The parameters of the Washington Nationals’ game Tuesday - a chance to deliver a body blow to the slumping Philadelphia Phillies and show up a resurgent Pedro Martinez - seemed almost custom-made for John Lannan.
This is a pitcher who, in his short major league career, has landed in an inordinate number of big-game situations and delivered in most of them. He kept Barry Bonds stuck on 755 homers, outdueled John Smoltz on the night of his 3,000th strikeout and beat the Mets in a crucial September game last year.
But that John Lannan has showed up only in small doses lately. In the second half of the season, he has been just as likely to do what he did Tuesday night.
After allowing just a solo homer in the first six innings, the left-hander gave up three more in the seventh inning of a 5-3 loss. Struggling closer Brad Lidge loaded the bases in the ninth, but setup man Ryan Madson cleaned up the mess and helped end Philadelphia’s four-game losing streak.
“He was getting ground balls. He was getting called strikes - really throwing some great pitches,” interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “He started getting the ball up a little bit, and they took advantage of it.”
As in his last start, Lannan commanded the early part of the game with his two-seam fastball. He got 13 ground-ball outs in the first six innings and kept the Phillies’ struggling offense down as the Nationals took a 2-1 lead.
The Phillies’ first home run - a solo blast by Raul Ibanez - was less a warning sign than an accepted reality; it was Ibanez’s seventh homer and 19th RBI in 13 games against the Nationals this year. And after giving up the homer in the fifth, Lannan went back to work, setting down the next seven batters.
His fastball, normally in the high 80s, hovered around 91 mph and occasionally touched 93. But it lost its sink in the seventh inning. The Phillies’ next three homers came in such rapid succession that the Nationals had no time to save Lannan from a dormant attack that suddenly had decided to feast.
Lannan fired a fastball right over the middle to Jayson Werth with one out in the seventh, and it was predictably dumped over the right-field wall. Then Ibanez came up again. Lannan fought him for three pitches, but his fourth was a hanging curveball - home run, Phillies lead.
Two batters later, Carlos Ruiz hit a solo homer to put Philadelphia up two.
In a few minutes, Lannan had gone from in control to headed to a loss. It was reminiscent of his start against San Diego last week, when four shutout innings dissolved into a five-run fifth. And this meltdown dropped Lannan’s career record against the Phillies to 0-6 with a 5.81 ERA.
“I’ve got to learn how to slow the game down a little bit,” he said. “When it’s going good, I get into a nice rhythm. But when things go bad, I’ve got to learn how to kind of step back, take a little deep breath and tell myself I still have control. When you give up a homer like that, you have no control.”
The Nationals got another shot against Lidge. The struggling closer, who didn’t blow a save last season, entered Tuesday with a 7.15 ERA and burned through more good will when he gave up a single to Wil Nieves, hit Willie Harris, threw a wild pitch and walked Cristian Guzman.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel pulled Lidge, signaling for Madson with Ryan Zimmerman at the plate. And with the bases loaded and Zimmerman poised for his second walk-off homer in two games, Madson struck him out and then retired Dunn.
Where the Phillies go from here remains to be seen. Lidge said he walked into Manuel’s office after the game to discuss the ninth inning and was told he would remain the closer; Manuel was more circumspect, saying he still views Lidge as a closer and wants to get him back in form by the postseason.
The Phillies, though, made up for it by getting the best of Lannan. And he left with as many questions about their lineup as the Phillies had about their bullpen.
“I’ll figure it out someday,” Lannan said. “I haven’t had the greatest starts against them. So it’s still part of the learning process. I’m going to have to be able to face those guys and pitch well against them because they’re in the NL East. And when we’re contending, those games are going to mean something.”
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