Johnson’s final line of the night was: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO

The damp weather in DC was conducive to ground ball outs. Johnson posted 12 outs on the ground to just 4 in the air. It seemed that over and over the Nats were pounding the ball into the ground. Emmanuel Burriss made a highlight grab that most likely saved the game and preserved RJ’s chances for the win. Not bad for the DC local. At times this year Burriss’ defense has looked a little iffy, but he was solid in both games of the double header.

Maybe the most contested call of the night was Adam Dunn’s called third strike against Brian Wilson in a full-count with the bases-loaded. I watched the game on MASN because of blackout restrictions and the MASN announcers were disgusted with the knee high fastball that was called for strike three against Dunn. Everything from “You can’t fight City Hall” to “Tim Timmons (the umpire) will get the save for this one.” came out of Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble. It was pathetic. I know that announcers are allowed to occasionally root for their teams, but after hearing Dibble chant “Drop it! Drop it!” on air after the Nationals hit a couple pop fly’s in the infield, I knew I was in broadcasting hell.

By the way, the pitch looked pretty solid on PFX.

Eat it, Dibble.

—

UPDATE: A very nice press conference with RJ can be found, here.