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| Photo by USA Today |
Nationals starter Dan Haren may not have looked much sharper in his second start with the team than he did in his first, but the result was certainly better. The 11-year veteran took the victory in the Nats’ 7-4 win over the Chicago White Sox despite throwing 101 pitches through five innings and allowing three earned runs off ten hits. It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done.
“Today I took a few steps forward,” Haren said. “I think I threw the ball better than maybe the line score would dictate, but the conditions weren’t great out there. The most important thing is that we won the game. Obviously I did a little better than last time, but I still haven’t been at my best yet.”
Haren fared better than his woeful six-earned run outing in Cincinnati last weekend, but he was nowhere near his best in front of the 24,785 fans at Nationals Park on Thursday night. Haren’s ten hits allowed made him the first Washington pitcher since the Senators’ Casey Cox in 1970 to give up at least nine in their first two games of the season.
Haren began the first inning on a good note with a 19 pitch scoreless frame. He gave up a run in the second on a Tyler Flowers sacrifice fly and then two in the fourth inning off back-to-back RBI singles. Haren didn’t allow any home runs this time, he just wasn’t hitting his spots.
“He’s throwing the ball good,” Davey Johnson said. “He’s got good velocity. That was one thing that was missing last year. But it’s command. It’s all about command, making your pitches. He was up a lot today.”
Haren pitched adequate enough for the win and also had a good day at the plate. Haren smacked a double in the fourth inning to start a rally the Nats would ride to victory.
Haren reached base and was moved to third on a Jayson Werth single to left field. He then came home on a wild pitch thrown past Bryce Harper by Chicago pitcher Dylan Axelrod.
“I didn’t think there would be a scenario where I would be able to come home on a wild pitch, then of course the first pitch went to the backstop and then I was driving home,” Haren said.
“You guys saw my speed which I apologize to Werth I didn’t score on his single, but I probably wouldn’t have scored on a double anyways.”
“I think Stras has been working with him on his baserunning,” Johnson joked. “But, no, I knew he could hit when he came over here. But that was big for him. Wanted to get him a win. Get him on more of a positive note.”
Haren’s run preceded a sequence that opened up the game for the Nats. After Haren crossed the plate, White Sox manager Robin Ventura advised Axelrod to intentionally walk Harper with first base open and Werth on second. Harper had never been given a free pass as a major league hitter, but everyone in the world knows he is swinging a hot bat.
Ventura based the decision on Harper’s recent play, despite Ryan Zimmerman waiting in the on-deck circle.
“You know, Harper’s hot,” Ventura said. “With the swings he was having earlier off of Axe, you’re rolling the dice either way. You just take your chance”
Harper took first with Werth over at second and then both were driven in on a double by Zimmerman. The Nats third baseman lofted one just over the head of a backtracking Alex Rios in right field.
“That’s part of the lineup,” Ventura said. “They make it extremely hard, every time you go around it gets a little harder. Wasn’t able to get through that one.”
Harper was honored to be given the intentional walk and Johnson said it may have given Zimmerman some extra motivation. But Zimmerman said that if he was in Ventura’s situation, he would have done the same thing.
“If I'm the manager I'd rather pitch a righty against a righty instead of a lefty, but obviously Bryce, you don't want to pitch to Bryce right now,” he said.
“I think it was just more of a match-up thing. I wouldn't pitch a righty against Bryce right now either.”
After Haren left the Nats got two innings out of Ryan Mattheus to bridge them into the eighth where Tyler Clippard took over. Rafael Soriano then closed the door in the ninth for his fifth save of the season. He has pitched three consecutive games and six of the team’s nine total so far this season. Johnson acknowledged he may go with Drew Storen in a save situation on Friday against the Braves.
With the White Sox series now in the books, the Nationals (7-2) will enjoy their second home sweep of the year. But now the focus quickly turns to 8-1 Atlanta who come to Nationals Park after a day off. Ross Detwiler will pitch the first game of the season with Julio Teheran on the mound for the Braves.
54 comments:
Hey Chase, nice job getting a quote from Ventura on that walk. We could use more of that in the gamers. Thanks.
Sweetest moment of the game was Zim making them pay for walking Bryce ahead of him. Still the Face.
I remember being proud for Zimmerman the first time he got walked batting in front of Dunn. I think it was during that 20-or-so-game hitting streak, maybe in San Diego.
In fairness to Haren, he was not getting the low strike call, so, of course, he had to elevate his pitches more than he wanted.
It's very surprisng to see a major leager, who pitches and hits as well as Haren, run like an old man! It looked like he was race walking! That's a classic line that he probably wouldn'thave scored from second on a double. Anyhoo, its a big relief that he did better on the bump last night.
News from the great northwest - Michael Morse took a fastball to the right hand last night and has a non-displaced fracture of the right pinky finger, will be out for a week or so. Insult to injury - ump ruled it a swing and not a HBP.
Ah, that stinks for the Beast. Sorry to hear it , both for his, and his team's sake. That team doesn't need fewer reasons for the fans to come to the park.
Incidentally, Denard Span is 2nd in BB in the NL, and 5th in OBP. Nine games may be too small a sample size for some to be ready to say that this was a good move, but I think between his overall abilityto work pitchers when at the plate, and his smooth, gliding play in centerfield, he has put forth a mighty fine first impression. My only negative is his arm strength, which is adequate. I really think that he has clearly demonstrated that he's an exciting, smart player that compliments this line up beautifully with his table setting.
Watched the video- after the swing that broke Morse's pinky and was called a strike, he got hit again and took his base. Did not even tackle the pitcher and break his collarbone. Expensive brawl. Anyone think there will be suspensions? Hitter never moved one inch to get out if the way.
I think that F.P. summed it up a few games ago, on how the Nats' batting order works. It was one of their patented 'stalking the pitcher in the early innings' formula, only to get to him in the 4th-6th.
"What you see here is a group of professional hitters, working together and working counts and waiting to get a pitch to hit."
GoooooooooooooooooooooNats!!
So nice to see a cohesive approach through the line up with all the hitters understanding where they fit in. Love Span, love Werth and Harper together, love it that if you chicken out on Harper you have to go through Zim.
Holy Moly, Greinke out with a broken collarbone after the fight. that is a nasty injury.
Sorry to hear about Morse, I hope he heals quickly
We'll be seeing a lot more of Harper, the best player in baseball, being intentionally walked. I would have walked him too, and pitch to Zimmerman who has a good record of striking out. Now we will need him to make more contact with Harper being walked. As for Haren..he may, as he put it, taken a few steps forward, but he gave the few steps back just like the first couple of times the Nationals scored. This weekend we finally get to see another good club.
Was up late and heard Vin Scully calling the fight. He just said, "That's fertilizer. He said again, "That's fertilizer." I couldn't stop laughing, even though it was clear this was a real fight and not just for show.
Morse will heal up. I read he could hit with the broken finger but the pain will be bad. What is up with King Felix, though? He has been OK, but not Ace-like.
Section 222 said...
Hey Chase, nice job getting a quote from Ventura on that walk. We could use more of that in the gamers. Thanks.
________________________________
Agreed! We asked for it and we got it! Hope it continues!
Speaking of Haren taking steps forward, he certainly takes them slowly on the base path! I think Livo would beat him in a foot race.
I wonder if Zack Greinke hit that guy on purpose? If so, he'll think about it before he does it again.
I heard Vin's call of the fight as well. Hilarious. Quentin's conduct is in excusable. He should get a 50 game suspension, or, as Mattingly suggested, not play again until Greinke has healed and is able to take the mound. Greinke was totally right. Quentin crowds the plate, steps into pitches, and leads the league in HBPs. He is trying to intimidate pitchers into not jamming him and pitchers can't give in to that. If there's any "history" between them, it's just that Quentin has been doing that for a long time. MLB needs to send a message here, and I hope it's a very strong one. Joe Torre, step up to the plate.
My views on intentional hitting a batter are well known around here. It is always wrong no matter what the unwritten rules say and should be dealt with severely. Charging the mound is even worse. Fights in baseball entertain everyone but they are dangerous and bad for the game. And the Dodgers are now paying the price big time.
Re: Haren. As usual, I was working and only caught glimpses of the game (might re-watch this morning while doing, grrrrr, TAXES). Caught glimpses of what Haren needs to be with that ball that darts around. He had some bad luck, especially with the bunt, but he also contributed to his result with so many hits. At least no long balls, and definitely liking no walks.
Bearing in mind that he comes to a different league, teammates, ballpark, etc., I think he will get his groove. He didn't look like he was hurting, that's the main thing.
Mattheus CLUTCH, Clip great, Soriano cool. Davey--nice management of the bullpen, but tonight's game is not the problem. It's the two day games, especially the Saturday game. It would be great to have a blowout against Teheran. Apparently the Barves considered skipping his start but didn't want to damage his young psyche. I say, if his psyche is that fragile, go after it! Amazing to say this, but between Game 4, the WBC, and Cinncinati, Detwiler is showing himself to have that mental toughness that goes into being a STOPPER.
Really loved RZ double after the IBB of Harper. Two relatively easy, pretty clean games in a row (against a tough team), with the bullpen and offense functioning like they should.
Joe Seamhead said...
I wonder if Zack Greinke hit that guy on purpose? If so, he'll think about it before he does it again.
April 12, 2013 7:37 AM
Good point. Obviously Greinke won't be pitching against the Nats in mid-May. Hopefully Hanley Ramirez won't be around then too!
If you watch the replay after Quentin got hit, he stares down Greinke and you see Greinke say something although you can't tell what he said.
This will get interesting. Certainly Quentin will be suspended several games.
San Diego without Headley and Quentin is a pitcher's dream.
Marquis may have thrown at Kemp leading to Greinke possibly plunking Quentin on the 3-2 pitch.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?topic_id=11493214&content_id=26208555
Turns out there was bad blood from a HBP in 2009 when Greinke was with the Royals and Quentin with the White Sox.
Seamhead - I raved about Span last night. I feel even with just 9 games that I have seen enough to convince me he is just what Rizzo wanted.
Looks like this rain will end way before game time. I am excited about this series. Would love to see us continue playing errorless ball, and I like seeing us walk 6 times to the other teams one. We also got our first two stolen bases.
I realize McCann's replacement has done very well but what is the book on his throwing arm? I don't want to revert to Riggleman's small ball but I like that Werth and Span keep pitchers antsy. That also has to help Harper and Zimm with more fastballs.
Go Nats!!
A couple of comments:
The inury to Morse is pretty much why his trade value was low. He has gotten hurt a lot over the years. Attach that to fairly poor range and a barely adequate OF glove.
Haren and the bullpen are going to be the problems the Nats face this year.
Catcher should have tackled Carlos before he reached Zack.
nats guy, I agree that Morse has limited range, but he does have a very good glove when he reaches the ball. He went an incredible number of games without an error.
308, I think comparing this offense to Riggleman's small ball, [which you weren't, but another poster has done], is offensive. ALR said it best: This is a better balanced line up.I don't need to watch 40 games before I agree.
Gonat, thanks for the link on the Greinke/Quentin episode. After watching it I agree with an earlier poster: Quentin should get a harsh suspension.
I'm going tonight, looking for tix for tomorrow, and going on Sunday. Taking my youngest grandson for his 7th birthday . I'm sure to spoil him rotten for the day as I did last year for his brother.
Just a "several games" suspension would be an outrage for Quentin attacking a guy who weighs almost 50 pounds less he does and breaking his collarbone. And yes, I'm surprised Greinke's teammates didn't try to get between him and Quentin before the collision. Where was Adrian Gonzalez?
Remember when Nyjer Morgan charged the mound and the Marlins 1B Gaby Sanchez threw himself at Nyjer after the first punch? At least in that case, the pitcher clearly was throwing at Morgan.
Haren didn’t allow any home runs this time, he just wasn’t hitting his spots.
He didn't allow any home runs because the wind was blowing in hard. He had a couple of shots off the walls that would have been easy home runs in any kind of normal conditions. Given that he didn't show much in ST and hasn't shown much since opening day, he has a long way to go to prove he's still effective, IMO.
How cold and windy was it? Cunegonde and I were in 314. Granted, we could have been dressed warmer. But by the 2nd inning, Cunegonde was complaining about the cold. Cunegonde never complains about the cold; if she had her way, our home thermostat would be set to about 60 degrees, summer and winter. The championship pennants were all blowing straight out, pointing from right field to right center.
Haren pitched poorly, but lucked out because the wind kept the Sox in the park. With all the baserunners he allowed, they could easily have scored five or six off him.
so conor gillespi's double was wind-aided?
I know I'm not the first person to ask this not-entirely-rhetorical question, but if some Phillies phan threw up on me and I slammed him to the concourse and broke his collarbone, the least of my problems would be how many days off work I'd get. Why don't players get charged with assault for this?
Mattheus CLUTCH, Clip great, Soriano cool. Davey--nice management of the bullpen,
Soriano pitched great -- pitching in his third straight game. Might we be able to put to rest the idea that Davey caused the Game 5 loss for pitching Drew in three straight?
Re: Haren. ... At least no long balls,
Err, not exactly. Dunn's shot was "long" -- I couldn't tell on TV, but: would it have gone out of the park if it weren't for the wind?
It's very surprisng to see a major leager, who pitches and hits as well as Haren, run like an old man! It looked like he was race walking!
I missed the game. Where would you rank Haren on the Carlos Baerga scale of comedy running?
Wonk==> was using "long ball" in the sense of HR, not in the sense of ball hit a long way. Werth and ALR hit lots of long balls this year, but they didn't turn into HRs. Haren got lucky and unlucky last night, it evened out, and since he didn't pitch great, he didn't get even a "quality start." He helped himself and got the win, he's probably glad to be back in the NL where he can hit--and he can pitch to pitchers.
Hey, we had a couple blown back,too. The ump also took the lower zone away from Haren. Sure, he has to adjust when that happens, but I really wish that umpires would be a lot more consistent, not to mention have some agreement between them as to what constitutes a strike and a ball. But even though there will always be umps that tend to call a higher/lower zone then others, is it really too much for them to be somewhat consistent throughout each game?
Sofa, Gibson trotted around the bases faster when he he limped out and hit the pinch hit homer in the World Series than Haren ran to 2nd last night. I think the guy should get some help.
Some days you have to pitch in a phone booth like Cincinnati, some days you get to pitch with the wind blowing in. Maybe catching a break like that is the boost he needs.
Still have not got my email for the ticket exchange. If I'm going tonight I have to make phone calls--first to my Nats rep and then to students. Can't understand why this is taking until the actual day of the game...
Sec. 3, My Untucked Sofa said...
I missed the game. Where would you rank Haren on the Carlos Baerga scale of comedy running?
I will shamelessly plagiarize from someone's tweet last night:
"Haren looks like he's running holding in a turd."
NatsLady, that is very worrisome about your ticket exchange. I called the ticket office yesterday, since I was trying to swap a ticket OFF last night's game. I was assured that "it'll all work out." I've now heard that now from at least three different ticket-office folks.
If it were the day I was supposed to go to a swapped-to game, I would be jumping up and down. They've got our money, they should give us our tickets.
Ah for the good old days. (Grumps the old man who hates change.)
Last night was a COLD night at Nats Park. I put a jacket into my backpack before I left the house, as an afterthought. It almost wasn't enough.
Haren was not overwhelmingly impressive, but his double was a sure-enough gapper. Funny that he can whack the ball like that but not run.
One of the guys in my season ticket group did place an exchange on Tuesday for todays game and his new tickets were emailed this morning. I would call if I was you...
Also, check your junk mail folder.
This is really disappointing. Spoke to a young man, he said, you will get your email before game time, plan on going to the game. He would not look into my account or let me speak to a supervisor. I said, I have to make calls and arrangements, and I leave my house at 5 for a game. He said you will get the email before that. But I was planning to go to work for a few hours WHERE I DON'T HAVE A PRINTER. He said the only way I could speck to a supervisor was to go to the box office at the park.
Now, you know, I was planning to do my taxes, not drive to the park this morning. I may just give up on the game and take the Red Carpet Points.
I have been constantly checking my email and junk, and nothing. The young man said they were handling them "in order" manually as they come up. I put my request in on April 1. This is taking too long.
NL, do you have an assigned ticket rep, as opposed to talking with a random guy who answers the phone when you press 1? My rep can issue tickets on the spot when I've had a problem. It's ridiculous you don't have your ticket yet, and the fact that you don't suggests that somehow the request did not go through properly.
Also, for your and everyone else's info, I've been told the ticket readers at the gates will read the barcode on a PDF ticket on your phone, if you have that option. I'm going to test that out tomorrow and if it doesn't work I'm sure they will just let you in when they see the ticket on your phone.
Good luck.
NatsLady said...
Wonk==> was using "long ball" in the sense of HR, not in the sense of ball hit a long way.
I know -- I was just trying to make the point that his pitching last night could very easily have led to a few (or at least one) HR.
He still hasn't pitched anything near a #4 on this rotation. I'm patient (I'm still not even throwing HRod under the bus!), and I think he'll get it together. But, last night was not really getting it together yet for him.
Deuces, I've used the phone PDF tickets to good effect. If the sun is bright it can take them a few tries, but it works.
Section 222 said...
Also, for your and everyone else's info, I've been told the ticket readers at the gates will read the barcode on a PDF ticket on your phone, if you have that option.
222, where did you hear this? I was wondering about it myself. I couldn't find anything on the Nats site that spoke to it. I wouldn't rely on that info without testing it at the gate first - with a paper ticket in hand.
And even if it DOES work, you can bet your life that if I tried it, that would be the day my phone freezes up or something. I do have my tix on my phone, but just as a backup.
Dang. Do I owe Sec. 3 a drink for answering the question I asked even before I asked it?
Candide, I'm taking a paper copy just to be sure. I asked about it at the gate. The person I talked to was dressed like a supervisor. She said you just slide the phone in face up. You might have to enlarge the barcode a bit, but it should work.
Just saw Sofa's report. That's all the confirmation we need, I'd say.
Saturday will be the first time I actually try my red plastic card. I have printed out all the other tickets. I am wondering if I should print out Saturday's ticket as well or just see how these cards work?
Natslady - I love my agent and he never fails to provide what service I need. He calls back without fail if he is not in his office (cubicle?). I have talked with others if its a general question but if I need specific help my guy is great. I am positive you have an agent assigned (well, not positive but pretty damn sure). Get to him quick.
sjm, No need to print the ticket for Saturday. And in fact, if you email the ticket to yourself, your card won't work. You just slide the card into the same machine that reads the paper ticket, and when the light turns green, you're in. It works great and I haven't heard of any problems. Just make sure you bring the right card!
I don't think so, as you didn't post the same thing.
Candide said...
Dang. Do I owe Sec. 3 a drink for answering the question I asked even before I asked it?
April 12, 2013 11:00 AM
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