Cubs 9, Nats 1
That was not a good day. Stephen Strasburg is headed to the disabled list and awaiting a second MRI. Here’s a full update from general manager Mike Rizzo earlier Monday. And then the Chicago Cubs, an organization that paid $146 million to have a miserable season, ran the Nats off the field. Read all about that here, especially the key play early when Willie Harris dove for an Alfonso Soriano fly ball and barely missed it. That led to a triple and completed a five-run third inning for Chicago. Nats manager Jim Riggleman has praised his players’ effort most of this season – even at times when they didn’t deserve it. But he wasn’t happy after this one.
Recommended Stories
“I talked to the ballclub after the game and let them know that you’ve just got to play with more energy, even though the game is flattening us out because we’re out there on the field a long time,” Riggleman said. “But we’ve got to find a way. We’ve got to turn it up a notch. I’ve got to tell you, our guys play hard, they play with intensity. But it’s a 162-game schedule and you have to play 162 games.”
Fair enough. But Cubs pitcher Casey Coleman – whose father, Joe Coleman, broke into the big leagues in Washington with the Senators in 1965 – had something to do with that, too. Coleman went 6 1/3 innings and allowed a run on just three hits to earn his first big-league win. That and two walks was the extent of the Nats’ offense on Monday. Coleman’s ball was moving all over the place, several Washington players said. The 23-year-old even collected his first major-league hit and RBI on the same night.
“Things aren’t going our way. I think everybody’s still upbeat. It’s not like the whole morale is down and everything,” said center fielder Nyjer Morgan. “It just sucks getting our [butts] whipped like that – and definitely in front of our home crowd…Even though it’s snowballing we can’t let that snowball get any more bigger.”
Nats starter Livan Hernandez struggled through one of his worst games of the season. One problem, according to multiple players: Home-plate umpire Tim Timmons was stingy with the strike calls on the corners. Some pitchers can overcome that. Hernandez isn’t one of them. Riggleman took pains to say Timmons probably got the calls right. But…
“When the pitches are close and you’re not getting them that’s tough for Livo. And he just kept making good pitches,” Riggleman said. “He made a lot of great pitches and we just couldn’t get those calls. It just turned into a very high number of pitches and finally the counts were worked deep and they got a lot of big hits on him. The umpire did a good job. But you’d kind of like to get a couple of those calls there to get the count working in your favor.”
Hernandez lasted just 4 1/3 innings and gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits with fours walks. In the disastrous third he even hit two Cubs batters with breaking balls – something “that’s never happened to me in my career,” an incredulous Hernandez said. His ERA jumped from 3.06 to 3.36 in one night. Will that have any lingering affect on a player having a remarkable comeback season?
“No, 14 years in this game. I’m the kind of guy when I walk outside everything is over,” Hernandez said. “Come back tomorrow and be ready for the next start. Come back tomorrow and try to win some games…I won’t sleep too good, think a little bit. But tomorrow’s a new day. Work on what I do wrong and that’s it.”
Nats Notes
» Right-handed pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, one year removed from Tommy John surgery, will return to the big leagues on Thursday and start for the injured Stephen Strasburg, according to a team source.
» Zimmermann is 1-2 in 10 minor-league starts this summer with a 1.59 ERA. Check out our Cheers & Jeers item on his return
» Washington announced Monday it has renewed its player-development contract with Double-A Harrisburg. The Senators have been affiliated with the Washington/Montreal franchise since 1991.
» Outfielder Roger Bernadina went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. That was also the Nats’ lone extra-base hit. Bernadina has hit safely in six straight games with two doubles, two stolen bases, a homer and five RBI during that stretch.
» Washington reliever Doug Slaten walked in a run on Monday. But his ERA over his last 13 appearances (12 1/3 innings) is 0.94.
» Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd, a former Nat, left the game in the third inning after getting hit by a pitch from Hernandez. X-rays were negative and he is listed as day-to-day.
» Attendance at Nationals Park was 17,921.
Notable Quotable
Livan Hernandez on home-plate umpire Tim Timmons:
“I want the umpire to give me a strike, what is a strike. I’m not asking for nothing else. Made the game [harder] when he give the strike to the other guy and not give the strike to me. This happens some days. But I want what is a strike. I don’t want nothing else.”
Nats outfielder Nyjer Morgan on his team’s demeanor in a 9-1 loss:
“We’ve got to show some more effort. We got embarrassed tonight.”
Nats outfielder Willie Harris linking his team’s seemingly lackadaisical effort with Cubs pitcher Casey Coleman:
“I can only speak for myself when it comes to playing hard. I think everyone in this locker room gives a great effort every night. But it just seemed like everybody was dead tonight – and that could be because their pitcher was pitching so well. It’s really not a special way to look at it or anything special you’ve got to do. You just continue to play hard and hopefully it will change. If we lose the game 9-7 no one’s talking about how hard we played or anything like that. I think the pitcher, that guy on the other side, made it seem as if we weren’t playing hard because he was getting everybody out.”
Hernandez on throwing 121 pitches in just 4 1/3 innings:
“I never quit. I never quit on my games. I know I got a rough inning that third inning. I know we use the bullpen a lot…It’s a tough day. Nothing worked. I’m a little mad, very disappointed what I do today. But when I walk outside it’s a new day tomorrow. I got to think like that. And always I think positive. But it’s a rough day. We lost and we lost ugly today.”
Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14
