Harrisburg Senators' New Starter Debuts...
On July 31, 2009, the Washington Nationals traded 1B Nick Johnson to the Florida Marlins for 22-year-old lefty starter Aaron Thompson, who made his debut with DC's Double-A affiliate last night, taking the L in a Senators' loss to the Binghamton Mets. Thompson allowed 5 hits, 3 walks and 3 ER in 5.0 IP, over which he collected 5 K's.
Zimmermann Takes On The Carolina League...
Jordan Zimmermann was down in the Class-A Carolina League Tuesday night to get a rehab start with the Potomac Nationals. Anthony Masterson with the P-Nats wrote in an article entitled, "Zimmerman, Espinosa Not Enough For Nats", that Zimmermann, "...made quite a splash in the beginning of the ballgame, striking out the side in the bottom of the first inning," but Zimmerman took a line drive off his backside and departed early in Potomac's 7-3 loss to the Frederick Keys. I asked Mr. Masterson if he could let me know how Zimmermann looked and he sent a note along on Wednesday afternoon that read in part:
"Zimmermann looked excellent last night in his rehab start...He allowed one home run on a hanging breaking ball, but that was pretty much all the Keys could muster off him. His fastball hit 95 consistently, his curveball had nice tilt to it, and his slider had sharp break to it. He definitely overmatched every hitter he faced in one way or another..."
- thanks again, Mr. Masterson.
• (ed. note - According to MLB.com's Bill Ladson, DC fans may not have to wait long for Jordan Zimmermann's return to DC, as Mr. Ladson writes, in a blog post entitled, "Kearns seeing specialist, Zim may get big-league start", that "the team has not decided where he will make his next start...If he pitches in the big leagues, Zimmerman will likely start against the Braves on Tuesday.")
• (ed. note - "Check Out What The Washington Post's Nationals Journal and the Washington Times' Chatter crew have been up to...If you Twitter, you might find their experiments interesting...")
Check Out The SB Nation's Florida Marlins Blog:
• Check The NatCast If You're Heading To Nationals Park.
Who's Watching The Nationals?