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Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER Stephen Strasburg faces Edwin Jackson today at Nationals Park. |
Stephen Strasburg takes the mound for the Nationals, having made progress in his last start at Pittsburgh but still looking for his first win since Opening Day. He'll go up against a familiar face: Edwin Jackson, still looking for his first win with Chicago.
We're still waiting for Davey Johnson to post his lineup, but Bryce Harper is expected to be back after missing last night's game following a procedure to remove an ingrown toenail. Jayson Werth, meanwhile, should be officially placed on the 15-day DL any moment now, with Eury Perez recalled from Class AAA Syracuse. [UPDATE AT 1:35 P.M. — Harper actually isn't starting today, his toe still not completely healed. So Davey is going with his same lineup as last night, with Wilson Ramos catching instead of Kurt Suzuki.]
Updates to come...
CHICAGO CUBS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, Ch. 9, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500 AM), XM 186
Weather: Late rain, 75 degrees, Wind 9 mph out to CF
NATIONALS (20-15)
CF Denard Span
RF Roger Bernadina
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Ian Desmond
2B Danny Espinosa
LF Tyler Moore
C Wilson Ramos
RHP Stephen Strasburg
CUBS (13-22)
CF David DeJesus
SS Starlin Castro
1B Anthony Rizzo
LF Alfonso Soriano
RF Nate Schierholtz
3B Luis Valbuena
C Welington Castillo
2B Darwin Barney
RHP Edwin Jackson
UMPIRES
HP Doug Eddings
1B John Tumpane
2B Paul Nauert
3B Angel Hernandez (cc)
4:07 p.m. — And we are underway, on-time. It actually looked dicey there for a little while, with a small but intense rain cell approaching from the west. The grounds crew had the tarp out and ready to roll if needed, but the storm stayed just to the north, so we're in the clear. Stephen Strasburg starts off David DeJesus with a 95 mph fastball for ball one.
4:15 p.m. — Well, things started off shaky for Strasburg, who fell behind 3-0 to DeJesus, then served up a looong flyball to the wall in right-center (ultimately caught by Roger Bernadina). But the big guy settled down after that. He struck out Starlin Castro on a 91 mph changeup and got Anthony Rizzo to ground out to end the inning. That, folks, was the first 1-2-3 first inning this season for Strasburg.
4:23 p.m. — And now Edwin Jackson retires the side in the bottom of the first. I don't know the last time he did that. Sorry.
4:31 p.m. — I think the Real Stephen Strasburg is showing up today. After starting his afternoon with those three balls to DeJesus, he went on a tear, throwing 20 of his next 21 pitches for strikes. He's retired all six batters faced, has three strikeouts, is dialing his fastball up to 98 mph and is featuring both a devastating curveball and changeup. Welcome back, Stephen.
4:40 p.m. — Ian Desmond continues to not only swing a potent bat but flash some serious hustle. He turned a base hit to left-center into a double, then tagged up and took third on a flyball to medium-deep center. Unfortunately, Tyler Moore couldn't drive him home, striking out to end the second inning. It's still scoreless here.
4:46 p.m. — Wow, Strasburg showed up today, huh? No "pitching to contact" so far, he's reached back and firing on every single pitch, and he's got command of his entire arsenal. Nine up, nine down, five strikeouts. He could have something really special going on here today. Still 0-0 in the middle of the third.
5:02 p.m. — Well, so much for Strasburg's run at perfection today. Anthony Rizzo lined a base hit to center with two outs in the fourth, the Cubs' first baserunner of the day. That said, Strasburg still is dealing unlike we've seen him all year. He's got seven strikeouts through four scoreless innings, and he's thrown 41 of 53 pitches for strikes. Now, if his teammates could only score a run off Edwin Jackson...
5:10 p.m. — Not to be forgotten, Edwin is dealing his own gem right now. He's retired 12 of the 13 batters he's faced, allowing only Desmond's double in the second. Zimmerman and LaRoche did each make really solid contact in the fourth, but each hit line drives right at outfielders. So it's still scoreless as we go to the fifth.
5:33 p.m. — Just when it looked like Strasburg was going to cruise through another quick inning ... disaster. With two outs and nobody on, Wellington Castillo hit a routine grounder to third base, and Zimmerman committed his sixth throwing error of the season. Obviously, it's on Zim to make that play, and he had looked much better in recent days. But it's also on the pitcher to pick up his teammate when that happened, and Strasburg didn't come close to doing it. He immediately walked the No. 8 hitter, then served up a two-run double to the pitcher on a 3-2 count. He then walked DeJesus, allowed an infield single to Castro and then a two-run base hit up the middle to Rizzo. And just like that, it's 4-0 Cubs and Strasburg has the look of a defeated pitcher out on the mound. He needed only 53 pitches to complete four innings, but he needed 42 just to get through the fifth (26 of them coming after the Zimmerman error). Not good.
5:43 p.m. — Well, Desmond led off the bottom of the fifth with a blast to left-center, his sixth homer and league-leading 21st extra-base hit of the season. So that trimmed the lead to 4-1, but then came the most interesting development of the inning: Chad Tracy pinch-hit for Strasburg, ending the right-hander's day in abrupt fashion. I'll be very interested to hear what Davey has to say about him today. Strasburg's final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 95 pitches, 64 strikes. Stunning, really, when you consider what his first four innings looked like.
6:00 p.m. — And this game just got really ugly for the Nationals. Zach Duke entered for the sixth and promptly retired only two of seven batters faced, one of them on a sac bunt. He couldn't even finish the inning, yanked by Davey after allowing four runs. A game that 30 minutes ago looked like a gem for Strasburg has since turned into disaster. Oh, and it looks like it's about to start pouring any minute now. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice. 8-1 Cubs in the bottom of the sixth.
6:22 p.m. — Try as they might to flip this game on its head, the Nats couldn't do it in the bottom of the sixth. They did load the bases with one out, knocking Jackson out of the game and bringing Desmond to the plate to face Fairfax's own Shawn Camp. Desmond did what he's been doing so much lately: hit the ball hard. He singled to left, bringing home a run and leaving himself a triple shy of the cycle for the second time in less than 24 hours. But that's where the rally died. Espinosa struck out and Moore grounded out on the first pitch, so it's still 8-2 as we move to the seventh. But at least it didn't rain. So we've got that going for us. Which is nice.
6:32 p.m. — Yikes, Zim with his second error of the day, this one a hard grounder under his glove. You've got to wonder where his head is right now. Though to his credit, he started a very nice 5-4-3 double play to end the top of the seventh. Still 8-2.
6:54 p.m. — Once again, no cycle for Desmond. Needing a triple in his final at-bat, he struck out. Oh well. Still 8-2 going to the ninth.
7:14 p.m. — It's over. Nats lose 8-2, snapping their five-game winning streak. It'll be real interesting to hear what Davey Johnson, Ryan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg have to say after this one. Check the homepage later for their reaction.
239 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 239 of 239 Newer› Newest»Not a good day for our 3B...
Trade Zimmerman, if he has any trade value left, before his no trade clause kicks in!! He's downright awful.
You have to admit that Tyler Moore has come up in that situation waaay more than anyone else. Makes him look bad, but Espi folded right before he did. Many other Nats may have made an out also, but Tyler has been cursed with that particular situation over and over. I am so grateful for Desi. Ryan Mattheus is a gem, too.
Giving Zimm a contract like the Nats did is a hallmark of a losing franchise. He never earned it, and was injured. And now he is losing games. His bat has never woke up. Our top of the rotation is filled with head cases. Nothing changed over the five day streak. Zimm should have been traded two years ago.
phil, while they should trade him, Rizzo never will. The guy needs time to get his head together. His hitting hasnt been great since he got back and his fielding is bad and his throwing just isn't crisp.
FP is reading this blog tonite!
In a weird way, after a five game win streak, this might not actually be a bad thing for some of these guys to get some playing time. Good to see Lombo back hitting on the ground. Too many fly outs lately.
stras needs to learn to handle when they have errors behind him as of now he can't. The answer is realky simple. Don't make errors behind.
Zim's problem is all his errors are unforced. They not physical errors. He throws the ball fine when rush. Terrible when he has time. That is so easily fixable. Simply rush everything. That is a no brainer.
Ehay2k-- I get the youth and lack of minor league experience. But then why was he put in this position two years in a row? Unfair to him? Or he needs to start growing the heck up?
Everyone's not playing their best today, but the team's still been trending up lately. Blowing things up remains not the answer. Bullpen shakeup seems like the most likely, to me.
sebermetric guys what is Zim's WAR
WAR is a poor stat to use until the end of the season because it's fluctuates too wildly. His WAR last year was 4.1.
Its just a bad game. Lets hope. Still only 1 game back. Really am sick and tired of Zimm though.
Bullpen?
Pitxhing not the problem.
6 of 8 batters are under .240.
eckstein's boys are the problem.
Only 3 on tge roster doing tgei job on a consistent basis. He's not coahing them tgrough it.
Swami, I suspect one reason he came up so early was that he was the best they had at that point. Another reason would be that he put fans in the seats.
But, Rizzo et all thought he was ready, at least from a game perspective. Maturity is something where he seems to lag behind even Bryce in some ways.
Put me down with the minority. I think Stras will settle down and dominate for the summer months. He'll figure the "head thing" out too. Time for everyone who's been calling him Jesus to give it a rest. Just let him be Stras, that's good enough for me. Guys like JZimm will be good models for him to be around.
As for Zim, this will always be a nagging problem. Not as crazy as now, but what can you do but just let him play through this rough patch. Hope his red hot hitting comes sooner than later, and he forgets about having all the time in the world for a while.
As for Harvey, sure he looks like the real deal, but so did Stras when he first came up. Baseball careers can be marathons too. Harp is a rarity.
What is the team doing to address the Ryan situation? Because it IS a situation. You can't have a third basemen who throws half of the routine plays away and ever expect to be a great team. You just can't.
As for Stras, there just isn't an excuse. I'm starting to get tired of this. Has the team given him 3 run leads every game? No. But do you think Matt Harvey, Shelby Miller, or any other highly touted phenom (and by the way, they weren't half as highly touted as this kid) melts down when something goes wrong? The Nats have to be careful how they work with this kid, because this is starting to develop into a pattern here. If the wheels come off against the Chicago Cubs....man...
4.1 last year, not my question. I will take it with a grain of salt. Is it negative now?
Honestly, I think we win this game if the score holds at 4-1. If Zach Duke doesn't give up those 4 runs, I think we come back and win it.
It is .1 this year.
It has been shown this year that when things start to unravel Mattheus and Stammen are your best "fire putter outters."
We couldn't use Stammen because he threw almost 60 pitches yesterday. And Davey didn't want to exhaust the bullpen. I understand why he used Duke, but Duke isn't reliable. We need someone who can get the job done.
By bullpen, I mostly just mean maybe Duke, I suppose.
Hitting is a problem, it's true. Bench could see a shake-up. But in terms of starters...our best major-league ready starters are all here. Not much to be done but work on their swings and hope for the best, or trade. But a trade seems unlikely this early in the season.
BX jaycobb. WELL SAID
Nice to see Henry throwing 100 and getting outs. Five game win streak. These things happen. Start again tomorrow.
Well the Braves are getting blown out for the 2nd straight now. They're down 10-1 and the Giants have RISP again.
I am really glad Stras will miss LA and pitch in San Diego. Out of the limelight.
Haren had the wheels come off against the Marlins, which was worse, immediately following a Zimm error. His next few starts, he stepped it up. Stras can too.
That's the spirit, emdash!!!!!!
On a positive note (or two) : Henry got some work and looked good; the Barves are losing worse than we are; Eury Perez is up and if he plays well, we can use him in a trade.
Ian Desmond, Bryce Harper and Jordan Zimmermann are this team's MVPs. No doubt.
.1. Will be interested what it is after today.
His fielding woyld be tolerable if he was hitting like Desi. However he is hitting as bad as his fielding.
I'm not the least bit worried about Zim's hitting. I've seen this before. He'll be fine. His throwing won't go away. That's concerning.
Thanks for the kind thoughts regarding my sister. Sorry if I seemed hard on Stras, but it's just very frustrating. You can say what you want, but he hasn't had a real dominating start since Opening Day.
Henry was really good!!!!!!!!
@David Proctor would add Soriano, and a runner up to Craig Stammen
Too many swing at balls and lets strikes go.
The approach is pathetic.
Just gotta win series. Anything else is gravy. Got a chance to do that tomorrow.
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