Washington Nationals Drop 8-0 Decision To St. Louis Cardinals, Face Elimination Tomorrow In D.C.

Washington Nationals' manager Davey Johnson and G.M. Mike Rizzo tried to provide some perspective and keep hope alive after the Nats lost 8-0 to St. Louis on Wednesday and went down 2-1 in the NLDS.

If not for an unlikely late-game opposite field single in Game One from rookie outfielder Tyler Moore, who's really more of a pull hitter, honestly, the Washington Nationals may very well have lost the series to the St. Louis Cardinals today. 5.0, 3.0 and 5.0 inning outings from their starters. 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position in Game One. 1 for 7 in Game Two. 0 for 8 today. Things have gotten bad pretty quickly for the team that not only won the NL East but finished the regular season with the NL's best record. With today's 8-0 win, the Cards took a 2-1 lead in the NLDS, putting a whole lot of pressure on the Nationals going into the fourth game of the series tomorrow afternoon in Nats Park.

Davey Johnson is not about to give up. "We're not out of this by a long shot," the Nats' 69-year-old skipper told reporters in the post game press conference after today's loss. "Shoot, I've had my back to worse walls than this, but I like my ballclub and I think we'll come out and play a good game tomorrow." As for what went wrong today, it started early. The Nationals were down 4-0 early after an RBI double by Allen Craig in the first and a three-run home run by Pete Kozma in the second, and the Cardinals were in command from the start.

"[Edwin Jackson] just made bad pitches," the Nats' skipper said matter of factly, "Talked to [Kurt] Suzuki, [Jackson] wasn't hitting his spots, and a lot of hits on pitches over the middle half of the plate and good hitters will jump all over it and that's what happened early. I thought he got a little sharper as the game went on, but a couple really bad pitches. That's the story."

' Read the entire story at SB Nation DC...

Davey on Edwin Jackson: "He just made bad pitches" dc.sbnation.com/2012/10/10/348' via @federalbaseball #Nats #NLDS

' SBNation DC (@sbnationdc) October 10, 2012