The starters celebrate with Ace of Spades champagne. L to R, Jackson, Scherzer, Strasburg, Cole, Ross, Gonzalez, Roark, Fedde
Unfortunately, Edwin Jackson is a shadow of what he was when he joined the Nationals during the 3rd week of July. Jackson’s ERA jumped nearly a full point to 4.96, and he lasted only 2 1/3 innings tonight after he only went 3 1/3 in his previous start. In Jackson’s last 17 1/3 innings, he has given up 20 runs of which 18 were earned runs. Part of the problem tonight was Jayson Werth lost a flyball in the twilight sky and 5 runs scored after that. The Nationals ended up losing 7-to-0, and the Nationals offense had some chances with runners in scoring position but couldn’t muster one clutch hit or even a productive out when Ryan Zimmerman was on 3rd base early in the game with one out.
If you are looking for a silver lining, the Nationals bullpen threw 6 2/3 innings of shutout baseball after taking over for Jackson. In fact the Nationals did this without pitching Matt Albers or Brandon Kintzler or Ryan Madson or Sean Doolittle.
Daniel Murphy, Michael Taylor and Matt Wieters each struck out 3 times and Taylor and Wieters left 4 runners on base and Murphy left 3 runners on base. Collectively, the Nationals were 0-for-7 in their RISP spots, and overall the team only pieced together 4 hits and 4 walks and 2 HBPs which gave them 10 baserunners.
For those who are clamoring for Edwin Jackson on the post-season roster, read the first paragraph and watch the video. Jackson will have most likely two more starts, but at this point even if he throws 2 shutouts it’s just “Fool’s Gold” and that July and early August success was good while it lasted.
