Joel Hanrahan earned a win as the pitcher of record for the Washington Nationals in a game that was suspended on May 5th and resumed on July 9th in Houston. However, Hanrahan had since been traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates and was not present for the completion of the game. The Nationals won 11-10 in 11 innings, giving Hanrahan his first and only win as a National, despite having a poor 7.71 ERA with the team. The win was also against the Houston Astros, who are division rivals of Hanrahan's new team, the Pirates. Though no longer with the Nationals, Hanrahan benefited from the unusual circumstances to record a win over a

1. Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:53 am EDT
Joel Hanrahan proves everyone's a winner after leaving the Nats
By 'Duk
Hey Alan Embree(notes)! Joel
Hanrahan(notes) sees your pitchless
victory from earlier this week and raises
you a no-show win while enjoying an off-
day with another team in a city 1,500
miles away from the game's completion.
OK, so Hanrahan officially threw 16
pitches to become the winning pitcher in
the Nationals' 11-10, 11-inning win over
the Astros in a suspended game that was
started on May 5 in Washington but not
completed until Thursday in Houston.
But Hanrahan didn't throw a pitch during
the seven-minute relocated resumption
because in the 65 days that it took for the two teams to say "game on!" he was traded to
Pittsburgh as part of the Nyjer Morgan(notes)-Lastings Milledge deal. Though he had to turn in
his curly W before being shipped out on June 30, he remained Washington's pitcher of record and
earned his first (and only) Nats victory of the season when his old teammates pulled off the
"home" victory in the bottom of the 11th at Minute Maid Park.
The best part of this week's latest unique pitching credit? Well, as Hanrahan pointed out in a
phone call with the AP, his win came against a division rival of his new team in Pitttsburgh:
"It's pretty funny. It feels pretty good in the situation that (Pittsburgh is) in. Houston is a team in
our division and we gained ground (in the standings)."
That Hanrahan earned a win only after appearing in 34 games with Washington (while racking up
a 7.71 ERA and 1.949 WHIP) just seems so Nationals, doesn't it?
But, truthfully, the team was almost guaranteed of something like this happening. Seven players
who were on Washington's roster on May 5 are no longer suiting up and four of the game's five
relievers no longer reside in DC. Morgan, the former Pirate, scored the winning run after taking
the place of the since-demoted Elijah Dukes(notes) on the basepaths.
The Nats may be historically terrible — their 25 wins are by far the least in baseball and even
their broadcasters are turning against them — but at least they're capable of producing some
pretty interesting headlines. (And a weird win once in awhile, too.)