Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
As Gio Gonzalez emerges above .500, so do his Washington Nationals, with the former improving to 3-2 and latter to 17-15 after Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The victory means two straight for a Nationals team that’s seen little in the way of consistency.
This comes after two consecutive starts in which Gonzalez found himself on both the winning and losing sides of 8-1 contests. Suddenly, a 27-year-old who had carved out a career-best 21 wins and 2.80 ERA last season was now carrying a 5.34 ERA into Sunday.
The inconsistencies carried into the Pirates game even with the pleasant final result. At one point, Gonzalez retired 15 of 17 batters, but he also started off the contest with a homer on his first pitch, followed by a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. Perhaps like this Nationals team, Gonzalez is ironing out the kinks before they become too damaging.
“A younger me would have probably spiraled out of control, tried to do too much,” Gonzalez told The Washington Post. Gonzalez escaped the first inning after Nats pitching coach Steve McCatty took to the mound to calm down his starter. McCatty noticed that this season Gonzalez has sped up his delivery with men on base: “Sometimes when he gets hit, he rushes out there. That’s one of his problems.”
Like the cross-town Washington Capitals, the Nationals have started their 2013 campaign in rather underwhelming fashion, while playing in a division that has not taken advantage of this fact. Thanks to the Atlanta Braves only winning three of their past 10, the Nats currently sit just two games out of first in the National League East division.
Thomas Emerick is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasEmerick, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
