Michael Morse continued what has been a phenomenal year so far with two home runs today in the win over the Dodgers. All season Morse was expected to come back to earth, but here we are in September and Morse is still hitting .315/.369/.562 with 26 home runs and 82 RBI.
The Nationals got to Dodgers starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda early and often in the first evening. Shelling Kuroda for four runs, three by the way of home runs, alone in the first. Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond also joined Morse with their own home runs.
This was after a rough first inning for John Lannan where he surrendered back-to-back doubles to Jamey Carroll and Matt Kemp to allow the Dodgers to take an early 1-0 lead.
Morse homered again in the 6th inning, and again off Kuroda. Rick Ankiel doubled in Ian Desmond in the seventh and Wilson Ramos singled in Werth in the 8th for the Nats final run of the game. The Dodgers got a run late off Sean Burnett as Justin Sellers doubled in A.J. Ellis.
As important as this game was for the Nats – and no doubt everyone should be happy to see the Nats power on display – all the talk in the morning will about will or won’t Stephen Strasburg making his return to the parent club after his rehab from Tommy John surgery. With a high probability of rain, there is a possibility that Strasburg’s start will be pushed back to Wednesday. If that is the case, a lot of fans who went out and paid a premium for seats at tomorrow’s game will be disappointed. With that said, Strasburg will be a big-ticket the rest of the season.
Assuming there is a game tomorrow, the game will feature Strasburg facing off against the Dodgers Ted Lilly (9-13, 4.39 ERA) at 7:05 PM. The game can be heard live on The Fan.
