Tag Archives: tyler clippard

Zimmerman slam leads Nationals over Padres 11-7, Strasburg picks up the win

WP – S. Strasburg (4-6) LP – R. Erlin (1-2)

On a sizzling afternoon, Ryan Zimmerman crushed a bases clearing grand slam to deep right center, scoring Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Stephen Strasburg to lead the Washington Nationals to a sweep of the San Diego Padres. Bryce Harper had three hits, three RBIs and two stolen bases on the day.  He had an opportunity to really do some damage in the bottom of the seventh, at bat with the bases loaded and two outs but hit a line drive to the centerfield to end the inning.

Stephen Strasburg picked up the win on a day when he struggled with control in the heat.  He pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out nine.  Strasburg also hit three batters on the day on a day that he would need 110 pitches to get through six innings. Alexi Amarista hit a two run homerun for the most significant hit off of Strasburg.  Strasburg limited most of the Padres other scoring came on little dinks and dunks, moving runners around.

The scoring started early for the Nationals with Bryce Harper singling home Denard Span in the bottom of the first inning.  The big inning though was the bottom of the third, where the Nationals scored six runs on Zimmerman’s grand slam and Anthony Rendon hitting a two run homerun, scoring Jayson Werth.  The Nationals would tack on four more in the bottom of the fifth on RBI singles from Rendon and Strasburg, along with a wild pitch that scored Harper and a groundout that brought Werth in to score.

The Padres would make a push to make the game close by scoring three more runs in the seventh and eighth off Craig Stammen.  This is the third outing in a row that Stammen has had difficulty getting outs.  He allowed two runs in the seventh on twelve pitches, all strikes.  He failed to record an out in the eighth before being lifted for Drew Storen, who quickly put the Padres down in order.  Tyler Clippard pitched the ninth to close out the win.

This is the Nationals first sweep of a series since a two game series against the Detroit Tigers back in the second week of May.  The Nationals now take on the Philadelphia Phillies for a four game series.

The Nationals improve to 46-42, moving four games back of the Atlanta Braves, who lost to the Phillies.   The Nationals are now 41-10 in games where they score at least three runs. Additional, it was announced that Ross Detwiler would be placed on the 15-Day DL.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.

The Nationals Teeter Totter Season….the bats must come alive

Nationals

Consistency, something that has been seriously lacking from the Washington Nationals this season, is something they must find if they hope to catch the Atlanta Braves to win the NL East again this season. This team seems to take two steps forward, three back and two more forward. They continue to flirt with a winning streak but haven’t been able to put together a solid week’s performance this season. It has been a bad pitching assignment one night, or a lack of hitting another that stops their momentum.

The starting pitching this year has been solid for the most part, led by Jordan Zimmerman (11-3) 2.28 ERA, potentially the starter for the All Star Game next week. Gio Gonzalez has continued to deliver great performances but hasn’t gotten the support for his record to show it. Gio went 2-0 in the month of June, delivering six performances of at least six innings with an ERA of 2.16 in that span. Brilliant stuff that the bullpen and the bats just couldn’t help get a few more wins. Stephen Strasburg coming off a stint on the disabled list went 1-1 in the month of June, with an ERA of 1.89 during his three outings. It’s a bad sign when as a team almost to the All Star break, the pitcher with the second highest wins on the team is a reliever in Tyler Clippard at five wins.

The big black hole on the staff has been the pitching of Dan Haren (4-9) 6.15 ERA, who recently ended up on the disabled list with a strained throwing shoulder. The recovery from this injury will go a long way to determine how the back end of the rotation helps carry the team. The positive performance of several of the relievers recently called up from the minors, including Ross Ohlendorf, Ian Krol, and Fernando Abad has given the team hope that if Haren is not able to recover there will be teammates that can fill the void.

The bigger problem facing the Nationals is their lack of timely hitting which has been compounded by injuries. As many as four starters have been on the disabled list at the same time this season, so a challenge for consistency is understandable. Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth, Danny Espinosa, and Wilson Ramos have all spent time recovering from injuries, costing the Nationals significant at bats in key games. The injuries still do not account for having a team batting average that is third worst in Major League Baseball, sitting just in front of the New York Mets and Miami Marlins.

If this team hopes to get back to winning consistently, they need to reduce the high strikeout count (7.92 per game) and put the ball in play. Losing almost a third of your outs in each game without putting the ball in play leaves you struggling to move runners over when they actually get on base. Almost every other offensive stat has the Nationals sitting close to the bottom of the league, 29th in Runs Scored, 28th in Hits, and 27th in at bats. I keep hearing that it’s because the Nationals have streaky hitters, that Adam Laroche, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman are all better second half hitters, that the bats will come alive after the All Star Game. That’s nice if it’s true but everything I have seen so far makes me wonder if the amazing performances we saw last year was a team reaching beyond its norm and this is more what the team is made of.

The switch from Danny Espinosa to Anthony Rendon has been a major surprise and seems to be paying early dividends with Rendon batting above .300 with ten doubles so far. Espinosa, as popular as he has been with the coaching staff, just has not been able to deliver, averaging almost a strikeout per game while batting .158.

Denard Span was brought in to be the prototypical leadoff man, the guy that gets on base, steals bases, and provides the hitters behind him with extra opportunities for RBIs. So far he has an On Base Percentage about one hundred points lower than where you would expect a leadoff man to be, with only seven stolen bases, and only eighteen extra base hits. This just isn’t getting it done from that spot and considering the move to trade to get him led to the Nationals trading Michael Morse away, it just seems like a move that hasn’t worked out thus far. I enjoy Span’s hustle and how well he plays centerfield but if he doesn’t start getting on base I hope that the Nationals at least give a look to their minor league system to see if someone else can deliver in that spot.

As a fan it’s challenging to watch your team struggle day in and day out to consistently compete. As we near the second half of the season, the Nationals need to find a way to string together six or seven wins in a row coming out of the break. The positions are filled with the best talent they have so barring a significant trade they will have to find a way to start winning these games with the staff that they have. I am not sure what spark it’s going to take to light a fire under this team but I hope Davey Johnson can find it and gets this team moving towards first place and a return to the playoffs.

Robert Peterson lives in the Washington DC Metro area and has been covering the Nationals since the team moved to the area in 2005.