Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Dominant start for Zimmermann

US Presswire photo
Jordan Zimmermann shut out the Mets over six innings this afternoon.
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Davey Johnson could have gone on and on raving about Jordan Zimmermann's dominant start, but the Nationals manager pretty much summed things up in one sentence.

"That was superb, to say the least," Johnson said.

It's hard to imagine a better performance in a spring training environment. Over six stellar innings, Zimmermann shut out the New York Mets, allowing two hits, walking none barely breaking a sweat along the way.

Zimmermann was so efficient, he never came close to reaching his predetermined limit of 85 pitches, wrapping up his six innings on a scant 68 pitches. Johnson might have let his young right-hander take the mound again for the bottom of the seventh if not for a blister that developed on his foot, not to mention the fact he had three relievers who needed work.

"An unbelievable outing," Johnson said. "That's him. That's who we've grown to know and love."

This gem came five days after Zimmermann was roughed up a bit by the Astros. He said after that start he would treat his next outing as though it was a regular-season game, and he responded in kind.

"I mean, the other starts, I was working on some stuff," he said. "Today, I had a little talk with [pitching coach Steve McCatty]. "He said: 'Let's go after these hitters like you're going to go after them during the season.' That was the game plan."

Only two Mets reached base against Zimmermann: Lucas Duda, whose looping single in the second inning was nearly caught by right fielder Jayson Werth, and Rob Johnson, who lined a double to left-center in the sixth as the blister began to bother the pitcher more.

Otherwise, New York's batters were confounded by the young right-hander, who worked fast and pounded the strike zone with an efficiency not often seen.

"Myself, I just like to work quick," he said. "If I can get the ball and go, and not have to worry about base hits, stuff like that, I can work quick."

Zimmermann is scheduled to make one more exhibition start (Monday against the Red Sox in Fort Myers) before he takes the mound April 8 at Wrigley Field for the Nationals' third game of the regular season.

"I feel like I'm peaking at the right time," he said. "All the pitches are working well. ... I'm happy with where I'm at."

27 comments:

MicheleS said...

He was sooooo good today.. Can't wait to see him when the season starts. (And yes apparantly you can flip a switch!!!)

NatsLady said...

Apparently Desi has a switch, too.

MicheleS said...

NatsLady.. Ian had quite an impressive day.

NatsLady said...

Didn't get to see it, but I will watch the replay when I get home from work. Heard Henry was also pretty good. :)

hmmm... said...

hope this is the real desi at the bat

Cwj said...

If you're like me, you often wonder what the hell the phrase "pitch to contact" really means.
I finally found a way to figure out the answer: just watch J Zimmermann pitch :-)

D'Gourds said...

Where are you watching the replay? MASN didn't carry it.

Cwj said...

D'Gourds- It is on MLB network (cable) right now.
But it started at 4pm tape delayed.

Anonymous said...

MLB Network

NatsLady said...

I will watch it on MLB.tv. They have archives of all the games that are televised. You can pick what innings you want to watch.

MicheleS said...

D'Gourds it was the free game on MLB.TV today, I think you can watch the replay

MLB.TV Link

natsfan1a said...

Atta way, JZ! The Mets team were quite complimentary about his pitching.

natsfan1a said...

(broadcasting team, that would be)

Cwj said...

Agreed about the Mets broadcasters Natsfan.
I believe it was Ron Darling and, someone who's name I can't remember :)
They were also very impressed with Rodriguez (as was I), and mentioned the enormous depth of the Bullpen.

Wasn't Darling one of the first Nats broadcasters? Also had a fine career as a pitcher.

Gonat said...

Cwj, you are correct. MASN had Darling I believe for 1 season.

Gonat said...

The JZim start today was very nice. It was also fun watching his ERA drop drop drop on the MLB Gameday.

EJax is the only starter who hasn't been shown top of the rotation stuff although Gio has had some bad with the good.

So long as they are great during the regular season, who will really care about the Spring Training!

natsfan1a said...

Yes, Darling was with MASN for one season. Keith Hernandez also works on the Mets broadcasts.

natsfan1a said...

Not sure who else was in the booth with them, as I missed the beginning of the broadcast.

Cwj said...

I was going through my 2011 game logs of the Nats starting 5.
I've written down some weird things, including each starter's worst performance.
Just for fun, here they are:

Strasburg- None*
Jackson- 5.2 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 4 BB, 3 SO
Zimmermann- 5.1 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
Lannan- 2.0 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
Gonzalez- 4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO

*For Strasburg (17 career starts) his worst was in 2010: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO

Steady Eddie said...

Gonat--

Agree, plus Gio's ST ERA is artificially inflated by the four scoreless (and mostly pretty impressive) scoreless innings he pitched against the Cards in the March 11 game at Jupiter that got rained out.

Steady Eddie said...

Those four innings were so impressive, they were scoreless scoreless.

Cwj said...

Another fun stat I came up with.
6 or more innings pitched/Total games started.
(6+ IP/GS), in order by percentage:
Jackson- 24/31
Zimmermann- 20/26
Gonzalez- 23/32
Lannan- 17/33
Strasburg- (Obviously skewed due to strict limits, but career- 8/17)

Cwj said...

Steady Eddie- Yeah Gio is fine.
He'll be up there among the K leaders in the NL.
Lots to like about Gio.

(btw, regarding my lists, they are based on regular season games).

Cwj said...

Quick, someone record these before I lose my papers again!
I already owe several drinks :-)

Cwj said...

Also will post the BEST games from the starters in 2011...
Not as easy as worst start. I'm ignoring the "game score" stat.

Cwj said...

Here are the best starts, in my opinion, from the current Nats rotation from 2011.

Strasburg- 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO
Gonzalez- 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO
Zimmermann- 8.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
*Jackson- 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 SO*
Lannan- 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO

*Jackson also pitched a complete game shutout win. But gave up 9 hits and struck out 2 while walking 2.

Anonymous said...

Jordan Zimmermann was scary in the best kind of way
This is how dynasties are built

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