Well, poop, I found the embed code, but apparently the answer is no, you can’t.

I’m torn between liking the brutal honesty and the appearance that Johnson takes these losses personally. On the other hand, part of me cringes at the same time because his facial expressions and tone in the moment after the game made it seem like he was throwing Zimmermann, usually a solid pitcher, under a bus. Instead of using typical phrases like, “sometimes a pitcher doesn’t have a feel for the ball, but Zimmermann’s an outstanding young pitcher and I’m confident he’ll bounce back for his next start,” he used, well, something else.

Do the players need this kind of tough love with high expectations? Or is this something that can cause some resentment in the clubhouse? Who knows….

Video here on masnsports.com | Transcript below

Debbi: Davey, starting with Jordan Zimmermann, I know he’s a tough kid, but that had to have affected his pitching after he was hit…

DJ: Well, I mean, the thing that bothered me the most that whole ballgame is I’m not one over my whole career with good young pitchers, good arms, and I have a couple guys in scoring position, I’ve got a base open – if he gets ahead of the guy, I don’t expect him to make bad pitches. I expect him to hit; the hitters got to hit a pitch off the plate. A nasty pitch. And he hung a slider right down the middle. It was flat and drove in two runs and uh or drove in a run. And then the squeeze – didn’t cover first. Those things upset me. I mean, I thought he battled and maybe he didn’t have his best stuff, but the one thing, when you’ve got two strikes on a hitter, you just basically don’t give them a cookie. There’s a lot of times during the course of the year I have situations in the middle of the lineup where I definitely don’t want to have to give in and give a really good hitter a pitch to hit. But that was the toughest thing tonight that got me the most.

Debbi: Some opportunities that were missed – you know, you look at Jerry Hairston, and that was aggressive getting thrown out at 2nd base and a couple other things.

DJ: Well, you know Jerry swung the bat great all night and you got to try to make it. The ball, unfortunately it came right back to them. It’s going away from us and he makes a perfect throw. I know he’s out and I know if there was any doubt, Jerry would have been out there arguing till the sun went down. I didn’t see it on the replay, but the ball beat him easy, so I figured that he was out. But uh, just breaks. We battled hard, I was proud of the team, we kept battling and right back in the ballgame. That big run we gave up tot he bottom of the order again with Coffey, so I’m just, you know, a lot of things bad happen.

Debbi: Michael Morse though, I mean, he’s just been really rock solid out there. How well is he swinging the bat right now?

DJ: He’s unbelievable. He’s on fire. Everything he hits hard. I don’t think they hit him on purpose in the last inning. You don’t put the tying run on with some guys who can go out of the yard. I think they were trying to pitch him in but you know, it’s just a tough game. I liked the offense. Didn’t like our pitching as much.

Q: Davey, was there something with Jordan that was different tonight that you could pinpoint?

DJ: Well, the one thing he was doing that I hadn’t noticed before is, you know and I guess he gets in the habit sometimes, his elbow was dropping on his breaking ball. The elbow was coming here [gesturing] and it was flat. Didn’t do it all the time, but the one time he really did it was to Barmes with the guys on 2nd, 3rd and two strikes. He just threw a flat slider right down the heart. But he’ll learn. I mean, he’s a young pitcher, got a great future, but those kinds of mistakes are hard to stomach.

Q: Do you mean the at bat with Barmes – the 2nd at bat before the squeeze play?

DJ: Yeah, you know, I mean any other situation with the catcher coming up 7th hitting .250, if he gets ahead of him, you know make a good pitch and get him out. If he doesn’t, walk him and try for the double play. But then you have to give in to the hitter and he needs to learn how to do that.

[After reading this, check out the series preview Q&A I did with Enrico from The 700 Level]

I totally did not want to go to the game last night and was silently praying for a rainout and the game to be called before hauling myself downtown. See, two days after my near-death experience in the Jeep, I wiped out on the scooter Monday night (again, thanks to a car cutting me off). With two severely bruised knees, a sprained ankle and torn up bruised arms and wrists, I was a hurtin’ girl yesterday. Plus, with the forecast, I was worried we’d be sitting in a chilly rain delay for hours on end waiting for the game to be called. Plus, I had a glimpse of the starting lineups before even finishing work and eesh, it didn’t preview like a pretty game. With Zimmerman and LaRoche sidelined with injuries and Morse battling the flu, the Nats starters included Laynce Nix, Matt Stairs and Jerry Hairston Jr. A full bench starting looked laughable on paper. Manager Jim Riggleman, however, professed confidence [Nationals Journal] in his lineup and who was I to question the skipper?

“I feel good about the lineup we’re going to put out there,” Riggleman said. “I feel like we’re not going to put guys out there who are either sick or hurt. I feel good about the potential of what Nix and Hairston and Stairs can give us tonight.”

I hope Riggleman feels good more often, because the reverse lock was certainly in order. What started as jeers for Werth from the Phillies fans scattered around the extremely sparse crowd at Nationals Park turned to cheers as the game went on with Werth catching every fly ball sent his way (many! Almost as if the Phillies were hitting flies to him on purpose as a joke) and lining a home run just fair of the left field foul pole in the 5th inning as the Nats went on to win the game 7-4.

So yep, we went, and am I ever glad we did despite shivering by night’s end and stiffening up. I did not, however, take my camera, so no photos.

In my last post, I mentioned holding my breath every time Clippard came in, wondering if that was game his 0.00 ERA would disappear. Well, last night was it. He came into the 7th to relieve Livo after a fantastic start, but who departed with the bases loaded and two outs. Clippard got the big swinging strikeout of leadoff batter Shane Victorino to end the threat with the Nats up 5-1. Yet when Clippard returned for the 8th inning, he ended up leaving the same situation for the next reliever, loading the bases up with a single and two walks.

Two of those inherited runners scored with Sean Burnett on the mound thanks to a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch. Ultimately, Sean Burnett also lost his perfect ERA in the 9th when one more run scored. But at least that’s out of the way and we can stop fretting about it.

The top of the 9th got a little hairy too, but in the end the Nats pulled of the upset win 7-4 over the Phillies with Werth facing them for the first time. In a word, the game was highly enjoyable. Surprising. It’s too bad there weren’t more folks there, but I guess they felt the same way I did about the possibility of rain and decided not to go.

Overall, the game rocked. Between “smartball” (great squeeze bunt, Livo!), great starting pitching, a fabulous snare of a liner by Matt Stairs at first and one long ball that couldn’t have come from a more perfect player for that particular game, the chill was worth it. Plus, I’ve always enjoyed those games where you can hear everything every fan is yelling. I realize that’s not exactly ideal for the Nats’ economy, though.

On to game two of the first Phillies series!

1. Jayson Werth – RF

Werth singles on a grounder up the middle in his first official AB as a Nat

At the plate: The multimillion dollar man batting 2nd behind Desmond and ahead of Zimmerman singled in his first at-bat and made it to third before Morse grounded out to end the opportunity. Later at-bats netted a strikeout swinging and two ground-outs to short.

In the field: Werth made three catches in right, two pretty fancy involving falling and sliding. Now if he was superman, he could have snagged that Heyward homerun that landed just in the stands over his head.

2. Adam LaRoche – 1B

LaRoche watches the ball soar straight up as he pops out in his first at bat as a Nat

At the plate: LaRoche went 1-4 at the plate popping out in the 1st, flying out to the warning track in left in the 4th, singling on a blooper to left in the 6th (and then being taken out on a fielder’s choice) and flying out to left again as the 1st batter in the bottom of the 9th.

LaRoche snared a grounder by diving for it and tosses to Livo long before the runner gets to the bag. Defense!

In the field: He looked pretty competent at first base defense-wise at first glance, making a couple really nice snags and plays. I wrote a “D” next to a 3-1 play LaRoche started in the top of the 4th, meaning he snared a hard grounder and looked good doing it.

3. Rick Ankiel – CF

Ankiel caught stealing in 4th after drawing a walk ends the inning

At the plate: Ankiel most memorably ended the game looking at a 3rd called strike in the bottom of the 9th with the Nats down 2-0. He flew out to right, drew a walk (and then was thrown out by a mile trying to steal 2nd with 2 outs), flew out to left and struck out looking, going 0-3 with a walk.

Ankiel catches a fly ball at the edge of the warning track to end the top of the 1st

In the field: Nothing terribly noteworthy happened – routine fly balls and throws in on grounders to center. No errors, no spectacular catches. He was the only player on the field wearing face covering to protect against the cold.

4. Todd Coffey – RP

Todd Coffey, despite some late spring training troubles, had a good first official outing as a Nat, going 1-2-3

Comparing a pitcher to hitters/position players is like the cliche of comparing apples to oranges, but out of all the new guys, I’d say Coffey gave the best performance. I was a little concerned since his last few spring training outings were less than stellar, but he came into the game in the 8th and had a 1-2-3 inning, inducing a groundout, popout and flyout to a pinch hitter in the 9th spot and the number 1 and 2 batters for the Braves.

5. Laynce Nix – Bench

Laynce Nix, pinch hitting for pinch hitter Hairston Jr., strikes out swinging in his first appearance

At the plate: Laynce Nix only appeared briefly as a pinch hitter against Moylan with a runner at 3rd and two outs. He struck out swinging to end the inning and the opportunity.

6. Jerry Hairston Jr. – Bench

Oops, nevermind. He came into the on-deck circle to pinch hit and then was replaced with pinch hitter Nix after the Braves brought in new pitcher Moylan. No photos, no stats.

THE OLD GUYS

So there’s how the new guys fared on opening day. So how about the old guys?

Adam Dunn: 4 RBIs between a home run and a double, the most RBI generated for the team that day. He had one strikeout as the designated hitter before a pinch hitter replaced him. White Sox win 15-10 over the Cleveland Indians.

Josh Willingham: Hammer’s new team, the Oakland A’s, lost to the Seattle Mariners 6-2, but Willingham homered in the 1st inning with a runnner on, providing the only 2 runs the A’s would score during the game.

Wil Nieves: With the Brewers starting catcher injured, Nieves took over the role as starter on opening day as the Brewers lost 6-7 to the Reds. He went 2-4 at the plate with a double in his first at bat and came around to score that inning.

Nyjer Morgan: Entered the same game as Nieves in the bottom of the 7th inning in right field, but didn’t start. He did not get an opportunity to bat.

And a little older than the immediate past, but Joel Hanrahan also got his first save on opening day as the Pirates beat the Cubs 6-3.

I thought I’d make it an hour before first pitch to take in the opening day ceremonies, but traffic had other plans for me and I was going to be lucky to get in half an hour early. I headed to my usual parking area to find a gaggle of day-glo vested police officers on Segways already on the hunt and gleefully ticketing cars en masse before the first pitch had even been thrown. Oh boy! So of course I couldn’t find an open spot and my usual backup plan of the $15 lot under the Douglass Bridge was mysteriously closed. I found a 2-hour meter several blocks away and decided to take my chances since I was running out of time and didn’t want to miss the flyover during the pregame. I lost on that chance, of course, as I discovered the ticket on my windshield when I returned before getting stuck in yet more traffic.

To soothe all these frustrations, the Nats won their opening day game, right? Wrong! I may have to take up yoga or something if I continue doing this. First, there was no flyover as I sat in anticipation waiting and waiting for the rumble of approaching jets (presumably due to weather). And of course, it’s not exactly about the wins, particularly on the first day of the season (On pace to go 0-162! Panic!), though a win would have been nice. Fans did get their first glimpses of the “new guys”. They also got to puzzle over why Livo was pulled while way under 100 pitches and had seemed to find his groove. I guess it was the lefty-lefty matchup where Doug Slaten came in to face one batter and walked him (that batter being phenom Jason Heyward who had homered to right leading off the 2nd inning). [Disclaimer: I have not yet read the game stories, so maybe that was explained in post-game interviews/conference] I also wondered if Livo forgot how to bat. As a pitcher who typically has no problem “helping himself” at the plate, he looked completely – well, like a pitcher at the plate.

Did Ian Desmond have “OMG I’m the leadoff guy!” jitters as he went 0-4 with two strikeouts (one flavor of each) and grounded out to third twice? Not that many had much luck with Braves pitcher Derek Lowe. When Danny Espinosa doubled in the 7th, a fan behind me said, “there’s the leadoff guy,” presumably meaning he would rather see Espinosa lead off. I have a pretty high opinion of Espinosa, so tend to somewhat agree. It’ll be interesting to see how the lineup shakes out over the next couple months.

One bright spot – I recently raved about Sean Burnett in a podcast The DC Sports Page invited me to participate in. No, I didn’t expect to start gushing over Burnett’s pitching either, but it just kind of fell out there. But he certainly lived up to my “scouting” in his one inning of relief. Sure, he allowed a single, but promptly erased it with a double play he began. Give the podcast a listen if you want to hear more of me sounding like I know what I’m talking about (not entire sure on that one).

In the end, the Nats fell 2-0 to the Braves in a game where all the offense occurred in the first two innings before many even made it to their seats. The game wasn’t quite as dreary as the weather and traffic, however, as new first baseman LaRoche made a couple good defensive moves (I refuse to compare him to Dunn, though). Jayson Werth also caught a couple in right in dramatic fashion. Defense defense defense! Now bring me some offense offense offense!

PREGAME:

PREGAME:

PREGAME:

PREGAME:

PREGAME: Ryan Zimmerman receives his Silver Slugger award

PREGAME: Nats GM Mike Rizzo addresses fans briefly

PREGAME: Players chase ceremonial wild first pitches

1ST: Livo’s first pitch – a called strike to Martin Prado

1ST: With 2 outs, Chipper Jones doubles on a grounder to right

1ST: Chipper scores the Braves first run on a single to center by Brian McCann

1ST: MLB Opening Week graphic as Livo comes off the field

1ST: Werth singles on a grounder up the middle (see where it bounced in front of plate?) in his first official AB as a Nat

1ST: Zimmerman drives Werth to 3rd on a single. Werth claps. Bo Porter claps on his knees.

2ND: Heyward homers right into an awaiting Braves’ fan’s hands in RF to put the Braves up 2-0 (final score as well)

3RD: Werth reacts to a called strike

3RD: Zimm reacts to being called out on strikes

4TH: Home plate ump gets really into calling strikeouts looking (this time on Heyward).

4TH: After a walk, Ankiel is caught stealing by a mile to end the inning

6TH: Zimmerman exhibits some range to get a grounder by Chipper Jones and throw him out

6TH: Zimmerman exhibits some range to get a grounder by Chipper Jones and throw him out

7TH: After a fielder’s choice for one out (and a runner left on first), Livo is removed after only 77 pitches in the 7th inning

7TH: Doug Slaten walks the only batter he’s brought in to face – J. Heyward

9TH: Sean Burnett pitches a 1-2-3 9th with the aid of a double play he started

9TH: Sean Burnett pitches a 1-2-3 9th with the aid of a double play he started

9TH: Sean Burnett pitches a 1-2-3 9th with the aid of a double play he started

9TH: Ankiel ends the game down 2 with 2 outs by striking out looking

 

First let me explain my system so this makes sense because it’s pretty non-traditional. I like to see the players’ at bats straight across without the uneven spacing of innings, so I put every at bat next to the lineup on the first page. Now, this does mean I duplicate writing down every at bat (also in play-by-play), but I don’t mind. The second page has the typical play by play in non-typical fashion. I score both teams side-by-side so I can see who had the bigger better inning. The flow also works better for me while captioning photos as I don’t have to flip a scoresheet over and back and can see a full inning in one glance.

Scoring today’s mostly yawn-worthy boring and uneventful (other than a Heyward homerun) game showed a couple odd things that really stuck out to me after using this system for years. If you click to enlarge the third picture below, look at how both the Nats and Braves did inning by inning. You’ll see I use lineup number rather than jersey number (again, easier for me to track the game). Now look at innings one through six. Everyone on Twitter lauded Livo for getting 15 consecutive outs. He fared no better than Braves’ starter Lowe, because as you can see the exact same number of batters came to the plate until Lowe walked Zimmerman in the 6th. I have never ever in my years of scoring seen 5 innings match up batter to batter perfectly like that. I thought it was blown in the 4th after Ankiel walked, but when he was caught stealing with Espinosa up to bat, the match-up continued. Totally mind-blowingly weird!

I also use one column to record outs and one to denote runners on the basepaths. As you can see, the basepaths columns on both sides are rather sparse. This means the game was really boring. Another oddity is usually the game will spill over to the next page by the 8th inning. This is the first game I’ve ever crammed onto one single page. Essentially, neither team sent enough batters to the plate to cause the game to continue on the other side. Boring! I’m pretty sure that’s a first as well.

The pink highlighted lines are pitching changes – again marked both in the play-by-play (where I write the relief pitcher’s name in the margin) and on the stats page. I also star or write commentary next to plays or at-bats that I think I snapped good photos of or want to write about later. Plenty of room for that, unlike your typical scoresheet. For example, Next to where Clippard entered the game in the 7th, you can see I wrote to the right, “not peaches – lame”. Meaning, he did not enter to Peaches and the song he did (which I didn’t recognize) sounded really lame. There, I covered that note.

Enjoy the photos. If you want to look at them really large in their original glory, I also posted them on Flickr.

Full Scoresheet

Lineup, stats and summary page

Play by play by inning by team page

 

Zimmermann has been one of my favorites since he first came up, and I still maintain high hopes for him after being set back by Tommy John surgery. So far so good this spring. He allowed 3 hits, 1 walk and struck out 2 with no runs scored.

Henry Rodriguez, on the other hand, was the anti-Zimmermann, walking three batters in a row after giving up a double on a fly that Ankiel took a complete crop circle route on and ended up no where near where it landed (that was kind of odd – wind?). The third walk forced in the only run the Marlins scored before Rodriguez was pulled. Eek!

Brian Broderick relieved Rodriguez with one out in the 6th, inducing a popout and groundout to end the inning. He then had a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th as well. Collin Balester and Cole Kimball took the 8th and 9th respectively and shut the Marlins down 1-2-3 in those innings as well.

So aside from Rodriguez, the Nationals’ pitching staff put on a stellar performance today. I wish I had more photos to share… (explaining in next post in the morning after I recover from my own bit of camera mourning)