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US Presswire photo Chien-Ming Wang gave up five runs in only 3 1/3 innings. |
Hitting highlight: Michael Morse asked Davey Johnson the other day to drop him in the lineup because he was "killing the team." Johnson wouldn't listen and kept Morse in the cleanup spot tonight. That proved to be the right move, because Morse finally connected for his first homer of the season, drilling a line shot over the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center. The umps reviewed it to ensure the ball actually cleared the fence, which it did, and Morse celebrated the home run that perhaps will get his season on track.
Pitching lowlight/highlight: We'll do both categories tonight, because Wang's start clearly was a lowlight while Detwiler's relief appearance clearly was a highlight. Wang got himself into trouble from the very beginning and never righted himself. He had no trouble getting ahead of hitters -- he had two strikes on all five batters in the top of the first -- but he couldn't put any of them away. Detwiler, on the other hand, had no trouble putting hitters away. He retired 11 of 12 batters faced, the lone one reaching via a hit-by-pitch. Whether this turn of events was enough to produce a Wang/Detwiler swap in the No. 5 rotation slot remains to be seen.
Key stat: Of the last four non-quality starts by the Nationals rotation, Wang has pitched three.
Up next: Stephen Strasburg makes his first start in a week (thanks to a pair of off-days). The Nats ace will face prospect Chris Archer, making his major-league debut for the Rays in the 7:05 p.m. game at Nationals Park.
34 comments:
Scr*wed by Wang again.
Four game losing streak - I think for the first time? Thank you Brad Lidge, Tim Timmons and CMW.
I am sure someone will come up with rational reasons to throw Wang back out there but I am not supporting that. Not sure Detwiler is stretched out enough to go more than 5 but it will sure beat the heck out of what I have seen the last two times from Wang. Question is, do you put him in the bullpen? (I don't) or send him along like Lidge. I doubt if they can trade him so lets just cut our loses and move on. I am not usually this reactionary but I am looking to make the playoffs this year and this just isn't making it fun for me.
Will be looking forward to
1. Justin's happy hour
2. Seeing my son
3. Strasburg cruising
4. Nationals Winning
Go Nats!!
Davey making excuses for Wang in the post-game. He pitched like crud. Say it.
NO, swami, we had a five game losing streak in April -- the Dodgers sweep sandwiched between a loss to the Pads (away) and to the Snakes (home). Then had a four game winning streak -- two to the Dbacks and the first two of the Our Park series. I'd take that in a heartbeat now (winning last two from Rays, first two from Os).
No baseballswami, longest losing streak of the season was five games from April 26 to May 1 (with an off day thrown in)--last game of the series at San Diego, the sweep at Dodger Stadium, first game against the D-backs. Nats could match that tomorrow--but consider the pitching matchup
I hope the bloom isn't off the Rosenbaum.
Danny was tagged for 7 earned in 3 innings. His ERA jumped to 2.57.
Drew, there is something wrong with Rosenbaum. I think he's playing hurt. A guy doesn't go from dominating to falling apart like that.
Hmmm, sjb, you know the rules.... ;-)
Tim said...
The checking of Peralta's glove and subsequent ejection ended our momentum. Gonzalez had just had squashed a Rays rally and the Nats run into the dugout ready to pick up the lumber.
Then a 15 minute delay to check everything and everybody. You could hear a pin drop when the Nats came to the plate. All the air came out of the stadium.
Not sure it was the best of moves. But we'll never know.
You can bet that Strasburg and Gio will be harassed by Maddon.
June 19, 2012 10:21 PM
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Not great timing as Davey could have waited till after Lombo batter so he could have gone Lefty instead of Righty.
Nats have to win next 2 period at home, losing 6 in row at home after winning 6 on road makes us a JOKE. There is no sugar coating this at all. the Rays are NOT THE YANKEES, so i don't want to hear its a 162 game season and its a marathon! Good team do not, i repeat lose 6 in row at home after winning 6 on the road.
Oh - I conveniently forgot about the prior losing streak - selective amnesia. I usually hate those post- game chats but this one was hilariously awkward. You just knew they would get Davey to confess that the guys ratted on Peralta. But watching him dance around the CMW situation was as flustered as I have ever seen Davey. Reviewed home run, covering the ticket sign, foreign substances. Lots of drama. Ross D was awesome, Zim and Morse got some offense going. We just don't have enough offense for starters to give up 5.
Re: Rosenbaum. This is his 2nd run through the Eastern League, so I think the performance might be more adjustments than bad health. He now has to adjust back. If not hurt, this is good for him - he will need to do same to excel in the show.
Unfortunate loss tonight, because four runs would normally be enough to produce a win with our pitching staff. Nice to see Morse with a homer, but the offense continues to lack cohesiveness. I don't know if I'm a fan of the team's aggressive hitting style, especially when trailing in the later stages of a close ballgame. What does it say about this lineup when the most patient hitter (with the exception of this past weekend) is a nineteen-year-old?
rogieshan - a 19 year old and the relief pitcher, who really worked the count.
Lets see who is the one who cost us the chance to win Wang, or Johnson for first having faith in Wang (which by now I have none), or second John solowing the momentum of the game after Gonzo got us out of the 8. last three innings all 3 up 3 down. Thanks hitters.
I see that we learned little from the Yankee series. Still swung at early pitches and didn't good contact. Uanks taught us to only swing at early pitches if you are going to get good contact, otherwise build up the count by fouling off pitches you don't like that are strikes, or take balls.
Harper though no hits actually was one of the only ones that showed any patients like he learned from the series.
Twitter world going crazy with Maddon's somewhat obscene responses to Davey. Making Derek Lowe and Dusty Baker look like kindergarteners. Tomorrow night could be interesting indeed.
Back from a very bizarre game. Glad to see Morse hit one finally, and Zim was even on base for him. How about that.
All I could think while Wang was imploding was --- should have skipped him in the rotation. I'll still be surprised if Davey makes a change, but we can't live with too many more starts like this one.
It won't very much matter who pitches tomorrow night- Maddon has basically declared war on Davey. I hope there won't be any plunking. Tensions will be running high.
During pregame warmups, Nats manager Davey Johnson was watching him throw and asked “How’d we let this guy get away?” In return he heard, as he put it, probably more than he needed to know. Might not have been the best move to have Peralta ejected, as the next reliever set down the Nats 1-2-3 and they lost, 5-4. The umpire crew chief allowed Rays manager Joe Madden “one inspection,” which he used on the Nats’ reliever–nothing but a sweaty cap and grins all around.
In the same game there was a lengthy delay because the Rays complained about an advertisement near the batters’ eye–when the ad could not be turned off, the grounds crew hung a tarp over it. Also, Madden called for a Nats home run to be reviewed (it was upheld).
Reportedly, Joe Madden said Davey Johnson’s call for the glove inspection “cowardly.” There is no report on how Davey felt about the batters’ eye complaint.
21. Rule 8.02(b): Penalty for possession of foreign substance.
Rule 8.02(b) has been amended to include an automatic suspension (10 games in National Association
Leagues) for possession of foreign substance by the pitcher.
Nats have to win next 2 period at home, losing 6 in row at home after winning 6 on road makes us a JOKE. There is no sugar coating this at all. the Rays are NOT THE YANKEES,
Check the record and compare the Yankees with the Rays over the past 3 years? Hell yes the Rays are as good AND YOUNGER than the Yankees. They have a top 3 well stocked farm system that keeps on producing ... you'll be seeing one of those tomorrow night. What do that Yankees have down on the farm to match Archer? They had to go back and re-up ancient Petitite.
Sheesh, doesn't anyone here watch baseball?
Actually , Maddon said that what Davey did was a "feline pet" move. No chance he lets this go.
NatsLady, would you say that Davy's action re Peralta was in response to Maddon's complaint about the light? I'm inclined to think so, even though Davy said nothing of the kind in his news conf. -- and no reporter was smart enough to ask him a direct question. At least what I heard.
That ad in the batters eye is only supposed to display between innings. During play it's supposed to rotate back to a plain green background. Clearly it got stuck in the ad position, which is why they had to lower the tarp. I wasn't at the game so I can't verify this, but I strongly suspect it wasn't that way the whole game, because they would have noticed it and addressed it earlier. It must have failed to switch back from the ad position as play resumed following the between-innings break right before the ump stopped play and had them lower the tarp. There is absolutely no way this had anything to do with the glove incident, either. It was simply an equipment malfunction - and not an unexpected one either, because they conveniently already had the tarp in place.
So, Peric, is your point that losing to the Spankees was actually WORSE than losing to the Rays because the Spankees are just a bunch of "old codgers?"
Yes. I think Davey would have let it go except for Maddon complaining about the batters' eye and having Morse's HR reviewed.
Joe Maddon @RaysJoeMaddon
My biggest concern for tonight is Joel Peralta. He's going to get vilified and he doesn't deserve that. It isn't right. Ask the players.
Jerk. He started it. Davey finished it. Also on Baseball Tonight, Peralta didn't exactly deny it, nope he didn't.
pRAA is right. The ad isn't there during play. It switches back to a green background. The tarp is apparently there as plan B. The batter's eye malfunction and the inspection of Peralta's glove were completely unrelated.
Does anyone have a link to Madden's postgame presser?
Also, reviewing home runs is completely within the rules. Why would Davey object to that? He'd do the same thing if there was any question about a home run hit by our opponent. Homers hit to right center are very hard to track because of the lighting on the scoreboard.
I think once Davey was tipped off during batting practice, he was primed to challenge Peralta if he was brought in. He's a darn good set up pitcher and the Nats were only down by one. It was a good move to get him out of there (unless you think that cheating is ok). It just didn't work out because the Nats can't hit even a second string setup guy.
Watching CMW tonight was like watching batting practice for the Rays. Five runs and seven hits in 3+ innings. They got no runs and exactly one hit the rest of the way against the BP.
He was leaving the ball up. It was like t-ball for those guys.
I hope Davey makes the change. CMW is a hard-luck pitcher. After 2 years of rehab and long hours getting his shoulder back in shape, he looked solid in ST until that freak play at 1b. He is still not back to where he was before that injury.
He probably should still be in rehab in the minors, getting that sinker back to where it needs to be for him to be successful. Trying to figure it out in the bigs is just not working out for him or the Nats.
Too bad. He is a class guy who has worked hard enough to deserve better.
Maddon has no legitimate complaint. If Peralta "looks" bad, it is because he got caught cheating, not because Davey caught him. May as well blame the cops for making a bank robber look bad because they made the collar.
Off topic, but HRod threw a scoreless, one K, no hit, no walk inning in Syracuse.
Joe... you forgot to add "no stress" to that line.
Reading the in-game updates and instant analysis after the fact, I see that Mark referenced the Guillen pine tar game right away. I was puzzled that Carpenter didn't mention it on the broadcast, as they were discussing other such incidents. Then I realized that it was in Ought Five, when he was not yet with the team. Ah, yes. Those were the days, kids (starts chair to rocking). Some day I'll tell you all about the Chief. And my stomach ulcer. :-)
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