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After another adventure of an outing in the ninth inning of last night's game which saw 25-year-old Washington Nationals' reliever Henry Rodriguez come perilously close to blowing a 2-0 lead to the Philadelphia Phillies, Nats' skipper Davey Johnson told reporters, "It's frustrating. I have all the confidence in the world in [Rodriguez]. He's got a great arm. Great stuff. Sometimes he tries to do too much and gets a little excited out there. It's not easy. He learned a lot last year, came a long way last year and he's come a long way this year, but he's not quite there to be a polished closer." Though he wasn't ready to say so then, the right-hander's struggles finally had the Nationals' manager considering a change. "I'm going to sleep on it," Johnson said, suggesting it might just be a closer-by-committee for now but saying simply, "I'm looking at alternatives." When he spoke to reporters this afternoon, the 69-year-old Johnson announced that he'd made his decision:
Henry Rodriguez is no longer the #Nats' closer. The Nats will use a closer by committee. #Nats
— William Ladson (@washingnats) May 22, 2012
Davey confirms that he will move Henry Rodriguez to a less demanding role right now. Will use matchups & who's fresh to close for time being
— Amanda Comak (@acomak) May 22, 2012
Though Tyler Clippard told reporters that he was up for assuming the closer's role earlier this afternoon, as he has in the past, Davey Johnson said he'd prefer to keep the 2011 Nats' All-Star rep as a set-up man:
Davey said he'd prefer to keep Clippard in the 8th inning. Likely won't be a main part of closing committee. #Nats
— Dan Kolko (@masnKolko) May 22, 2012
• Here's tonight's lineup for the second of three in Philly with Jordan Zimmermann taking on Roy Halladay:
#Nats Lineup: Lombardozzi LF, Harper RF, Zimmerman 3B, LaRoche 1B, Desmond SS, Espinosa 2B, Ankiel CF, Flores C, Zimmermann RHP
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 22, 2012