Defense has been a cornerstone of Manny Acta's philosophy ever since he became the Washington Nationals' manager three years ago. Don't give away outs, Acta preaches, and bad teams have a chance to close the gap on good ones.
For whatever reason, that message hasn't translated to superb fielding by the Nationals. They led the National League with 123 errors last season, and despite vowing to be better on defense this season, they've headed right back down the same path. After an error Friday night, the Nationals have now made 15 in as many games, leading the National League once again. The fielding error Scott Olsen made Friday night led to a run, but it probably wasn't the most costly defensive mistake the Nationals made.
That would be any of the three unsuccessful diving attempts from Elijah Dukes and Austin Kearns to get low line drives that all wound up bouncing away from them, leading to two Mets runs.
"This is a game like some of the ones earlier where we gave a good team a handful of extra outs, and you can't afford to do that," Kearns said.
METS 4, NATIONALS 3: After Mets starter Johan Santana struck out eight in the game's first four innings, Washington had a chance to take the lead on the New York ace in the sixth inning, following Nick Johnson's leadoff homer by putting runners on first and second with none out. But Santana struck out Elijah Dukes and Austin Kearns to end the inning, and the Mets' insurance run off Kip Wells made Jesus Flores' two-run homer in the ninth inconsequential.
