Monday, July 1, 2013

Instant analysis: Nats 10, Brewers 5

USA Today Sports Images
Bryce Harper homered on his very first swing back off the DL.
Game in a nutshell: The Nationals had been waiting five weeks for Bryce Harper to return from the DL and inject some life into their moribund lineup, but even they couldn't have foreseen this kind of dramatic effect. Harper stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first to a standing ovation, then kept them all on his feet when he homered into the left-field bullpen. His teammates took over from there, scoring five times in the third and twice more in the fourth to take a commanding 8-0 lead. Well, it should've been a commanding lead, except Jordan Zimmermann surprisingly let the Brewers claw their way back, trimming the deficit at one point to 8-5. No worries, because the back end of the Nationals bullpen clamped things down late and the lineup added two insurance runs in the eighth, completing a very comfortable victory to open this homestand. With 23 runs over their last two games, they're now back to two games over the .500 mark and once again feeling good about themselves.

Hitting highlight: Obviously, there were plenty of early fireworks, but it all started with one sweet swing from the young man who hadn't faced a big-league pitcher in five weeks. Just as he did on Opening Day, Harper crushed a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the first inning for a home run. And just as he did that day in April, he received a curtain call for his efforts. Harper was mostly silenced the rest of the night, but his teammates made sure to do more than their share, pounding out eight runs off Yovani Gallardo by the fourth inning. Jayson Werth doubled and singled, driving in five runs. Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond each delivered RBI doubles. Ryan Zimmerman added an RBI single. Even Zimmermann went 3-for-3 with a double. On the heels of yesterday's 13-run explosion in New York, it was another impressive display from a Nationals lineup that just maybe is finally living up to expectations.

Pitching lowlight: Zimmermann has been the Nationals' best pitcher this season, no question, and one of the best pitchers in baseball. But what is it about the right-hander that makes him so averse to being handed big leads? Only three times this year has he surrendered more than three runs. In each instance, he was handed a lead of at least four runs: May 29 in Baltimore and June 15 in Cleveland. Those two previous times, Zimmermann gave the entire lead back. Tonight, he didn't quite go that far, but he certainly didn't take that 8-0 lead and run with it. After four scoreless innings to begin the night, he gave up two runs on three hits in the fifth, then back-to-back homers in the sixth. Despite throwing only 88 pitches, Zimmermann's night ended after six innings, an early hook that seemed totally implausible an hour earlier but unfortunately might have been predictable given his past troubles protecting a hefty lead.

Key stat: Werth recorded five RBI tonight for the first time since July 6, 2009 when he played for the Phillies.

Up next: Stephen Strasburg (4-6, 2.41) takes the mound for the second game of this four-game series, looking to continue his recent run of dominance. Right-hander Wily Peralta (5-9, 5.58) gets the nod for the Brewers at 7:05 p.m.

67 comments:

MicheleS said...

WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! PHEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!!

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Wooooohooooooooooo

2 games above .500

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

waddu eye no said...
stat heads -

how often do we give up five runs and win?

btw - italian store in arlington for takeout.

gyfng

July 01, 2013 10:05 PM



waddu, this isthe 7th time the Nats have given up 5 runs or more and Won.

sjm308 said...

How great to have Strasburg following Jordan! If Milwaukee was tired after yesterday, they will now be just overwhelmed. Can only hope that after those two, the Brewers are a little deflated and our #4 & 5 can win at least one of the last two.

Faraz Shaikh said...

not a bad game.

David Proctor said...

Jeez, the Nats have improved their run differential by 16 runs in 2 games.

sjm308 said...

When was the last time we were 3 games over .500?

MicheleS - are you there tomorrow??

Insiders - is it section 312 or 313 for the picnic table meetups?

I will be at Justin's at 5:30 and then move from there.

Go Nats!!

MicheleS said...

SJM.. reposting.. What time will you be at Justin's tomorrow? Or will you be at the Scoreboard walk?

waddu eye no said...

thanks ghost.
btw - is that this season or all time?

and of course - nicola's in rehoboth

gyfng

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Did you all hear that Lohse is now pitching Wednesday instead of some rookie.

David Proctor said...

We've hit Lohse fairly well in the past I think...and I know that no-names tend to own us...so I'm fine with that.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

waddu, that is this season. Nats actually won a game 8-7 this year too.

sjm308 said...

MicheleS - 5:30 or so depending on metro

Another question - I looked at this lineup and noticed that of the 8 position players there was NO ONE under .200. Can you Insiders remember when we played games with as many as 4 guys hitting under .200!! This lineup should only get better. If our bench can start to produce I think we will be just fine.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Nats are 31-2 when the Nats score 5 runs or more this season.

That is nuts!

Faraz Shaikh said...

really? WOW I had no idea GoSM. That's awesome.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Faraz, even stranger, when the Nats only score 4 runs they have lost all those games 0-3.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Nats are 37-10 when they score at least 3 runs.

Anonymous said...

David Proctor - more importantly, I heard that Detwiler will also take the hill on Wednesday. Now he just needs to step it up.

jeffwx said...

look to see NIers tomorrow...I am in sect. 135, row C next to Mayor of Nats town...hot as heck.

Now back to pizza

yes, sjm, I think Facci's is outstanding...I stop there on the way back from New Germany
I liked Radius in Mt. Pleasant the one time I went there.
Have not tried paradiso in many years and it was in Gtown.
Friends were impressed with Menomale craft beer when we went Saturday.
You and your buds sound like you may be powerless over pizza. consider a support group like mine:
http://www.meetup.com/Pizza-Addicts-Anonymous/

Great game...we're on a roll.

Michele, not sure what you think of Pomodoro's near you...my italian brother-in-law from NY likes it.

DaMarco's in Bethesda has 1/2 price pizza Mon-Wed after 4 pm at the bar. $5 for a 10" Neopolitan Margherita with a great oval wood oven from Naples.
Compare that to a $6 slice of papa john's at the park. Why they got rid of Z pizza for PJ's...oh yeah, corporate money

in the old days, I only had Vaces and 4 nats starters with BAs under .200

Drew said...

Re: David Proctor's note about run differential, the Nats are now -14 for the season.

Now they're heading in the right direction.

Here. We. Go.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Tonight looked like the only tough matchup in this Brewers series but now Lohse/Det is a tough matchup.

I want to be greedy and sweep this 4 game series.

Nats get the lead deficit down to 6 games.

jeffwx said...

We'll be 4 back by the fireworks, but may need a 5th if they aren't

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Fish won again. Shutout for Fernandez. I'm telling you the Fish are going to finish strong unless they trade everyone. Turner, Nolasco, Eovaldi, and Fernandez are a better rotation than many of the playoff teams. Ozuna and Stanton are legit. The rest of the team stinks.

David Proctor said...

Logan Morrison is pretty good too. Nolasco is going to get traded though.

David Proctor said...

Look at Jordan in the postgame, laughing, smiling, joking around. Have we ever seen that?

Eric said...

"Key stat: Werth recorded five RBI tonight for the first time since July 6, 2009 when he played for the Phillies."

Awesome!

"and of course - nicola's in rehoboth"

Nicola's is awesome!

Section222, I hear you meet my folks... Also awesome! :)

Tonight's game was awesome then stressful then awesome. Good stuff in the end!

baseballswami said...

You call that a pitching lowlight????? Did it ever occur to you that the guy spent the entire night running bases? Not to mention the fact that it's difficult to stay in rhythm when the bottom of each inning is so long. Guy gives up four, gets three hits and it's a bad outing? Goes to show you how good JZ usually is when this outing seems bad.

David Proctor said...

JZimm actually admitted that he got tired on the basepaths. Not sure I've ever seen a pitcher actually admit that before, even though it seems kind of obvious.

sjm308 said...

jeffwx - look up to 308 and give a wave but there is no way I am going down to seek you out. My Newcastle stand is one row away and I like our seats. We are not powerless on the pizza but its been a great way to spend the last few years. I like that DaMarco's serves the pizza uncut like they do in Naples. Menomale does the same thing. My daughter lives in Bethesda and rotates between DaMarco's and Mia's. Its a rough life.

David Proctor said...

LOL. The Mets.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Pizza? The original Ledo in Adelphi Maryland. I heard it was relocated to College Park. Haven't been to the new one. Anyone try it?

David Proctor said...

Nationals PR ‏@NationalsPR 29s
Including tonight, Drew Storen has offered scoreless relief in 16 of his last 17 apps. He has 5 holds and 17 Ks during that stretch.

NatsLady said...

The Mets are SO bad!! Putz blows the save, so it's 3-3 in the ninth. 2 out. On a wild pitch, the runner on 2nd goes to 3rd-- but John Buck who is on first base with a MEANINGLESS run, tries to advance to second and gets thrown out. Unbelievable.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

David Proctor, great stats. The entire bullpen looks great except Stammen. I'm telling you he is hurting. We should be concerned about Craig.

Loved that Storen came in for a stopper moment. That was huge.

NatsLady said...

You may not value Davey, but when you see Terry Collins, you know what a BAD manager is. Just stupid mistakes, like pitching to Suzuki when the pitcher is coming up, not bunting in an obvious bunting situation, I think there were at least 1/2 dozen "manager's" errors and missing fundamentals in our series.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

By the way, I wrote this about Stammen yesterday before this latest relief appearance.

NatsLady said...

Ghost, Garcia must be about ready. How about Mattheus on the 60-day, Stammen on the 15-day, and bring Garcia up? Garcia is on the 60-day right now.

Eric said...

"Haven't been to the new one. Anyone try it?"

Pretty much exactly the same pizza, MUCH better atmosphere.

jeffwx said...

yes, I like the original Ledo's relocated in College Park. They give you two trays for a large and homemade sausage.
Always have the nats on at the bar too.

baseballswami said...

Storen has been looking really, really good- not just his numbers, the way his pitches look. And Chad Tracy is starting to hit. And then there is the matter of JZim and Stras being just so much less awkward in interviews :)

jeffwx said...

yeah...hot as heck but sitting next to the Mayor is entertaining.

David Proctor said...

I would give Craig a few low leverage situations when they present themselves to try and get himself right. If he can't do it, I'd consider a DL stint. He's not acting like himself. His stuff is up.

NatsLady said...

LOL, Jason Marquis' line.

Marquis(L, 9-4) 6.1 IP, 0 ER, 7 walks, 5 hits (4 unearned runs).

NatsLady said...

DP--tonight was fairly low leverage. 8-4 lead. I was listening on the radio, not watching, but I didn't have a good feeling.

baseballswami said...

NatsLady-- About Collins-- he changes pitchers more than any manager I have ever seen. Almost frantically. He used his back up catcher to pitch with three guys in the pen. Weird.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

NatsLady said...
Ghost, Garcia must be about ready. How about Mattheus on the 60-day, Stammen on the 15-day, and bring Garcia up? Garcia is on the 60-day right now.


I took a look at his movement on his pitches last week vs his good appearances in April and his movement is off which could mean he is possibly over-throwing.

Has to be a reason for it. I was very surprised to see Davey use him tonight but maybe he needed to see him in a Med Lev situation as he has only been getting Low Lev situations.

He is now becoming the HenRod and that isn't good.

baseballswami said...

Cheap pizza two days in a row!!!!!! Sounds like dinner, right before I go check out Ramos. Sounds like a plan for a Tuesday night!

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

I correct myself. Davey put him in Med Lev on Saturday in a 2-1 game and he immediately let the inherited runner score plus 2 more Earned runs that led to the 5-1 loss on Taylor Jordan's debut.

That would have been a spot for Mattheus where you need that groundball doubleplay.

For Davey to pull Stammen mid-inning tells you all you need to know as Davey rarely does that.

David Proctor said...

Span was 1/3 with 2 walks and a double today. Just pointing that out.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

jeffwx said...
yes, I like the original Ledo's relocated in College Park. They give you two trays for a large and homemade sausage.
Always have the nats on at the bar too.


Same flakey crust? The franchise Ledo have a different crust and slightly different sauce and the provolone isn't exactly the same.

Used to eat day old Ledo for breakfast the next day and it was even better.

Darn, I miss that place.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

David Proctor said...
Span was 1/3 with 2 walks and a double today. Just pointing that out.


Again, his numbers are very good against RHPs as I pointed out. The 2 walks was impressive.

NatsLady said...

Davey pulled Stammen mid-inning a couple of times last year, at least once when he had only pitched to one batter. I think it must be fairly obvious when he doesn't have "it," because, as you say, Davey doesn't like to pull pitchers mid-inning (except starters).

Drew said...

Down on the farm the development staff is coaxing excellent years out of a host of young pitchers. Guys are earning promotions and continuing to succeed.

Taylor Hill, a sixth rounder out of Vandy, has allowed two earned runs in his first 14 innings at Harrisburg, following his promotion from Potomac.

Blake Schwartz, the 17th rounder out of Oklahoma City, now has a 2.60 ERA in 12 starts at Potomac following his promotion from Hagerstown.

And these are the unheralded guys! The scouting and development staffs are doing an impressive job.

Ghost Of Steve M. said...

Drew, very impressive the handling of pitchers. Not so good with position players except for the "sure thing" 1st rounders.

Drew said...

GOSM:

I keep hoping to see Goodwin put it all together.

Drafting college bats is less expensive because the guys have less leverage, but it seems it would put a lot of pressure on guys who are 21 or 22 in low A ball.

Guys like Brandon Miller and Tony Renda will have to play very well consistently to keep moving up and maintain the "prospect" mantle.

Michael Taylor has been developing for years, but he's still 22. We'll see how he does in AA next year.

The fascinating pick we haven't talked about is Drew Ward, the raw high school slugger from Oklahoma. He signed at 17 and has time to develop.

It will be very interesting to see if he can "express his talent," as Davey likes to say.

Eric said...

"Same flakey crust? The franchise Ledo have a different crust and slightly different sauce and the provolone isn't exactly the same."

As I said before, basically exactly the same pizza at the relocated Ledo's as they had at the original location. I think they even moved the original pizza ovens. I had franchise Ledo's yesterday for the first time in many years... Forgot how much better the original is!

Drew said...

P.S. Harper is now 720 from Henry Aaron.

Scooter said...

Drew, you're obsessed with Harper finishing 2nd on the list. Go on, dream a little!

Drew said...

Nope, Scooter, I'm having fun with the idea that Harper might pass Henry Aaron for first place someday.

(I don't recognize baseball's Rosie Ruiz.)

Joe Seamhead said...

Went to the game, had a great time. Werth, Harper, Span all had good games at the plate. I wasn't too worried about JZ, but still, didn't like the let up.
I read through the game blog,and I noticed a few regulars MIA tonight.Just wanted to say that David Proctor generally has terrific posts. Didn't get the attacks, but the attacker comes on here periodically and singles someone out. Don't take it personally.

jeffwx, one particular place you mentioned has exceptional pizza, with a very good beer selection, and is still usually fairly quiet.I don't want it to get so popular that nobody ever goes there anymore because it's too crowded. Its kind of like where I usually park for free; I keep quiet about it. Greedy me, but so be it.

It was especially nice to me to see a ML outfield of all real starter quality players.They all hit tonight,too.

Desi's defense has become a joy to watch.

Joe Seamhead said...

Eric said...
"Same flakey crust? The franchise Ledo have a different crust and slightly different sauce and the provolone isn't exactly the same."

As I said before, basically exactly the same pizza at the relocated Ledo's as they had at the original location. I think they even moved the original pizza ovens. I had franchise Ledo's yesterday for the first time in many years... Forgot how much better the original is!
-----------------------//////-----
The ovens are the key to the difference between the original and the franchises. I've enjoyed Ledo's for nearly 50 years. I still like the francise stuff better then any of the other chain pizza. Papa John's is a Nationals Insult. What a bunch of garbage.

natsfan1a said...

Missed the middle innings but watched the rest on tv. How about that kid? And how about those Nats?

Gonat said...

Love the pizza discussion on a day the Nats win big!

The original Ledo is as good as it gets. Yep, the oven and that homemade sauce with secret spice.

jeffwx said...

Darn Joe, you got me now...
I'll keep it to myself if I knew which one you are thinking of ;)

natsfan1a said...

Then again, there's the theory "the more you give, the more you get." :-)

Eric said...

"I've enjoyed Ledo's for nearly 50 years. I still like the francise stuff better then any of the other chain pizza."

Agreed. It was enjoyable Sunday, but still not the OG awesome sauce ;)

"Papa John's is a Nationals Insult. What a bunch of garbage."

Actually, why the hell isn't Ledo's served at Nats Park, a la Ben's Chili Bowl? Or, is it, and I've just missed it?

"Then again, there's the theory "the more you give, the more you get." :-)"

Indeed!

Get Your Re(n)d On said...

"Ghost Of Steve M. said...

By the way, I wrote this about Stammen yesterday before this latest relief appearance."

BTW, no one cares what you wrote when. Stop blowing your own horn so much.

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