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| Photo by USA Today |
Yankees 4, Nationals 2
Game in a nutshell: Jordan Zimmermann had a tough day in his final tuneup for the regular season. He gave up a solo shot to Kevin Youkilis in the fourth inning, allowed a total of seven hits and finished with four earned runs on the day.
Hitting highlight: Bryce Harper had another hit, finally getting to Andy Pettite who baffled him in four hitless at-bats last summer. Desmond had the team's first RBI on a single up the middle to score Zimmerman. LaRoche also had an RBI in the sixth inning to send Zimmerman home.
Pitching lowlight: As this was an exhibition game, it's tough to read too much into anything really. Jordan Zimmermann, however, would probably have preferred a smoother last outing before the regular season. Zimmermann had trouble after a smooth first inning and was yanked in the fourth. He left with four earned runs, seven hits, and a walk on 69 pitches (49 strikes).
Key stat: Bryce Harper finishes his 2013 spring with a .478 average, three home runs, and 15 RBI in 25 games. Not too bad.
Up next: The Nationals have two off days this weekend before it all gets started on Monday, Opening Day. Stephen Strasburg will lead Washington against the Marlins at Nats Park, first pitch is at 1:05 p.m.
40 comments:
Duke was fine, bullpen was outstanding, JZ will be fine. Lots of balls hit hard. If no one is hurt, we are good.
Wilson Ramos is starting Opening Day!
I guess the other news is Henry Rodriguez makes the Opening Day roster and Romero goes to AAA.
Ghost-- how long do you think HRod will last? Any posters up for a wager? Name the date he goes! It can be pseudo- DL, waivers, release. Pick a date- put it in writing here so we have documentation. I will have to consider my choice carefully. Definitely gone by the all- star break.
About Ramos for opening day. That matches Suzuki up with Gio. Perfect.
MJR
Mo got a standing ovation from the entire park
baseballswami, I'm happy for Henry. He will get another chance and I will say it again, prove me wrong!
MicheleS, can't wait to see Mo Rivera again in Nats Park. The Yankees/Nats World Series!
baseballswami said...
About Ramos for opening day. That matches Suzuki up with Gio. Perfect.
March 29, 2013 5:17 PM
I am very happy for Wilson Ramos. It is a smart move by Davey Johnson. It means so much to Wilson and he's the future of this team behind the plate.
I predicted this back in February and is about the only prediction I seemed to get right during Spring Training. I was predicting a surprise move by Rizzo and Chris Young as the long-man in the bullpen. I went 1-3.
Good game. Not sure I like letting runners steal without even a look or token throw. HROD will be HROD. Drew was also still nibbling from where I sat. Just throw strikes please.
Ian D and Danny both looked great. Zimm is not able to throw across the diamond....I hope he gets stronger.
Not saying I am not happy for Henry when he finds the strike zone. Just don 't trust it. Feel like Charlie Brown with the football.
If Henry plays his cards right it just might Drew Storen optioned to AAA with one of Romero, Abad, or Bray to choose from.
Given today's announcement of the Harrisburg roster the competition for slots on the AAA roster must be extremely intense this season. As opposed to past years.
Chris Rahl had two EL All Star appearances and has to be in their with the other outfielders. Owings and Van Ostrand must be in there with Perez, Brown et al. Costanza, Rivero and Rhymes knowing that Rendon is days away from joining ... the Chiefs have way too many starters and relievers right now ... but there's still 13 days to go to decide.
peric, how did you do on your predictions?
Rendon on the Opening Day roster.
Tyler Moore starting in LF and Span on bench.
Drew Storen to AAA
Ryan Z at 1st base
Davey with comments on Espi: “He showed great improvement, and he started being more selective. He started being more direct to the ball from both sides [of the plate]. You’re going to see his on-base percentage go up.”
Davey and Rizzo really stuck with Espi. They had opportunities to trade him and they didn't as they think he is a future star.
I can only hope they are correct.
Not ready to be a pessimist but they looked a lot like the 2009-10 Nats today. I certainly hope their starting pitchers know where the "on" button is because this isn't a team that can score six runs every day to bail them out.
I can't see Drew going anywhere unless he really, really struggles. If Rizzo et al change their minds and decide they need another lefty and everyone's doing well, Mattheus as the least established and with options left (I believe?) is probably the odd man out. But barring a surprise trade, injuries or poor performance, the bullpen is seems pretty set for the start of the season.
They have given Henry miles of rope. Can't see them doing less with Drew. And Mattheus had been filthy! I just keep holding my breath and hoping no one tweaked anything today. Looked like most of them were playing it safe today.
baseballswami said...
Not saying I am not happy for Henry when he finds the strike zone. Just don 't trust it. Feel like Charlie Brown with the football.
March 29, 2013 5:53 PM
I'm a "show me" type of guy. I want consistency. I don't believe players change quickly.
5 players came to ST with a lot to prove.
1) Ramos healthy
2) RZim healthy
3) Storen could rebound from Game 5
4) Espi healthy & showing a compact LH swing
5) HRod healthy & being consistent in the K zone
How are you scoring those five, Ghost?
Rendon on the Opening Day roster.
Tyler Moore starting in LF and Span on bench.
Drew Storen to AAA
Ryan Z at 1st base
Well ghost better than you ON pretty much ALL of yours far right?
I never said Rendon would be on the opening day roster but I did say and I stand by this: Rendon will replace Zimmerman at third eventually. What I did say was that if Zimmerman went down with an injury they sure as heck weren't going to call Tracy in for duty. And if you believe that you are the fool dude.
Rendon won't last long in AA he was having as good a spring as Harper. He'll be in AAA, because he'll need the challenge, before you know it. And then what?
I didn't say Tyler Moore would "start" out the gate. But he will eventually count on it. IN order to keep up with ATL they will need his bat. He is the Nat's answer to Heyward. Harper and Werth to the Upton brothers. Span just doesn't fit.
And when this comes to pass? I'll be here to chortle and give you grief until you'll just have to take a powder for a very looooong time.
How are you scoring those five, Ghost?
You mean his 5 exaggerations?
Every dog has his day and I will have mine just as I did with Lannan and with Morse ... and when that day comes ... beware!
Drew Storen to AAA
And this could still happen ... if he keeps having problems ... he looks not unlike Henry right now.
Baseballswami
1. Yes, amazing!
2. Close to 80% with his throwing & hitting 110%
3. Not sure
4. So far so good. Very impressed so far. I want to be a believer & as his biggest critic I want him to succeed
5. Not a fan except for a handful of appearances in his 2 years & would have never traded for him on my team but since he is a Nat I am hoping he can be a huge success on the Nats!
Peric, OK, I guess we will see.
Will you PLEASE quit poking, or at least get a room?
“Henry only started getting wild last year, I’m sure the elbow was bothering him with the bone chip in there.”
Was Davey watching Henry in 2011 when he led the Majors in Wild Pitches?
Sec3, did you say a George Carlin word?
Of course Ghost could have dinged me on the one thing I was wrong about as far as opening day but of course? He didn't.
I thought for sure Davey would find a way to get a left-handed relief specialist in the back of his bullpen by opening day ...
As many of the beat writers have said that might still happen. But I would have expected it sooner rather than later given how much Davey prefers a fast start.
Zimmermann's fastball looked flat to me, little life on the ball. It's just one inning I'm sure he'll come around.
Long time reader, first time commenter
The thing that worries me about HRod is that his problems seem more psychological than physical. I don't know if there is ever going to be a fix for it. He's such a great talent when he's on his game....I wish we could figure out a way. Yoga? Xanax? It reminds me of watching Wohlers when I was a kid. I'm worried he's going to kill someone.
Oooh, Mark Wohlers! Good catch, Mike.
@GoSM, no, none of the Seven Words, but my previous post seemed to disappear. Psyched me.
When HRod walked a batter today, it was after he already got a couple strikes on the guy. Then he got the next guy to ground out to end the inning. (As I recall. I didn't writing anything in the scorebook today.) In other words, he didn't freak out after issuing a walk.
His outing made me feel better, but I will be holding my breath as well every time he comes out to pitch.
Keeping Hrod: Mistake
Starting Stras over Gio in opener: insult
Span: no power, not enough speed, too low obp, now we see No arm either -- massive mistake
Ramos over Suzuki in opener: terrible insult to Suzuki.
Not trying to keep Burnett: stupid
Zack Duke only lefty in bullpen: really stupid
Dumping Morse for minor leaguers: Pure Idiocy
This is not going to be your magical year. How long til we hear of grumbling from clubhouse?
This team will be lucky to win 88 games.
I Love this: In my ESPN Fantasy League for Serious Players.
Span owned by 9% of league
Morse owned by 100%
enough said
Peric has the right idea.
Haren will be gone by all star game
Span will be on the bench: no bat, no arm, no nothing.
We haven't had a weak arm in center in two years -- well we do now!
Morse should have played 1b or outfield - Laroche allowed to walk
Rendon at third --
Fantasy baseball is not what the Nationals are playing. That's for people that are legendary GM's in their own minds.There has more stupidly expressed on here today then I have seen in a year.
Wow all these negatrons have been hiding for spring training. Too bad they came out.
In Re: J-Zim's pitching difficulties -
Referring back to my scorebook, of the 7 hits J-Zim allowed, only one (first-pitch double to Wells in the ill-fated 4th) came WITHOUT 2 STRIKES in the count. 3 hits were at 2-2, the other 3 at 0-2,0-1 and 1-2. Pitch selection with a 2-strike count would appear to be an issue. This is most often a catcher issue ( 'tho it wasn't Ramos who hung the 0-2 curve to Cano in the 1st inning :-). Perhaps there is a rust factor at work.
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