Nationals Roster Moves

Nationals roster moves:

activated P T.J. Tucker from the DL,

called up OF Tyrell Godwin and P Sun Woo Kim,

signed P C.J. Nitkowski,

placed Ps Jon Rauch and John Patterson (retroactive to May 16) on the 15 day DL,

moved OF Termell Sledge from the 15 to the 60 day DL,

designated P Claudio Vargas for assignment, and

sent P Zach Day to the minors.

Nitkowski was released earlier in the day from the Pirates AAA team and was added to the major league roster. Rauch has a torn labrum and is expected to miss at least 8-12 weeks. Patterson has back spasms.

Playing Catch-up

Well, it's time to catch up on things with the Nats.

After winning the opener in Arizona on Monday, the Nats dropped the last two and ended the west coast swing at 5-4. All in all, not a bad performance, especially with the injuries piling up. A winning west coaster for an east coast team is always a good thing.

Injuries: First, Jose Vidro ends up on the DL afterall. Christian Guzman (hamstring) is out of the line-up for a few days as well, so the middle infield is patchwork for the time being. Jamey Carroll has played well (hitting .405) as Vidro's replacement, although he's actually moved back to shortstop (his natural position) in the wake of Guzman's injury. This gives 2B Carlos Baerga a chance to play - I''m really surprised he's still in the big leagues. Remember when he got traded to the Mets a few years back and looked well past his prime?

The Nats are shuffling pitchers on the DL, as they activated Claudio Vargas to start Tuesday but put reliever Antonio Osuna on the DL with a shoulder problem.

Division Race: The Nats stand at 18-16, three games behind Atlanta and in third place in the NL East. Wow, Atlanta's in first place, what a shock! With the Nats holding their own, this division is probably the most competitive in all of baseball.

Schedule: Starting Friday night the Nats are home against the Cubs for three and the Brewers for four. They are fortunate in that they will miss Mark Prior, who started for the Cubs Wednesday against he Mets. The projected starters for the series are:

Friday: Glendon Rusch vs. Esteban Loaiza

Saturday: Carlos Zambrano vs. Livan Hernandez (sweet match-up)

Sunday: Greg Maddux vs. John Patterson

This will be a good test for the Nats, facing two of the better righties in the NL over the weekend.

Monday and Tuesday

I'm away on business, so posting will be light. The Nats are at the D'backs the next three nights. Livan Hernandez gets the start tonight. He needs to get into the late innings because I think the bullpen is a little taxed after the 13-inning marathon last night in SF.

So far, the Nats have shown themselves well on the west coast swing. A couple of W's in the desert will be a big confidence boost.

Giants Outlast Nationals in 13 Innings

Omar Vizquel's double in the 13th drove the winning run for the Giants as they edged the Nats and avoided a three-game sweep. Vizquel had three hits and three RBI on the night to lead the Giants.

Jamey Carroll, filling in for an injured Jose Vidro, had four hits and Jose Guillen homered and drove in two for Washington. Guillen leads the team with eight homers so far this year. Esteban Loaiza had another hard luck performance as he pitched well for seven and two-thirds innings but came away with a no-decision. Jon Rauch took the loss despite allowing only one run in three innings.

The Nats had a chance to go in front in the tenth with runners at first and third and one out, but Nick Johnson struck out, however, and Endy Chavez grounded out to end the threat.

Interestingly, every team in the NL East entered the day with winning streaks of at least two games (the Nats' streak was three), but four of the five clubs lost today (Atlanta was the lone winner). The Nats lose ground only to the Braves and remain in third place in the division.

Box Score and Recap

Game 31, Nationals at Giants

The Nationals conclude their three-game series with the San Francisco Giants today at SBC Park, and look to complete a three-game sweep and extend their winning streak to four games.

The line-ups:

	POS	Nationals (17-13)	POS	Giants (14-15)
1	CF	B Wilkerson (.299-3-14)	SS	O Vizquel (.295-0-9)
2	2B	J Carroll (.385-0-3)	3B	E Alfonzo (.330-2-19)
3	RF	J Guillen (.324-7-19)	RF	M Tucker (.215-3-14)
4	3B	V Castilla (.316-3-20)	LF	M Alou (.269-3-10)
5	1B	N Johnson (.314-3-17	1B	P Feliz (.321-5-26)
6	LF	J Hammonds (.250-0-0)	CF	L Niekro (.319-4-9)
7	SS	C Guzman (.239-1-5)	C	Y Torreabla (.353-1-3)
8	C	G Bennett (.240-0-5)	2B	D Cruz (.292-2-5)
9	P	E Loaiza (.143-0-0)	P	K Rueter (.200-0-1)

The pitchers:

Nationals: Esteban Loaiza – 1-2, 3.72 ERA
vs.
Giants: Kirk Rueter, 1-2, 4.96 ERA

Update on Vidro

From Lee Sinins at Hardball Times:

Nationals 2B Jose Vidro was diagnosed with a high and lateral sprained left ankle. He's expected to be out 1-2 weeks and the team is hoping he can avoid the DL.

Nationals Go to Church to Defeat Giants

Ryan Church had four hits, including a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double to break an 8-all tie in the top of the ninth inning, and the Washington Nationals defeated the San Francisco Giants 11-8. The Nationals move to 17-13 on the year.

Box Score and Recap

Church, filling in for the injured Termel Sledge, had four hits and drove in four runs. Brian Schnieder and Jamey Carroll had three hits each and Brad Wilkerson contributed two sacrifice flies. Jose Guillen came off the bench as a pinch hitter for starting pitcher John Patterson and had two hits and two RBI.

Patterson struggled, giving up four runs in three innings in what is easily his poorest outing of the year. Despite his problems tonight, Patterson still sports a 2.45 ERA. Zach Day came on in relief of Patterson, and apparently hasn't adjusted to his new role as long reliever. Day gave up four runs and recorded only four outs. On the bright side, the combination of Luis Ayala and Chad Cordero is making a formidable tandem, as they tossed two shut-out innings to win and save the game, respectively.

Giants' starter Jason Schmidt had his second straight poor outing, allowing six earned runs in less than four innings. On April 26, the Giants allowed Schmidt to throw 131 pitches against the Padres. His next start - originally scheduled for May 1 against Pittsburgh, was pushed back to the following day against Arizona because of - surprise, surprise - fatigue! Schmidt struggled against the D-backs, but Felipe Alou inexplicably left him in to throw 121 pitches in that game.

I guess it was no surprise that he struggled again tonight.

Game 30, Nationals at Giants

The Nationals continue their three-game series today against the San Francisco Giants at SBC Park. Go here for live pitch-by-pitch coverage.

The line-ups:

	POS	Nationals (16-13)	POS	Giants (14-14)
1	RF	B Wilkerson (.307-3-12)	CF	J Ellison (.404-1-1)
2	2B	J Carroll (.318-0-3)	SS	O Vizquel (.296-0-9)
3	1B	N Johnson (.313-3-16)	1B	J.T. Snow (.324-1-7)
4	3B	V Castilla (.333-3-20)	RF	M Alou (.271-2-6)
5	LF	R Church (.222-2-8)	LF	P Feliz (.308-5-25)
6	C	B Schnieder (.237-2-8)	3B	E Alfonzo (.333-2-17)
7	SS	C Guzman (.238-1-5)	2B	D Cruz (.289-2-5)
8	CF	E Chavez (.333-0-1)	C	M Matheny (.232-3-14)
9	P	J Patterson (.111-0-0)	P	J Schmidt (.188-0-1)

The pitchers:

Nationals: John Patterson – 2-1, 1.60 ERA
vs.
Giants: Jason Schmidt, 2-1, 3.76 ERA

Injuries & Rumors

OF Termel Sledge is likely out for the season after tearing his hamstring Monday at Los Angeles. The Nats moved Sledge to the 60-day DL on Thursday. OF Jeffrey Hammonds was called up from AAA to take Sledge's roster spot.

2B Jose Vidro will miss a few games due to a tender left ankle. IF Jamey Carroll was in the line-up at second on Friday.

LHP Joey Eischen was placed on the DL with his broken (non-pitching) arm. OF Endy Chavez was called up to take his place on the roster.

Rumor: USA Today reports the Nationals could be pursuing a trade for Rockies' CF Preston Wilson.

Nationals Spank Giants, 9-3

Brad Wilkerson had three hits and Ryan Church knocked in three runs to lead Washington past San Francisco, 9-3 on Friday night. Jon Rauch got the win with three scoreless innings in relief of Tomo Ohka.

Box Score

Recap

Game 29: Nationals versus Giants

I’ve decided to start posting pre-game, and will, when possible, blog during the some of the games. Pre-game stuff will include line-ups; break down of the pitching match ups, and other items as appropriate.

The Nationals open a three-game series tonight against the San Francisco Giants at SBC Park. Go here for live pitch-by-pitch coverage. The Giants remain without superstar slugger Barry Bonds, about whom it was rumored, has a third operation on his ailing knee. However, from the reports I've read, this procedure was more of a routine draining of fluid and probably had little or nothing to do with any structural issues.

The line-ups:

	POS	Nationals	POS	Giants (14-13)
1	CF	B Wilkerson (.291-3-11)	SS	O Vizquel (.298-0-9)
2	2B	J Carroll (.316-0-2)	2B	D Cruz (.275-1-4)
3	RF	J Guillen (.327-7-17)	1B	J.T. Snow (.338-1-7)
4	3B	V Castilla (.341-3-18)	RF	M Alou (.289-2-6)
5	1B	N Johnson (.305-3-14)	LF	P Feliz (.301-5-25)
6	LF	J Hammonds (.500-0-0)	3B	E Alfonzo (.337-2-16)
7	SS	C Guzman (.238-1-5)	CF	M Grissom (.214-2-12)
8	C	G Bennett (.200-0-4)	C	M Matheny (.241-3-13)
9	P	T Ohka (.400-0-0)	P	N Lowry (.333-0-0)

The pitchers:

Nationals: Tomo Ohka – 2-3, 4.50 ERA
vs.
Giants: Noah Lowry, 1-2, 5.60 ERA

Is Zach's Day Done?

Following Zach Day's last start on Tuesday, in which Nats manager Frank Robinson pulled Day with two outs in the fourth, the Nationals have announced that Day has been sent to the bullpen.

One report had Day turning his back on Robinson as the manager made his way to the mound to make the pitching change, but Robinson was later quoted giving Day this vote of confidence:

Zach Day doesn't think I like him. He thinks I hate him," Robinson said. "Anything that I do now, short of him being successful, he's going to think I'm not giving him an opportunity to pitch enough.

If that's a vote of confidence, I hate to hear what the skipper's got to say about someone in whom he has no confidence. To be fair, Robinson also had this to say:

I have liked this kid's stuff ever since the day he got here.

We'll see what transpires in this little saga. In all likelihood, Robinson needed a good excuse to demote someone to the pen with Tony Armas coming of the diabled list and John Patterson having a surprisingly strong start to the '05 campaign.

Johnson, Hernandez Lead Nats Past Dodgers

Livan Hernandez allowed two runs on seven hits in his complete game victory over the LA Dodgers on Wednesday night at Chavez Ravine. It was Hernandez's fourth win of the year.

Nick Johnson hit his third home run of the season, driving in two, and Vinny Castilla doubled and drove in a run for the Nats.

The victory gave the Nats their second win in the three game series, and the club will enjoy an off day on Thursday before opening a three-game set in San Francisco against the Giants on Friday night.