Out of gas
Submitted by Jeff on Sun, 06/11/2006 - 7:57am.
- Despite his ability to eat up innings, under different circumstances Livan Hernandez might have been finished after seven innings and 115 pitches of one-run ball, particularly since he was suffering from "flu-like symptoms" prior to the game. However, with the bullpen depleted after a 12-inning marathon that finished a little more than 12 hours before Saturday's game started (which meant the only Chad Cordero sighting Saturday would be in the form of bobbleheads), Robinson left Hernandez in to start the eighth and hold a 2-1 lead. Three pitches later, the Phillies had a 3-2 lead and Hernandez was gone. The Phils would get three more in the inning off a struggling Jon Rauch; Nats lose, 6-2.
- Another pitcher unavailable yesterday was Bill Bray, who pitched three critical perfect innings Friday night, and won the praise of Robinson afterwards. "I just wanted to see what he's capable of doing and have an idea. He answered a lot of questions last night." Robinson added that he is "just about" comfortable in putting Bray in any situation now.
- Jose Guillen was activated from the DL Saturday and came into the game in the eighth; he's scheduled to start Sunday's game. It also means, in the words of the Post, the beginning of "the delicate process of working the mercurial right fielder back into the lineup and into a clubhouse that has enjoyed remarkably improved chemistry in Guillen's absence."
- Damian Jackson explains why he's been having trouble bunting, like in the 12th inning of Friday night's game. "I'm trying to put too perfect of a bunt down," he explained. Robinson simply thinks Jackson should practice more. "If I ask you to bunt, I expect Major League players to be able to sacrifice 100 percent of the time."
- Robert Fick will be "rewarded" for his game-winning hit Friday night by getting the start behind the plate in Sunday's game, after Brian Schneider caught all 21 innings of Friday night's and Saturday afternoon's games. "It makes me feel more a part of the team," Fick said of his pinch hit Friday.
- The Nats' winning ways could complicate plans for the Nats to trade away star players later this summer, John Markon of the Richmond Times-Dispatch advises. "All in all, maybe not the best time for new owner Ted Lerner to put a flunky in front of a microphone and have him say, 'Even though we're still viable for the postseason, we're yanking out the plug,'" he writes. Let's not get carried away here: we're still several games under .500.
- Friction is growing between the new owners and the city about how to build the new ballpark, with the Lerners concerned that the stadium may not be ready by opening day 2008 the way the city is managing construction. "The only people who had ever built or operated a stadium, or built a building, were us," Stan Kasten said. "And we are trying as hard as we can to help them avoid mistakes." Foremost among their concerns, of course, are the parking garages that the owners want aboveground and the city underground.
- Typo of the day, from the Times: "Robinson said Schneider will have today's game off and Fick will handle the coaching duties." So does that mean that Robinson and Schneider are going golfing this afternoon, or is it simply a way to give the manager an extended nap time?