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These games could have been so significant, so charged with tension, so exciting. This rematch of the league's national division series, held one month before October, could have been so important or promises or intrigues or. . . good, no matter what.
Instead, it serves as a reminder of what the Washington Nationals may have been and how much they have fallen now that two key pieces of their list are playing in the blue of the Chicago Cubs.
Even though the nationals and the cubs faced lead changes and closed calls for 10 innings, the edge was dull, despair was gone.
When David Bote – the author of the grand slam that put an end to the hopes of the Nationals – doubled the double of Victor Robles in the lead of the 10th inning, that proved how much the team has declined and how much Key pieces are no longer there to help him get up. The Nationals lost, 6-4, and dropped three games under the 500 for the first time since April 30, when they were 13-16 years old.
[Boswell: Could the Nats have made a September run? We’ll never know, and for no good reason]
So much has changed since the previous series of these teams in mid-August, a white affair at Wrigley Field. The national championships could have won three games in this series and lost two – the second on a Grand Slam stopping them from going back 4½ games in their division.
In the weeks that followed, the team declared its own capitulation and fell out of the distance, a process that included Daniel Murphy's exchange against the same Cubs who beat them in the playoffs. This series at Wrigley Field sent the Nationals routed.
The Nationals broadcast a tribute video to Murphy before the match, a new tradition that they also applied to Gio Gonzalez last week – a tradition they probably did not anticipate because of late-season sales. .
Murphy left for the Cubs. Stephen Strasburg prompted him to rush to Wilmer Difo, his replacement to the second, on a fastball of 92 mph in an instant that sums up the whole reason why Murphy is in a Cubs uniform. Strasburg, still not launching like his old throbbing self, missed two and a half months during which the rotation collapsed around him.
[Daniel Murphy leads off return to Nationals Park atop Cubs’ order]
Murphy missed two months in which Difo – the title contender but not a batting title contender – was forced to resume production. These and other similar problems prevented the team from competing – or believing that it could compete – by forcing it to sell coins at the end of August. meant an insignificant month of September. Murphy limited his team to a 1-on-5 performance on Thursday, a lot less damage than Murphy inflicted on the Mets when he faced his other old team over the years.
The fact that the Strasbourg fastball is around 92 is a cause for concern, partly because its history suggests that any aberration is a sign of trouble. Regardless of his health, the speed drop did not completely defeat him. He had allowed two runs in six innings in consecutive starts.
On Thursday, he almost did the same thing.
He awarded two points on three hits to the Cubs in the third and one point undeserved in the fifth. He got two outs in the fifth before manager Dave Martinez held it after 111 shots. He gave up two earned runs to six hits, another great launcher payout to be dominant – though he seems convinced of his health.
[Box score: Cubs 6, Nationals 4 (10 innings)]
"It's better," Strasburg said. "Velocity is not quite there yet, but life is there, so I think it's positive."
The resurgence of Strasburg would be much more important if this team headed to the playoffs, if these games helped them to gain ground in Eastern Newfoundland. Instead, they slide – slide despite a remarkable tendency to stay in late games, a habit that some would interpret as an endorsement of their character.
"This is just the testimony of the players we have," said Trea Turner. "We do not give anything. This last round is just as important as the first.
The Nationals came back to take the lead of the Mark Reynolds circuit in the fourth. After the Cubs tied the match with an undefeated run in the fifth inning, Turner responded with a mere RBI at the end of the round. The Cubs tied the match against Justin Miller in eighth place, taking advantage of the relative inexperience of the injury-ridden pen. These teams seem destined to play games like this one. They do not feel the same way. These last games are not as important as the first ones.
So when Jimmy Cordero – who had never appeared in a major league game before this season and was certainly not on the radar in the spring – went twice on three hits, but it was not not devastating this time. The nationals could not go home with a broken heart. This time, it seemed that reality was putting its stamp on a team that was slow to accept and that will have to fight just to end the season with a winning record, not to mention anything more.
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