The Nationals Blew a Six-Run Lead in Game 5 of the NLDS

I turned it off. With the Nats leading 6-1, I turned it off. Didn’t feel like watching an explosion of Natitude. 

Turns out, I missed Natitude exploding.

Here’s what I awoke to at around 3:30 a.m.:

If you did as I did and didn’t see the end of Game 5 of the NLDS, you missed Drew Storen blowing a 7-5 Nats lead with two outs and two strikes in the ninth. The Cardinals scored four runs in the inning, capping off an improbable comeback from a six-run deficit.

If only the Nats had a stud pitcher capable of preserving such commanding leads in deciding games of playoff series.

Mark Zuckerman describes the post-game scene in the Nats' clubhouse: [Nats Insider]

The remnants of a celebration that was supposed to happen lingered throughout a surreal clubhouse scene, plastic tarps either torn down in haste or left to hang from the ceiling, a temporary carpet covering the majority of the room so the regular flooring wouldn't get ruined amid the jubilee.

Somewhere out of public view, cases of champagne and beer bottles had been stashed away, removed from the premises before the participants could see them. A TV crew that had been in place and ready to broadcast the pandemonium raced to clear out of the room and hustle down the hallway to the visitors clubhouse, where the actual celebration would occur.

All that remained inside the Nationals' oval-shaped office was silence, punctuated by the occasional slap of players and coaches hugging each other and saying their goodbyes for the winter.

Natitude, for sure.

We’ll let Baby Bryce have the last word:

Their, their, Bryce. It'll be OK.

Glorious video after the jump.