SUNDAY, JUNE 20, 2010 BASEBALL Nationals suffer fifth straight loss nationals from D1
on the mound for the Nationals (31-38). Riggleman had come out earlier in the game to discuss a close play at first base and in this instance said he was voicing his displeasure with the calling of balls and strikes. Riggleman did stick around long enough to see six strong in- nings from Martin, who yielded one run and eight hits in six in- nings. He struck out a career-high six and did not issue a walk while again keeping Washington within striking distance. “J.D.’s done a good job,” Riggle- man said. “That’s three ballgames that he’s kept us in, he’s given us a chance to win. He’s really done a good job. . . . He’s kind of perfect- ing his craft out there.” Martin had plenty of time to prepare for this start in front of 36,487 at Nationals Park, having pitched once in 16 days prior to Saturday. That prolonged rest re- sulted from a pair of off days on June 7 and June 14, when the Na- tionals shuffled their starting ro- tation. In his most recent start be- fore Saturday, Martin lasted 72
⁄3
innings, allowing seven runs, in- cluding six earned, on nine hits in a 7-1 loss to Cleveland, the team that drafted him, on June 12. He threw 113 pitches in his longest outing of the season. Martin had been much better in his initial two starts, surrender- ing three earned runs in 112
⁄3 in-
nings with nine strikeouts, but did not get much help offensively. That had been the trend for Mar- tin over his past six starts enter- ing Saturday. In those games, he received just 12 runs, and thus it’s no surprise he had not recorded a victory during that stretch. The Nationals had given Mar- tin a look during spring training as they were assembling the start- ing rotation for opening day, but they sent him to Class AAA Syra- cuse to begin the season. There he encountered back trouble, with two bulging disks that necessitat- ed an MRI exam, forcing him to miss a pair of starts. Martin none- theless went 2-2 with a 3.51 ERA in seven starts and earned a call- up on May 29, with starter Scott Olsen healing from stiffness in his shoulder that sent him to the 15- day disabled list. Martin’s first three innings against the White Sox were remi- niscent of those performances. He faced two batters over the mini- mum and got Alexei Ramírez and Juan Pierre looking to end the second and third innings, respec- tively. The fourth inning was not as kind to Martin, who ran into trou- ble after a leadoff bloop single by light-hitting Omar Vizquel that landed just beyond the reach of second baseman Cristian Guz- mán and shortstop Ian Desmond. Mark Kotsay followed with a sharp grounder that Desmond dove to stop, but he could not get the lead runner and had to settle for throwing to first for the out. Martin struck out Andruw
Jones looking for the second out, but Carlos Quentin slapped a sin- gle to left field that allowed Kot- say to score for the only run of the game. Martin got out of the in- ning by fanning Ramírez on three consecutive pitches. The White Sox (33-34) went
quietly in the fifth, but in the sixth, Martin showed signs of tir- ing after needing 11 pitches to re- tire Kotsay, who led off the inning. Jones, the next batter, promptly sent the first pitch to him into right field for a single that dropped in front of a charging
KLMNO
S WNBA
Smith leads Mystics to overtime victory
by Katie Carrera
It is during the ugly, close games that 36-year-old guard Katie Smith is the most notice- able, and likely, when members of the Washington Mystics re- mind themselves why they’re so glad the wily veteran is on their side. Saturday night, when the
Mystics contest against the Chi- cago Sky couldn’t grow any more tense Smith’s resolve peaked. She scored all but two of her season and team-high 17 points after halftime as she led a rally from Washington’s worst start of the 2010 campaign to a 65-61 overtime win over Chica- go.
Smith tallied five points in
the extra session alone, and brought the 9,034 in Verizon Center to their feet when she all but guaranteed a Mystics (7-4) victory when she notched her third three-pointer of the con- test with 39.2 seconds remain- ing to make the score 64-59. Smith’s
6-for-11 showing,
which erased all the memories of her recent shooting strug- gles, paced Washington’s way to its third straight win. The Mys- tics are now 2-0 against Chica- go (4-8), which has lost four consecutive contests. But the opening 20 minutes did not in- spire many thoughts that the Mystics would emerge on top as Washington bared little resem- blance to the team that shel- lacked Chicago, 95-78, eight days earlier. The team looked so out of sync to start that Coach Julie Plank began substituting play- ers within five minutes. Regard- less of which combination of players took the floor though, the Mystics’ shots refused to fall. A poor 3 of 11 success rate from field goal range resulted in Washington tying its season low for points scored in a single
quarter as Chicago took a 21-9 lead. Not much changed in the sec- ond either, as Sylvia Fowles, the Sky’s 6-foot-6, 200-pound cen- ter, posted nine of her 17 points in the half and dominated on the glass with six rebounds. Washington didn’t reach dou- ble digits on the scoreboard un- til Nakia Sanford, who even- tually tied her season high of 11 points, recorded two free throws 13 minutes into the game. The threshold meant little as the majority of the Mystics’ shots continued to miss the tar- get or rattled off the rim and Washington, which committed 10 turnovers before the break, headed into halftime with its lowest point total of the season through the first two quarters, trailing 32-20. It was a new sea- son low for the Mystics, who shot a dismal 6 of 27. Washington fought its way back into the contest in the third, recording eight field goals — as compared to six in the entire first half — and fin- ishing the frame on a 13-3 run that knotted the score at 40. Both teams struggled to score consistently however, and de- spite the comeback it appeared as though the Mystics might watch the game slip through their fingers as they still trailed by four when Plank called a timeout with just over a minute remaining in regulation. But after Smith sunk two free throws to trim the deficit, Washington’s whirling dervish, Matee Ajavon, wreaked the hav- oc that has become routine for the third-year guard late in games. As the Sky tried to eat up the clock, Ajavon (10 points) swatted the ball away from Fowles and raced the opposite direction for a layup with 15.9 seconds left that forced over- time.
carrerak@washpost.com
D5
ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Starter J.D. Martin goes six innings in a tough-luck 1-0 loss to the White Sox at Nationals Park. NATIONALS ON DECK
Roger Bernadina. Martin struck out Quentin, but A.J. Pierzynski singled to left before Ramírez hit a hard grounder to Zimmerman, who stepped on third to end the threat. That ended the day for Martin
(0-3), whose final tally included 97 pitches, 65 for strikes. Reliev- ers Sean Burnett, Batista and Ty- ler Walker blanked Chicago the rest of the way, but with zero of- fensive support, those efforts went to waste. “I’m not happy about the loss,
but it’s something to work off of,” Martin said of his performance less than one day after Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg pitched a gem in a 2-1, 11-inning loss to the White Sox. During this five-game slide, the
Nationals have struck out 47 times, including four by Zimmer- man on Saturday, and walked just seven times, three of those inten- tional. Washington, which failed to score for the second time and equaled its fewest hits in a game this season, has scored 11 runs during the losing streak, once in the past 20 innings, while batting below .200. Peavy, meantime, tossed the fourth shutout of his career and
Pierre lf
VS. CHICAGO WHITE SOX Sunday, 1:35 p.m. (WDCW-50, MASN)
VS. KANSAS CITY Monday, 7:05 (MASN) Tuesday, 7:05 (MASN) Wednesday, 4:35 (MASN)
AT BALTIMORE Friday, 7:05 (MASN) Saturday, 4:05 (MASN) June 27, 1:35 (WDCW-50, MASN)
RADIO: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
eighth complete game. It was the first in both categories for him this season as he improved to 6-5. Peavy retired 20 straight batters after giving up a one-out single to Bernadina in the second inning. “He’s a good pitcher. He obvi- ously has good stuff,” Zimmerman said of the 2007NL Cy Young win- ner with San Diego. “He’s been one of the best over the last five or six years, so sometimes they beat you. Today I don’t know if he beat me. He practically just kicked my ass. It’s going to happen.”
wangg@washpost.com
Vizquel 3b Kotsay 1b An.Jones cf Quentin rf
Pierzynski c Al.Ramirez ss Beckham 2b Peavy p Totals
Washington Morgan cf
C.Guzman 2b Zimmerman 3b A.Dunn 1b
A.Kennedy pr Willingham lf I.Rodriguez c Bernadina rf Desmond ss J.Martin p S.Burnett p Batista p
W.Harris ph T.Walker p Totals
Chicago Washington Chicago
WHITE SOX 1, NATIONALS 0 Chicago
AB R H BI BB SO AVG 3 0 0 0 0 1 .248 4 1 2 0 0 1 .260 3 0 0 0 1 0 .204 4 0 1 0 0 1 .208 4 0 2 1 0 1 .215 4 0 3 0 0 0 .243 4 0 0 0 0 2 .251 4 0 0 0 0 2 .200 4 0 1 0 0 1 .143 34 1 9 1 1 9 — AB R H BI BB SO AVG 3 0 1 0 1 0 .248 3 0 1 0 0 0 .296 4 0 0 0 0 4 .290 3 0 0 0 1 1 .284 0 0 0 0 0 0 .240 4 0 0 0 0 0 .264 3 0 0 0 0 0 .325 3 0 1 0 0 0 .274 3 0 0 0 0 1 .264 2 0 0 0 0 1 .167 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 1 0 0 0 0 0 .154 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 29 0 3 0 2 7 —
000 100 000 —190 000 000 000 —030
LOB: Chicago 8, Washington 5. RBI: Quentin (37). SB: Morgan (15), C.Guzman (3). CS: Kotsay (2). S: C.Guzman.
Peavy (W, 6-5) 9 3 0 0 2 7 107 5.07 Washington
J.Martin (L, 0-3) 6 8 1 1 0 6 97 3.55 S.Burnett Batista
IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA 1 0 0 0 1 1 22 2.74
T.Walker
1 1 0 0 0 0 9 4.58 1 0 0 0 0 2 12 3.57
S.Burnett pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. Inherited runners-scored: Batista 1-0. IBB: off Peavy (A.Dunn). HBP: by S.Burnett (Pierre). T: 2:34. A: 36,487 (41,546).
Kotsay grounded out, shortstop Desmond to first baseman Dunn, Vizquel to second. An.Jones struck out. Quentin singled to left, Vizquel scored. Pierzynski singled to left, Quentin to second. Al.Ramirez struck out. Final: White Sox 1, Nationals 0.
White Sox fourth: Vizquel singled to center. HOW THEY SCORED
Nationals Journal 6Blogging at
washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal Left-hander Detwiler
has a strong outing Left-handed pitcher Ross
Detwiler made his second start on Friday night for Class AA Harrisburg as he continues rehabilitation following surgery for a torn hip flexor, and the reports were promising, according to Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman. Detwiler went four innings in
a 5-4 loss to Bowie, allowing no runs on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts. “Seems like he threw pretty
good, threw strikes,” Riggleman said. “He’s stretching it out. I think his last [start], he went three [innings]. This one he went four. He’s making nice progress. No problems with the injured area there, the hip. Nothing going on there that’s holding him back.” Detwiler, 24, was in line to contend for a spot in the Nationals’ starting rotation before the setback in February.
Thus, this rehab assignment is essentially his spring training in his attempt to make it back to the big leagues. Detwiler, the sixth overall pick in the 2007 draft, went 0-5 with a 6.40 ERA during his first stint with the Nationals last season before being sent down to Class AAA Syracuse. Detwiler then came back to the majors in September and in five appearances had an ERA of 1.90, raising expectations he could be a major contributor in Washington’s starting rotation. “He’s gone through a lot of rehab stuff,” Riggleman said, “but now he’s getting on the mound the way you would do it in a spring training situation, just gradually stretching it out, and the results have been pretty good.” In three minor league starts, Detwiler has an 0.84 ERA in 102⁄3
innings, allowing 14 hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts. Detwiler could be ready to join the Nationals staff by the end of
this month, but General Manager Mike Rizzo recently said he’s going to take a wait-and-see approach. Detwiler is among a handful of pitchers mending from injury who could drastically alter the starting rotation in the next few months. Jordan Zimmermann threw 35 pitches in a simulated game on Friday in his comeback from Tommy John surgery, and Chien-Ming Wang has thrown batting practice as he recovers from shoulder surgery in July.
Quick turnaround Catcher Iván Rodríguez
started Saturday afternoon’s game against the Chicago White Sox after also starting Friday night’s 2-1 loss in extra innings. Typically for a day game following a night game, Rodríguez would get the day off, but Riggleman opted to rest his likely future Hall of Famer on Sunday, when the Nationals wrap up their three-game set against the White Sox with a 1:35
p.m. start. Rodríguez, 38, leads
Washington regulars with a .331 average through Friday and has been instrumental in the development of the young pitching staff. But the 14-time all-star has battled back problems this season, missing 14 games. Since coming back, he has gone 10 for 28. To keep Rodríguez as fresh as possible, Riggleman’s preference is to use the 13-time Gold Glove winner no more than three days in a row. Wil Nieves will start at catcher on Sunday. “Today’s kind of that
in-between game,” Riggleman said, referring to Saturday’s first pitch taking place at 4:10. “Most of the time I won’t catch Pudge day game after a night game. However, if he’s really feeling good and it’s sandwiched around an off day coming up, and stuff like that, I could see him still doing that. He’s done it once or twice this year.”
— Gene Wang
READ BEFORE YOU RESERVE. RESTAURANT REVIEWS IN THE SUNDAY MAGAZINE.
EVERY DAY THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF WAYS THE POST HELPS YOU.
If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. SF612Tiph 2x7 JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Washington’s Marissa Coleman, right, has her sights set on the basket, but Chicago’s Tamera Young has her path blocked.
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