GameThread: New York Mets At Washington Nationals- Game 54 or 55 of 162.

Livan Hernandez Wants To Show You His Fastball...

Livan Hernandez

#61 / Pitcher / New York Mets

Height: 6-2

Weight: 245

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Feb 20, 1975

'09 Stats - (4-1, 4.33 ERA), 10 GS, 60.1 IP, 70 H, 29 ER, 7 HR, 16 BB, 36 K's, 1.43 WHIP, .306 BAA. 

vs DC - (9-5, 3.99 ERA), 15 GS, 103.2 IP, 104 H, 46 ER, 9 HR, 24 BB, 46 K's, 1.23 WHIP, .269 BAA. 

The Former Mr. National Himself...

Livan Hernandez allowed 1 run on 9 hits in a complete game win over the Nationals on May 26th in Citi Field, and the NY Mets' and former Expos/Nationals' starter is now 6-0 in his last 6 starts against Washington going back to September 2nd 2006, when the 6'2'', 245 lb soft-tossing right-hander dropped his first start against his former team after the Nationals dealt him to Arizona in exchange for Matt Chico and Garrett Mock. Hernandez is (3-0) in his last six starts, with the Mets 4-2 in those outings. Last time out, he surrendered 3 runs on 7 hits in 5.2 IP of a loss to the Pirates. 

The Nationals vs Livan Hernandez...

Ronnie Belliard - 12 for 41, .293 AVG, 2 2B, 4 RBI's. 

Adam Dunn - 4 for 20, .200 AVG, 2 HR's, 4 RBI's, 1 BB, 6 K's. 

Cristian Guzman - 5 for 11, .455 AVG, 1 2B, 1 RBI. 

Willie Harris - 0 for 7, .000 AVG. 

Anderson Hernandez - 1 for 6, .167 AVG. 

Nick Johnson - 2 for 13, .154 AVG, 1 2B, 5 K's. 

Austin Kearns - 12 for 27, .444 AVG, 1 2B, 2 HR's, 11 RBI's, 3 BB, 6 K's. 

Craig Stammen - 1 for 1, 1.000 AVG. 

Josh Willingham - 8 for 19, .421 AVG, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBI's. 

Ryan Zimmerman - 5 for 20, .250 AVG, 2 2B, 2 HR's, 4 RBI's. 

Craig Stammen...

The Nationals' 25-year-old right-hander makes the fourth start of his MLB career, and the second against NY, having surrendered 7 hits and 3 ER in 5.0 IP in a 6-1 loss to New York back on May 26th. Stammen and Livan obviously matched up in that start as well, with Stammen suffering the loss, but the Nationals have won in his only other two trips to the mound, and though he failed to record a decision in either DC victory, Stammen has been on the mound for 2 of the Nationals' 4 wins in their last 15 games...

Stammen, who worked with new Nationals' pitching coach Steve McCatty when both were in Syracuse last year and earlier this season, told MLB.com's Bill Ladson, as quoted in an article entitled, "Stammen gets second look at Mets", that based on his calculations:

"'[McCatty] did a great job with me in Triple-A the last month of last year and the first two months of this year,' Stammen said. 'He's really made me a 15 times better pitcher than what I was when I got to him.'"

(ed. note - "I would like to know why Mr. Stammen settled on 15x's?")

Mr. Ladson observes in the article that, "Stammen, a sinker-based control pitcher, seems to be McCatty's type," and Mr. McCatty concurs, telling the MLB.com writer that:

"Sinkers are a very tough pitch to hit, and he (Stammen) has a good one," McCatty said. "He keeps the ball down, gets a lot of quick outs, a lot of ground balls -- gets the guys on their toes and ready to make plays."

Of the first 76 batters Stammen's faced in his first three starts, the right-handed sinker-baller's gotten 26 GO/15 FO, and 6 K's. 

Stammen vs The Mets...

Angel Pagan - 2 for 3.

Omir Santos - 1 for 3, 1 2B. 

Gary Sheffield - 1 for 2. 

Fernando Tatis - 1 for 3. 

David Wright - 1 for 3. 

DC Starting Lineup...

1. The Guzzzz - SS
2. Nick "Two-Spot" Johnson - 1B
3. THE KIDS CALL HIM ZIM!! - 3B
4. The Big Met Killer - LF
5. Elijah SSSSSSSUPER DUKESSSSS - CF
6. AK - RF (He owns Livan!)
7. The Bard - C
8. Anderson "Elvis" Hernandez - 2B
9. Craig Stammen - SP

STRASBURG FILES...

Nats hope Strasburg isn't this year's Bane  - Jonathan Mayo | MLB.com: News

Eddie Bane could have been the Stephen Strasburg of his day -- a college standout who went straight to the bigs. But Bane won seven games in his Major League career. What fate will Strasburg have?

MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo's article entitled, "Nats hope Strasburg isn't this year's Bane", has a list of all the first round picks since 1967 who skipped the minor leagues and instead debuted in the majors in the same year that they were drafted, and Mr. Mayo talks to just such a player, former Twins' 1st Round pick Eddie Bane, now the LA Angels' scouting director, who says that he doesn't, "...see that happening with Stephen (Strasburg). I have a feeling the negotiations might take a little while."

It is certainly hard to imagine Strasburg, who has already thrown 109.0 innings this season, sitting out from May 29th, which was his last start of his junior year at SDSU until the August 15 signing deadline to ink this year's draft picks and then somehow getting back into good enough competitive shape to make a start with the Nationals this season...and I've yet to come across anyone who expresses a belief that the Nationals, Strasburg and his agent Scott "Maximum" Boras are going to come to a decision quickly...

6:00 pm EST Tuesday night...All the fun starts...but today's game starts at 1:35 pm EST...

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