Nationals right-handed starter Tim Redding is a fly-ball pitcher. The Florida Marlins entered Wednesday night’s game at National Park with 203 home runs, third-most of any team in Major League Baseball.
That combination proved nothing but trouble in 2008.
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The Marlins’ lineup has tormented the Nats all season and no pitcher more than Redding, who had to face Florida six times. Wednesday’s result was no different. Redding lasted just 2 2/3 innings, his shortest outing of the season, and allowed seven runs on seven hits in a 9-4 loss.
“[Redding] needs to keep the ball down on them. He has a little problem with them because he’s been up in the zone,’ Nats manager Manny Acta said before the game. “So that’s been his main problem. … But it’s easier said than done.”
Redding began the year 6-3 and on May 19 his ERA was 3.16. He was steady the rest of the way, making a team-high 33 starts, the most in his career. Redding’s 10 wins matched his personal best, as well. But he faltered in the second half and could have done even better if not for the Marlins. Redding (10-11, 4.95 ERA) finished the year with a 1-4 record against Florida and a 7.76 ERA.
“The first half? Real good. The type of half that you’d hope to have a full season like,” Redding said. “Second half the numbers show for themselves: ERA over 6.00. Team’s win-loss record with me out there was .500 or just under .500. As a whole I can take some good and I can take some bad. But it’s sad having to look back on the last two-and-a-half months and know that I let some things slip away.”
Things went south for Redding from the start on Wednesday. Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez (3-for-5, two runs scored) blasted a leadoff home run in the first inning and another run scored on a double-play grounder. In between there was a double, a wild pitch and a hit batter. Redding seemed to settle down in the second, allowing just one base hit. But the Marlins then added five runs in the third to take a 7-0 lead and knock Redding from the game thanks to three doubles, a single and two walks.
“I felt pretty good. I felt like I had a good fastball today,” Redding said. “I just never gave myself a chance to use all my pitches. They’re a fastball hitting team. We’ve known this all year. No matter how big you’re ego is sometimes you have to take your medicine.”
In six innings, the Nats managed just six hits and two runs off Florida starter Josh Johnson (7-1, 3.61 ERA). They scored twice in the third on an Emilio Bonifacio RBI triple and an Alberto Gonzalez RBI ground out. But Washington left two runners on base in both the fourth and sixth innings. The Nats tried to mount a late rally in the eighth down 9-2. Pete Orr and Wil Nieves both delivered RBI singles. But with one out and two men on base, Florida reliever Ryan Tucker prevented further damage with a strikeout and a fly out.
“Very tough [to be down seven runs early], especially when you’re going against a guy like Johnson that you know is not going to give up much,” Acta said. “So it was just a deep hole for us against a guy like him.”
Nats notes
» A Nationals team official disputed part of an online report on Sporting News.com by writer Gerry Fraley on Wednesday. The story stated that team president Stan Kasten tried to fire a Nats scout after an embarrassing display in the Colorado Rockies’ press box during a series in Denver in August. According to Fraley’s sources, general manager Jim Bowden convinced ownership to retain the scout in question.
The team official admitted an incident did occur in the Coors Field press box with a team scout, but that Bowden and Kasten did in fact agree on the employee’s punishment. The Nats would not disclose the punishment or say if the scout was fired, terming the issue “a personnel matter.”
» Former Washington Senators great Mickey Vernon died on Wednesday at age 90 six days after suffering a stroke. Vernon won two batting titles with the Senators in 1946 and 1953. The left-handed hitting first baseman played for five different teams and led the American League in fielding four times and in doubles three times. He was a seven-time All-Star selection. Vernon managed the expansion Washington Senators in 1961, 1962 and part of the 1963 season. Last month, Vernon was one of nine former major-leaguers named to a special Veteran’s Committee ballot for the 2009 Hall-of-Fame induction class. The results from that vote will be disclosed on Dec. 8.
» The flu bug is spreading through the Nationals’ clubhouse. Shorstop Cristian Guzman missed his second game in a row and third baseman Ryan Zimmerman “was in bad shape,” according to manager Manny Acta, and scratched as well. Zimmerman said he hopes to return to the lineup tonight for the final home game of the season at Nationals Park.
» The Nats (59-99) are now just one defeat away from losing 100 games on the season. Florida clinched a winning record as it improved to 82-76.
