliant performance from starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, one out from evening the series and regaining their footing, one out from catching their breath in the October chill.
Instead, after 18 torturous innings that ended with a devastating 2-1 loss in front of a stunned sellout crowd at Nationals Park on Saturday night, they are one game from elimination. Those 96 wins during the regular season mean nothing now. If Washington can’t beat Giants ace Madison Bumgarner in San Francisco on Monday afternoon then its postseason will have lasted four days and its winter will have begun far sooner than expected.
“We’ve got an uphill climb,” Nats outfielder Jayson Werth said. “But I believe in this team and I believe in these guys. If anybody can do it, we can.”
From the moment Werth lined out to right field, exactly at the stroke of midnight, six hours and 23 minutes following the first pitch in the late afternoon, Washington began conjuring ways to fight back into the series. The players were stunned afterward, but there wasn’t the oppressive silence that came in the wake of the Game 5 NLDS loss to St. Louis two years ago.
Instead, equipment bags were noisily packed, suits donned for the long overnight charter flight to California. Players tried to explain why the offense has gone dry and what they can do about it. But their primary focus: How to beat Bumgarner. Do that and the entire series changes again.
“I guess we gotta go do a must-win and make some history,” outfielder Bryce Harper said. “Going into San Fran is a tough place to play. They’ve got Bumgarner and he’s a damn good left-hander. We’ll go in there and try to get a few runs on the board, get some stuff going for [pitcher Doug] Fister and try to come out on top.”
San Francisco won Game 2 in part because Yusmeiro Petit, the 29-year-old Venezuelan, came on for six innings of scoreless relief beginning in the 12th. But he was also supposed to be the Game 4 starter.
Instead, that duty likely falls to Ryan Vogelsong, an All-Star in 2011 who has steadily declined since. In two starts against the Nats this season Vogelsong allowed nine runs in 11 1/3 innings. The Giants were smoked in both games – 14-6 and 9-2 – with one game played at each teams’ home park. Gio Gonzalez, a left-hander who will pitch in a big ballpark against a heavily left-handed hitting lineup, will have the advantage in that game.
But that is meaningless if Washington can’t beat Bumgarner, the 25-year-old North Carolina native who has loads of postseason experience already, helped the Giants win two of the last four World Series and has been one of the major’s best pitchers since 2010. He finished with a 2.98 ERA this season and tossed a complete-game shutout against Pittsburgh in the NL wild card game last week. Bumgarner lost to the Nats in San Francisco 2-1 on June 10.
They will have Doug Fister on the mound to oppose Bumgarner. Fister had a 2.41 ERA this season in The Giants beat him on Aug. 22 in Washington when he allowed four runs in seven innings of what became a 10-3 loss. But in that June 10 game in San Francisco – pitching against Bumgarner – Fister threw seven scoreless innings.
And, of course, the two men met in San Francisco once before: Game 2 of the 2012 World Series. Fister took a line drive off the top of his head early in that game, but still pitched six innings of one-run ball before departing. Bumgarner was better though. He went seven scoreless and San Francisco won it 2-0, going on to win the title in a sweep.
That’s the fate in store for Washington if it can’t find a way to beat one of the game’s best left-handed pitchers. They didn’t expect to be in this position after just two games of October baseball. But here they are – a season’s worth of work dating to the early days of spring training on the brink of expiration.
“You get to this point – at this point everything is gravy,” Werth said. “We want to win. We obviously worked the whole year to get to this point. But it’s not easy. These games mean a lot to not only the people that play them, but the staff, the fans, the front office. There’s a lot riding on these games and we’re well aware of it.”
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