McCatty in hospital with high BP, heart rate

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Steve McCatty will spend the night in a District hospital after missing today's Nationals game with high blood pressure and an irregular heart beat, but the club's pitching coach is expected to fly Monday on the team's charter to Detroit and be in the dugout for Tuesday night's series opener against the Tigers.

McCatty was at Nationals Park this morning but started experiencing his symptoms more than an hour before gametime, according to manager Davey Johnson. He was taken to a nearby hospital, though not by ambulance, for examination by doctors.

Following the Nationals' 14-1 win over the Mets, Johnson said McCatty, 59, was doing "alright" and is "his usual grumpy self" but would be kept overnight for observation and to receive medication before he could travel. McCatty, a Michigan native, had been planning to fly to Detroit a day early but now will fly with the rest of the club on Monday afternoon.

"They'll give him some medication, thin his blood, and something to slow his heart rate down," Johnson said. "Hopefully he'll come out of the irregular beat. ...

"I've had that," Johnson added. "It'll make you awful tired. So hopefully he'll be all right."

With McCatty not at the ballpark today, Johnson handled all visits to the pitching mound. Not that he needed to make many with his team cruising to a lopsided win that included a third-inning grand slam by Wilson Ramos.

"Hopefully he was watching the game," Johnson said. "I was hoping that grand slam would shock him right out of that atrial fibrillation."