Nationals could regret potential momentum-turning decision - New York Post

WASHINGTON — The Nationals should understand postseason momentum, as Exhibit A.

They lost Game 3 of the Division Series to the Dodgers, 10-4, in Washington. That was Oct. 6. The Nats were one loss from familiar October oblivion. Then they stopped losing. Who can explain why? They took Game 4 and, in Game 5, a Will Smith blast that sure seemed like a series-ending two-run homer off the bat for Los Angeles died on the warning track instead. The Nationals eliminated the Dodgers in the next inning.

Washington swept St. Louis in the NLCS, won both World Series games in Houston. Suddenly, the franchise that couldn’t win this time of year, couldn’t lose. A mere 31,429 days since the last World Series game in Washington, the Nats on Friday night were trying to become the first team to win nine straight games in one postseason.

But as quickly as one of these streaks starts in which the inexplicably positive keeps happening over and over, it can end. So never dismiss a chance to keep a foot pressed firmly on the gas. It is October. Even when everything is going your team’s way, urgency is the required mode setting. Think how quickly the Nationals U-turned from postseason pinatas to playoff powerhouse. You know, Exhibit A.

Nationals manager Dave Martinez faced a go-all-out moment in the fourth inning of Game 3. The Nats couldn’t deliver a clutch hit through three innings against Zack Greinke. In the fourth, though, Victor Robles tripled in a run with one out. The tying run was 90 feet away. Back in an NL stadium, a pitcher was due to hit. And it is understatement to say Anibal Sanchez hits like a pitcher.

Among those with at least 400 plate appearances, Sanchez’s .084 average was the fifth worst ever. Martinez had Howie Kendrick (.930 OPS vs. righties) and lefties Matt Adams and Gerardo Parra available. He had a rested bullpen with Thursday having been an off-day. He had a two-games-to-none lead to potentially add upon.

“I seriously thought about it, yeah,” Martinez said. “But you know what, I liked the way Sanchez was pitching, he only had 60 pitches.”

Sanchez had retired six straight, but still was not crisp. He had allowed six baserunners and two outs were smoked at better than 103 mph. Nevertheless, Martinez stuck with Sanchez, who looked feeble striking out trying to find a cranny to put down a bunt so that Robles might score. Trea Turner grounded back to Greinke and the chance to tie flitted away. Sanchez then gave up a run in the fifth and one more in the sixth before being lifted in what became a 4-1 Astros victory.

Who knows how this transpires if Kendrick or Adams or Parra bats in the fourth. Maybe they strike out. Or maybe they score the run, but covering five innings would have proved too much terrain for the Nats’ suspect pen. And ultimately it was the actual Nats hitters who let them down. Washington went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position against a persistently reeling Greinke and 0-for-10 overall.

However, responsibility is divvied, the Nationals allowed the Astros to win a game they had to win to avoid going down three-games-to-none. Neither team has won at home yet in the 115th World Series, which was particularly sad for the Nats. The city had been waiting so long for this. The last World Series game in the nation’s capital had been Oct. 7, 1933 — the year the original King Kong came out.

Even Houston manager A.J. Hinch cited, “the great atmosphere” at Nationals Park. The sellout of 43,867 was decked out nearly exclusively in red and were passionate and loud from well before first pitch. But Houston blunted that energy and the Nationals’ historic postseason run by finally finding clutch hits. They had been just 8-for-63 (.127) with runners in scoring position since the outset of the ALCS vs. the Yankees. But had four hits in such situations in the first four innings to help close within two games to one.

The Nats, meanwhile, had at least one runner on in eight of nine innings. But after hitting .355 (22-for-62) with runners in scoring position during the eight-game winning streak, Washington let Houston wiggle from trouble. The Nats put 10 of 23 batters on base in Greinke’s 4 ²/₃ innings, but scored only on Robles’ triple. That was the moment to seize, to go for Houston’s throat.

But Martinez let Sanchez hit — and, as usual, Sanchez couldn’t hit. He also didn’t pitch well enough to justify this decision. Suddenly, Washington’s magic carpet ride was over. These Nats, better than most, can understand what can happen when momentum reverses at this time of year. They had been Exhibit A.

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