For Nationals, 18-inning loss opens some old wounds

WASHINGTON – The Washington Nationals' issues are as deep and varied as the ways they lose postseason games.

Being in the middle of something as memorable and historic as their 2-1 18-inning loss Saturday to the San Francisco Giants isn't going to ease, let alone solve, what they have to deal with.

Memory? It had better be short if they're to regroup and start the necessary three consecutive victories Monday in San Francisco just to get out of the Division Series they're supposed to win.

You want history? Their own history – of a talented team that's supposed to be on the rise but can't get over that first significant hill -- is in the balance.

This is perilously close to twice now – in three seasons – they've taken the National League's best record into the playoffs and been excruciatingly disappointed.

The immediate questions surround first-year manager Matt Williams, who stoically defends his decision to remove starter Jordan Zimmermann one out from victory, the move that ended up leaving his team in this position.

And then there's closer Drew Storen, who turned Williams' strategy into a 1-1 game rather than a 1-1 series.

"It's not an easy situation,' said the Nationals' Craig Stammen, one of 12 relievers from both teams who pitched from the time the Giants tied the game until they won on Brandon Belt's homer in the 18th.

"Drew's been there, done that before," Stammen said.

Unfortunate choice of words in an attempt to support a teammate.

Storen has been there before – and worse.

The Nationals aren't out of this series. Not like in 2012, when Storen gave up four ninth-inning runs in front of an equally stunned home crowd to lose Game 5 of that Division Series to St. Louis.

As good as the team has been, there was no way to know if effects could linger two years – until they were back in that position.

Storen says, "Absolutely not," to suggestions 2012 could have been on his mind Saturday. But the questions remain unanswered, at least in the affirmative.

"It's disappointing," Storen said, knowing this type of distress comes with the closer's job description. "That's part of it. You can't feel sorry for yourself. You've still got a job to do."

And there's no indication jobs or roles are going to change at this critical juncture.

"Hindsight is a great thing," Williams said. "If our starting pitcher is at 100 pitches third time, fourth time through the lineup, he gets in trouble in the ninth, we will go to the guy who has been perfect for us since he has been in that role."

Zimmermann indeed was at 100 pitches. He had allowed just three hits but, with two out, walked Joe Panik.

"He wasn't going to face (Buster) Posey," Williams said.

It wasn't because a couple of Zimmermann's pitches to Panik missed by a lot. It wasn't a long time on the bench as the Nationals had a prolonged previous half-inning that included two pitching changes. Posey lining out in his previous at-bat in the seventh already had tipped the scales.

Williams is a rookie no more. He has placed himself square in the glare of the playoff spotlight. And he doesn't have a lot of time to plot his next move.

It'll be pretty much the length of what Zimmermann says, "I'm sure is going to be a quiet flight."

Coast-to-coast with plenty to be sleepless over.

Somewhere is the middle of all those scoreless innings – the final 15 for the Nationals, in fact – was a quick and easy 1-2-3 inning by Rafael Soriano, signed after Storen's 2012 loss for $28 million over two years to be the closer.

Soriano produced 75 saves but he hasn't been the closer in a month, since he was pushed aside after a string of late-inning failures to work out what Williams has called mechanical issues with his pitching. The manager even had to answer questions about whether Soriano would make the postseason roster.

He did, but Storen indeed had been near-perfect in the meantime – converting all 10 save opportunities in September. He hasn't allowed an earned run in 24 appearances dating to early August (the run Saturday was charged to Zimmermann), finished the season with a stunning 1.12 earned run average.

Eleven pitches Saturday aren't likely to be enough for Soriano to reclaim the job at this point in the season. If there's going to be any reluctance to go back to Storen – and Williams certainly put on the loyal face after Saturday's game – there's Tyler Clippard and Matt Thornton with closing experience.

Williams can only hope he gets the chance to exercise whatever option he chooses in the next few days.

The broader issue – and not just over who should pitch ninth innings now or next year – for the franchise is where to go from here.

There's no argument about the abundance of talent – mostly young talent – on the roster. Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon and Bryce Harper and Tanner Roark and Wilson Ramos should only get better. And they're just a sampling of what the Nationals have.

But sports also is strewn with those teams – trapped in the debate over whether they're snakebit, unlucky or just somehow lacking.

The postseason is a roll of the dice, often a statistics-defying small sample. Just look at the rapid-fire collection of surprises we've already seen in the past week across the playoffs.

But with the kinds of losses the Nationals have endured come other questions – fair or not.

Tim Hudson, the Giants starter Saturday who all but matched Zimmermann into the ninth inning, insists he was misunderstood when he talked a few days ago about the … well, intestinal fortitude is the polite term for what he described.

Hudson said he was talking about what the Giants have as they go for a third World Series title in five years, not suggesting what the Nationals might be lacking.

The Nationals can fend off those questions – ones that are more importantly asked internally rather than from frustrated fans – but they'll need something near-miraculous. And quick.

"We don't have a choice now," Williams says. "See if we can get a win in Game 3. Then we must win Game 4 …"

You get the picture.

There's a lot to be done.

And it's one more amazing thing in this already remarkable postseason that one classic, 18-inning, record-setting game could push a team to that point.

GALLERY: Nationals-Giants NL Division Series