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USA Today Sports Images Jordan Zimmermann dominated the Marlins to improve to 3-0 this season. |
Hitting highlight: It hasn't been a banner couple of weeks for Ryan Zimmerman, who in addition to committing three errors in the field entered this game with a .220 batting average and zero homers. Perhaps this performance well help get him back on track. Zimmerman pounced on LeBlanc for a two-run single in the top of the first, helping the Nationals open up a commanding early lead. Three innings later, he stepped to the plate to face right-hander John Maine (who had just been summoned from the Miami bullpen) and immediately crushed the first pitch he saw into the Clevander bar beyond the left field fence for his long-awaited first home run of 2013. Nothing like the Marlins pitching staff to cure what ails you, huh?
Pitching highlight: How fearsome is a Marlins lineup that entered tonight batting a collective .204 with a paltry .262 slugging percentage? Not very. Now take Giancarlo Stanton out of that lineup. Is it any wonder Zimmermann was licking his chops the moment he took the mound for this one? The right-hander absolutely cruised early on, retiring the first 10 batters he faced and completing five innings while facing the minimum on a scant 48 pitches. Zimmermann did start to fade a bit as the evening wore on, giving up a couple of runs in the sixth and another in the seventh, but the combination of his low pitch count and the Nationals' big lead offered some extra rope. So there was Zimmermann taking the mound for the ninth inning for the first time in 84 career starts, and he indeed finished what he started, improving to 3-0 in the process.
Key stat: Not only are the Nationals 4-0 against the Marlins, but they've now outscored Miami 21-4 in those four games.
Up next: The series continues Tuesday night, with Dan Haren hoping to produce his first quality start of the season. Right-hander Alex Sanabia starts for the Marlins, with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
38 comments:
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!! JZ with a complete Game!
RZim to some certain fans: "I ain't dead yet."
MicheleS said...
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO!!! JZ with a complete Game!
April 15, 2013 9:37 PM
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Oh yah!!!!!
i pulled my shirt tail despite no save.
rest the bullpen , now they are ready.
Mark wrote: "Nothing like the Marlins pitching staff to cure what ails you, huh?"
Yeah -- that's for the hitters. But the opposite is also true for the Nats pitchers: "Mothing like the Marlins hitters to cure what ails you, huh?"
(Not that JZ was ailing -- just a reference to the fact that we've outscored them 21-4).
Big game tomorrow for Haren. We need the win considerimg our upcoming schedule, and Dan needs to right the ship. Nothing like an anemic Marlins line up to get you back on track.
D'Gourds, if a healthy Stanton is in there, this is a much better lineup.
Harem better pitch a great game tomorrow. He should be well rested, having pitched only 9 innings so far this season.
Haren. Stupid auto-correct...
A DC Wonk said...
RZim to some certain fans: "I ain't dead yet."
Amen Wonk. Hopefully that throw in the ninth will stop the foolishness about not being able to throw across the diamond - it was the exact same throw as Friday night, the difference being that it didn't take a big chop and force him to retreat as much and there was no runner on first giving him an option to go the short way to 2nd. People can believe what they like, but to suggest he didn't try to throw Upton out because he didn't think he could make the throw across the infield rather than because he thought his only play was at 2nd is... well, like I said, people can believe what they like.
Amazing how quiet it is here after a resounding win compared to how active this site is with negativity after a loss. Sad that people prefer to talk after losses.
why do we have this attitude of 'we must win all games before the world ends tomorrow'?
Nice win and we certainly needed this. Liked Davey resting a couple of people and while he might fight it, time for Bryce to take a day off as well.
Watched the first few innings even though Carp drives me crazy. When he had Jason Werth grounding out when it was actually Roger Bernadina I came upstairs to Charlie and Dave. How can you not notice a pinch hitting change as a play by play guy? I also think they have a guy in the booth to spot as well. Was there any further reference to Ryan Z. having leg problems? FP mentioned it on Desmond's first double saying Zimm struggled getting to 3rd, but I didn't hear anything on the radio broadcast.
Have to think that things were calm on the game posts.
Thanks to Mark for mentioning the horror in Boston and putting things in perspective.
Just keep winning two of three boys!
Go Nats!!
To be fair to Carp, it must've been confusing since everyone was wearing 42. Although I'd think he would notice the different skin colors...
Some people need to vent after losses to get their frustration out. It's what they do. Not a big deal.
Didn't see much of the game as I was watching Boston coverage.
Did click over to the game at one point and saw that the score was 10-3. D'oh! Then I realized that the Nats had the 10. Congrats to Jordan on the CG. Scooter must be very proud.
On another note, sorry nobody was at the picnic tables on Saturday, sjm. Hadn't seen chatter about people meeting up before the game and was sitting in RF for that one, so didn't venture to the tables after getting my bobblehead and food. I'm sure we'll do it again at some point.
Nice to see Lombo and TyMo tear it up as starters tonight. Offense and defense. Kudos to JZim, our very BEST pitcher. Nice game for the other Zim, who scared me with his gimpiness, but just has cramps.Tough day , strange day- nice that there was absolutely no drama in Natsland.
Swami - thanks for that update - I was worried it was more than that.
Really hoping Haren will continue to improve from that first start. I honestly can't wait to see Detwiler again. I think he and JZimmnn just bring so much more to this rotation even though SS and Gio get most of the publicity.
Zim( Ryan) had hits, a home run and made some gorgeous fielding plays AND throws. If there was anything more serious with his leg, they would have pulled him. He has had some cramps and residual soreness, is running gingerly.,home run trot helped.
I just saw the White Sox highlights and Adam Dunn was playing 1st base and made a great play on a stretch scoop to his backhand on a throw. Impressive!
baseballswami said...
Nice to see Lombo and TyMo tear it up as starters tonight.
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Lombo should get a bunch of starts in place of Espi. This should be interesting if Lombo gets going with some offense.
To be fair to Carp, it must've been confusing since everyone was wearing 42. Although I'd think he would notice the different skin colors...
Or, perhaps even more obvious from a distance: some lefty was batting instead of a righty.
I see Mets had another snow out.
Watchings Angels @ Twins now.
Heave away, chaps, I'm no dead yet!"
Gonat- one knock against Lombo has been no power- he built up some muscle in the off season and is crushing the ball, still has the great eye and makes contact. The defense-no problem. I hear about Danny's "ceiling"- ok. But Lombo keeps improving and Danny is staying the same. This could be interesting. We are extremely lucky to have Lombo and Moore- you can start them without losing offense. No drop off on defense tonight, either.
Angels 4 W 9 L after tonight. Trout/Pujols/JoshHamilton
he built up some muscle in the off season
He sure did -- I just barely recognized him! Good for him!
Rendon is warming up.
He doubled and homered again today. He's up to .333.
And it's great to see Desi getting back to his old self again at the plate, though that bobble of the should-have-been double play (that only yielded the force out) was a bit troubling. He'd been pretty clean with the glove since those early errors against the Reds.
Wow, what a great game. Didn't get to see alot of it but have enjoyed reading the game post and comments. Nothing like facing a lousy pitcher and a lousy lineup to cure what ails ya. And it was great to see that TyMo made the most of his start and Zim came out of his doldrums. Excellent news.
People can believe what they like, but to suggest he didn't try to throw Upton out because he didn't think he could make the throw across the infield rather than because he thought his only play was at 2nd is... well, like I said, people can believe what they like.
That's right, they can believe what they like, as you do. Hopefully today's play will help Zim feel confident that he can make that throw and won't shy away from it in the future, even when there's a runner on first that he might be able to get in a force out. If you think Zim made the throw to second on Friday night because he thought that was his only play, you haven't looked at the evidence, particularly the overhead video that MLB network showed this afternoon. But that's fine. It's tough to admit that the FoF doesn't walk on water.
Two throws in the ninth with plenty of zip and on target after making great fielding plays. Couple hits, first home run. Whatever it is, he is not done.
Oops, never mind.
David Proctor said...
Amazing how quiet it is here after a resounding win compared to how active this site is with negativity after a loss. Sad that people prefer to talk after losses.
In this case, a lot of folks have just switched over to watching the news, I suspect.
Indeed.
I love Jordan. I love not whining about how "bad" we are. I don't miss the naysayers a bit.
How welcome the change! In seasons past, Miami had our number; to quote Lou Brown, we couldn't ". . .figure out a way to beat these guys." No longer an issue.
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