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| Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER |
The Nats also have Bryce Harper back in their lineup tonight after he missed yesterday's game with flu-like symptoms. They won't have Wilson Ramos, though, after the catcher re-injured his hamstring running down the first-base line in the fourth inning. Stay tuned for an update on his status.
Jordan Zimmermann gets the start tonight, hoping to get himself back on track after a rough month or so. Tim Lincecum, who threw a no-hitter a few weeks ago but has struggled since, is on the mound for the Giants.
Updates to come...
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM), WFED (1500), XM 183
Weather: Clear, 74 degrees, Wind 11 mph LF to RF
NATIONALS (58-60)
CF Denard Span
3B Ryan Zimmerman
LF Bryce Harper
RF Jayson Werth
SS Ian Desmond
1B Adam LaRoche
2B Anthony Rendon
C Kurt Suzuki
RHP Jordan Zimmermann
GIANTS (52-66)
2B Marco Scutaro
SS Brandon Crawford
1B Brandon Belt
C Buster Posey
RF Hunter Pence
3B Pablo Sandoval
LF Roger Kieschnick
CF Gregor Blanco
RHP Tim Lincecum
UMPIRES
HP Mike Estabrook
1B Jim Joyce (cc)
2B Jeff Nelson
3B Jim Wolf
7:06 p.m. — We are underway on a gorgeous and — dare I say it? — chilly August evening in the District. Jordan Zimmermann starts of Marco Scutaro with a fastball for strike one.
7:09 p.m. — And Zimmermann retires the side on nine pitches. That's not a bad way to get a ballgame started.
7:20 p.m. — Your nightly "RISP Counter" update: 0-for-2. The Nats wasted Ryan Zimmerman's one-out double off the right field wall in the bottom of the first, with Bryce Harper grounding out and Jayson Werth flying out. So it's scoreless after one.
7:34 p.m. — Uh-oh, the stolen base comes back to haunt the Nationals yet again. Zimmermann walked Hunter Pence with one out in the top of the second, then let him steal second base. That put Pence in position to score on Roger Kieschnick's two-out single up the middle. If you've lost track, the Nats have now caught only 12 of 88 basestealers this season, a 13.6 percent rate that is far and away the worst in the majors. No other club has thrown out fewer than 20 percent this year. Nats down 1-0 in the middle of the second.
7:44 p.m. — Ian Desmond owns Tim Lincecum. No, he REALLY owns Lincecum. Desmond just crushed a leadoff homer to left to open the bottom of the second, making him 10-for-12 with two homers in his career against the former Cy Young Award winner. That's pretty impressive. So was his homer, which cleared the left-field bullpen by at least 10 rows and was hit into the wind. Desmond now matches Werth, LaRoche and Harper for the club lead with 17 homers. And the Nats tie this game, 1-1.
7:52 p.m. — Ugh, bad decision by Harper to call off Desmond on a pop-up that was maybe 25 feet beyond the infield dirt. Desmond was camped under it, but Harper couldn't make the play, so Brandon Crawford got a gift double. No worries, though, because Zimmermann pitched around it, thanks in part to some stellar defense by Zimmerman and Rendon on sharp grounders. Still 1-1 in the middle of the third.
8:15 p.m. — Man, what happened to the efficient version of Jordan Zimmermann? He's already at 82 pitches through only four innings tonight. Incredibly, he has only allowed one run so far. But he has been pitching out of the stretch all night and not getting outs. Best-case scenario, Zimmermann probably can't go more than six innings tonight. Still 1-1, middle of the fourth.
8:36 p.m. — Whoa, break up the Nats! OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. But they did just put up a 5-spot in the bottom of the fourth, sending 10 men to the plate. Rendon launched a two-run double to deep center. Suzuki blooped an RBI single to left. Span battled back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk, with Rendon scoring on the wild pitch ball four. Zimmerman beat out a grounder to third to score another run. It's 6-1 Nats as we move to the fifth.
8:56 p.m. — Props to Zimmermann for getting some quick outs now. He has made it through the sixth on 103 total pitches. He's due up third in the bottom of the inning, but there's no action in the Nats pen yet. So perhaps he'll get one more. Still 6-1 Nats.
9:07 p.m. — Zimmermann did get one more inning and he made the most of it, retiring the side again. That's three shutdown innings after he was handed a 5-run lead. That's how you're supposed to do it. Jordan's final line: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 112 pitches, 74 strikes. Still 6-1 at the stretch.
9:37 p.m. — Man oh man, Ryan Mattheus struggles yet again. He entered after Ian Krol served up a towering homer to Brandon Belt, then gave up three straight hits. That forced Davey Johnson to summon Tyler Clippard, something I'm quite certain Davey didn't want to have to do when the eighth inning began and the Nats held a 5-run lead. Clippard, as always, came up huge, striking out Kieschnick and Blanco to put out the fire. His value to the Nats bullpen right now is off the charts. It's now 6-4 as Rafael Soriano warms for the ninth.
9:45 p.m. — OK, here we go. Soriano in search of his 31st save, trying to protect a 2-run lead.
9:58 p.m. — Sweet Fancy Moses! Denard Span saves the day with a diving catch of Hunter Pence's drive to deep left-center. Soriano had already given up a run and put the tying run on second base. The Nats win their fifth straight, 6-5. They'll go for their second straight sweep (not to mention a .500 record) tomorrow afternoon. Jordan Zimmermann, meanwhile, becomes the NL's first 14-game winner.
146 comments:
Looks like a lovely Jordan Zimmermann-type night. Not too warm, not too humid. Hope the guys were soaking in tubs and soothing those sore muscles.
Chipper Jones (when he was on Twitter), posted a picture of a bruise on his leg he got from being hit by a pitch. It was NASTY. Heaven only knows what Werth's knee looks like.
Mark tweets that Ramos was out on the field testing his hamstring and maybe that's a good sign. Love the optimism, but I seem to remember Werth doing the same thing before he ended up on the DL for a month.
Sec 222
My concern about Ramos is that we are likely counting on him to catch 120 games next year. We better find a decent backup.
In w/ JD on Ramos
I'm not sure I would describe Lincecum as having "struggled" since his no-hitter. He had one bad game, the game after the no-hitter. The last three starts--well above average.
His last start (vs MIL) 8 IP, 1 Walk, 8 Strikeouts, 1 hit, no runs.
GYFNG
The Nats also have Bryce Harper back in their lineup tonight after he missed yesterday's game with flu-like symptoms.
Heh. Yesterday, it was the flu. Today it's "flu-like symptoms."
NL,
The other problem is that it doesn't look like we are gonna get any help from the teams playing our competition. As I recall your scenario had us winning 9 games in a row and cutting the deficit to 5 games. So far we have held our end of the bargain but have not gained anything.
I agree we need a good backup catcher for next year JD. I happen to think Suzuki is a decent backup, though not at the vested option price. I'll bet he'd like to stay and will accept less.
But maybe there are better offensive options out there. If Rizzo can find one he should go for it. Zuki has strengths (he gave a really nice on field postgame interview to Julie A last night), but he won't be missed much.
Ramos seems to be legitimately fine. He said it was a different part of the hammy and it wasn't bad. Thinks he can be back in time for the Atlanta series this weekend. Interestingly, he said that he's glad the rain delay came when it did or else he would've tried to stay in and possibly injure it worse.
Also:
Dan Kolko @masnKolko 3m
Ramos said he's done trying to sprint and run out ground balls like he did last night. "Next time, for me, that's an easy out."
JD, I just want the team to get to 87-88 wins. If they manage that, then whatever happens in regards to the playoffs will happen. But they'll have at least put themselves in that race.
David Proctor said...
Ramos seems to be legitimately fine. He said it was a different part of the hammy and it wasn't bad.
Yeah, but he seems to injure his leg a lot. I like Zuke, think he'd have been better this season if he hadn't spent so much time as the regular catcher when Ramos was on the DL. IIRC, he was hitting pretty well at first, and as the season dragged on... He's a fine defensive catcher, but jumping around to block all those erstwhile wild pitches has to wear you down after a while.
Perhaps Candide, but Zook's career numbers really aren't great. He hasn't hit higher than .242 since 2009.
DP, you say you just want the team to get to 87 or 88 wins like it's some kind of minor request. In other words, you want them to win 29 or 30 out of their next 44 games, about a .660 winning percentage.
I want that too, but the chances of it happening are extremely remote, wouldn't you agree?
Well it depends. It won't be easy, for sure, but 29 out of 44 isn't some unheard of thing. It's possible.
I didn't mean to make it sound minor though. My point was just that we have to play extremely well to be in the WC race. What the Reds and D'backs do matters, but I don't really care at this point. I just want us to play at that high level and then if we make it, we make it and if we don't, we don't.
DP,
The Reds just took care of business by sweeping the Cubs. It's just hard to see us making up so much ground with only 44 games left.
Ok, I'll take that. I'd love for us to get hot too. And if it's not enough to make the playoffs, so be it. At this point, I'm not even hoping we make the playoffs any more. It's a fools errand.
As James Wagner wrote this morning, there are two problems with the idea that the Reds can catch the Reds at 88 wins: "The Reds are really good, and the Nationals have not shown any indication in their first 118 games that they have the ability to run off that kind of stretch."
I think if we can get Ramos through the season, the off season will be enough to get him all the way right. Same with Bryce. Sure hoping to see the JZim we all know and love pitching like his old self. I don't think he has been on regular rest since the all star break. Always does better on that five day routine.
Well, the Reds won't always be playing the Cubs--and we get our shot at them next week. I want to see us take 2 of three from Atlanta. On the road. Have a good road trip for once.
Let's go, NATS!!
That would be so great. Think about last week- a one run game, another one run game, followed by a game that was tied well into the game. Not that big of a margin there. We can do this.
I sure with the Presidents' race would cut the silliness and be like the saussage race in Milwaukee where they actually race with no drama.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/14/nats-struggle-dan-haren-denard-span-wonder-it-them/?page=all#pagebreak
Very interesting article.
I don't see Suzuki sticking around. In alternate weeks you get stories about (A) Ramos is responsible for pitchers' outstanding performances -- not like there've been a lot of 'em, and (B) how Suzuki excels at game preparation and studies like Abe Lincoln even while he's getting sores on the bench.
I think there are "camps" about Ramos and Suzuki, among the writers for sure, but also within the Nats' organization -- who else is peddling this tripe to the press? Remember how sources "high in the organization" -- meaning Bob Boone and Johnson -- spoonfed the good poop to Boswell?
Due to superior offense in a limited sample, Ramos has won the Emmy. Suzuki won't be back, at any price. Let's just hope the FO doesn't settle for Wil Nieves. There aren't a half dozen ML backup catchers worth having.
Hey- just saw Wil Nieves spark a rally!! That guy is still in the game. Who????
Good news on Ramos. He's putting up Silver Slugger type numbers in a 40 game sample size but he has Yadier in front of him and McCann beside him.
NatsJack- didn't see the whole inning. He did his part-- I was so shocked to see him! But did I hear the DBacks ended up winning?? There will be no backing into anything this season- not at all.
Okay, so I didn't see last night's game in real-time last night but watched the recording earlier. I have a procedural question. During the postgame interview, a dousing was administered to Zuk. There was a bat boy on one side, but I couldn't make out who was on the other side, and I rewound and watched a few times. (Yeah, I guess I don't have much of a life.)
3 blown saves in a row for the AngelO's. Aw, what a shame (insert my sarcastic tone)
My heart bleeds for them, Ghost. ;-)
Ready to see us win this game tonight... Hope to see the Jordan that we saw before the all-star break...
Go Nats! Lets do this!
natafan1a, I like how you said it. The Orioles got rid of their Andy Feffer equivalent. Very quietly done. I knew him well since he held the same position for years with the Dodgers. A real innovator in baseball. No surprise if you get too much good press you're gone. Ask Davey Johnson, Jon Miller, Cal Ripken and Doug Duennes.
I hadn't heard that, Ghost. Interesting.
I clicked off Game Day and the inning was over already... that was a quick 1-2-3...
That inning was like an early season Zim.
Good fastball command that inning by Jzimm
What is the white stuff on Timmy's hat?
Span hit oitside pitch correctly. Just hung up, but chance of a hit much greater.
The career arcs of Lincecum and Haren are very similar. Haren never reached the peak that Lincecum did, but still.
Good at bat by Ryan...
Zim takes outside pitch to right. Good hit.
RISP 0 FOR 1
RISP 0 for 2
JZim shook off Zuk twice on that pitch to Posey that resulted in the groundout.
Everything was away to Pence... Seemed a few pitches were border line (following via game track)
Its just something about Pence that I just don't like and I have no idea why...
Stolen base on a bad throw leads to a run. That's mistake #1 for the night.
Alumni News: The Royals seem to be collecting ex-Nats. They get (worthless) Emilio Bonifacio from the Jays. In KC, he'll join Jamey Carroll and Justin Maxwell in telling Jimbo Leatherpants stories.
As good as Zim was in the first, he seemed ineffective that inning. Of course a walk comes back to bite him. Giants 1 for 2.
WOW that home run
Way to go Desi... Thanks Ghost for the play by play... Hard to see the mistakes on game day...
Great play Zim. Good throw too.
That was...not smart, Bryce.
Rendon just bailed Harper out.
Big mistake #2. That's like an error and if not for a good play by Rendon it's 2-1.
Desi was well under that, come on Harper...glad it didn't hurt us, live & learn but clearly a SS's ball.
The wind really threw a curve on Bryce.
Rendon a. Solid play.
Desi was camped under the ball though. I don't understand why Bryce would call him off to begin with. I understand the wind probably gusted it, but it was Desi's ball all the way.
Oh well, it didn't hurt I guess.
David Proctor said...
Great play Zim. Good throw too.
August 14, 2013 7:49 PM
That's funny. Carp says good play. FP says great play. Replay shows hard shot to RZim's side. I'm glad he got it.
Had a Giant hit that ball what is the odds it hits the bag?
My guess is he the ball was a lot farther until the end.
McCatty said he worked with the pitchers for 2 ears, and some have not picked upbthe concept.
Excuse me Cat.
Which ones have picked up the concept?
D-backs walk off again vs. the O's in the 14th!
What is up with JZ? I find this turn of events to be very distressing. Very un- Jordan like.
Third time. in a row O's lead go into the 9th and lost all 3. Dbacks argggggg
Did JZim and Haren have a Freaky Friday incounter? Since all star game a reversal of fortune.
Come on Jordan...
Really- I am so confused.
That play at second was way too close.
Estabrook sux...glad that didn't cost us.
He got squeezed on the next to last one, but what is this 73 pitches the last 3 innings.
That is how the race should be every night.
Indeed
ESPN Stats & Info @ESPNStatsInfo now Ian Desmond's second-inning home run off Tim Lincecum was calculated at 448 feet, the longest home run hit at Nationals Park this season.
Look at that smash by Jayson Werth ;)
Oreos just lost their 3rd game in a row on a walk-off after blown saves.
You know what, Desi was actually out at 1st. Bang bang play. Still waiting for the Nats to get a close call.
nice Anthony!
Atta boy, Kid!
Rendon! That was a real smash!
Suzuki with his own smash ;)
The Giants had 5 doink hits last night. About time the Nats got one of those! Cheap hits still look like line drives in the box scores.
I don't like the idea of a straight sacrifice from JZim. That's just giving away an out.
Rendon scores which is great! Great jump!
Span works a walk!
Love it! Giants are coming unraveled!
Hit? come on but good on you Rzim.
paul, definitely a hit given the difficulty of the play. We are just spoiled by LaRoche making that scoop easily.
It was a nice play by Sandoval. He robbed RZim of a double.
It needed to be scored as a hit & an error as Span advanced to 3rd on the bounced throw (E-5)
ghost, hear ya but ALR makes that play 19 out of 20 times but I guess not enough to call that anything but a H.
Much-needed 10 pitch inning.
man, looking at seatgeek for tomorrow's game as I may sneak out early...real good seats for dirt cheap.
JZim may have 1 inning left with that 92 pitch count and have to wonder if Davey should just pull him now.
ghost, watching ALR swing, why does his top hand fly off all the time? seems like he is losing power but the guy still hits long HR's...I know he isn't changing now but just seems odd.
Do you guys remember that game against St Louis where we turned like 6 double plays and still lost? Or the game we dropped at Camden Yards after Zimmerman hit 3 jacks? Or the 8-12 gems Strasburg pitched in losing efforts. How about the handful of games in the first half that were decided by fielding errors?
MAN this winning streak would feel a lot nicer if we had sunk even half of those gimme puts.
pedro, good point and for the record, although I like the lead, this game is not over.
paul brandt said...
ghost, watching ALR swing, why does his top hand fly off all the time? seems like he is losing power but the guy still hits long HR's...I know he isn't changing now but just seems odd.
I've always thought that's a bad habit dropping your top hand off the bat but many people say you don't lose power and I don't necessarily buy that as I have long thought it's dependent on when the top hand comes off the bat. If the top hand starts coming off prior to impact I think you lose power.
I wonder if John Brenkus from ESPN Sports Science has ever studied it.
Phil Rogers @ChiTribRogers 2
Alfonso Soriano has 7 RBIs tonight and 13 in last 2 games. According to @ESPNStatsInfo he's first Yankee to ever have 6+ RBIs back-to-back.
@Pedro, Reading your 8:58 has caused me to break out the bourbon and Maalox early. Did you have to remind me?
And JZ doesn't even look at his glove. Cool customer.
Wow, Jordan Zimmermann back to Top 25 in the MLB in ERA at 3.02 and sitting at #22 in the Majors + another Quality Start and another start with 2 earned or less.
I would have pulled him earlier but Davey with the faith in him and at least he had Mattheus at the ready in the bullpen.
Ryan with his best game in a while.
NatsLady said...
And JZ doesn't even look at his glove. Cool customer.
JZim said his life flashed in front of him when he was in college as he took a line drive off the side of his face while fracturing his jaw.
Now whenever he pitches a ball he gets his glove around quickly which serves him well on comebackers and the ball won't beat him again.
Posey golfs that ball into LF.
Not a fan of the sudden drama...
Mattheus not interested in fielding at all??? Just walking away?
David, me neither.
Really Mattheus. Throw strikes.
Mattheus threw a good pitch to Posey and a good pitch to Pence. Now falls 3-0 to Sandoval. Needs the GIDP ball now!
Barkeep, I'll take a double shot of bourbon with my next Maalox please.
Mattheus has been awful since that immature move earlier this year breaking his damn hand...knew this game wasn't over.
The front end of our bullpen is atrocious.
My goodness the middle relief recently has been the weakest part of the team the last month.
Mattheus has been terrible since coming back.
Syracuse bound it appears.
Suzuki once again steps out in front of the plate. I don't get that. There's no reason to do that.
How hard is to hold a 5 run lead.
He learned terrible technique and cannot correct it.
JZim leaves them with a 5 run lead and just needing 6 more outs. Are you kidding me?
I am trying to ge5 mattheus number last 10 gamrs. He has been pathetic. Throes gas on the fire.
Tyler Klippard K-Money!
Another great outing from Clippard. Now let's add a run for Soriano.
MNF, come on, Mattheus did nothing wrong to the 1st 2 batters. Facing their 2 best hitters he gets a golfed single and a ball through the middle.
The Sandoval double was all his fault. He has the same problem Storen has with his nerves getting the better of him. That was bad. No doubt.
Net Werth! Another big line drive hit ;)
John Lannan out of the game in Atlanta in the 2nd inning with some kind of injury.
Mattheus since All Star game 6.2 IP 11 hits 7 earned runs ERA 9.45
COuld not find inherited runners.
When you give up cheap hits you cant give up a hit like Sandoval's afterwards.
Matt Gelb @magelb
John Lannan has suffered an injury. He covered his mouth with his glove when explaining to Dubee, Manuel.
Tyler Clippard is The Man.
MNF, thanks for the #'s on Mattheus since the ASG, not good.
Manassas Nats' Fan said...
When you give up cheap hits you cant give up a hit like Sandoval's afterwards.
Agreed, and he's a ground ball pitcher so no excuse for that grooved fastball to Sandoval. He fell apart quickly.
It's really a shame because he gets himself in trouble when BABIP works against him and he gets frustrated and falls apart. I say "Grow up"! Bashing your hand was bad enough but losing your cool as a pitcher is a bad thing.
Not counting today, Mattheus inherited 2 runners, one scored (since All-Star Break).
I'm scared.
Todd Zolecki @ToddZolecki 2m
Lannan left the game with an injury to his left knee. He missed 2 months with left knee injury earlier this season.
Sori, feed him the DP pill and let's get outta here.
In Syracuse, Storen came in and stranded two runners.
Sunshine.. make mine a double
I hate letting runners advance on defensive indifference.
Ow. Ow. Ow. Please make it stop.
DENARD SPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO!!"
(Copyright, MicheleS. 2011, All Rights Reserved.)
WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! SPANNING
I am officially a Span Fan!!!!!
Soriano never makes it easy especially with his weak 90mph fastball...never!
hey WODL, where are you now?!
we won despite of lame Soriano!
Denasassasrd! That deserves a sweet fancy Moses, Msrk!
What a catch! That is incredible! Last out, shirt out!
Span has earned a 7 year contract with that catch.
not with Nationals.
"Spanning" gets a whole new meaning!
Sorry but Soriano was pathetic...any other CF, we lose.
That's a BIG Whoa, Nellie!!!
Untucked in AZ!
Sorry I'm late ..
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