NATS BLANK YANKEES FOR RARE ROAD SERIES WIN

The Washington Nationals haven’t had much success on the road this year, but on Thursday they found some good fortune in a most unlikely venue—New York’s Yankee Stadium.  The Nats’ Craig Stammen earned his first major league victory with 6 1/3 innings of shutout work, and Washington blanked the Yankees 3-0.  Coupled with a 3-2 win on Wednesday, the Nationals took two out of three from the Bronx Bombers for a rare away series win.  The Nats are a lowly 8-24 on the road this season and, frankly, haven’t done much better at home where they’re 10-22.

Sports bettors’ who backed the Nationals learned a valuable lesson about baseball underdogs, with Washington returning a hefty +260 payback to ‘investors’.  Combined with Wednesday’s win as a +180 underdog, a bettor who blindly backed Washington in his three game set was +340 to the good by virtue of their 2-1 series win.  All three of the games went UNDER the total, and Washington has now failed to exceed the posted number in 11 of their last 12 contests. 

Stammen and the Nats endured a 5 and a half hour rain delay to secure the victory.  After yielding a leadoff single to Brett Gardner in the bottom of the first inning, Stammen went on to retire 12 of the next 13 batters he faced.  After the game, he said the long wait was worth it as he earned his first major league victory in the most hallowed of venues:

"It was a long wait. I didn't know we were going to play. They said we're going to start at 4 o'clock, but I ended up waiting some more. But I guess it started on time for me. It was fun. Everyone looks forward to pitching at Yankee Stadium. So much history has been made here. I can say my first win was at Yankee Stadium."

Washington manager Manny Acta credited Stammen’s sick sinkerball with befuddling the Yankees lineup:

"He was sinking the ball over the plate instead being too fine. He did a very good job. He wasn't intimidated. He went after these guys. They kept beating the ball into the ground."

Acta also praised his bullpen for securing the victory for the rookie:

"The relievers have been throwing the ball well. Villone did a tremendous job. The strikeout on Matsui was huge. It turned the game for us right there. Tavarez did a great job getting Jeter out. Beimel and MacDougal did the job on the back end, too."

He concluded by stressing his team’s improvement in the fundamentals of baseball despite their poor record:

"Despite our record, we are playing better baseball. We came in and we threw strikes, we played good defense and we ended up winning the series against one of the top teams in the league."

The highlight of the victory for Stammen was a postgame phone call from his father:

"He said congratulations and that he was proud of me. Anything a dad would say. He still can't believe what's going on. He is a proud papa,"

The Yankees hit the road for the weekend, heading to Florida on Friday for the first of three games against the Marlins.  Andy Pettitte will tow the rubber for New York, while Sean West gets the assignment for Florida.  New York is a -125 road favorite, with the total set at 9’.  Washington hosts Toronto this weekend, with the Jays’ Brian Tallet taking on the Nats’ Jordan Zimmerman.  The game is a pick, with both sides priced at -110 and the total set at 8’ OV.