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USA Today Sports Images Stephen Strasburg makes his first career start at Petco Park. |
The Nationals' struggling lineup could get a jolt with Bryce Harper back after missing the last two games following his collision with the fence in L.A. (He did come off the bench last night to pinch-hit late.) The Nats could certainly use their best hitter again, though of course only if he's healthy enough to perform at his peak level.
Speaking of health, Wilson Ramos has officially been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a recurrence of his hamstring strain. That means Kurt Suzuki will once again become the everyday catcher, with Jhonatan Solano returning from Class AAA Syracuse to serve as his backup.
I'm not on the West Coast, but I will be talking Nats tonight on the latest edition of "The Baseball Show" on CSN. Note the delayed 11:30 p.m. EDT start time, which should fall somewhere around the fifth or sixth inning of the Nats game...
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN DIEGO PADRES
Where: Petco Park
Gametime: 10:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 186
Weather: Partly cloudy, 63 degrees, Wind 6 mph out to RF
NATIONALS (21-19)
CF Denard Span
2B Steve Lombardozzi
LF Bryce Harper
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam LaRoche
SS Ian Desmond
RF Roger Bernadina
C Kurt Suzuki
RHP Stephen Strasburg
PADRES (18-21)
SS Everth Cabrera
RF Will Venable
3B Chase Headley
1B Yonder Alonso
LF Chris Denorfia
2B Jedd Gyorko
CF Alexi Amarista
C Nick Hundley
RHP Edinson Volquez
UMPIRES
HP Lance Barksdale
1B Vic Carapazza
2B Jeff Nelson (cc)
3B D.J. Reyburn
278 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1 – 200 of 278 Newer› Newest»A night off for Danny. Well well well.
Werth not playing at Potomac tonight. I suspect because of the rain in the forecast, but has anyone seen an official word?
Mitch Williams just took Stras to task for showing up his infield- or of making it look that way. Eric Byrnes loves Harper and feels that he will learn to be more moderate about walls. I have been a Nats fan since day one and I spent a lot of time fussing about the media ignoring us. Not anymore. The target is firmly affixed. My problem with the daily line up fixes is this --- you need to use the same one for a period of time anywhere from a series to a week or two weeks. Same thing with fielding positions. How can anyone get in a rhythm with the shuffling around? Baseball, other work situations -- people work better when they can get comfortable for a period of time- constant changing throws people off.
He made a good point. You don't see the fielders huffing and puffing when a pitch ends up in the seats. They support Stras. Heck, even his last start, the defense threw out a baserunner to prevent a triple. Strasburg really needs to mature.
Having said that, I have no doubt he will. I know some here have practically been ready to ship him off. I'm not even close to that point. He'll get it together. He's too good not to.
Looking for a good game from Stras and the Nats tonight. GYFNG!!!
Relax! We got this. Wow, other than Headly and Alonso I don't know any of these guys.
Listened to an interview with Tony Gwynn. His philosophy on Ks and mine are identical. He said players used to be embarrassed to K, not they could care less.
Would love to have him as hitting coach.
I hope Harper's really well enough to play; it really seems that, as badly as he's banged up, he needs a few more rest days no matter how he feels about it.
The organization is medically conservative with their pitchers, but when it comes to position players I think they aren't generally speaking. But I hope I'm wrong and he's able to play successfully.
Ian Desmond seems to have moved from steak to peanut butter. He tweeted "#peanutbutter" and posted a pic of it.
it's time for tge first quarrer grades.
suzuki B-
Ramos B
LaRoche D (trending way up)
Espinosa F
Lombodozzi D
Desmond A
zimmerman C (trending up)
Tracy F
Harper A
Span A
Werth B
Shark F
Moore F
Strasburg B-
Gonzalez B-
Haren B- (trending up)
Detwiler B+ (trnding down)
Zimmerman A+
Stammen A
Mattheus B
Clippard B
Storen D+
Hrod B
Duke F
soriano A
Johnson C-
Eckstein F
MxCatty B
Harper responded to Desmond by tweeting #jelly.
Peanut Butter...not drawing the connection...?
Clipboard a B? Ooh maybe C
There was no connection to steak. The whole RBI = ribeyes thing wasn't true. Desmond just really likes steak and kind of ran with it.
Like all your grades otherwise though. Clipping,walks a few too many for a B in my opinion.
why not give Danny R a shot if Det can not go? also, Duke really needs to go along with Henry
Moore was in tune when he came up last year b/c he was playing everyday in Syracuse, banging home runs and just being in a rhythm. Send him down to tune up again. Let Tracy back up ALR for the next month and a half or so. Then bring TyMo back in August or September. I like TyMo a lot more than Tracy, but seems unfair to kill his game by making him ride the bench right now.
Bring up Rendon to play 2B now. Let him adapt to the ML life and pitching and by August he'll be in tune as well. If Rizzo and Davey make such moves now, we'll be where we want with our young and hungry lineup for the homestretch.
Don't know if I'd have Espy opt for surgery now, b/c who would cover SS if Desi goes down for a couple weeks? Maybe still need Danny's glove. Keep Lombo as utility everything.
Someone should do a take-off on the old Bobby Fuller song. Call it "Bryce fought the wall, and the wall won."
Manassas Nats' Fan said...
it's time for tge first quarrer grades.
You get F for Spelling.
What's the word on Det's back?
I think Stras will have a good outing tonight. Unlike some, I have faith that Stras is, in fact, a mentally tough guy. He certainly wasn't last outing and he's gotten rattled in the past, but over the long haul I think he will prove to be. He's smart. And he's stubborn--the kind of stubborn that learns. Write it down, write it down.
Nothing conclusive on Det's back - they're hoping it's not severe and he'll be able to make his next start, but they're not sure.
Listen, I have no desire to sit Stras, trade him, or any such thing. I just want him to clean up his act. The Nats protected him a lot from the press when he was new-- not Harper. Even last year, the organization took all the heat and he never really took a party line-- they have my best interests at heart, I will deal with it- no. He just sighed a lot and have that LOOK. He needs to get a grip and realize that he is part of a team and that kids wear his shirt and watch how he acts. Fake it if you have to. I certainly have had to do that and I am sure that you all have had to do it too. I want him on our team but I want him to man up!!
The name Hundley should be a name you'd remember Seamhead.
you know in the last 5 games, only JZ has gotten a win for the nats, ouch
Realdealnats-- I hope you are correct!!!! And I really hope Det will be fine. If not I would go Stammen. He is pretty stretched out and would probably get better results than anyone in Syracuse. Duke can be long man. ( don't throw things at me for suggesting that!)
Teddy- couple of those starts really should have been wins-- no offensive production, weird error Sunday.
Looks like Suzuki is going to get vested and paid.
So about Jayson not playing at Potomac. ( almost went, by the way), it's not even close to wet, is he sore from last night or on his way to California as we speak?? Inquiring minds want to know!
Has Solano made it to California for tonight's game?
On pace to win 84 games. Not sure that's going to do it
Verlander vs Darvish on MLBN. Gonna have to watch that until our game.
He is pretty stretched out and would probably get better results than anyone in Syracuse.
It would be interesting to see if the new cutter he developed is enough to get him through five innings.
I get and F for having fat fingers small andoid screen and a font that is half the size in the reply box then the finish products, but eyes that cornea problems and cant focus on any of this.
That is why i think espi needs vision checked.
At this point docs telling me within 10 years I will have to have a 73 inch screen to see games as I am going blind slowly but surely.
Another reason I like winning every game as eventually I will see no wins or type ant messages
On pace to win 84 games. Not sure that's going to do it
Let's see if they can get Zim, Harper, and Desmond hitting together and perhaps LaRoche. And somehow convince the table-setters to like THE WALK! God damn it not one of them like to walk! Except for Werth when he is in the #1/#2 slots.
"Stras is, in fact, a mentally tough guy. . .. He's smart. And he's stubborn--the kind of stubborn that learns."
"Mentally tough" and "stubborn" don't necessarily go together, or with "smart," either. There's a Spanish word, "duro," which means both "tough" and "stubborn" but in common usage carries an implication of "dumb and thick-headed." I'm beginning to think that's the word we're looking for. We'll see what happens tonight.
Every team in the NL East has lost more of the last 5 games than they've won. Which is kind of amazing. Maybe we're the new AL Central!
Marlins: 3-9 in May
Mets: 4-8 in May
Braves: 5-9 in May
Phillies: 7-7 in May
Nats: 8-5 in May
Team scoring on the season by division: MLB team scoring by division: AL East 916, AL Central 871, AL West 864, NL Central 857, NL West 830, NL East 726. !
So the good news is that we're all kinda terrible right now.
So the good news is that we're all kinda terrible right now.
And its almost June when the bats start to come alive if they are going to come alive.
EmDash--thanks re: Det.
Theophilus--that's why I qualified the kind of stubborn I mean. But hey, we'll see over the long haul, and I might look silly in the morning at this early juncture.
Exciting weird baseball note: Juan Pierre hit a homerun off of Mat Latos. In Miami!
Did anyone see Amanda's article on Greinke? Interesting stuff. Apparently Greinke told Mark Lerner that he was right when he said the team would be good soon. Greinke didn't believe him at the time. Link:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/may/16/zack-greinke-impressed-nationals-rise-doesnt-dwell/
Manassas.. excellent grades.. I think JZ needs to be A+++++++++++++++
Cool article about Greinke...thanks for sharing.
Amanda Comak @acomak 37s
Ross Detwiler was sent for an MRI on his back. Davey says he's "probably not that confident" he will make his next start but hopeful not DL
Uh oh...
Jzim has been superior. I know he wo't win 28, but neat to be on that pace.
Ross, nooo.
If they're not planning to use the DL, Stammen can't be used for the next four games. Which means the starters really need to be on their games, and there's a higher chance of more innings for Duke and Henry. That's gonna be rough.
color announcer , Steve Blass, says it best. The reason people strike out a lot is simple. they swing at a lot of balls, and lett strikes go. All poorly coached or have a coach who they do not listen too and the manager doesn't care.
peric said...
The name Hundley should be a name you'd remember Seamhead.
May 16, 2013 7:28 PM
-----------------------/-
Honestly, peric, I glazed right over him.I freely admit to not being very familiar with the Pads.
Via twitter- Jayson felt something in his hammy, saw the doc, doing Potomac Friday, San Diego Saturday. Back on the DL in a week ??? Wish these guys would heal completely!!! They end up missing more time this way. More bubble wrap!!!
Who said that on twitter? I did not see that.
I think the Shark's defense earns him an extra point.
I hope Stras is happy and pitches brilliantly and that our bats light up more than the Padres' do.
GYFNG
Wait Jayson plans to return for a week then back on DL? That's... Weird...
No, that's not the plan. Swami is saying he's coming back soon and will probably end up back on the DL in a week if he's not healthy.
Ah... Yeah... Heal up bozos!
Morse HR 10
Comack reporting about Jayson. And no, one week is not his plan, it's my fear! Ok- who is Manziel and why is it a big deal to have him around the players and have his picture taken with Davey. Can he hit?
haha. Johnny Manziel (also known as Johnny Football) is a college football player. He won the Heisman Trophy as a freshman--the first peron to ever do so. Davey is a Texas A&M alum (where Manziel) goes so that's the connection.
You would think he was the pope or Justin Beiber the way twitter is blowing up about it. Can he like bless the bats or something?
Verlander is melting down. He loaded the bases and then walked in the run. Bases loaded, still no out. Can't find the strike zone.
He just walked in another run.
Happens to the best of them-- and on the highly touted national broadcast.
Touted as a great game of 2 Aces and Darvish and Verlander both fell apart in the 3rd inning.
WOW. Verlander has completely imploded.
Verlander pulled in the 3rd. 7 earned runs.
And Vrtlander completely melts down. Puddle left with 7 ER given up.
Final tonight. Nats 7 Padres 2.
we can all go to bed.
Correction. 8 earned by Verlander. They corrected the score.
And now Jayson is delayed from the DL. Specialist in NY. Disappointed but I really do want him to get all the way well for when the Nats pull their stuff together and go on a run.
That was fast. Wonder what happened.
Not a good day for Aces. Hope ours fares better.
Also, LOLOL at Johnny Holiday. He said Espinosa broke out of his funk with a 1-for-4 last night.
Venters and Hanrahan both just had Tommy John. Would not wish that on anyone. At least our guys have relatively minor stuff. Last year everyone had obliques, this year hammies. Get well, everyone, and let's play ball!!
Interesting. Ramos said he thinks he keeps hurting his hammy because he put too much pressure on that leg while trying to recover from his ACL over the winter.
Could be-- he worked sooo hard to get back. Guy has been through so much.
David Proctor I laughed at Johnn Holliday's stupid comment too.
Ray Knight needs to be real. He lets good pitches go and swings at ones in the dirt.
Pre/ Post game shows are a joke.
>Pre/ Post game shows are a joke.
Never watch them. I do listen to Phil Wood on my way home from games.
Corey Brown is off the 'Cuse DL.
I watch post game to hear Davey.
Well on west coast swing I don't
If he performs well over the next week or so, do not be surprised to see him with the big club.
Darvish threw some strange pitch (not quite an eephus), you had to see Miguel Cabrera's face...
Dang, a few years ago today Strasburg through a no hitter for SD State.
Interesting. Apparently, Davey Johnson had a long one-on-one chat with Danny Espinosa today.
David Proctor said...
Interesting. Apparently, Davey Johnson had a long one-on-one chat with Danny Espinosa today.
May 16, 2013 10:05 PM
____________________________
Probably discussing good restaurants in the San Diego area.
carp has low standards. Span lays off one a foot outsideand Carp says a good layoff.
Wasn't an amazing take, but it was a pretty good AB.
Now Lombo's AB...
Tell me Lombo is a lot better. 3 pitches no thought o swinging.
Well that sucked.
On the replay, I'm not sure the 2B got the tag on Harper before his hand touched. But the throw beat him by a mile.
If Harper's abdimon is hurting why is he playing.
I wonder if Torasco even had a chance to yell "Stay"
In most parks that is OK.
Yikes this strike zone.
Very good play by Lombardozzi. Some fuel for the guys who want him at 2B over Espi.
See, Lombo can play defense!
Can't help Volquez out Desi.
This guy has no command at all. Keep taking the walks and then drive in some runs.
Uh, where was that call for Strasburg?
Same pitch. Great, an inconsistent ump.
What was that a ball way high. lets strike out on it.
I love FP. What a homer. He's making up excuses for Desi.
either swing or dont
Why are these guys striking out. This guy not throwing strikes
And the K parade starts early tonight.
Yikes.
Typical Nats inning. 2 on with no outs and 3 straight K's.
FP is getting critical now, that's a sign of stuff getting pretty bad out there.
Cant even advance the runner. This guy started this inning completely lost and 3 K is the best they can do.
This guys is terrible. first 2 guys up with a plan. don't swing at balls. Last 3 could have easily walked to, but they don't mind swinging at balls.
That is approach. We know who doesnt coach approach.
Everyone agrees there is a problem. only one common donominator.
Wow for a team in a slump that half inning hurts
It's immature, but I very much enjoy that there's an MLB player whose name is pronounced Jerko.
Stras's mechanics are off. Injury, or something else?
Another 2 strike hit by pitch. What do these damn pitcher think about to do that.
It's not injury. Sometimes guys fly open. It happens.
I thought that was a base hit. Nice play by Desmond.
Great defense behind Stras so far!
Good job by Desi.
Nice play by Desi, doesn't make up for pitiful batting effort.
Stras does that weird release 5-10 times a game almost every game of his career. Looks pretty normal to me.
Let's be honest, no player on this team has a good approach at the plate unless they brought it with them. That is a complete failure of player development and instruction. A bad teacher/school blames the students. Eck must go.
Span isn't a guy who strikes out a lot. This guy must be effectively wild or something.
We are 10th in league in homers but second in strikeouts. So if we aren't hitting homer why do we strike iut so much. Here is a disconnect.
Strasburg's ERA is down to 2.98.
Which is great, but he leads the league in unearned runs. That's not so great.
span 23 K in 143 AB
One thing I've read that Buck Showalter does that I think is a really good idea is to go over the home plate umpire's strikezone before the game and let that guide the hitting approach - wide zone, go patient. Small zone, go up hacking. That's something I'd like to see the Nats try.
League leader in steals and Stras walks him on 4 pitch non close. Not real smart.
Pretty sure he didn't do it on purpose, Manassas...
Walks a double. To me that is worse tgan RZims error last Saturday.
Hey, at least Strasburg is pitching around some adversity today.
And Stras is losing it...
Got away with it, but still not bright pitching.
He worked through it. Maybe the coaches told him to practice working through adversity today. *g* (Kidding, honest.)
We have to score a run eventually right?
EmDash, that is interesting info. It sure would be a good idea if they did that for both hitters and pitchers.
I mean, it's got to be possible...
these balls are not strikes they are swunging at.
rzim pitches no worse than others. he is just not swinging at them.
Adam LaRoche is HOT right now.
LaRoche!!!!
There goes the no hitter
Thats a good sign
Cabrera is making some serious plays at SS today.
How did Desi not beat that? Way in the hole. i thought adesi was faster than that.
Runs!
And holy crap, is there a play area for children in a place where people can hit homeruns?! That's insane.
There we go
MNF, I bet Zimm gets an earful from Eck for not swinging at those!
Yep, Peric, keep saying ALR sucks!
OK, that pitch LaRoche hit out was a NASTY change up. I can't believe he even managed to get to it.
Harper looks miserable sitting there in the dugout...
He's still sad over losing his beard, EmDash.
Guess they won't pitch around RZ OK m anymore.
Missed Harper looking ill. Really hope he has no brain contusions and that they're all just on the surface.
"RZ OK m" = RZim...heh
I'm very confident Bryce is fine head-wise. They wouldn't risk that (and in fact, they can't, the MLBPA and MLB would throw a serious fit). Now, elsewhere...
Unless Bryce is fully healthy, why is he in there?
That was a NASTY changeup.
Thank you Denorfia for 1st ball swinging.
Indeed NatsJack. Sometimes if you throw your flaccid old limbs at something hard enough...
That was very low.
Small ball in effect
The third strike stras should have bunted Suzuki to 3rd
Now we will get to see what Lombo does with his approach.
MNF that third "strike" was a ball.
Lombo got a little lucky there, but I'll take it.
Look at that Espi. Bat on ball and BABIP works.
I thought lombo's ball would be caught. Get more.
Way too go lombo
A'ight... I'm guessing they pitch to Zim this time...
OFFENSE!!
YES!
Volquez is missing badly on his pitches. RZ does it!
If the ump calls it a strike. Ut is not a ball as we know.
stras just wants the same call.
Credit to Bryce for getting his grounder to the right side to move both runners up for RZ.
Anyone remember my predicted score?
Small ball. Nice and easy. Now swing outta yer shoes until they're on the board.
This is the most run support Strasburg has had all season. He must be digging that.
"If the ump calls it a strike. Ut is not a ball as we know.
stras just wants the same call."
He can only go by what the ump had called up till that point. That had been a ball all night.
Umps ain't infallible.
Bryce was getting to that ball very slowly unless it was fan interference.
With a 5 run lead, why can't Davey give Bryce the rest of the night off and bring in Eury.
Stras is flying open now.
Well that sets up the double play...
I went to the restroom. game days says double to desnond? was that a Texas keague pop. THEN walk. Was he near the plate?
Not fan interference -- security guy's chair interference.
Stras isn't getting his curveball in. Work that fastball and changeup.
Ump are simply fallible. Only Popes are infallible, unless there are two, in which case I think they take turns being infallible.
What the hay? We need a shut down inning.
Need a doubleplay here!
I think the walk was a pitch around
gonat -- agree in principle re Bryce. Just like after the Atlanta wall hit, he hasn't gotten anything out of the infield and is clearly in some pain or at least strain in trying to hit.
But in practice, good luck getting him out of the game once you've written him into the lineup unless he can't move.
Lombardozzi just saved Zimmerman's ass.
Lombo just saved the day on that horrible throw by RZ.
All he had to do was srep on 3rd. It was an easy play
Is this deja vu? Please get out of it Stras.
OK Stras... Pick. It. Up.
Wrong Manassas, he wasn't going to beat the guy to 3rd.
Nice difference in body language by Stras.
Steady, I hear you. Davey has to be the bossman.
No biggie to give up the run there. Just don't let it get out of control.
Come on..
GREAT job by Strasburg. That's how you do it, not like last time.
David Proctor said...
Nice difference in body language by Stras.
_________________________
Very true. If the Nats get out of this, that lousy defender Lombo saved the day! (sarcasm)
I agree MNF...shoulda stepped on third... Are they setting Stras up?!
Bravo Stras!!!
Now Stras did finally what he needed to do. Way to go!
1 unearned run better than last time. Not sure why zim
didnt take the easy out
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