[shrug emoji]: Nationals 4, Phillies 2

I’ve sat down to start this recap several times tonight, but every time I did, I couldn’t get anything down. I kept thinking that the story of this game hadn’t happened yet.

And I was right. The story of this game was Matt Albers getting his first save. After finishing 102 games in his career, the second most all-time finished without a save, he did it.

No, he’s not on the Phillies. He saved the game for the Nationals, which means the Phillies lost (4-2) and couldn’t pull off a comeback.

Tonight’s issue: not enough offense. At various times, the Phillies had Stephen Strasburg on the ropes, but they couldn’t get anyone across the plate. And Strasburg wasn’t sharp, either. He threw 119 pitches over 5 ²⁄₃ innings, and walked four. And the Phillies couldn’t get it done.

Nick Pivetta didn’t really help. It’s not his fault that the margin of error is so slim right now. But he did give up three home runs, including two back-to-back. He put the Phils in a four-run hole, and they couldn’t climb their way out.

They did score a few runs tonight. A single and two doubles in the seventh put two on the board, and made sure the Phillies wouldn’t be shut out.

And Aaron Altherr continued to make life difficult for Pete Mackanin. He went 1-for-4 and had a few nice catches in the outfield, and Mack is going to have some tough choices ahead of him if Altherr can keep this up.

The real story of the night was the MLB Twitter account trying to be cute, and the genius behind the Phillies account owning the ever loving shit out of them.

FATALITY.

If that doesn’t make you feel good enough, how’s this?

That is definitely a silver lining.