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Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER Great American Ball Park hosts the Nationals this weekend. |
Tonight we'll get our first official look at Haren, and he'll face a tough task in the Reds' potent, powerful, left-handed-laden lineup, not to mention the cozy dimensions of Great American Ball Park. Haren had a bit of an erratic spring, but he finished strong and, above all else, proclaims himself 100 percent healthy as the season begins.
No changes to Davey Johnson's lineup; it's the same top seven, with Kurt Suzuki back behind the plate for his second start of the young season. I'll be curious to see if Johnson gives anyone tomorrow off, with a day game following a night game. Though as Davey pointed out yesterday, pretty much every one of his regulars insists on playing every day.
Updates to come...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at CINCINNATI REDS
Where: Great American Ball Park
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500 AM), XM 186
Weather: Clear, 55 degrees, Wind 10 mph out to RF
NATIONALS
CF Denard Span
RF Jayson Werth
CF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Ian Desmond
2B Danny Espinosa
C Kurt Suzuki
RHP Dan Haren
REDS
CF Shin-Soo Choo
LF Chris Heisey
1B Joey Votto
2B Brandon Phillips
RF Jay Bruce
3B Todd Frazier
SS Zack Cozart
C Ryan Hanigan
RHP Homer Bailey
UMPIRES
HP Jordan Baker
1B Tim McClelland (cc)
2B Jerry Meals
3B Marvin Hudson
7:10 p.m. -- We are underway on what turned out to be a beautiful Friday night here on the banks of the Ohio River. Homer Bailey starts off Denard Span with ball one.
7:16 p.m. -- Bailey sat down the Nats in order in the top of the first, but props to Span for battling his way through an eight-pitch at-bat. As a leadoff man, if you're not going to get on base, at least make the pitcher work. Dan Haren takes the mound now for his Nats debut.
7:24 p.m. -- Haren's first inning as a National is complete. He recorded a couple of outs on well-struck flyballs, then allowed a two-out single up the middle to Joey Votto. But he blew a 91 mph fastball past Brandon Phillips to end the inning, so all in all, not a bad start to his night. Scoreless after one.
7:33 p.m. -- Hoo-boy, Bailey looks mighty sharp so far tonight. He's retired all six batters he's faced and struck out both Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond on fastballs right on the black in the top of the second. Impressive stuff from the right-hander through two scoreless.
7:43 p.m. -- Hmm, that was not good. Just when it looked like Haren was settling into a groove, he grooved back-to-back pitches to Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart. Each wound up clearing the left-field fence, Frazier's by a healthy margin (it landed in the second deck), Cozart's by much less. In fact, a fan may have reached over to snag Cozart's blast. Davey did come out to talk to plate umpire Jordan Baker about a review but didn't get one. (Wonder what new Nats first base coach Tony Tarasco, the guy in right field for the Orioles on the infamous Jeffrey Maeier play in 1996, thought about that?) The Reds continued to get to Haren after that, with Bailey sending a double off Jayson Werth's glove and Choo getting hit by a pitch. Haren escaped without any more damage, but that was an ugly stretch. And now the Nats trail for the first time this season, down 2-0 after two.
7:59 p.m. -- Nothing happening for the Nats so far, but they are making Bailey work. He's up over 50 pitches through three innings. The biggest infraction in the top of the third was Haren failing to get a bunt attempt down and advance Espinosa, who notched his first hit in 12 tries this season (this after shaving his beard this morning). Span drew a two-out walk to give Werth a chance, and he nearly beat out a grounder down the first-base line, but Votto did a nice job recovering from a bobble to feed the ball to Bailey just in time to nab Werth. So the Nats still trail 2-0, middle of the third.
8:14 p.m. -- I wrote this morning that something about this matchup just felt ominous for Dan Haren. Well, three innings in, it's turned ugly. Cozart just launched his second homer in as many innings, this one a three-run laser to left field. Haren has let seven of the last 10 batters he's faced reach safely, three of them home runs. And thus, the Nationals trail 5-0 after three.
8:23 p.m. -- Now the Nats are starting to look frustrated at the plate. LaRoche took a called third strike to fall to 0-for-12 on the season. Desmond then tried to launch a 5-run homer with a couple of way-too-hard swings before taking a called third strike himself to end the top of the fourth. It's still 5-0 Reds.
8:37 p.m. -- And it keeps getting worse for Haren, who served up his fourth homer of the night, this one to Choo, who sneaked one just over the fence in deep right-center. Davey again came out to ask the umpires to review for fan interference, and this time they obliged. After a lengthy, 3-minute, 39-second delay, they emerged and announced the call stood. Too bad they didn't review the first one, because I think that had a better chance of being overturned. Anyways, it's now 6-0 after four, and with Haren at 78 pitches and due up third, I think we've seen the last of him for tonight. Zach Duke about to make his season debut.
8:45 p.m. -- That is indeed it for Haren. His final line: 4 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 1 HBP, 4 HR, 78 pitches, 52 strikes. So here's Zach Duke for mop-up duty.
9:08 p.m. -- 7-0 now after the Reds scored another run in the fifth off Duke. Now Desmond booted a grounder to lead off the sixth. Nothing's going right tonight.
9:18 p.m. -- Man, oh man, is Brandon Phillips spectacular at second base or what? He just stone-cold robbed Suzuki of a base hit to end the seventh. You know, Danny Espinosa could have 10 brilliant seasons at second base and still never win a Gold Glove as long as Phillips remains in the NL. Mercy.
9:29 p.m. -- Is it over yet? Nope. Frazier just clobbered his second homer of the night, the Reds' fifth of the night. Going back to last season, the Nationals pitching staff has now surrendered eight home runs in their last 16 innings in this ballpark. It's 10-0 here, still in the seventh.
9:36 p.m. -- So let's see. It's 10-0. A fan just ran onto the field, slid into second base, high-fived Devin Mesoraco and was pile-driven by cops into the ground. And now we've got a distinct possibility of seeing Henry Rodriguez bat in the top of the eighth inning. Stay tuned for this one, folks.
9:43 p.m. -- Then again, in order for Rodriguez to bat, he'd have to actually, you know, record an out and end the bottom of the seventh. Which he has yet to do. Say hello to Xavier Paul, who destroyed a pitch from H-Rod to right field for a grand slam. With the extra point, the Reds now lead 14-0. Sweet. Fancy. Moses.
10:02 p.m. -- Make it 15-0. If the Nats can't score in the top of the ninth, this will be the most-lopsided loss in club history (2005-present).
10:18 p.m. -- And mercifully, that's your ballgame. The Nats lose 15-0, the most-lopsided loss in team history. You know what, though? They still have the best record in baseball, so I wouldn't make plans to jump off the American Legion bridge quite yet.
244 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 244 of 244 Newer› Newest»So this would be Bad Henry, right?
Game came to a screeching halt.
Can't win them all. But an ugly performance by our new pitcher none the less. He can't bunt either.
Hrod is terrible. Wild and even when he manages to get it across batters crush. That's just piss
Poor decision making keep him
Espi and Desmond are not getting it done, and we may need to bring up Rendon sooner rather than later.
Rendon isn't even in AAA yet. Both Kobernus and Walters look like soon-to-be AAA All Stars. And then there's Lombo ...
When they decide to move Zim across the diamond then you'll likely see Rendon.
Bad pitching, yes. But you can't win with a zero no matter how many the other team puts up.
Hrod needs to go.
Faraz, you've got to be kidding about Zimm being "fancy" on Phillips shot, he was just trying not to get out of the way... no way that's an error.
Two touchdowns and the extra points and we're right back in it.
So this would be Bad Henry, right?
No wild pitches, hit batters, consecutive walks?
No improved. He's still making adjustments. But, I think Henry is on the right path. He just needs to NOT lose his confidence.
Duke is your mop up guy. Its still early.
Turned away and its now 14-0. Very big game tomorrow. I've got a bad feeling about Haren. It looks like the Wang experiment of last year.
It's time for Lombo. Det should be 4th pitcher. Back to back homers early was awful. Please don't make me miss Edwin.
Just trying to get out of the way... ugh.
Also, shockingly short fuses on some of the panic buttons in here... wow.
I don't know NatsJim. Zimm has handled those shots better previously.
ANyways, Span continues getting on base.
Did our batters come to the park thinking home run instead of just making contact and letting the ball find the stands?.
I think so dj.
A score like this will distort pitching stats for a good while. ERA against will take some time to recover. Anybody remember the Nat's most lopsided loss from last year?
I think the spanking tonight turns into weekend motivation and we take the next 2... just a hunch.
then again secretly I wish for at least one Nats (Harper mainly) to hit one so far in this park to show everyone on reds how to truly hit HRs, just like Pujols did to Astros hitters back in 2005 NLCS.
Barkeep at the hotel better be icing down a whole lot of beer about now.
SYR wins again 11 - 0. 4 hits 11 K's 2 walks allowed.
DJB, we had few such as April 19 Astros loss 4-11 or Cards beat us up 2-12 late in the season. Some more shutouts where other team piled on (not this badly though).
that was fair?
Just love Reds fans. Winning 14-0 and some drunk hick yells "you suck Zimmerman." Second only to Filthy fans.
15 to zip.
Well, I mean, it's too early to panic for sure. But this isn't just a loss, it's a crushing. It's hard to blame people for taking that badly.
Now that's just piling on. Nats better come out spitting fire tomorrow if they have an ounce of pride.
From our host: "15-0 now. If the #Nats don't score in the 9th, this will be the most-lopsided loss in club history (2005-present)." That's kind of a wow, all things considered.
Still only counts for 1 in the "L" column... this is not such a bad thing.
The zero bothers me more than the 15.
You know what I think? I think some guys went out and overdid it last night after the flight to Cincy...
True, there, NatsJim, but I wouldn't consider this just a loss. How they respond to this is important, in my opinion.
this game must be most tough on suzuki.
swami, it shouldn't. Harper isn't even trying. If Bryce isn't trying, everyone just wants to go home.
I say this, though. Denard Span likes to play baseball.
finally a flyball that did not get out from Reds hitter. :D
FS, agree, in the sense that Suzuki let it get away. However, you, and EVERYONE has to remember this is a heckuva LOT better than losing a 16-inning game 5-4, blowing out the bullpen, etc. Let 'em laugh. It's 1 of 162.
DJB, no, wrong. It's just a loss. No worse, and a lot better than other losses.
It's Suzuki's fault they're down 15-0? Strange logic there.
Ouch!!
was not able to hang with Mr. Carpenter through this but came back to watch the end.
Hope that Det will get us back on track. Do people really think that after spending 13 million on Dan Haren that he will not get multiple starts? Think that might be a bit of an over reaction. Again, this was ugly but I will chalk it up to one of those 60 games we were destined to lose.
Still looking to win the series which to me is key!
Go Nats
no NL, I meant in the sense that he has crouch down in that position for so long because of pitchers' incompetence. then again they are built for that.
anyways, desi's first xbh I believe?
also for some perspective, Seattle of 2001 (the one with most wins in a single season) lost 2-14 against Rangers (that finished last in that division), lost 14-15 against indians after leasing 12-0 at one point.
Right sjm, we'll take the next 2 and leave town with a series win... no worries.
Cunegonde and I turned it off at 7-0 to watch the rest of a Netflix movie we'd started last night.
I wish every decision we made was as good as that one.
NatsLady,in some respects better than a walk-off loss, but not just a loss. They punch you in the nose, you punch back, or you're a chump. They clearly ran up the score.
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