A rough night, but one we knew would come eventually: for the first time since their move to Washington, the Nationals were no-hit, shut down by Michael Lorenzen in a 7-0 loss to the Phillies Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
"Michael Lorenzen, just acquired by the Phillies at the trade deadline, had a pretty good year prior to coming over from Detroit – but now he's made two starts with the Phillies, a pair of gems," Grant noted after playing the final out from the Phillies' broadcast.
The latest a moment that ended a streak that spanned three cities, two countries (and a territory), four different decades, two millennia, and a bunch of other numbers.
"It's easy to make fun of the Nationals, a bad last-place team so of course they got no-hit, but they had a streak of 3,810 consecutive games without being no-hit, the longest in MLB," Grant said. "You have to go back to 1999. So now, the Angels take over at 3,760 games with the longest run after the Nationals ran into a buzz saw and some bad luck."
Indeed, three balls his late in the game had an expected batting average of .500 or better but didn't fall in – and sometimes, it takes that kind of luck to end a nearly quarter-century streak and a nearly season-long one, too.
"That's baseball, and they hadn't even been shutout since April if memory serves," Danny said. "So, despite the fact they don't have big boppers, they have guys who can do damage."
Grant played to Danny's point that the Nationals are sixth in MLB in batting average, so even without a 'great' offense that scores a lot of runs, they can hit.
"They have 1,011 hits on the season, sixth in MLB, and I say that again to say this is a hard team to no-hit," Grant said. "And I also think it's interesting the manager let him throw 124 pitches. You don't often see someone go too far over 100 or start the ninth with 110 pitches, but he is a veteran who has pitched a lot of innings, so maybe this was an easier situation than if it was a guy they've dumped $100 million into, or a young up-and-coming pitcher. But, you got to see a pretty cool, historical moment."
Danny harkened back to Johan Santana's no-hitter, the first in Mets history, and how it may have derailed his career, and the guys agreed it would be smart for the Phillies to back off Lorenzen and maybe push his next start back a bit.
No matter what, though, last night, the stars aligned and it happened, and Danny was…actually rooting for him?
"Lorenzen, I've pulled for him for years – when he was in Cincinnati, his first game back from the bereavement list after his father passed, he was a relief pitcher at the time and found his way to the plate, and he hit a home run," Danny said. "He broke down in tears after that, a tribute to his dad, and so I've always pulled for him. He's having a career year, his change-up was ridiculous, and while I wish it didn't happen against the Nats…good for him, I guess?"
Follow Grant & Danny on Twitter: @granthpaulsen & @funnydanny
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