THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010
KLMNO BASEBALL
Journal 6
Nationals
washingtonpost.com/ nationalsjournal
Atilano likely will
miss next start It is “unlikely” Nationals pitcher Luis Atilano will make his next scheduled start Sunday after he felt tenderness in his arm following his sub-par performance Tuesday night in Cincinnati, Manager Jim Riggleman said. The team will make a final decision on Atilano on Thursday, but even if his health checks out, his ineffectiveness may force the Nationals to cull a starter from their minor leagues. “These last couple haven’t indicated he’s ready to make his next start,” Riggleman said. “We’ve got to be open to anything.” The Nationals have several candidates who could start Sunday in Atilano’s place, chief among them Matt Chico, who pitched for Class AAA Syracuse on Tuesday night and would be on schedule, and John Lannan, who has made five starts for Class AA Harrisburg in a search to find his sinker. Ross Detwiler, who has seemingly recovered from this spring’s hip surgery, may also be a candidate even though he pitched a day game Wednesday for Class AA Harrisburg. He allowed five hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings. In 322
⁄3
innings at Harrisburg, Detwiler has a 2.48 ERA and a 4.43 strikeouts-to-walk ratio. In his past seven starts, not including a failed maintenance start for Syracuse, Atilano has a 6.49 ERA and shown symptoms of a tired arm, Riggleman said. Atilano has not undergone any medical tests such as an MRI exam, but his string of poor outings continued Tuesday night. Atilano allowed five earned runs in four innings after allowing a walk, a walk and a three-run homer to the first three batters of the game.
Clippard finds his control In his last seven appearances
before the all-star break, Tyler Clippard went 0-3 with a 16.50 ERA. The dominant, precise set-up man had disappeared, replaced with a shaky, overthrowing middle reliever. Clippard still had confidence,
but “there’s a difference between having confidence and believing in yourself,” he said. “That little doubt I was going through from pitch to pitch or outing to outing that would start to creep in, I needed to get rid of that.” He arrived a day early for the
Nationals’ series at Florida so he could throw a bullpen session in front of pitching coach Steve McCatty, who informed him he was throwing too hard. Clippard had become a vital piece of the bullpen with precise control and a devastating change-up. He upped his velocity from the low-90s to 95 mph, which impressed on the radar gun but robbed him of his best qualities. In his first three appearances of the second half, including Wednesday night’s game in Cincinnati, Clippard retired the first 14 batters he faced, striking out four. His fastball is back to 93 mph. “I’m just kind of getting back to being under control, putting pitches where I’ve wanted them,” he said.
Zimmerman looks strong
Wendesday, in his fourth rehab start for Class A Potomac, Jordan Zimmermann (elbow surgery) allowed no runs, two hits and no walks, while striking out four in four innings. In 13 innings, Zimmermann has not allowed an earned run or a walk. — Adam Kilgore
S
D3
NATIONALS 8, REDS 5 Washington
Morgan cf
C.Guzman 2b A.Dunn 1b
A.Kennedy 1b
AB R H BI BB SO AVG 4012 1 0 5122 0 2 4100 1 1 0000 0 0
Zimmerman 3b 5120 0 0 Willingham lf
S.Burnett p 0000 0 0 --- Clippard p
Alb.Gonzalez ss 0000 0 0 Bernadina rf I.Rodriguez c Desmond ss Capps p
3100 1 0 0000 0 0 3121 0 0
4000 0 0 3212 0 1 0000 0 0
Strasburg p 1000 0 0 Storen p
W.Harris lf Totals
Cincinnati
B.Phillips 2b O.Cabrera ss Votto 1b Gomes lf Bruce rf Cairo 3b Stubbs cf Hanigan c Arroyo p Bray p
Ondrusek p
Washington Cincinnati
0000 0 0 1111 0 0
1.00 .295 .280 .275 .254 .000 .067 .500 .186
33 8 9 8 3 4 — AB R H BI BB SO AVG 4110 1 1 4011 1 1 5111 0 2 5000 0 3 5120 0 1 2022 2 0 4100 0 2 3110 1 0 2000 0 2
.291 .249 .305 .278 .259 .309 .248 .315 .190
Jor.Smith p 0000 0 0 L.Nix ph
1010 0 0 0000 0 0
Heisey ph 1011 0 0 Rhodes p Totals
0000 0 0 --- .000 .239 .000 .288
0000 0 0 --- 36 5 10 5 5 12 —
000 124 001 — 8 9 0 001 002 110 — 5 10 1
Nationals catcher Iván Rodríguez breaks a bat as he hits a pitch from Reds starter Bronson Arroyo, who allowed seven runs in 52
PHOTOS BY JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST ⁄3
innings. Offense leads Nationals past Reds nationals from D1
Steve McCatty. He appeared to have a hard time being happy about a normal linescore. Strasburg’s ERA actually went up to 2.32, still sixth in the ma- jors among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings, one spot ahead of Ubaldo Jiménez. His strikeout rate per nine in- nings actually went down, to 12.4, still the best in the majors by more than two full strikeouts. Strasburg, on paper, faced his
stiffest challenge yet against the Reds. They lead the National League in runs and play inside a bandbox derisively nicknamed Great American Small Park. Two of their most dangerous hitters, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, bat left-handed, and Strasburg had been closer to mortal against lefties than righties. Early on, Strasburg an- nounced he does not meet chal- lenges; he is the challenge. In the first inning, Orlando Cabrera, the second batter of the game, fell flat on his backside buckling at a curveball that nearly darted back into the strike zone. The next batter, Joey Votto, the potential NL MVP, took a right- eous hack at a 91-mph change-up that bounced some four feet in front of home plate for strike two. Three pitches later, the count 2-2, Strasburg threw an 82-mph curveball. Votto made an awkward half-swing, stop- ping the bat parallel to the ground as if trying to delicately show Strasburg the label. That was strike three. The Reds did not manage their
first hit until Brandon Phillips laced a high-and-outside fastball off the right-center field fence for a triple. Cabrera followed by lashing a 2-2, hanging curveball to left, giving the Reds a one-run lead. The Nationals’ defense, which made no errors, helped save Strasburg another run in the fourth. With one out and Drew Stubbs on third, Strasburg in- duced a fly to right. Stubbs tagged up and bolted, and Roger Bernadina rifled a throw home. It carried Iván Rodríguez up the line, and he made an exquisite, sweeping tag to complete the double play and end the inning. Strasburg pointed first at Rodrí- guez, then Bernadina in ac- knowledgement. The final rally against Stras- burg materialized just as quickly as the first. He entered the sixth having thrown 80 pitches, and when Votto singled it became clear it would be his last inning. With two outs, Bruce singled to singled to center, putting two men on with Strasburg at 92 pitches. McCatty met Strasburg at the mound — Cairo would be his final batter. The Nationals deflected sever-
E: Bray (1). LOB: Washington 5, Cincinnati 9. 2B: Zimmerman 2 (21). 3B: B.Phillips (3). HR: C.Guzman (2), off Arroyo; W.Harris (5), off Rhodes. RBI: Mor- gan 2 (18), C.Guzman 2 (25), Bernadina (25), Des- mond 2 (39), W.Harris (20), O.Cabrera (35), Votto (64), Cairo 2 (17), Heisey (8). S: Strasburg 2. SF: Bernadina.
Washington
Strasburg (W, 5-2) Storen
S.Burnett Clippard
IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA 5C 73 3 1 7 97 2.32
C 21 1 1 2 24 2.54 B 0 0 0 0 0 5 2.53 1 0 1 1 2 1 19 3.18
Capps (S, 24) 1B 10 0 1 2 17 2.93 Cincinnati
Jor.Smith Ondrusek Rhodes
Arroyo (L, 10-5) 5C 67 7 3 1 97 4.26 Bray
Inherited runners-scored: Storen 1-0, S.Burnett 3-1, Clippard 2-0, Capps 2-1, Bray 2-2. HBP: by Arroyo (Desmond). WP: Strasburg. T: 3:36. A: 37,868 (42,319).
HOW THEY SCORED
Reds third: Hanigan grounded out. Arroyo struck out. B.Phillips tripled. O.Cabrera singled, B.Phillips scored. Votto grounded out. Reds, 1-0. Nationals fourth: A.Dunn walked. Zimmerman doubled, A.Dunn to third. Willingham lined out. Bernadina hit a sacrifice fly, A.Dunn scored. I.Rodri- guez grounded out. Tied, 1-1. Nationals fifth: Desmond was hit by a pitch. Strasburg sacrificed, Des- mond to second. Morgan flied out. Guzman homered to right, Desmond scored. A.Dunn lined out. Nationals, 3-1. Nationals sixth: Zimmerman dou- bled. Willingham walked. Bernadina singled, Zimmerman to third, Willing- ham to second. I.Rodriguez flied out. Desmond singled, Zimmerman scored, Willingham scored, Bernadina to sec- ond. Strasburg sacrificed, Bernadina to third, Desmond to second. Bray pitching. Morgan singled, Bernadina scored, Desmond scored. On Bray’s er- ror on a pickoff attempt, Morgan to second. Guzman struck out. Nationals, 7-1. Reds sixth: O.Cabrera lined out. Vot-
to singled. Gomes flied out. Bruce sin- gled, Votto to second. On Strasburg’s wild pitch, Votto to third, Bruce to sec- ond. Cairo singled, Votto scored, Bruce scored. Storen pitching. Stubbs struck out. Nationals, 7-3. Reds seventh: Hanigan singled. L.Nix pinch-hitting for Jor.Smith. L.Nix singled, Hanigan to second. B.Phillips walked, Hanigan to third, L.Nix to sec- ond. O.Cabrera struck out. W.Harris in as left fielder. S.Burnett pitching. Vot- to grounded out, Hanigan scored, L.Nix to third, B.Phillips to second. Clippard pitching. Gomes struck out. Nationals, 7-4. Reds eighth: Bruce flied out. Cairo
walked. Stubbs grounded into field- er’s choice, Cairo out. Hanigan walked, Stubbs to second. Heisey pinch-hitting for Ondrusek. Alb.Gon- zalez in as shortstop. Capps pitching. Heisey singled, Stubbs scored, Hani- gan to third. B.Phillips grounded into fielder’s choice, Heisey out. Nationals, 7-5. Nationals ninth: Rhodes pitching.
W.Harris homered to right. Morgan grounded out. Guzman singled. A.Dunn struck out. Zimmerman flied out.
Final Score: Nationals, 8-5. NATIONALS ON DECK
AT REDS Thursday, 12:35 (MASN)
Stephen Strasburg was back in the dugout after working less than six innings for just the third time in his first nine career starts. He did, however, strike out seven in 52
⁄3
al late threats from the Reds, who lead the league in comeback victories. Drew Storen, who re- placed Strasburg in the sixth, loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh. He struck out Ca- brera looking at a curveball. To face Votto, Riggleman sum- moned Sean Burnett, who in- duced a soft grounder to second. Next came Jonny Gomes, and in jogged Tyler Clippard to face
innings and earn his fifth win.
him. Clippard, further discard- ing his slump, struck out Gomes on a high-and-tight, 94-mph fastball. In the eighth, Ryan Hanigan’s foul blast down the line came so close to being a two-run home run that the fireworks operator shot off the full arsenal. A plume of smoke hung over left field when Hanigan walked on the next pitch. After Matt Capps en-
SOCCER Scoring surge lifts D.C. United in U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal by Jorge Castillo D.C. United headed into
Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup quar- terfinal having scored two goals in its previous four contests — all of them MLS games and none of them wins. United broke through on both fronts on Wednesday, finding its scoring touch right out of the gate on the way to a physical 2-0 win against the Harrisburg City Is- landers of the third-tier USL-2 in front of 2,089 at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds. The win ad- vances D.C. to the tournament semifinals against Columbus on Sept. 1 at RFK Stadium.
“Our goal was to have the right approach,” United Coach Curt Onalfo said. “We played some very good soccer and created some scoring chances. We did what we had to do to win the game.” United, fielding a starting 11 re- sembling its lineup in league play, jumped on Harrisburg quickly. Forty-one seconds into the match, midfielder Branko Bos- kovic netted his first goal as a member of United on a cross from fellow midfielder Santino Quaranta, who was able to get be- hind the defense when Harris- burg defender Jerritt Thayer mis- played the ball. Quaranta then made it look it easy with the pass
over the middle to Boskovic, who put it in the back of the net with his left foot from 10 yards out. Said Boskovic, who broke through in his third game with D.C.: “Tino gave me a good ball and I only put it on goal. He did most of the job.” Forward Danny Allsopp was in the middle of two scoring oppor- tunities early, including a shot from five yards out that a Harris- burg defender deflected out of danger in the eighth minute. In the 31st minute, Allsopp got be- hind the City Islander defense but his goal was nullified by an offside call. In the 43rd minute, a Quaranta cross almost produced another
goal, this time on a diving header by defender Barry Rice that went wide left of Harrisburg goalkeep- er Danny Cepero. The City Islanders’ best chance
in the first half came in the 26th minute when midfielder Kai Ka- siguran’s shot soared just over the crossbar. The second half opened much
like the first — with a quick D.C. goal on a Harrisburg defensive blunder. A little more than a minute af- ter intermission, D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid kicked a ball toward midfield that skipped past a Har- risburg defender to midfielder Thabiso “Boyzzz” Khumalo. Khu- malo dribbled down the right
side and fired a cross from be- yond the 18-yard box. The ball had a mind of its own, however, fooling Cepero and going behind him and into the net without a deflection to double the United lead.
“I looked up trying to cross the ball and it just went in the goal,” Khumalo said. “To me, it was one of the luckiest goals I’ve ever scored.”
While Harrisburg didn’t sus- tain much of an attack through- out the match — the visitors had nine shots but none on target — it had its fair share of fouls and cards. Play was aggressive on both sides, but Harrisburg was called
for five fouls and two yellow cards in the first half alone. In the 62nd minute, Rice was given a yellow card for a reckless tackle. Thirteen minutes later, Harris-
burg defender Tyler Ruthven slid from behind and into Khumalo in front of the United bench. To his surprise, he was given a straight red card and sent off. Khumalo seemed to agree with
Ruthven, saying, “I didn’t think he deserved a red card, but he de- served a yellow.” In all, the teams combined for 18 fouls and four cards — Harris- burg had 10 and three, respec- tively. United will return to RFK Sta- dium for a friendly on Saturday against Portsmouth of the Eng- lish Premier League.
castilloj@washpost.com
tered one out early, the Reds add- ed one more in eighth on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Chris Hei- sey.
Capps eventually escaped and then, after Harris roped a solo home run in the ninth, saved the win for Strasburg. Strasburg had not been at his best. The Nation- als, for night at least, did not need him to be.
kilgorea@washpost.com
AT BREWERS Friday, 8:10 (MASN2) Saturday, 7:10 (MASN) Sunday, 2:10 (MASN2, WDCW Channel 50)
VS. BRAVES Tuesday, 7:05 (MASN) Wednesday, 7:05 (MASN) July 29, 12:35 (MASN)
RADIO: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA C 1 0 0 0 1 9 6.14
C 00 0 0 0 10 3.45 1 0 0 0 0 1 10 3.90 1 2 1 1 0 1 18 1.63
.256 .296 .279 .243 .297 .272
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