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Photo courtesy Los Angeles Dodgers The Nats look to make it two in a row at Dodger Stadium. |
Meanwhile, John Lannan turned in another effective performance (two runs, three hits in six innings), which would certainly seem to qualify him for another shot the next time around the rotation. Then again, at least two current starters have to go. If not Lannan, and if not Scott Olsen (who Jim Riggleman declared will start Wednesday against the Marlins), then who?
And of course, Drew Storen earned the first save of his big-league career. It had been a week since the Matt Capps trade, but this was the first save opportunity that made sense for Storen. (Sean Burnett, you'll remember, got a five-out save in Arizona earlier in the week because the Diamondbacks had a bunch of left-handed hitters due up.)
So it's on to Game 2 of the weekend series at Dodger Stadium, with Livan Hernandez back on the mound for the Nats and right-hander Hiroki Kuroda starting for Los Angeles. Livo has been nothing short of fantastic lately; he's allowed one earned run or less in three of his last four outings.
I'm not with the club in L.A. this weekend, but I'll be sure to post lineups when they are announced. As always, please feel free to chat among yourselves in the comments section...
NATIONALS at DODGERS
Where: Dodger Stadium
Gametime: 10:10 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: WFED-1500 AM, WWFD-820 AM
Weather: Sunny, 64 degrees, Wind 7 mph out to CF
STARTING LINEUPS
NATIONALS (49-61)
CF Roger Bernadina
SS Ian Desmond
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam Dunn
LF Josh Willingham
RF Michael Morse
C Ivan Rodriguez
2B Adam Kennedy
P Livan Hernandez
DODGERS (56-54)
LF Scott Podsednik
2B Ryan Theriot
RF Andre Ethier
1B James Loney
CF Matt Kemp
3B Casey Blake
SS Jamey Carroll
C Brad Ausmus
P Hiroki Kuroda
21 comments:
Ok. RH pitcher tonight. Riggleman's lineup will have Bernie in CF, and his favorite......Wille Harris in RF. I dont even need to wait for the official lineup.
Gotta get Willie going....he is a big part of this team you know....
And in other breaking news, the Nationals acquired short stop Brian Bixler from the Pirates for cash considerations.
I love this board; now we criticize the manager before he makes his moves because we are so smart we know exactly what he is going to do. At least have the courtesy to admit you are a whiny complainer if you happen to be wrong.
I was wrong....Morse is in RF and hitting over 350 against RHP....good move Jim....
Looks like its Morse in right field ... not Harris and not Maxwell (the most likely scenario). And with Livan the likelihood of a double switch in the fourth inning is dramatically reduced ... although not impossible with Jim Riggleman managing.
He'll double switch Gonzalez and Maxwell or Harris after Morse bats twice ... count on it.
At least Riggs is smart enough to keep Desmond in the 2 hole. He's more effective in that spot, whereas Kennedy, being a seasoned veteran, can better handle batting 8th in front of the pitcher.
However, Riggs should hit Dunn 3rd while he's this hot, leaving Zimm as protection to avoid those intentional walks. If I was Torre or any manager, there's NO WAY I'm pitching to Dunn with 1st base open and Willingham badly slumping!
What's the word on The Hammer? They seem to be pitching him outside more. But even at that, he's missing on his favorite inside part of the plate pitches that he used to hammer!
JayB you are man enough to admit it;good for you. Anon at 6:05 can,t bring himself to stop criticizing moves that haven't happened yet.
Best possible offensive lineup? I like this.
Hondo, Riggs was quoted by Ladson July 20 as saying Desmond was through batting in the 8 hole, after which we saw nothing but until the last couple of games.
The real stunner is that he's running Morse out there more than once a week. Thanks to Rizzo for seizing the opportunity to DL Nyjer, creating space for Michael. Now if we could just get the Hammer going...
Let me add my tip of the cap to JayB. This is a good lineup.
These west coast swings are killing my sleep. I'm either too irritated to drop off quickly or too jacked-up from a victory to fall asleep.
Anon at 6:05 can,t bring himself to stop criticizing moves that haven't happened yet.
Last night pretty much provided direct evidence as to why Riggleman requested Maxwell over another infielder. He had plenty of outfield given Harris? Maxwell is not a bench player in Jim Riggleman's mind. Recall spring training where Riggleman stated that he very much wanted Maxwell to win and take over the right field job ... as I recall Morse, Bernadina et al were also there?
When he was told Guzman would not be the starting shortstop in ST what did Riggleman do? He found a way to make him the starting utility guy effectively making him the starting second baseman over Kennedy and Gonzalez. And this hurt the team and affected their won-loss record just as adversely as the lack of a rotation of consistent and reliable starters. It certainly impacted the defense upon which all of the pitchers rely. I still remember Guzman in right field ...
This is Jim Riggleman playing his favorites. That is who he is. Manager of the Little League team.
Anon @ 5:36, what about those that unfairly started rumors of passing over Scott Olsen to avoid paying bonus money and then Mark Zuckerman writes that Scott Olsen, who Jim Riggleman declared will start Wednesday against the Marlins.
Again, easy to criticize and not willing to apologize.
Yes, there is plenty to criticize on ownership and management without making up stories.
I can't for the life of me figure out why the Nats keep giving Maxwell all these chances but with Nyjer on the DL, Maxwell would have been the likely replacement for Njyher of course not as Guzman's replacement.
I think management views J. Maxwell just as M. Jordan viewed Kwame Brown. They see this incredible specimen, who looks like the ultimate athlete. But, like Kwame, there is not a total package. Everyone in this organization from the get go has been convinced he would be the answer for centerfield, and if we could designate a hitter for him he might have been. In the near future we will hear other managers and GM,s raving about him, until he bats in the big league.
Thinking about Adam leading the league in HRs and suddenly it occurred to me....remember the beginning of the year when he was slumping so bad? Makes the current numbers look even more impressive if you ask me. More HRs that Pujols in effectively a month less of hitting? Not bad. (although imagine where he'd be now had he come out strong!)
All the more reason to sign A. Dunn.
Thanks for finishing that thought for me, LoveDaNats. I couldn't have said it better myself!!
I think i read that Dunn wants 60M for four. I would not do that, for thst kind of scratch you could get a real top shelf baseball player. Dunn is only a slugger (danm good one) and he belongs in the AL. The Nats will not yeild to fann pressure and sign the guy for money that no one else would consider. I believe they are right, and I only wish they had gotten something for him at the deadline.
JMax has had 42 at bats this year; this is considered 'all these chances?'. His numbers in Syracuse suggest that he can play but unless he gets 100 at bats over a solid 20 game stretch you can't judge him fairly. The guy comes up; sits for a week and then starts against Kershaw; this is putting him in position to succeed?
I don't really know if Maxwell will ever be a solid major league regular but the posters who constantly slam him don't know that he won't.
Anonymous at 9:09 -- thanks. You are right. One thing I love about our stadium is there is a lot of cheering and very little trash talking (unless it's from OTHER teams fans, principally other teams named the Phillies). These are real people we are talking about. Not that we have to be all Kumbaya about it all, but jeez louise -- enough with the slamming things and people before the events occur, and being mean about people who are trying their best. IMHO.
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