truebluefan

For the last-place Washington Nationals to remain competitive for the rest of the season, it's going to start with their starting pitching.
Last night, Nationals right-hander Ramon Ortiz failed to live up to that simple blueprint.
The veteran right-hander had his poorest outing of the season -- giving up eight runs on five hits and three walks in 12/3 innings -- and nearly caused a bench-clearing brawl in an 11-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies before 34,881 at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phillies batted around in the second inning, scoring eight runs. Ortiz threw just 46 pitches in this bludgeoning on Broad Street.
"If you want to say 8-0 is out of a game ... we don't stop playing," Nationals manager Frank Robinson said. "That's a pretty good hole to dig yourself out of and we didn't do it tonight. And you're not going to do it too often, either, when you get down eight in the second inning."

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