Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Game 133: Nats at Marlins

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER
Jordan Zimmermann faces Anibal Sanchez tonight at Sun Life Stadium.
MIAMI — Jordan Zimmermann's return from Tommy John surgery last week was a major accomplishment for the 24-year-old right-hander. The mere fact he pitched in a big-league game without losing any velocity 12 months after undergoing the surgery is worth applauding.

But Zimmermann was only partly satisfied with his performance that night. Yes, he was happy to have returned to the mound and pitched four innings against the Cardinals. But he wasn't happy to have allowed five runs and seven hits during those four innings, not to mention putting six straight St. Louis batters on base during the fourth.

So tonight, Zimmermann begins the next quest in his return. He's back in the majors. Now he wants to get these major-league hitters out. He'll be facing a Marlins lineup that has plenty of power but also has been known to strike out a bunch. Could be a good matchup from Jordan's perspective.

If Zimmermann is up to the task, and if his teammates can string some runs together against Florida's Anibal Sanchez, the Nats could be looking at their first four-game winning streak of the season. Pretty amazing it hasn't happened yet.

Check back for updates throughout the evening...

NATIONALS at MARLINS
Where: Sun Life Stadium
Gametime: 7:10 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: WFED-1500 AM, WWFD-820 AM
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, Wind 17 mph in from RF
STARTING LINEUPS
NATIONALS (57-75)
2B Adam Kennedy
SS Ian Desmond
LF Roger Bernadina
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam Dunn
RF Michael Morse
C Ivan Rodriguez
CF Nyjer Morgan
P Jordan Zimmermann

MARLINS (65-65)
2B Emilio Bonifacio
LF Logan Morrison
SS Hanley Ramirez
1B Gaby Sanchez
3B Chad Tracy
RF Mike Stanton
CF Cameron Maybin
C Brett Hayes
P Anibal Sanchez

6:59 p.m. -- In a shocking development, the start of tonight's game will be delayed due to rain. But, they're claiming first pitch will only be five minutes late, pushed back to 7:15 after a quick little cloudburst a little while ago. It's cleared up since, so things look fine moving forward. But I've heard that one before...

7:14 p.m. -- We are underway with a strike from Anibal Sanchez to Adam Kennedy. Few more fans here tonight than last night. Still no way there are 1,000 people in the stands at first pitch, though.

7:16 p.m. -- They've managed to already fix the scoreboard Ryan Zimmerman took out last night. So we're once again coming to you live from "Sun Life Stadium."

7:20 p.m. -- Well, Ian Desmond did a lot of running in the top of the first. Some of it was good, like when he reached on a strikeout-wild pitch. Some of it was bad, like when he raced all the way past second on Roger Bernadina's long drive to center. Couldn't get back to first in time and thus was doubled up to end the inning.

7:26 p.m. -- It took Jordan Zimmermann all of eight pitches to retire the Marlins in the first. Got a pair of flyouts to left sandwiched around a strikeout of Logan Morrison. We are scoreless through one.

7:35 p.m. -- Michael Morse's latest hot streak continues. With a single up the middle, Morse now has 11 hits in his last 16 at-bats, six of them for extra bases. During this time, he's raised his average from .266 to .305. Not bad.

7:44 p.m. -- Jim Riggleman noted again this afternoon that he believes left field is Roger Bernadina's best position, and it's hard to dispute that. Bernadina has made several highlight-reel plays since taking over there for Josh Willingham and just gunned a throw to third to complete a double play (Gaby Sanchez was trying to tag up from second on a deep fly ball.) Through two innings, Zimmermann has thrown only 20 pitches while facing the minimum. Scoreless as we go to the third.

7:59 p.m. -- We're through three innings and Jordan Zimmermann has faced the minimum. Has allowed only Gaby Sanchez's double to lead off the second, which was then wiped out on the Roger Bernadina double play. Zimmermann has recorded three strikeouts, including a pair on some wicked sliders to end the third. Only 38 pitches (24 strikes) so far for the 24-year-old, who looks impressive. Game still scoreless.

8:13 p.m. -- Jordan Zimmermann is DEALING tonight. He's struck out five straight Marlins, three on curveballs, two on fastballs. Just blew away Hanley Ramirez with a 93 mph heater. He's still faced the minimum through four, has thrown a total of 52 pitches. Now, if the Nats could just supply him with some run support...

8:30 p.m. -- Five innings in the books, no runs, one hit, seven strikeouts for Zimmermann. He's thrown only 69 pitches.

8:38 p.m. -- You know, if the Nats want to go ahead and score a run here at some point, Zimmermann would appreciate that very much. Alas, nothing through six against Anibal Sanchez, who has allowed two hits and a walk. Only one National has reached second base so far.

8:47 p.m. -- Not that Stephen Strasburg needs any extra motivation for overcoming what he's about to face, but if he does, Jordan Zimmermann just provided it. In his second start back from Tommy John surgery, Zimmermann has tossed six scoreless innings, allowing one hit, facing the minimum, retiring 14 straight batters and striking out a career-high nine. His pitch count is only 86, but he's probably done. This was the first time he'd pitched into the sixth inning in any start this season, majors or minors.

8:58 p.m. -- Not to be outdone by Zimmermann, Sanchez has now tossed seven scoreless innings allowing two hits. He's thrown 126 pitches! Zimmermann, by the way, is officially done for the night. Joel Peralta enters for the bottom of the seventh of what is still a scoreless game.

9:11 p.m. -- Nice job by Peralta in the seventh. He issued a one-out walk to Logan Morrison but proceeded to get Hanley Ramirez to fly out and then struck out Gaby Sanchez. This game remains scoreless as we head to the eighth, with Jose Veras taking over on the mound for Florida.

9:20 p.m. -- Great note picked up by Nats PR guy Mike Gazda via the Elias Sports Bureau: Jordan Zimmermann tonight became the first pitcher in Nationals history (2005-present) to go at least six innings and face the minimum. (Meanwhile, it's still scoreless as we head to the bottom of the eighth and Tyler Clippard enters from the bullpen).

9:32 p.m. -- We go to the ninth of an epic, scoreless duel between these two teams. Bernadina, Zimmerman and Dunn due up for the Nats.

9:42 p.m. -- Bottom of the ninth now, still 0-0, Clippard still in.

9:50 p.m. -- The good news: The Nationals' pitching staff allowed one hit in nine innings. The bad news: They'll be playing at least 10 innings tonight because nobody can score. If you were wondering, the only other time in Nats history when the pitching staff held the opposition to one hit: April 2, 2008, when the terrific trio of Tim Redding, Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch did it to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. After that victory, the Nats were 3-0 and anything seemed possible. Well, except for 102 losses, which is what did ultimately happen.

10:07 p.m. -- Of all the things that could happen, how many of you expected Nyjer Morgan to bowl over the opposing catcher (and make the final out of the 10th in the process)? The scenario: Runners on first and second, one out. Adam Kennedy hit what looked like a routine double play grounder to second. Meanwhile, Pat Listach waved Morgan around third, thinking if the double play wasn't turned Nyjer would score the go-ahead run. Except Hanley Ramirez didn't attempt the turn. Instead he fired to the plate, where Brett Hayes caught the ball and braced himself for a mammoth collision. He held onto the ball, and Morgan (who went back to touch the plate just in case) was called out to end the inning. Unbelievable.

10:12 p.m. -- I think I'm actually going to defend Nyjer on this one. Listach appeared to wave him around. It's a good idea if the Marlins try to turn the double play. If the turn is slow, Nyjer scores. But when Hanley realized it, he fired to the plate instead, leaving Nyjer DOA.

10:15 p.m. -- Marlins win. Chad Tracy singles to left. Hanley Ramirez stormed around third. Roger Bernadina fired a strike to the plate. Pudge applied the tag, but it was high and Hanley's feet got in first. Final score: 1-0. Unbelievable.

10:54 p.m. -- Just got back from the clubhouse. Obviously, I'll have plenty of reaction and thoughts later in the full postgame analysis, but I wanted to pass along that everyone I talked to on the Nats side (players, coaches, front office people) agreed that it was the right decision to send Nyjer on that play, and that he really had no choice but to try to run over Hayes at the plate. Obviously, this will be up for debate, but that was the overwhelming sentiment from everyone I talked to, both on and off the record. They weren't just saying the right thing in public. Privately, they believed it too.

59 comments:

Doc said...

Speaking about the Marlins strinking out, how 'bout Peralta, Clippard, & Stammen gettn' 9 Ks in 3 innings last night! Go Pen!

P. Cole said...

Only 30 games left! I'd love to see the Nats win every series from here on out.

FOTB said...

I thought they changed the name of the field to Sun Life Stadiu last night.

Knoxville Nat said...

I'm beginning to like this lineup more and more. Now if we could move Roger into CF, slide Willingham in the six hole at LF and drop Morse and Pudge down one spot each I'd like it even more so.

Anonymous said...

This may be an obvious/dumb question, but do we find out who the Sept. call ups are tomorrow? Will they all be on a plane to miami tomorrow? Or does the expanded roster happen in dribs and drabs?

swang said...

Rizzo said that no Sept callups until the minor league season is over Syracuse has a game on Tuesday, I think.

MikeHarris said...

Wow. You take the injured Uggla and the traded Cantu out and the Marlins' lineup doesn't look quite so tough.

Doc said...

Morse is now hittin' .301 as a regular. He's makin' good contact with balls up in the zone and, more importantly down in the zone, like Zim and Dunn.

He's also continuing to hit Righties and Lefties with similar frequency.

Maybe the Nats got lucky and found their RF!!

Anonymous said...

Morse may be at 1b next year.

Anonymous said...

Mark, Wish I was there, The last 2 years during the series,I spent the days on the beach, The evenings in the ball park behind home plate, and the nights at the Hard Rock Casino...love florida

Anonymous said...

Mark,

How's the weather down there? Any chance of a repeat of yesterday?

Anonymous said...

Re the September callups, hasn't Rizzo said that they won't take place until the Syracuse season is over? Which means not til after the weekend.

Meanwhile, I saw a guy at the game the other day wearing a Strasburg 37 jersey. That's not unusual of course. But this was a Syracuse Chiefs Strasburg 37 jersey.

NatsJack in Florida said...

Man, I'd feel so much better about this lineup with Willie Harris playing left and batting 8th and Roger in Center Field.I just don't have any use for Morgan at all.

Anonymous said...

NatsJack,

I'm with you. I've seen enough too. Get him off the team will be addition by subtraction.

Anonymous said...

Having asked this question on his MASN blog the response I got was that all call-ups would come from Syracuse. That Marerro and Burgess would not be part of the call-ups. However, he side-stepped on Espinosa. Most seem to think Bally gets called up (Why? I'm not sure maybe they want to get somebody killed?) , probably Severino again ... Martis and Chico? Not definitive. Made it sound like it would not be a "large" contingent of players probably 4-5 at most.

Kevin Rusch, Section406 said...

So what does everyone think of Willie Harris? I know he's not The Answer, but a .350 SLG for a defensive replacement and 4th OF isn't all that awful. Let's assume Morgan's gone next year; your starters are either Willingham, Bernadina, Morse, with Harris and (?) on the bench, or Willingham, Crawford and Bernadina, with Morse and Harris on the bench. Does that work for anyone, or is Harris' poor OBP just too awful?

JaneB said...

Anon at 5:38, bite your tongue. Or your fingers,

Anonymous said...

Harris is not very good in the outfield ... he allowed a dinger that Bernadina would have caught easily the other night. Harris is not even a AAAA in any outfield position at this point. On the other hand even if he is not a major league hitter Maxwell is can certainly field at an advanced major league level in the outfield. If the choice is between Maxwell or Harris before the pitcher? I'd pick Maxwell's defense.

Anonymous said...

Attributed to Ben Goessling from his MASN blog:

"Yunesky Maya is expected to be among the Nationals' Sept. 1 call-ups. The other names I've heard, according to a club source and for what it's worth: Collin Balester, Wilson Ramos, Ross Detwiler, and possibly Daniel Espinosa and Atahualpa Severino. It's not likely to be a big callup, and will only include players from Syracuse."

Anonymous said...

Espinosa could likely be your new lead off hitter ... (replacing Morgan). That is of course if Riggleman demurs on respecting the game, veterans, whatever and respects the fans who would like to see this team win someday soon.

Steve said...

How many boneheaded baserunning errors can this team make?

Sec3MyAnonymous said...

I asked the captain on my last flight, how often do these things crash?
"Only once," he said.

Doc said...

Jim Riggleman's best position is somewhere in the minors!

CapPeterson said...

Clubs continue to try to run on the Flying Dutchman...love it.

Sec3MySofa said...

Well, to be fair, Zimmerman still hasn't tagged him yet.
And Maybin beat the throw from Dunn, too.

A DC Wonk said...

Since we're talking about him: how's Espinosa's been doing lately?

Sec3MySofa said...

Yanno, Debbie, if you're going to be reading a person's name on the air, and you're not sure how it's pronounced, ASK. Don't embarrass yourself like that.
Way-EE-me Doo-OH-gee (hard g)

Dryw Loves the Nats said...

So Z'mnn was not happy with his last start. Anyone think he'll like this one better?

Anonymous said...

What happened to 5 IP for Zimmermann? Overworking someone who is recovering from Tommy John surgery--nice.

swang said...

86 Pitches isn't overworking...

Anonymous8 said...

Swang, the plan was for 5 innings as Riggleman said was his limit, but maybe that came with an attached pitch count that wasn't published.

AWESOME PERFORMANCE by JZim and the offense gave him....nada

Anonymous said...

86 Pitches isn't overworking...

Thanks, Doc.

Dryw Loves the Nats said...

Ok, that play just did it for me. Nyjer needs to go. Playing stupid AND hurting a guy because of it. Stupid. Stupid and harmful to both teams. Enough.

meixler said...

Could someone explain to me what Nyjer was doing there?

Anonymous8 said...

Meixler, not sure why he didn't go headfirst slide and get the corner of the plate.

Another Nyjer head scratcher...........

Anonymous said...

"hockey mentality" or as the rest of the world knows it in need of anger management counseling..

Anonymous said...

I've defended Nyger all year long here, but I'm giving up on him after that utterly inexplicable play. A slide under the high through would have worked. Instead, Nyger assures that he'll be thrown at for the rest of the season. I've had it with the guy. A bonehead.

meixler said...

I think he just gets an idea in his head and then gets stuck on it rather than adjusting to the situation. And for some reason little Nyjer Morgan is intent on running people over.

HabsProf said...

I've heard of pitching coaches and hitting coaches - but is there any such thing as a base-running coach? The Nats definitely need one. As in now. Desperately.

Michael J. Hayde said...

Anonymous8: Ray Knight was just saying the same thing.

To think a year ago, most of us were bemoaning Nyjer's absence from CF. Now it looks like the injury only postponed what we eventually discovered: Nyjer is Elijah Dukes Lite.

dj in Fl. said...

Those of us in Fl. are stuck with the Marlins crew. They showed the replay of Nyjer and said if he had of slid, he would have been safe. They kept mentioning his hockey background and mentality. Maybe he needs to go back to hockey. There was no reason to hit that catcher except he knew he could.
Get rid of him now.

Michael J. Hayde said...

Hanley Ramirez just demonstrated why you SHOULDN'T defend Nyjer in this case.

A DC Wonk said...

And Ramirez shows us all what would have happened had Nyjer slid.

Sheesh!

Golfersal said...

Nyjer needs to switch sports. Seems like he wants to be a tackle, maybe he can make it for the RedSkins because I can tell you his time with the Nats is running out. Boy what an interesting ninth and tenth, if Morgan would of slid like Hanley did, the Nats would of won instead of lose.
It seems that in the last week just about every game now Morgan is making really big time bone-headed decisions.
I can only hope that Rizzo decides not to let Nyjer argue his seven game suspension and give us Nats fans a seven day break from this bone-head

dj in Fl. said...

Marlins just said they turned it up a notch after they saw one of their own get hurt.
Hanley showed the benifit of sliding, but I am sure Nyjer could care less. Yes he was waved home, but it does not mean leave your head back at third.

Les in NC said...

Mark, I can see defending the thought process of sending Morgan on that play, but is there any defending another bone-headed play by him?

Anonymous said...

@Manassas

Nyjer not how Ramirez just scored. The same way you could have had you been thinking.

Golfersal said...

Boy, I just love how MASN is skating around this Nyjer play. Guess now of them had the guts to ask Reggelman what he thought of the Nyjer play and we aren't getting any more replays of it.
I just love how they try not to pile on the criticisms of this.
Boy I would of loved to hear what Dibble would of said, he would of gone crazy.
Now Ray Knight was good in saying that it was a wrong play by Morgan, but still MASN sugarcoats way to much and it drives me crazy.

Oh, talking about Dibble, any ideas if he is ever coming back?????

jeanne b said...

OK, I've defended him in the past, but maybe the "I'm a jerk" act really isn't an act by Nyjer. There appeared to be no need whatsoever to try to run down the catcher, when the slide was almost certainly there. And wouldn't you think he'd be going out of his way to be smarter on those plays now? Is it just his hockey mentality? Is he watching or listening to Ovi too much?

Anonymous said...

no one said anything but pudge really butchered the tag on the last play.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but I can't defend Nyjers decision to play hockey on a diamond. The catcher going high to catch the ball dictated a slide, not a body check. JTinSC

Anonymous said...

Nyjer's play was indefensible. He was not DOA as Mark says. He slides and he's safe. He never even considered it. You only run the catcher if he has the ball and he is blocking your way to the plate; this was not the case here at all.

Time to move off the Nyjer experiment; Willinham, Bernadina and Morse looks pretty good to me; in the inerim play Harris, Maxwell, anyone but Nyjer.

Anonymous said...

I'd play Nyjer tomorrow; let the Marlins institute some frontier justice. Maybe he needs to get knocked on his ass or plunked.

Unknown said...

Yes, I agree with (everyone and) Anonymous@10:53 about playing the bonehead tomorrow so he either gets plunked or run over.

CapPeterson said...

Got home a while ago; heard the end of the game on the radio. Mark, Charlie and Dave were most definitely not spouting the company line: they said like most of you that it was a bonehead play. Conspiracy theory might be appropriate here: MASN should have run that replay over and over. And they wonder why they get lousy ratings.
Should be a doozy of a game tomorrow. Sounds like the Marlins are fired up, and Scotty is a bit of a competitive sort himself.

CapPeterson said...

Of course, C & D didn't actually use the word "bonehead." But that was definitely the subtext of their discourse.

A DC Wonk said...

One of our many Anon's said: no one said anything but pudge really butchered the tag on the last play.

I don't think so. The throw was a bit to his right, and he had to grab the ball and swing to his left to get him. He just couldn't swing around fast enough.

As for Nyjer and MASN, I think Ray Knight made it pretty clear, after waiting to see the replay (which is appropriate) -- and explained exactly how Nyjer could have scored. And he brought it up again after Ramirez scored. Maybe Knight wasn't screaming like Dibble would have, but he didn't avoid the issue at all.

Mark said...

@Anonymous8 - you don't go headfirst into home plate. On a close play like this one, the runner gets a face full of the catcher's shinguard. And to repeat what others have said, running over the catcher isn't necessarily a dirty play, it's done when the catcher has the ball, is blocking the plate, and the runner has no other choice. In the 2 recent Nyjer instances, those were dirty plays.

Joseph Greene said...

Nyjer needs to be cut. He's shown to be immature, sometimes dirty, and fairly stupid. He seems to have the baseball IQ of first base.

His speed is useless since he's too stupid to be a good base runner. His defense has been fairly poor this year as both UZR and Dewan show. He's now throwing things at fans, throwing his glove, going out of his way to act like he's playing hockey at home plate etc. He's no longer an upgrade over Lastings Milledge. That alone should seal his fate.

I hope Selig not only upholds his suspension but adds another week for the dirty plays since the appeal.

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