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USA Today Sports Images Gio Gonzalez pitched seven scoreless innings but didn't get the win. |
Hitting lowlight: There was a highlight, one of them: Ryan Zimmerman's RBI double off the right-field wall to score Denard Span in the bottom of the first. After that, the Nationals did almost nothing at the plate. They had their chances against starter Scott Feldman and the Cubs bullpen, but they kept squandering opportunities, going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Pitching highlight: Like Stephen Strasburg on Saturday, Gonzalez was unhittable early on, in this case retiring the first 15 batters he faced. Unlike Strasburg, Gonzalez was able to pitch his way out of a jam, this time in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, Gonzalez got Anthony Rizzo to ground out to first, ending the inning, and skipped off the mound fired up. That was the left-hander's only hiccup the entire afternoon. He cruised through a 1-2-3 seventh inning and certainly looked capable of going all the way. But Johnson made the surprising decision to pinch-hit for Gonzalez at that point, with his pitch count only at 86. And that move backfired, leaving Gio with no-decision despite a fabulous performance.
Key stat: Ian Desmond entered the day with three walks all season. He drew two in his first three plate appearances today.
Up next: The Nationals are headed west for a long, 11-game trip through the entire state of California. They open Monday at 10:10 p.m. EDT in Los Angeles, with Jordan Zimmermann seeking his league-leading seventh win against the Dodgers' Josh Beckett (still seeking his first win).
51 comments:
Dodgers, Padres, and defending world champion Giants. Loads of fun with no offense to speak of.
Yet another example of this team putting a run up and just trying to cruise through the rest of the game. The offense just shut down and didn't take advantage of any opportunities.
i put 50% of loss on Davey. 20% on Dtoren 5% on Suzuki 25% on Eckstein.
Do not replace a starter who has command with only 85 ppitxhes. NEVER.
Our hitters as a team not productive. For 3 years I have called for a new hitting coach, and will til the team bats .275. We arent even .230 I bet.
The offense just shut down and didn't take advantage of any opportunities.
With Harper's bat cooled there is NO OFFENSE. He's been IT. Desmond is the only other hitter/run producer. At this point Desmond should bat third and Harper 4th, Zim 5th, and LaRoche in front of the catcher or 2nd.
Bummer for Gio.
Home plate umpire needs to be canned.
Umpire is horrible. Bottom line is this is not a good team. Offense is inept. And when the so called strength of the team comes in and throws up all over itself you are big trouble. No playoffs this year unless there are some changes. Horrid play by Suzuki.
The Giants were .500 at this point last year. Last year, ONE team who led their division at this point in the season ended up winning it: it was us.
We have a long way to go, folks.
Looked like winners against the Tigers and looked like losers against the Cubs
Please with Suzuki hitting bat. It was bad baseball. Move your butt and throw the ball correctly. If your gonna make excuses for him why don't you do it for your boy Espi. And don't tell me to grow up. I'm not the guy wasting money on TATTS
Davey needs to be gone, now!
For the people complaining about Drew being brought in: he desperately needed work. He's pitched 2 times in 11 games. We need him in good shape for the road trip. Combine that with needing to add on runs, and it makes complete sense to make the change. You have to manage for the future too.
>>>For the people complaining about Drew being brought in: he desperately needed work.
There's a game tomorrow and the day after and the day after.
Davey spit this win out.
11 days. not 11 games.
Yes and Davey thought Drew needed work before we go into LA. LA, despite whatever the record, is a better team than the Cubs. He wanted Drew in good form for that series.
I used to come to this blog and know there was going to be a group of well mannered, intelligent fans posting in the comments and would enjoy reading and interacting. Now it absolutely turns my stomach to see the nonsense that gets written here. I guess winning brought the front runner fans with football mentalities out of the wood work. I will no longer be reading comments or posting here. To those who don't suck (you know who you are) best of luck in your Nationals' fandom.
Suzuki had to rush to make the throw. In retrospect it would've been better not to throw at all, but he couldn't exactly have known that it would hit the bat the way it did.
I still think pulling Gio was a miscalculation on Davey's part - it would've been different if he could reasonably expect that a pinch-hitter might've gotten a hit, but, well, not the case right now - but I understand the rationale. And it's not like Storen or Soriano got hit hard, mostly - just some seeing-eye grounders that were well-placed.
Hitting is the only real problem I see in these two games. Well, that and Zach Duke. The bench probably needs to be adjusted a bit; Moore is the most likely to be sent down, I'd expect, but it's hard to say.
This team plays down to their competition so well.
Wow this was the first time Suzuki has ever been ejected from a game.
This team is just frustrating. I don't care if Drew has pitched twice in 11 days. Hes a major pitcher and can handle himself and just hasnt. He continues to give up hit after hit. Gio shouldve still been in the game but thank Davey for that genius decision. If he wanted to make a good move he would get rid of Eckstein cause at this point continually trying to win games where your offense is putting up a max of 3 runs will not result in lots of W's. I'm tired of this "Oh everything will come around soon" mentality. He should be demanding excellence every game from his players not coddling them every time they fail
Nats jack I like your posts a s well as everyone's. but to tell somebody to grow up because you disagree with their opinion is CHILDISH.. Lets get them tomorrow. Go nats
Everyone wanted Eck gone last year too, until June when the offense started putting up big numbers. A hitting coach doesn't magically make everything better.
At the game with a friend, but I left after they gave the Cubs the lead. When Tracy came up, we both asked the same thing: Since he has a better batting average than Tracy, why not let Gio hit? And when Tracy was retired, we asked it again.
Was going to keep score, but it was cold and blustery (was just wearing my Zimmerman jersey) and I put the phone away and just tried to keep my hands warm under my armpits the whole game. Or 8-1/2 innings of it, anyway.
Question: When was the lat time Harper, Werth, Zimmerman, and Ramos were all in the lineup at the same time?
I'm glad were only back one game. But still not satisfied being 20 17. It's a little too mediocre.
Like I said, the World Series champion Giants were .500 at this point last year. Obviously we'd all like to be doing better, but it'll be alright.
I think the umpires just hopped a plane and are now reding the Caps game. Do all officials hate Washington teams?
Question: When was the lat time Harper, Werth, Zimmerman, and Ramos were all in the lineup at the same time?
Would it matter? Probably not since the way it works if Harper hits there's usually some offense. If he doesn't or gets walked there isn't. Even with Desmond at the top of the XBH stat.
Every single team in baseball knows that now. Until the Nats change that basic truth they will know who to shut them down.
Storen has a .386 BABIP right now, which is crazy-high. Most of those aren't hard-hit, either, just weak contact going between defenders. That's not likely to continue.
Boston has been one of the best teams in baseball over the first two months, and lost two of three to Toronto, which has been one of the worst. In today's game they got crushed. Baseball's weird sometimes.
In Natslady's favorite category fielding Denard Span leads the Nats with a 6.3 UZR. And way out ahead of the rest in 2nd in Danny Espinosa with a 1.8 UZR.
Baseball is weird sometimes, yes. But what is going on with this offense is not. I know our team BABIP is almost bottom in the majors but in my personal opinion I haven't seen many games where I felt that we deserved more hits that were just robbed. We get men on base and absolutely no one is able to drive them in it seems like. We may have 2nd and 3rd with no outs and we will go strike out, pop out, ground out or really any variation you can think of that doesnt result in a basehit, sac fly, or just a well place grounder to get a guy to score. The team is comically inept in these situations
I was unable to watch this game and what happened is not as concerning as our trend of always(mostly) losing on sunday afternoons. Is there any explanation for this?
RZim needs to keep that chip on his shoulder. Glad to see it. Situational contact was poor again. Espi froze up again in key situations and the 2 hole is still a black hole. Gio pitched great!
3 questions since I didnt visual see.
1 was Zim's double catchable? If not why was harper only on third with his speed
2 was Suzuki throwing to second or third. if second why was bat struck? If between home and second his bat cannot be over the plate after the swing.
3 What song and dance did Davey do to explain batting Tracy for Gio? Gio batting 200 with 1 homer and Tracy .135 with 0. So I see no mathmatical reason.
Scutaro started slow and is now playing clutch. I read someone trying to compare him to Espi. Scutaro over .300 .
I was driving all afternoon so didn't see the game. Charlie and Dave were claiming that interference should have been called on Zuki's error. What's the rule on that?
They also claimed the balls & strikes calling was the worst -- and that it's been terrible all season. Charlie's now in favor of calling them by laser technology.
They figured Zuki's ejection from the game came about because he told the ump just what he thought about the game he had just called.
That make sense to those of you who saw the action?
Anybody watching MASN disappointed at no Davey Johnson interview?
If there was a game that I wanted to hear from Davey on the bad umpiring, taking Gio out early and the back break on Suzaki's throw to third base.
Sometimes I just wonder if MASN is trying to cover up something, oh well.
Anybody watching MASN disappointed at no Davey Johnson interview?
Might still appear. Based on the beat reporters comments Davey was really going to grilled after this one. Not sure if he's on the hot seat yet given the record ... still ...
Plus they all have to get ready for the long arduous road trip out west. Well, except for Mark perhaps.
It's just this simple the Nats are not as good as we all hoped. Possibly a wild card game but this team does not have the look, right now, of anything special.
@VTGooner, I looked at the BABIP stats and I think the issue is the Nats are not getting the "undeserved" hits. Ground balls are not going through the infield as much as they should. Fly balls are not finding gaps and yes, there are a lot of line drives not becoming hits. The Nats BABIP is 3rd worst in the NL, yet their line drive percentage (in which over 70% historically fall for hits) is 6th worst. Their ground ball percentage (in which 24% become historically become hits) is middle of the road. The Nats actually hit fewer fly balls (in which only 15% become hits) than average. They probably "should" be slightly below league average in BABIP based on their distributions of type of batted ball, but probably not where they are. Hate to be an optimist, but this does bode well.
While I think Davey made the wrong move by taking Gio out today, he got a bit unlucky. That's baseball. The place where I think he has made more obvious mistakes is batting very poor OBP guys at the top of the order. Lombardozzi is one of the least selective batters in the NL and should not ever be batting second. I'd argue that a guy like Kurt Suzuki would be better suited up there given his plate discipline. But he's a slow catcher, and that just doesn't "seem right" to old school managers.
Braves aren't looking that great right now, either, though. Nats don't need to have the best record in baseball to make the playoffs, just be better than your division rivals. And once you're in the playoffs, all bets are off.
No Limit to the depth of Njack's excuse making for Davey. Amazing how nothing is his fault.....he must be perfect all the time. When his moves do not work....OR his spring training country club...it is always "just baseball"
@ Amr
We have no ideal 2 hole hitter other than Jason Werth so we have to make do with who we have. Like you said, Suzuki is slow so thats a no-no for most managers. Harper would be ok there but he is our 3 hole hitter and also the two consecutive left-handers thing works against this. Only other major league ready player that could fit here is Rendon but there is no spot for him yet unless Rizzo and the ants give up on Espinosa.
You allknowthat I support Adam LaRoche. While that foul ball was still inthe air Isaid out loud," Watch the runner!" Ok Adam made a good catch, is a lefty and had to turn, but he hesitated. Meanwhile the pinch runner tagged up and headed to third, with no throw from ALR. Adam had a brain freeze, and that runner scored the tying run on the next play. I honestly think that play was the back breaker in a game that was so important for us.My son thought that I was hard on Adam until he watched the replay. He agreed that Adam didn't think about the runner until after he caught the ball. It's the little things.
Don't have much to say about this one other than, it was very nice to see old Gio today. He killed it out there.
I think everyone in the park was stunned Gio didn't bat for himself, and Davey saying he always tries to add on, "that's the way I manage, chalk it up to me"...doesn't wash--because he let JZ bat for himself when the score was guess what, 1-0.
100% agree Lombo should not be in the 2 hole. I would rather have Espy there, at least he will take a walk. Lombo and his weak grounders are very frustrating. That will work itself out when Werth gets back. Is there any word on Bernadina, who, unlike Span, does dive for balls.
Sorry to say, I had a bad feeling about Storen's outing when he gave up the first single. Charlie and Dave questioned RZ's positioning several times. They said, the Nats don't guard the line, now they are guarding the line and balls are getting through.
I know this is yesterday's question, but was Stras in the dugout? He wasn't on pitcher's row, with Haren, Det, and JZ. I know sometimes pitchers go in the back to chart pitches, but I don't know why he would be doing that. I couldn't see back in the dugout, it was chilly, though, maybe he was inside.
The TV broadcast showed Stras sitting next to & talking to Gio.
Strasburg was in the dugout. They showed him and Gio talking between innings.
Nat Jack is correct if the batter is in the box then no interference. throwing into the bat is the risk, that is why most wont throw to third with a righty batter instead they throw to second.
harper holding up because of possible catch understandable, but the old aggressive harper would have been going with the hit and score easilty.
Centerfielder robs Ian, that is what defenders do they prevent runs not set up runs like some defenses do.
So Davey never gave a real answer to putting a .135 hitter with 0 homers to bat for a .200 hitter with a homer.
Tracy is a professional hitter, Gio is not. If you're looking to add on, which is a good move when the pitcher's spot is up first in the 7th inning of a 1-0 game, you go with the professional hitter. You can quibble with Davey's choice of pinch hitters, but pinch hitting for Gio there was a no-brainer.
No. A PH when u have a lead with a hot pitcher near perfect is just dumb.
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