Nights like tonight are part of what got me to following the minors. Your team gets rocked in devastating, soul-shattering fashion, and you'd like to have some kind of hope they get better. You read the tea leaves of the box scores, check out what people are saying at Natsfarm, and realize that there are some young players on the way who can make a difference. Jordan Zimmermann helped provide some balm to the downhearted faithful tonight. He pitched 4 shutout innings in a 1-0 win for Syracuse, the first game of a split doubleheader in which Syracuse lost 6-3 in the nightcap. The Syracuse Post-Standard has a solid writeup up of all the details of the doubleheader, saying that JZim is scheduled to pitch 5 in his next start and singling out Danny Espinosa for a fine defensive play in support. Jordan Zimmermann's full line: 4IP, 1H, 0BB, 1K, 13 batters faced on 35 pitches according to the box score (do I trust this?). Do something similar against Indianopolis in 5 days please, so that you can get in the mid-August mix.

The Maya watch begins. Mark Zuckerman writes that El Duque is on his way to Harrisburg. Hopefully that means Maya is soon to follow, although there are no stats of him pitching in the GCL yet. An anonymous commenter at 10:49 went one better on Zuckerman's blog and pointed out that El Duque made his Harrisburg debut tonight. El Duque pitched 2.1 innings of shutout relief for a battered Brad Peacock in a 7-2 Harrisburg loss.He also managed a successful sacrifice bunt. Perhaps he'll share this overlooked skill with some of our young pitchers in a DC September callup.

Your upper minors results after the jump:

AAA Syracuse: After Jordan Zimmermann pitched four shutout innings, Jason Bergmann was credited with the 1-0 win for 1 inning of scoreless relief. Leonard Davis' solo HR accounted for the only Syracuse run. In game 2, organizational stalwart Brad Kown took a 6-3 loss to the former Nationals affiliate Columbus Clippers. Jeff Mandel, who had been starting for Syracuse, pitched 1.2 innings in relief and yielded two runs in his second consecutive relief appearance. I believe that means Mandel is the starter whose been bumped for rehabbers Jason Marquis and Zimmermann. Right now, the rotation seems to be Jordan Zimmermann, Matt Chico, Shairon Martis, Brad Kown, and Erik Arnesen.

• Jordan Zimmermann, RSP: Game 1, 4IP, 0R, H, 0BB, K
• Jason Bergmann, RRP, Game 1 (W, 5-3) , 1IP, 0R, 2H, 0BB, 2K
• Atahualpa Severino, LRP: Game 1(H, 11), .2IP, 0R, 0H
• Fan Fav Boomer Whiting, CF: Game 1, 1-3, K; Game 2, 1-4, R, K
• Danny Espinosa, SS: Game 1, 1-3, SB; Game 2, 2-4, R, K. Espinosa continues to make his case for an aggressive promotion September or early 2011. At tonight's Nationals game, Espinosa was featured in the "Down on the Farm Report". He's the only player in minor league ball with 20HR and 20SB.
  
• Wilson Ramos, C: Game 2, 1-3, R
• SD fav Josh Wilkie, RHP: 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0B, 0K

AA Harrisburg: Brad Peacock gives up 7 runs in 4.1IP as Harrisburg lost to Binghamton 7-1.

• Chris Marrero, 1B: 0-3, K. Hopefully Chris doesn't have the Danny Espinosa left me blues.
• Stephen Lombardozzi, 2B: Congratulations Stephen for your first hit at AA! He went 1-1.

High A Potomac: AJ Morris was credited with a relief win after Adrian Alaniz pitched 6 strong innings with 8 strikeouts for Potomac in a 5-2 win. Potomac now has a two game second half lead in their division. 2009 4th round pick AJ Morris made his return to Potomac after being on the DL since late July and pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. Bill Rhinehart hit a solo HR.

• AJ Morris, RSP: 1.2IP (W, 4-2), 0R, 0H, 0K, 0BB
• Tyler Moore, DH: 0-5, RBI
• Michael Burgess, RF: 2-4, R, RBI, BB, 2K

Low A Hagerstown: Starter Billy Ott was tagged with the loss in an 9-2 loss for Hagerstown against the fearsome Kannapolis Intimidators. Josh Smoker has fallen off the prospect map for me and been converted to a reliever after an awful year to this point. He was effective today with 4K in 2 scoreless innings.

• Rick Hague, SS: 2-5, RBI, K, throwing error
• Adrian Sanchez, 2B: 3-5, RBI
• JP Ramirez, LF: 1-5, 2B, 2K
• Fan Fav, Destin Hood, RF: 0-4 with the dreaded Golden Sombrero, but an outfield assist!
• Eury Perez, CF: 2-4, 2R, 2K