Dolphin Stadium For Game Two of Three In Florida for the Washington Nationals, who have dropped 11 of 13 games to the Marlins this season, with five remaining on the '08 schedule...
On The Hill...
DC righty Tim Redding (10-7, 4.49 ERA) has won two of his last four starts, with two no-decisions, and Washington is 4-0 in those Redding outings going back to August 12th, beating Philly twice and the Dodgers and Braves once each. Against tonight's opponent, the Florida Marlins, in his 7-year career, the 30-year-old Redding has a (4-2) record in 9 starts, posting a 3.80 ERA in 47.1 IP, over which he's allowed 48 hits and 20 ER. So far in '08, Redding's pitched 20.1 innings against the Marlins, and he's allowed 22 hits and 21 runs, 14 of them earned, 3 HR's and 9 walks with 22 K's and a 6.02 ERA while going (1-2).
The Marlins throw 6'7'', 230 lb 24-year-old right-hander Josh Johnson, (4-1, 3.33 ERA), who made his first start of the season back on July 10th after recovering from Tommy John surgery, which took place in August of '07. Johnson's last start against DC came back on August 22, 2006, with the Marlins winning 7-5 and the then-22-year-old Rookie of the Year candidate receiving no decision for 7.0 innings of work in which he game up 5 hits and 3 ER's, 1 HR and 1 walk while collecting 5 K's.
Redding vs The Marlins...
Alfredo "The Amazing" Amezaga - 1 for 3, .333 AVG, 1 2B, 2 RBI's.
Jorge Cantu - 2 for 8, .250 AVG, 2 RBI's.
Luis Gonzalez - 5 for 20, .250 AVG, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
Wes Helms - 6 for 23, .261 AVG, 2 HR's, 4 RBI's.
Jeremy Hermida - 5 for 9, .556 AVG, 3 2B's, 3 RBI's.
Hanley Ramirez - 4 for 9, .444 AVG, 2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI's.
Josh Willingham - 4 for 9, .444 AVG, 2 HR's, 4 RBI's.
Nationals' #'s Against Josh Johnson...
Ryan Langerhans - 3 for 7, .429 AVG, 1 2B, 2 RBI's.
Pete Orr - 4 for 6, .667 AVG.
Ryan Zimmerman - 0 for 4, .000 AVG.
Nationals' #'s vs Marlins' Closer? Matt Lindstrom...
Dmitri Young - 3 for 4, .750 AVG, 1 2B, 2 RBI's.
Cristian Guzman - 1 for 1, 1.000 AVG.
Ronnie Belliard - 1 for 5, .200 AVG, 1 2B.
Ryan Zimmerman - 1 for 5, .200 AVG.
Marlins' #'s vs DC Closer "Wild" Joel Hanrahan...
Alfredo "The Amazing" Amezaga - 2 for 4, .500 AVG.
Mike Jacobs - 1 for 3, .333 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
Hanley Ramirez - 1 for 5, .200 AVG, 1 RBI.
Dan Uggla - 1 for 2, .500 AVG, 1 HR, 4 RBI's, 3 BB.
Potomac Nationals Win Carolina League Title...
MiLB.com writer Danny Wild is reporting, on the Potomac Nationals' official site, in an article entitled, "Potomac Nationals win Mills Cup", that the Nationals' Class-A affiliate in Woodbridge, VA, was able to defeat the Atlanta Braves' affiiliate, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 8-2, to take the Mills Cup in just four games of the five game championship series.
Erik Arnesen, the Nationals' 17th Round pick, 511th overall in 2006, out of Franklin, New Jersey, earned the decisive win over the Pelicans, throwing 6.2 IP, in which he allowed 6 hits, 2 ER's, 2 HR's and 2 walks with 4 K's. P-Nats third baseman Stephen King was 2 for 3, with 1 2B and 1 RBI. Outfielder Michael Burgess was 1 for 4, with 1 run scored and 1 RBI.
Note: Ross Detwiler, who made his MLB debut last September, ended the Class-A regular season with an (8-8) record in 26 starts and 124.0 IP, in which he surrendered 140 hits, 72 runs, 67 ER, 8 HR's and 57 walks with 114 K's. Detwiler pitched the third game of the Mills Cup series Thursday night, allowing 4 hits and 4 ER's in 4.2 IP, with 3 walks issued and 9 K's collected.
Reviews Are In On Shairon Martis' Second Start...
Washington Post writer Chico Harlan has quotes from both Nationals' Manager Manny Acta and Pitching Coach Randy St. Claire in Mr. Harlan's article about last night's loss entitled, "Promising effort falls short for Martis, Nationals", but Mr. Harlan begins by asking the man behind the plate for Martis' outing, DC catcher Wil Nieves what he thought of the young starter's stuff:
"He has three quality pitches, including a fastball that catcher Wil Nieves said slid 'downhill,' a curveball Nieves called 'impressive' and a change-up he called 'great.' On this night, that change was Martis's go-to pitch."
It was hard to miss Martis' change last night, which had Marlins' batters guessing all evening, but Pitching Coach Randy St. Claire seemed more concerned with the rookie right-hander's composure on the mound, as he tells Mr. Harlan:
"'I haven't seen him change anything when he's out there in the situation,' pitching coach Randy St. Claire said. 'He looks exactly the same, doesn't look any different facing Scott Olsen as he does Mike Jacobs. And you know, I see the same face. The same body action. The same mechanics.'"
And finally Manager Manny Acta offers this assessment, which may be pointed towards some of DC's starters who have struggled this season, as Acta's quoted in Mr. Harlan's article stating:
"'...It's only been two starts, but he has looked very good because of the fact that he throws quality strikes with good stuff. He doesn't need Randy to be going out there every inning to straighten him out. We're impressed with the young man.'"
What did the Marlins' Press think of Martis?
According to Brian Spencer's Miami Herald article entitled, "Florida Marlins hit HR milestone in win vs Nationals", in which Mr. Spencer writes:
"Friday's (Marlins') triumph took some doing, though.
Martis, who was making only his second big-league start, had the Marlins hitters flummoxed. Besides Cantu's homer, the 21-year-old pitcher gave up one other hit, a first-inning single by John Baker.
When he exited in the sixth, he already had struck out nine."
The Nationals start the second of three with Florida at 7:10 pm EST, with Redding and Johnson on the mound. Can Redding win #11? Can Dukes connect for his 12th HR? Can The Nationals Win Just Their 3rd of 14 games against Florida in '08? You'll have to tune in to see...Who's Watching The Nationals?