Game Thirteen: Nationals 4, Brewers 3

Box Score

Bill Parcells once said that "You are what your record says you are." Taking the essence of this quote and applying it to baseball, you are what your baseball-reference page says you are. In the case if Yuniesky Betancourt, it says that you're not a good baseball player.

There are few major league baseball players worse than Yuni Betancourt, and an argument can be made that he is the worst player in the majors. He gets on base at a .296 clip, hits for little power, has poor range at shortstop, and as we saw tonight, he does not have a good throwing arm. The throwing error he made in the bottom of the 10th occurred because Betancourt is a bad player and bad players make bad plays. The plays  often happen with great frequency, which increases the likelihood they will occur at inopportune times. The Brewers need to cut Betancourt and replace him with literally anyone that's available. The sooner, the better.

Moving on...

Generally speaking, baserunning outs are the worst outs to make. With that said, I support Carlos Gomez's failed attempt to stretch his game-tying RBI, two-out single into double in the top of the 9th. Though Ryan Braun was on deck, you have to figure that with a runner on first the Nationals would configure their defense against doubles. Thus, the Brewers would likely need two more hits to score the go-ahead run. Furthermore, it was not good hittin' weather, so the prospect of a home run was all but out of the question. And let's not forget that it took an incredible throw from Rick Ankiel to nail Gomez. It was the type of risk you need to take when you are on the road and facing extra-innings.

Speaking of Rick Ankiel, consider this: He started as a pitcher but disappeared from the majors due to extreme control issues. He then remade himself as a outfielder and now has one of the strongest, most insanely accurate arms you will ever see. How is it possible for someone to go from having such control issues  to making throws like this?

Anyway, I don't have much to say about the game tonight. It was a game that was there for the taking, but the Brewers could not capitalize. It happens. On the bright side, Narveson had a decent start and I am really liking what I see from the bullpen. This is one of those games where I'm bummed that they lost, but I saw enough positive things to make me feel good about the Brewers as a team. This is not a bad feeling to have.