Monday, April 20, 2009

Nationals Wait 2 Hours to Protect Zimmermann, Bullpen

This game clearly could have started right on time at 7:05. There was hardly a drop until around 8:30. I'm assuming that they held off the start in order to protect Jordan Zimmermann's first start as well as the bullpen. If they had started on time, Zimmermann would have had to sit once the rains came. The bullpen would have been stuck with probably 5-6 innings to fill (again), and Zimmermann's debut would have been ruined. That's a call that came from upstairs, and it's a good sign that someone up there is thinking.
  • Unfortunately Manny apparently isn't thinking. You really think Jordan Zimmermann's debut is the right time to test out your worst defensive alignment possible in the outfield? Dunn misplayed a Chipper Jones double into a triple in the third, and Dukes lollygagged a Matt Diaz single into a double. That's so far. Hey, Flash Jordan's a groundball pitcher, so maybe in his third or fourth start you can test this out. But he should have the best defense out there possible, and that means Kearns in right.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

So Manny just took Zimmermann out, after 6 innings and only 72 pitches, to let Alex Cintron pinch hit. I can *maybe* see why he would pinch hit there- fresh arms in the bullpen, 2 men in scoring position with 2 outs, a precarious one run lead- but to pinch hit with Cintron there instead of Kearns? What the hell? Does Manny want to be fired?

Elan said...

rainout is the new bullpen.

Trapper John said...

Nats just set the NL record for most runners LOB in a 9-inning game, with 19. When you consider that they seem to have been averaging 13-14 game thus far, you gotta believe they're on track to beat the record for LOB in a season.

Trapper John said...

Now that I think about it, the 19 LOB number, from MLB's box (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2009_04_20_atlmlb_wasmlb_1&mode=gameday), can't be right. We didn't have that many runners.

Jonathan Fellows said...

BB-Ref boxscore says 9 LOB.

Steven said...

yeah that's a typo on Gameday.

Steven said...

John--I was screaming when I saw Cintron in the on-deck circle, and I wasn't the only one.