Drew Storen entered last night in the ninth inning, the Nationals up by five runs, a chance to put his disaster in Philadelphia behind. He left last night with the game still in the ninth inning, the Nationals up by four runs, the effects of the disaster in Philadelphia still open to interpretation. Storen faced four batters. He struck out Jason Michaels to start the inning, a positive sign that Storen, as he promised, had instantly moved past his implosive performance against the Phillies. But the very next batter, Chris Johnson, blasted a home run to center. Storen stood on the mound with one his right on his hip, looking out into the outfield. He induced a weak chopper back to him by Tommy Manzella. He walked Jason Castro, who happens to be one of his closest friends and was his catcher for a season at Stanford. Riggleman came to the mound and pulled Storen so Sean Burnett could face switch-hitting pinch-hitter Geoff Blum. "We don't have any specific role for anybody. We're just trying to get outs," Riggleman said. "And I felt like the best way to get that next out was to bring Burnett in. Did i think Drew would get the next out? Yeah. But I was a little more confident that Burnie coming in fresh there to face a guy off the bench, turn him around right-handed, was a little more to our liking." Burnett retired Blum with one pitch, which Blum popped to short. Storen could only contemplate another outing he needed to put behind him. After disappointing outings, Storen tries to detach himself emotionally while learning from what went wrong. He'll have to do it again after last night. --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 114.43.236.223