FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
KLMNO
BASEBALL
S
HOCKEY
Capitals, Penguins to take it outside
Winter Classic pairing could be unveiled as soon as Friday
by Tarik El-Bashir
After months of speculation, the worst-kept secret in the NHL is out: Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins will host Al- ex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in next year’s Winter Classic. The game will be played at
JEFF CHIU / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington’s Justin Maxwell steals second base underneath San Francisco’s Freddy Sanchez during the second inning of the Giants’ 5-4 victory in San Francisco.
GIANTS 5, NATIONALS 4
Washington
Maxwell cf-rf C.Guzman rf Morgan cf A.Dunn 1b
AB R H BI BB SO AVG
3100 2 1 .138 4000 0 0 .327 1000 0 0 .254 5121 0 2 .261
Zimmerman 3b 2010 2 1 .301 Willingham lf Desmond ss
3122 0 0 .285 4000 0 1 .264
Alb.Gonzalez 2b 3120 0 0 .333 A.Kennedy ph-2b 1010 0 0 .258 Maldonado c W.Harris ph Slaten p
Stammen p
2000 1 1 .000 1000 0 0 .177 0000 0 0 --- 1000 0 0 .333
S.Burnett p 0000 0 0 --- T.Walker p 0000 0 0 .000 Bernadina ph Nieves c
Totals
San Francisco
Torres rf-lf
F.Sanchez 2b Sandoval 3b
Rowand cf Bowker lf Mota p
Rohlinger ph
1000 0 0 .253 0000 0 0 .206
31 4 8 3 5 6 — AB R H BI BB SO AVG
4110 0 0 .296 2122 2 0 .250 4000 0 1 .276
A.Huff 1b 4131 0 0 .281 Uribe ss
4021 0 0 .272 4000 0 0 .236 3100 0 0 .218 0000 0 0 --- 0000 1 0 .200
Br.Wilson p 0000 0 0 .000 Whiteside c 2000 0 0 .286 B.Molina ph-c 2000 0 0 .279 Zito p
S.Casilla p
Washington San Francisco
Schierholtz ph-rf 1111 0 0 .299
Totals
100 100 30x —591
E: A.Dunn (4), Sandoval (5). LOB: Washington 8, San Francisco 6. 2B: A.Dunn (13), Alb.Gonzalez (3), Torres (13). HR: A.Dunn (10), off Zito; Willingham (9), off Zito; A.Huff (5), off Stammen. RBI: A.Dunn (23), Willingham 2 (31), F.Sanchez 2 (5), A.Huff (21), Uribe (27), Schierholtz (8). SB: Maxwell (2). CS: F.Sanchez (1). S: Stammen 2. SF: Willingham.
Washington
Stammen
S.Burnett (L, 0-2)
T.Walker Slaten
S.Casilla (W, 1-0) Mota
IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
6B 5 3 2 3 0 85 5.60 0 2 2 2 0 0 6 3.68
C 1 0 0 0 1 9 4.44 1 1 0 0 1 0 17 1.17
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Zito
6B 7 4 3 5 3 102 2.94 C 0 0 0 0 1 10 0.00
1 1 0 0 0 0 17 1.13 Br.Wilson (S, 12) 1 0 0 0 0 2 15 2.45
S.Burnett pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. Inherited runners-scored: S.Burnett 1-1, T.Walker 2-2, S.Casilla 3-1. IBB: off Zito (Zimmerman). WP: Slaten. PB: Maldonado. T: 2:44. A: 28,251 (41,915).
HOW THEY SCORED
Nationals first: Maxwell popped
out. Guzman flied out. Dunn homered to right. Zimmerman struck out.
Nationals, 1-0.
Giants first: Torres grounded out.
F.Sanchez singled. Sandoval lined out. A.Huff singled, F.Sanchez to third. Uribe singled, F.Sanchez scored, A.Huff to second. Rowand grounded into fielder’s choice, Uribe out.
Tied, 1-1.
Nationals second: Willingham hom-
ered to left. Desmond grounded out. Alb.Gonzalez doubled. Maldonado walked. Stammen sacrificed, Alb.Gon- zalez to third, Maldonado to second. Maxwell safe at first on Sandoval’s er- ror, Alb.Gonzalez scored, Maldonado to third. Maxwell stole second. Guz- man grounded out.
Nationals, 3-1. Giants fourth: A.Huff homered to
right. Uribe singled. Rowand hit into a double play, Uribe out. Bowker grounded out.
Nationals, 3-2.
Nationals seventh: Maxwell walked.
Guzman flied out. Dunn doubled, Maxwell to third. Zimmerman was in- tentionally walked. S.Casilla pitching. Willingham hit a sacrifice fly, Maxwell scored. Desmond struck out.
Nationals, 4-2.
Giants seventh: Maxwell in as right
fielder. Morgan in as center fielder. Bowker safe at first on Dunn’s error. B.Molina pinch-hitting for Whiteside. On Maldonado’s passed ball, Bowker to second. B.Molina grounded out, Bowker to third. Schierholtz pinch- hitting for S.Casilla. S.Burnett pitch- ing. Schierholtz singled, Bowker scored. Torres doubled, Schierholtz to third. T.Walker pitching. F.Sanchez
singled, Schierholtz scored, Torres
scored. F.Sanchez was caught steal- ing. Sandoval struck out.
Final Score: Giants, 5-4.
1000 1 0 .118 0000 0 0 ---
31 5 9 5 4 1 — 120 000 100 —481
Loss drops Nationals back to .500
nationals from D1
one. The Nationals are pitching and playing well enough to give themselves a chance. They aren’t scoring enough to runs to ensure victories and eliminate chance. “You play close games, one lit- tle mistake like what I did in the seventh, it costs us the game,” Dunn said. “Offensively, we need to step it up and put people away when we have the opportunity to do that. And we’re not doing that.” The Nationals have played 17 one-run games this year, tied for fourth most in the major leagues. On Thursday, they lost their seventh and fell back to .500, losing a chance to creep to within 21
⁄2 games of first place in
a muddled division. The Nationals nearly separat- ed themselves from the Giants enough not to have to worry about late-inning drama. With Justin Maxwell on first base in the seventh inning, Dunn crushed a ball high to right field, long enough, he thought, to be a home run. It slammed off some- thing on the wall and bounded back to the outfield. The Nation- als thought Dunn had his second homer of the day. The umpires declared the ball in play. The crew retreated under the
NATIONALS ON DECK
AT SAN DIEGO
Fri., 10:05 (MASN2) Sat., 8:35 (MASN) Sun., 4:05 (MASN2)
AT HOUSTON
Mon., 2:05 (MASN) June 1, 8:05 (MASN2) June 2, 8:05 (MASN2) June 3, 2:05 (MASN2)
VS. CINCINNATI
June 4, 7:05 (MASN2) June 5, 7:05 (MASN2) June 6, 1:35 (MASN2)
RADIO: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
stands behind home plate and looked at a replay. They decided the ball had, in fact, caromed off the concrete top of the wall and not the bleachers. It was a dou- ble, and Dunn and Maxwell had to stay on second and third. After Ryan Zimmerman was inten- tionally walked, Josh Willing- ham drove home Maxwell with a sacrifice fly to make it 4-2, but the Nats had missed taking a 5-2 lead by inches. The Giants made the Nation- als’ flight to San Diego a little longer with three runs in the bot- tom of the inning. John Bowker led off against Craig Stammen — who allowed two earned runs in
Nationals Journal
6Blogging at
washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal
Shoulder woes
continue for Olsen
The Washington Nationals put Scott Olsen on a five-day no-throwing program following the shoulder inflammation he experienced in his last start. It has turned into a seven-day no-throwing program. Olsen has yet to throw because he and trainer Lee Kuntz feel his shoulder is not strong enough, Manager Jim Riggleman said Thursday. The continued weakness in Olsen’s surgically repaired shoulder has made the Nationals unsure if he will miss more than the minimum 15 days on the disabled list. “He just doesn’t feel like he’s feeling all that strong right now,” Riggleman said. “He’d really like to rest a little longer before he does throw.” Riggleman stressed Olsen still
may return to start somewhere around June 6, the first day he is eligible to come off the disabled list. “If it goes further than that, that’s just the way it’s going to be,” Riggleman said. “We’re really not going to know
anything until he does throw, and throw a couple times.” If Olsen can return within three weeks, he would not likely need to pitch in a rehab assignment. If his stay on the disabled list lasts longer than that, he probably will need to throw in a minor league game before returning. J.D. Martin, who is 2-1 with a
2.97 ERA for Syracuse, will most likely start for Olsen against the San Diego Padres on Saturday. The Nationals would also need a fill-in starter next Thursday, and perhaps beyond.
Stammen is solid
There was a lot Craig Stammen liked about his start in the Nationals’ 5-4 loss to the Giants. He allowed two earned runs in 61
⁄3 innings, by far his
best start on the road. He recorded 15 of his 19 outs with groundballs. He exited the game with a shot at his second win this year, his first since April 19. What Stammen didn’t like about his start is when he left. With one out in the seventh, the Nats up, 4-2, and a runner on third, Riggleman pulled him
61⁄3 innings — by grounding a
sinker to the right side. Dunn made a backhanded attempt, but the ball squirted by him and into the outfield, officially an error. “I thought that the ball was hit harder than it was,” Dunn said. “I had more time than I thought I did.”
Stammen exited with one out,
Bowker on third because of a passed ball and a grounder. In came Sean Burnett. He faced two hitters and, really, deserved two outs. Instead, he surrendered an RBI single to center by Nate Schierholtz, who stuck out his bat and knocked a soft liner to center. “He did his job,” Burnett said. Andres Torres followed with a broken-bat bleeder to right, half the bat flying to net- ting behind home plate. Walker, once the Giants’ clos-
er, jogged in from the bullpen along the left field line, men on second and third, ahead by a run. “If you don’t want the ball in that circumstance, you shouldn’t be here,” Walker said. “I wanted the ball.” Walker had struck out 8.7 bat- ters per nine innings, and with Freddy Sanchez at the plate the Nationals needed one. Walker fell behind 2-0 and fed Sanchez a fastball. He tried to throw it down and away, but it stayed
over the middle. Sanchez turned on it and ripped a groundball through the left side, scoring both runs and giving the Giants a 5-4 lead. In the first inning, Dunn, the
only left-handed batter in the starting lineup against lefty Bar- ry Zito, launched the first pitch he saw over the right field fence. When Dunn puts the first pitch into play this season, he is 9 for 19 with two home runs on three doubles. Josh Willingham added to the
Nationals’ edge against Zito in the second with a leadoff home run, his ninth homer this season. After the home run, he had a .590 on-base percentage in his past eight games. The Nationals had control, and then they found again how fleeting that can be.
kilgorea@washpost.com
Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day, according to a source close to the Winter Classic nego- tiations. The Penguins will be making their second appearance in the game; they defeated the Buffalo Sabres in the inaugural Classic, 2-1, on a shootout goal by Crosby in 2008 at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The Capitals, meantime, will be making their first appearance in the annual outdoor showcase. The Capitals were finalists for last year’s game in Boston, but lost out to the Philadelphia Flyers over NBC’s concerns about rat- ings. It’s possible Commissioner
Gary Bettman will make a formal announcement Friday in Chica- go. Bettman is scheduled to make his annual state of the league ad- dress at 2 p.m.
ESPN.com reported there will be a second outdoor game in Cal- gary, tentatively scheduled for February, between the Flames and the Montreal Canadiens. The full-time tenant at 65,000
seat Heinz Field — the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers — will play a home game on Dec. 23 and finish the regular season on the road Jan. 2 to accommodate the Win- ter Classic. It takes more than a week to set up the boards and ice for the game. A Capitals spokesman declined to comment.
elbashirt@washpost.com
D5
Please join us for
The 3rd Annual
after 85 pitches in favor of Sean Burnett. The game unraveled while Stammen watched. “Yes, I would have liked to be
left in,” Stammen said. “But if you polled every single pitcher in here, I’m sure they would say the same thing. Jim knows what he’s doing. He takes pitchers out every single game. He makes that decision. He gets paid to make that decision. There’s no second-guessing. Who’s to say I would have got the next guy out? I think in my head I would have gotten him out. But that’s the way it is.”
Stammen had to find solace
that he had pitched well. He entered the game with a 5.96 ERA, third-highest in the National League. Stephen Strasburg is going to replace someone when he arrives, and Stammen was on the verge of making himself a candidate. Mostly, it came together
Thursday. It was his first quality start in an away game. He entered with a 9.92 ERA in road starts. “It’s good to finally pitch well on the road,” Stammen said. He would have preferred a win.
—Adam Kilgore
Five-run eighth sends Athletics past Orioles, 7-5
baltimore sun
baltimore — A black cloud seemingly has followed the Balti- more Orioles throughout the first quarter of this season. On Thursday night it hovered liter- ally and figuratively over Cam- den Yards. Leading by three runs in the eighth with one of their young hurlers cruising, the Orioles dis- integrated, allowing five unan- swered runs to fall to the Oak- land A’s, 7-5. The loss dropped the Orioles to 15-33 and stopped them from
claiming their third series win in 16 attempts. They had a chance to win in the ninth, with two runners on and one out, but A’s closer An- drew Bailey picked up his ninth save by getting Adam Jones to pop up and striking out Garrett Atkins.
Orioles starter Brad Bergesen began the eighth by allowing two singles — matching the number of hits he had given up in his first seven innings combined. With 93 pitches thrown by
Bergesen and his team holding on to a 5-2 lead, Orioles Manager Dave Trembley pulled the right-
hander, who walked to the dug- out to a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 26,279. That ignited a parade of three
relievers, including lefty Mark Hendrickson (1-3), who allowed both inherited runners to score and was charged with three more when Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a bases-loaded, three-run double against Cla Meredith to give the A’s a 7-5 lead. Hendrickson nearly got out of the inning with the lead intact, but pinch hitter Jake Fox hit a bouncer up the middle that took a terrible hop directly in front of sure-handed shortstop César Iz-
turis. The ball bounced away, scoring a run and keeping the in- ning alive. Meredith then served up the double to the left-center gap by Kouzmanoff, the first batter he faced.
With lightning flickering con- tinually through the middle in- nings, the Orioles’ offense, which was without Nick Markakis (birth of a child) and Luke Scott (strained shoulder) mimicked the sky above. It threatened of- ten, but never delivered the ex- pected downpour.
Alas, these are the Orioles of 2010.
P50 2x10.5
Come see D.C.’s finest
high school teams compete for this city championship!
Saturday -May 29, 2010 Nationals Park
Featuring the best of D.C.
High School Baseball plus a Fan Zone in Centerfield Plaza with free skills clinics, interactive games, music and entertainment for the whole family
ADMISSION IS FREE!
Schedule of Events:
Gates Open – 9:00 a.m.
Semi-Final Game 1 - 9:30 a.m. Semi-Final Game 2 - 12:30 p.m. All-Star Game - 3:30 p.m. Championship Game – 6:30 p.m.
For more information go to
www.congressionalbankclassic.org
(Proceeds from these games go to benefit
D.C.-based youth baseball and softball programs)
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