The sun's still shining, right?
That, my friends, is one tough loss. I thought when this homestand started that a 2-4 record would be just fine, an OK showing. Now, Jason Simontacchi must beat Jake Westbrook for that to happen - and a chance to split the homestand and sweep the Indians has gone by.
But as crazy as Chad Cordero's blown save and Nook Logan's - and I paraphrase Charlie Slowes here (he went ballistic on Logan last night on the radio) - "What Was He Doing?", the news with more implications for the long-term came in the postgame, when John Patterson called the media over to discuss the fact that he's going to get second opinions (actually, I believe it's probably eighth or ninth opinions) on his elbow.
Intern Steve Yanda, filling in for me, discussed it in the notebook here. And couple that with the fact that Shawn Hill is going to see James Andrews about his right elbow, and there are some issues.
Patterson's problem isn't as shocking, because he is very particular with how he comes back from injuries (and he's had a few) and he is quite in tune with his body. If anything's out of sync, he's going to feel it. He was taking a very slow approach to his rehab anyway, and I don't think he was in danger of coming back too soon. Hard to know what to expect from the results of these tests, but I think any hope of seeing Patterson before the all-star break have vanished (however faint those hopes were anyway).
Hill's injury is very concerning. He is coming back from that left shoulder injury suffered first when he dove back into a base in Miami, then injured again when he was covering first in San Diego - all in April and May. The thinking - both by Hill and the organization - was that the injured left shoulder affected his mechanics, putting strain on his right elbow. Now, a guy with a history of elbow problems is going to see Dr. Elbow because he has discomfort playing catch. Not a good sign.
It is on, then, Jason Bergmann - who starts tomorrow in Atlanta - to save the rotation (though Chico did a very fine job last night).
I've been off a couple days, so I don't have anything particularly new here. Will be back up from the clubhouse in a while. Here's the lineup on what looks to be a glorious Sunday at the park. Some 32,539 (including yours truly in Section 309) on hand last night. I would expect another good crowd today.
Guzman - 6
Watson - 8
Zimmerman - 5
Young - 3
Kearns - 9
Belliard - 4
Langerhans - 7
Flores - 2
Simontacchi - 1
And take note of that No. 2 hitter. I was thinking last night, the way Lopez is going, that it might not be a bad idea to give Watson a shot up there. This allows Manny Acta to do it on a day when Lopez is taking a break. The more interesting part will be tomorrow, when presumably both Watson and Lopez will be back in the lineup together.
Oooh, Nick Johnson running bases right now. Haven't seen this before. He just took off like he hit a double from the plate. I gotta say, he's still favoring that leg a bit. I talked to him for a long time about it earlier in the week - and never got to publish it for some reason. But he's got the spikes on, and he's running bases. Wouldn't he look good hitting a double in that lineup today?
By Barry Svrluga |
June 24, 2007; 10:24 AM ET
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Posted by: the nationals enquirer | June 24, 2007 11:15 AM
Could last night have been the end of the LangerNook experience? I mean, what's the difference between Logan and Watson except an international league batting record? Does Logan have options? All this "chasing after Endy Chavez" business will end if we get someone with a credible bat in CF like Fukudome, right? Please?
And, Barry, what're the whispers in the press box about the sudden space on the 40-man roster? Should we say our farewells to Dmitri today, assuming that he'll be gone before the next homestand?
Last night was a lot of fun until the 9th, even in the section where the dude screams out all the pitching/lineup changes at the top of his voice (415)....
Posted by: derek | June 24, 2007 11:23 AM
Ohhh to have a credible centerfielder...Watson has been hitting but I doubt it can last very long. I wish it could, but Im being realistic here.
Derek mentioned it, and I second the question: What can we expect with the openings on the roster???
Thanks Barry
AZS
Posted by: Andrew S. | June 24, 2007 11:47 AM
Could we please say goodbye to Nook Logan when Robert Fick comes back? The man simply doesn't know how to play big league baseball.
Meanwhile, remember when Boswell chugged all the Kool-Aid a couple of weeks ago and wrote a column about how far the Nats had come in terms of pitching talent this year, because Bergman and Hill each had made eight, count 'em, eight good starts? Now Hill and Patterson are iffy, and Bergman starts all over again next week. We need to be patient and realistic. For every pitcher who makes it, we need one or two more just in case. We don't have that many yet.
Posted by: GEVA | June 24, 2007 12:21 PM
Barry, remember Little Orphan Annie!
On a positive note:
The Nats have outplayed the Indians in 17 of 18 innings. If they win today, the Nats' Interleague Record is 9-9, 8-7 over the past 15 games. Not too shabby.
Not so positive:
Shall we accept that Mr. Hill and Mr. Patterson are the Nats' version of the Cubs' Prior and Wood? Immensely talented, capable, and unreliable, making them all but worthless.
Without their top 2 pitching talents, how will the Nats construct their 2008 rotation?
For now, let's cross our fingers on Mr. Bergmann.
Also, it's time to mail Greyhound Bus one-way tickets to Washington, DC to the following gentlemen: M. O'Connor, J. Hanrahan, E. Fruto, & J. Lanaan.
(Gentlemen, upon arrival, please use Metro. Your stop is "Stadium-Armory," on the blue/orange lines. Walk 3 blocks to RFK.
You didn't expect limousine service, did you?)
Posted by: BrianH | June 24, 2007 12:32 PM
when is the Zimmster's bat gonna wake up?
Posted by: yo | June 24, 2007 12:49 PM
re: Nats 2008 rotation
S. Hill
M. Chico
J. Patterson
J. Bergmann
C. Balester
If one fails the Nats would have youngsters Lannan and Detwiler waiting in the wings.
Posted by: Andrew Stebbins | June 24, 2007 12:53 PM
Just a day off for Church, or is he hurting?
Posted by: Simon Oliver Lockwood | June 24, 2007 1:04 PM
Church: Just a day off.
Posted by: Barry Svrluga | June 24, 2007 1:29 PM
i don't get me wrong, i like zimmerman, but it seems he's just be grounding into double plays for the past week.
Posted by: yo | June 24, 2007 1:50 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
As bad as last night's loss was, the news on Hill is even harder to take. For some reason I'm not phased in the least by the Patterson news...