When the Washington Nationals entered their series against the Braves, they were entering the biggest game ever played for the Nationals Franchise. No Nationals team has ever been where these Nats are, leading the NL East by 5 games and having a record 29 games above .500. Not even the 2005 Nationals got to that, yet here we are.
The series was pretty much a even match all around. Jordan Zimmerman faces Tim Hudson. Stephen Strasburg faces Paul Malholm and Ross Detwiler faces Kris Meldon. Would the Nats be able to continue there amazing success or would the Braves climb back into things?
Simply put, the Nats are amazing! Winning Game 1 was completely crazy. The game went into the 13th inning and the only reason the Nats won was because Dan Uggla's brain exploded and he couldn't decide where to throw the baseball (last I heard, as of this posting, Dan Uggla was close to making a decision on where to throw the ball) Credit has to go to Danny Espinosa for some good baserunning and to Kurt Suzuki, although if you watched the game he didn't even move an inch when everyone else was running on what would be ruled an infield single by Chad Tracy.
For Game 2, Stephen Strasburg does what he does best, pitch good ballgames. He went 6 strong innings, giving up only 1 run on 4 hits and striking out 10. He's officially the National League leader in strikeouts, moving ahead of the Mets R.A. Dickey. The Nats offense was lead by a solo home run by Ian Desmond (his 2nd in 2 nights) and Jesus Flores 3 run home run.
What's amazing is the attendance at Nats Park during these 2 games. Game 1 had an attendance at 32,000 and Game 2 had an attendance of 34,000. It's nice to see people fill this ballpark. In all fairness, the NAts haven't been good before. After taking the first two games of this series, the Nats are 77-46 with a 7 game lead over the Braves. They have a 20 game lead over the 3rd place Mets and Phillies and a 21 game lead over the Marlins. Remember how people at the begining of the year were convinced the Nats would be around 3rd or 4th place this year? Remember when they said the Phillies, Marlins and Braves were the only real contenders in the division? I love when they are proven SO wrong, especially when it comes to the Nats
