Nats Town – where even a series victory brings bad news. The Nationals took two of three games from the Cubs at Wrigley Field after a 5-4 win on a blustery Thursday afternoon in the Windy City. Afterwards, they learned that center fielder Nyjer Morgan is out for the season with a broken left hand.
The injury occured in the first inning. Morgan singled, stole second base and then stole third. As he often does, Morgan slid – hard – headfirst into the bag at third. But his hand slammed against the stationary base. Morgan left the game after that half inning. Willie Harris will take his place in the starting lineup and the Nats will add a player on Friday for the weekend series in St. Louis.
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It’s a bad break for a team that has endured its share this season. Washington traded for Morgan on July 1, sending outfielder Lastings Milledge and relief pitcher Joel Hanrahan to Pittsburgh. Relief pitcher Sean Burnett came with Morgan, who instantly became one of the top defensive center fielders in baseball after playing primarily in left for the Pirates. He ran down balls in the gaps. He judged balls correctly off the bat and rarely took a bad route. It was like winning the lottery for a team that entered 2009 without a true center fielder on the roster and has struggled to fill that spot since the team arrived from Montreal in 2005.
To top it off, Morgan batted .351 in 48 games as a leadoff batter with the Nats and .307 overall. He had a solid on-base percentage of .368 and was successful on 42 of 59 stolen-base attempts. And he quickly became a fan favorite for his entertaining style of play and his outgoing personality. It’s long been a lost season for the Nats at 46-82. But that’s still a lot to lose heading into the season’s final month. Morgan had actually missed the first two games of the Cubs series with the flu and came out early on Monday against the Brewers.
