P-Nats close season with victory

With their 2009 playoff chances gone despite having the league’s second-best overall record, the Potomac Nationals had to be content with playing the role of spoiler against the Kinston Indians, who brought a flicker of a playoff hope into Monday’s season-ending contest.
After a slow start, Potomac rallied behind the bat of Danny Espinosa and strong relief pitching to throw water on Kinston’s playoff hopes with a 9-4 victory before 2,836 fans at Pfitzner Stadium. The victory kept alive the streak of victories for the P-Nats in season finales (five) since becoming a Nationals affiliate in 2005.
Kinston (60-78 overall, 33-37 in the second half) needed to win and have Salem lose in order to force a play-in game at Salem on Tuesday evening. But Potomac ended any thoughts of that by posting consecutive four-run rallies in the seventh and eighth innings.
Kinston, which appeared poised to keep its playoff hopes alive, got started quickly, knocking three extra-base hits off Potomac starter Will Atwood. Lucas Montero led off the game with his ninth triple of the season and came home when Tim Fedroff laced a double to right. Phelps followed with a run-scoring double to center to give the Indians a 2-0 lead before an out was recorded.
Two outs later, Atwood walked Adam Davis before yielding a run-scoring hit to shortstop Ron Rivas. Atwood made a total of 34 pitches in the first inning.
Early on, the day was a study in contrasts with Kinston beginning the first inning with three consecutive hits while Potomac second baseman Michael Martinez was retired on a fine play on a slow grounder by Phelps. However, Espinosa followed with a double down the left field line and stole third. But Kinston starter Nick Hagadone, the centerpiece of the trade that sent catcher Victor Martinez from Cleveland to Boston, struck out Jesus Valdez and retired Michael Burgess on a grounder to first to keep the P-Nats from scoring.
Hagadone, on a strict pitch limit following Tommy John surgery in 2008, fanned Devin Ivany and Tim Pahuta in succession to begin the second, before getting Brian Peacock on a grounder to second. Overall, the lefthander yielded one run on three hits and fanned three in his three innings of work.
In the second and third innings, Atwood did his best Houdini imitation. In the second, Montero walked and Fedroff followed with a single with one out. Then, Atwood struck out Phelps and retired Sheldon on a fly to left to end it. In the third, first baseman Doug Pickens blooped a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Davis. But Atwood got Rivas and Thompson on grounders to retire the side.
Atwood allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits, walking two and striking out two in five innings. Hassan Pena pitched two scoreless innings, striking out two, in relief of Atwood, to earn the victory. Cole Kimball pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing one hit, to notch the save.
The bottom of the third was a strange inning, somewhat typical of the season for Potomac. Stephen King led off the frame with a single and stole second, but suffered an injury after an awkward slide and had to leave the game. Moments later, pinch-runner Greg Veloz advanced to third on a wild pitch. Then Boomer Whiting walked, but was picked off for the first out. Martinez lofted a soft fly into shallow center that Phelps caught with a running catch.
Espinosa rolled an opposite field single to right to score Veloz and pull Potomac within 3-1. The inning ended when Valdez ripped a drive toward center that Phelps corralled after diving to the shortstop side of second base and threw to first for the out.
So in the inning, while the P-Nats experienced modest success, disappointment overshadowed it, which was the case for much of the season for Potomac.
The P-Nats’ overall record of 79-58 (42-28 in the second half) was not good enough for them to reach the postseason, yet they recorded 19 more victories than Kinston overall. To put Potomac’s record in perspective, both Salem and Kinston, who were each fighting for the Southern Division’s final playoff spot entering play Monday, finished with losing overall records.
Espinosa said Potomac’s late heroics typified the team’s attitude all year.
“Everyone on this team had such a good year. We weren’t going to let (an early deficit) get us down,” Espinosa said. “It’s tough as (deleted) that we won as many games as we did, and couldn’t make the playoffs. There’s something wrong with that system.”
What kind of a day was it for Potomac in the early going? An opposing pitcher fanned four hitters in the fourth inning as reliever Bryce Stowell struck out Michael Burgess, but threw a wild pitch on strike three and Burgess was able to reach. Stowell then walked Devin Ivany before fanning Tim Pahuta, Brian Peacock, and Veloz in succession.
Stowell struck out five of the first six batters he faced, including four in a row at one point. After Espinosa was walked by Stowell with two outs in the fifth, he was nailed trying to steal second by catcher Alex Castillo.
In the sixth, Burgess hit a one-out single to right, but Stowell got Ivany on a soft fly to right and struck out Pahuta to end the inning. Stowell fanned a season-high eight and allowed just a run on three hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings of relief.
Potomac came alive in the seventh, scoring four times off Stowell and relievers David Roberts and Kyle Landis to take a 5-4 lead. With one out, Veloz singled, stole second, and scored on a single to left by Boomer Whiting. Whiting eventually scored on a single to center by Martinez, who came home on a triple to right by Espinosa. After his triple, Valdez was hit by a pitch and Burgess lashed a double to left to score Espinosa with the tie-breaking run.
Espinosa missed a chance for the cycle—he needed a home run—when he struck out in the eighth.
“I wasn’t trying for the cycle,” Espinosa said. “I was just trying to drive in a run. I had done so poorly all season long with the bases loaded, I couldn’t think about that.”
In the eighth, Veloz reached on an error by Rivas before Whiting walked and Martinez beat out a bunt for a single to load the bases. Valdez drilled a bases-clearing double to center and Pahuta lined a solid single to center (after striking out three times earlier in the game) to give Potomac a 9-4 lead.
Espinosa said it was important for the team to win its finale.
“You always want to win your last game to make a good impression,” Espinosa said. “A lot of these guys have a good shot to advance to Double A and we need to keep working hard over the winter to make that happen. We have to keep playing hard and have a good frame of mind going into spring training (next year).
The highlights of the season included manager Trent Jewett notching his 1,000th career managerial victory on May 1 and Whiting breaking the franchise record for stolen bases in one season on July 19. Whiting finished second in the league in steals. Potomac also had the most games (10) lost to rainouts in the league.
The season-ending festivities included Potomac outfielder Aaron Seuss singing the National Anthem before the game. Potomac concluded the season by drawing 180,541 fans, surpassing its total from last season.