The Washington Post - 21.10.2019

ton baseball history, the manager often goes

back to the same question: Where would these

Washington Nationals be without Howie Kend-

rick?

Then Martinez doesn’t give it much thought.

He will never have to.

Take the vivid moments of this playoff run,

put them on loop in your head, then count how

many Kendrick has created. There’s the grand

slam at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 9, in the 10th in-

ning of Game 5 of the National League Division

Series, pushing the Nationals to their first play-

off series win. There are all those doubles —

SEE KENDRICK ON D3

BY JESSE DOUGHERTY

W

hat if Tom Kotchman wasn’t standing

there in the spring of 2002, the only

major league scout for miles, pointing

a black-and-white camcorder at the smallest

kid on the field? And what if Howie Kendrick

wasn’t there, either, if his grandmother never

sent him to play ball some years ago, if he never

saw Callahan, Fla., of all places, as the starting

point for a big and distant dream?

What if?

When Dave Martinez begins to wonder and

considers Kendrick’s growing spot in Washing-

there,” 49ers defensive lineman

DeForest Buckner said.

The Washington Redskins

could only watch, their dreary,

9-0 defeat ending with their

opponents’ swaggering

flourishes. In the other locker

room, Coach Kyle Shanahan

announced he would give a game

ball to his father, Mike, whom

Snyder fired in 2013 after a

tenure in which the two men

frequently clashed. Washington

had hung with the undefeated

49ers but never seriously

threatened an upset. As hearty

fans trudged mercifully for the

exits, the Redskins couldn’t even

SEE ON THE NFL ON D10

Nick Bosa tried it
first, taking a few
steps after his
game-ending sack
of Case Keenum,
belly-flopping to
the FedEx Field
turf and gliding on his chest
along the sopping grass. A few
defensive teammates joined
immediately. As the clock neared
zeros, Bosa’s San Francisco 49ers
teammates streamed from the
sideline in a wave, sprinting a
couple of yards, diving and then
hydroplaning, turning Daniel
Snyder’s soaked, sullen stadium
into their personal Slip ’N Slide.
“Like a bunch of little kids out

best teams in the NFL. Instead,

they squandered several chances

to score, never taking advantage

of San Francisco’s inability to

rumble through their defense the

way it has through everyone else’s.

Eventually, the Redskins lost,

9-0, giving former Washington

offensive coordinator and current

San Francisco head coach Kyle

Shanahan a revenge victory and

leaving them watching the 49ers

celebrate a 6-0 start by diving

across the puddles. Washington,

SEE REDSKINS ON D11

BY LES CARPENTER

The most important name in-

side FedEx Field on Sunday was

Nestor. This was a tropical storm

that roared from the Gulf of Mexi-

co, across the South and close

enough to Landover, Md., to drop

hours of steady rain onto the turf,

turning it into a sloppy plain of

puddles and mud and robbing the

San Francisco 49ers of their speed

and skill.

For the Washington Redskins,

Nestor should have been a literal

gift from the heavens, bequeath-

ing them a brilliant opportunity

to steal a victory from one of the

KLMNO

SPORTS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 , 2019. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

Ravens 30 Rams 37 Dolphins 21 Jaguars 27 Vikings 42 Raiders 24 Texans 23 Cardinals 27 Chargers 20 Saints 36 Eagles 10 Patriots 8:15 p.m.
Seahawks 16 Falcons 10 Bills 31 Bengals 17 Lions 30 Packers 42 Colts 30 Giants 21 Titans 23 Bears 25 Cowboys 37 Jets ESPN

BY SAMANTHA PELL

chicago — The Washington

Capitals had seen this before — a

two-goal, third-period lead quick-

ly erased because of lackluster

play in the offensive zone and

turnovers leading to atypical

chances for their opponent.

The Capitals let the discourag-

ing development happen again

Sunday night against the Chicago

Blackhawks at United Center, but

bucking the trend of their recent

past, they were able to surge back

ahead to secure a 5-3 win.

Captain Alex Ovechkin had giv-

en the Capitals that initial two-

goal cushion 3:52 into the third

period, but the Blackhawks came

right back with goals by Dominik

Kubalik 6:05 into the period and

by Patrick Kane at 9:58.

The tie didn’t last long, with

forward Tom Wilson scoring the

game-winning goal from the

front of the net with 8:13 to play.

Center Lars Eller added an emp-

ty-netter with 50 seconds left for

some insurance.

Washington improved to 6-2-2,

starting its five-game road trip on

a positive note before continuing

on through Western Canada.

Goaltender Braden Holtby made

41 saves and kept a hungry Black-

hawks team from scoring in the

final two minutes after Chicago

SEE CAPITALS ON D6

Caps begin

trip with

good start,

great finish

CAPITALS 5,

BLACKHAWKS 3

Capitals at Flames

Tomorrow, 9 p.m., NBCSW

The great unknown

Nationals’ Kendrick was

undersized, unrecruited.

Now he’s their hero.

SOCCER

The Wayne Rooney era

is over for D.C. United.

So what happens next? D2

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

For the second straight

Saturday, senselessness

reigned on campus. D5

PRO FOOTBALL

Division races continue to

take shape in another big

week around the NFL. D7-9

JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

Even with a new coach, this team is

still shortsighted and stuck in the mud

On
the NFL

ADAM
KILGORE

World Series Game 1

Nationals at Astros

Tomorrow, 8:08 p.m., Fox

Inside: Altuve’s winning home run

was a fitting ending to the ALCS. D4

Redskins at Vikings

Thursday, 8:20 p.m., Fox, NFLN

JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST

Quarterback Case Keenum managed just 77 yards passing and the

Redskins’ offense only 154 total yards on a wet day at FedEx Field.

Redskins bog down and blow chance to top unbeaten foe

49ERS 9, REDSKINS 0

Loss on soaked field further sinks a miserable season

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