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.