On The Hill...
Kevin Millwood, (5-3, 4.75 ERA), the Texas Rangers' starter tonight in the first of three at Washington, DC's Nationals Park, has a (15-5) record and a 3.60 ERA against the Nationals' franchise in 25 starts and 157.2 innings pitched. But...Millwood hasn't faced the team since September 25, 2004, when they were the Montreal Expos, and he was a starter with the Phillies, and Millwood pitched just 2.0 innings before leaving that last start with an injured groin. (Millwood faced the Expos six times that season, with Philly winning all six starts.)
Millwood, the 33-year old, 6'4'' right-hander, has won 4 of his last 7 '08 starts, dropping one, with two no decisions, and the Texas Rangers are 6-1 in those last seven Millwood outings. The 12-year MLB veteran out of Gastonia, North Carolina, is (1-3) in six road starts this year, (as opposed to 4-0 in 7 home starts), but the one road win did come in his last start, at Shea Stadium against the Mets on 6/15...
DC righty, Tim Redding, all of 29-years old himself, has faced Texas 4 times in his career, twice as a starter, and he's given up 21 hits in 8.2 innings pitched against the Rangers with 17 runs scored, 4 HR's launched, 4 walks surrendered and 5 K's collected with a 17.65 ERA!!! against the franchise.
To counter those numbers though...How about the Nationals' record when Redding's on the mound...Washington's 12-3 in Redding's 15 2008 starts, (does that make that 17.65 ERA less frightening?), even though Redding hasn't recorded a decision in his last 5 starts this season...
Nationals' #'s Against Kevin Millwood...
Paul Lo Duca - 2 for 2, 1.000 AVG.
Ronnie Belliard - 1 for 17, .059 AVG.
Aaron Boone - 5 for 20, .250 AVG, 1 2B, 4 RBI's.
DY - 6 for 21, .286 AVG, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI's.
The "If They Were Playing" List...
Austin Kearns - 3 for 8, .375 AVG, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
Nick Johnson - 0 for 6, .000 AVG, 4 K's.
Rangers' #'s Against Redding...
Michael Young - 2 for 6, .333 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI.
Milton Bradley - 1 for 1, 1.000 AVG, 1 HR, 1 RBI.
THE BLAME GAME...(A Federalbaseball.com Favorite)...Federalbaseball.com Blames This One On...
Robert E. Short
The second incarnation of the Washington Senators lasted a little over a decade in the nation's capital, before Robert E. Short moved the team to Texas creating a gap in DC baseball history that lasted from September 30, 1971 until April 4, 2005. That last game in DC, on 9/21/71 has a symbol *V listed next to the L(oss) column on baseball-reference.com, and when you click on the *V you're linked to the Game Log Information page where it's explained that, "*V = the game was forfeited to the visiting team."
If you don't know what happened that night, here's a link to the washingtonpost.com article by Shirley Povich from October 1, 1971 entitled, "The Senators' Final Game", which recounts the events of the forfeit to the New York Yankees...
Check the NatCast if you're heading to Nationals Park...
Game one of three gets underway at 7:35 pm EST. Old Senators vs New Nationals. Rangers vs Nationals. Redding vs Millwood. "Don Sutton's Favorite Pitcher" vs "Driftwood". DC vs Texas. Who's watching the Nationals?