Back in Nationals Park tonight, and I once again turned the pre and post game interview with DC Skipper Jim Riggleman over to the FB readers, offering any of you the opportunity to ask the Nats' manager any questions you might have. Tonight it was an FB regular who goes by the handle "souldrummer" who wanted to know, "What percentage of bases does Nyjer need to steal to justify the risk and reward? Seems like he’s been doing a good job getting on base, getting thrown out a key time in the game not so much. Likewise, do you ever give Guzman a take sign to give Nyjer a chance to steal?" One aspect of this process I need to improve involves the fact that I have the questions saved on my iPhone which also functions as my voice recorder during the interviews, so as you'll see, I kind of stumbled to try to get the point of the question across to Mr. Riggleman who offered the following reasoned response:
Q: [Nyjer Morgan]'s been caught stealing in 3 of 7 stolen base attempts so far, is there a point at which you're going to rein him in?
Jim Riggleman: "No. The Rockies are very tough to run on. They do a great job of holding the runner at first base, your timing and all that, get you out of your rhythm, they do a great job of it as some other clubs do, but you combine that with the way [Miguel] Olivo's throwing and it's just tough. Really what you've got to do is just hope that he's running when the pitcher gives you a pitch to hit so that the hitter is swinging, it just so happens he's run when Jimenez yesterday didn't throw a strike, so the catcher got a great ball to work with, kind of up, and he's got a great arm, so you've got a quick time to the plate, you've got a catcher with a great arm, the pitch is 97mph some times, so it's kind of a guessing game. The runner is maybe hoping breaking ball, he's maybe hoping the fastball is the ball there to be hit so it becomes like a hit and run type of play, and it just hasn't fallen into place. If I put the reins on him, then it's just, his value to us goes way down if I hold him up too much."