"Nationals closer Matt Capps believes that if a pitcher can locate his fastball, he can get away with throwing a slider that occasionally goes awry. The problem, then, for Capps on Sunday was that he possessed command of neither of his two pitches. When Capps took the mound with one out in the ninth inning, Washington was clinging to a one-run lead.

He threw a 94-mile per hour fastball that Cincinnati center fielder Drew Stubbs lofted toward the right field corner. Roger Bernadina misplayed the ball, and Stubbs ended up on second.

He threw an 86-mile per hour slider to pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes, who sent it down the third base line into the left field corner. Stubbs scored to tie the game on Gomes's double.

He threw five consecutive fastballs to pinch-hitter Scott Rolen, but all that did was knot the count at 1-2. On the next pitch - an 87-mile per hour slider - Rolen checked his swing. Capps thought Rolen had gone around. Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman thought Rolen had gone around. First base umpire Paul Schrieber, however, did not. Ball two.

Capps next offered an 86-mile per hour slider that Rolen sent over the left field fence. In the span of three batters, the Nationals went from owning a one-run lead to facing a two-run deficit.

"Matt's just struggling to get outs with his slider really," Riggleman said. "If it can go wrong for him right now, it's going wrong. We're not making plays when he's out there. I felt like we could have made a play on Stubbs's ball, and I thought we had Rolen struck out. That check-swing keeps coming back to haunt us. I know for a fact we had him struck out. It's called a ball, and then he throws a slider that hangs a little, and Rolen did what you're supposed to do with a hanging slider.""