District on Deck » Washington Nationals

Mattheus To DL, Werth’s Return Delayed

Andrew Flax — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:57 +0000

It just gets worse for the Nats, in more ways than one.

After allowing five runs against the Padres on Sunday, Ryan Mattheus punched a locker out of frustration. To add to that frustration, the punch broke his hand, a gaffe Mattheus accurately described as “pretty embarrassing.” The amount of time he will miss is not yet known.

May 19, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; Washington Nationals relief pitcher Ryan Mattheus (52) reacts after giving up a run during the seventh inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

To replace him, the Nationals will call up lefty Fernando Abad from AAA Syracuse. The 27-year-old Abad has a career 5.10 ERA in the majors and was waived by the Astros this offseason, but has a miniscule 1.06 ERA in 17 AAA innings this year. Additionally, since the Nats used both their long relievers as what amounted to a tandem starting pair today, the team optioned Eury Perez to AAA and added Yunesky Maya to the bullpen. Maya has a 5.52 career major league ERA, but unlike Abad, he is struggling to the tune of a 5.07 ERA in AAA. Hopefully, he will not have to make an appearance.

There is also more bad news about Jayson Werth. Another MRI revealed a hamstring strain for him, which means he may not return for two more weeks. He felt the injury seize up while playing in his rehab game, and has not played since. This, of course, means that Nats fans will be treated to another two weeks of Roger Bernadina and Tyler Moore rotating in his spot.

But hey, at least Bryce Harper‘s back, right?*

*If I’ve jinxed his health with this comment, I will have brought great shame on my blog.

Road Trip of Doom Continues, Giants Blank Nats

Mike James — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:00:04 +0000

Before Monday’s series opener at AT&T Park, the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants could be described as having similar 2013 seasons — not bad, but we expected more. After Monday night, only one of them appears to be close to righting the ship.

Brandon Belt went 4-for-5 and scored four times, and Ryan Vogelsong threw five shutout innings to lead the Giants to an 8-0 whitewash of the Nationals that, in a familiar refrain on this road trip, carried further ramifications than just one loss.

Already shorthanded due to Ross Detwiler‘s oblique strain and the spot start made by Zach Duke on Monday, the Nationals bullpen received another blow on Monday when it was revealed that Ryan Mattheus suffered a broken pitching hand after Sunday’s 13-4 loss to the Padres, an injury suffered after Mattheus, frustrated by a one-inning, five-run outing, punched his locker at Petco Park. Reinforcements are on the way from Syracuse, as Yunesky Maya and Fernando Abad will be joining the big club on Tuesday.

The situation the two newcomers are jumping into is one that Nationals fans have seen before — maybe in 2007. Between the injuries to key players, the inconsistent bullpen and the anemic hitting, this year’s Nationals would look right at home at RFK Stadium. Of course, the difference now is that the expectations for the club were so much higher coming into the year, thanks to 2012′s magical 98-win campaign.

Zach Duke leaves the hill in the fourth inning of his spot start against the Giants on Monday. (Image: Cary Edmondson, USA Today)

Right off the bat Monday, you knew it wasn’t going to be the Nationals’ night. Duke was getting hit, not overly hard, but very consistently. The lefty gave up seven hits in his 3.1 innings, and ended up surrendering four runs after Craig Stammen allowed a pair of inherited runners to score upon entering the game in the fourth inning. Oddly, the first batter Stammen faced was the San Francisco pitcher, Vogelsong, who promptly laid down a safety squeeze bunt to score Belt from third.

Vogelsong had been scuffling entering the game as well, sporting a hefty 8.06 ERA prior to the proceedings. But the struggling Washington lineup, which did include Bryce Harper for the first time since Friday night but was lacking the slumping Danny Espinosa, was just the tonic Vogelsong needed. He gave up three hits over his five scoreless innings and undoubtedly would have pitched longer had he not broken his hand swinging at a Stammen pitch in the fifth.

It was academic from there. Washington was able to put just one runner on base against four San Francisco relievers over the next four innings, while the Nats bullpen got taxed to the breaking point. Henry Rodriguez, who appeared for an inning in Sunday’s mess, needed to get through two innings on Monday and threw 68 pitches in the process, probably 64 or so more than most Nats fans can take from the erratic fireballer in any given game. All that made the double move for pitching necessary, with Eury Perez being sacrificed back down to AAA to make up the numbers.

For all the bad news Nationals fans have been waking up to over the duration of this road trip, it seems nonsensical to see that Washington is “only” 3-5 on the trip so far. The Nats have a chance to start a new streak on Tuesday, as Stephen Strasburg (2-5, 2.83 ERA) takes the mound coming off his longest start as a big leaguer, an 8-inning win over the Padres on Thursday. Facing him will be San Francisco’s Opening Day starter, Matt Cain (3-2, 5.43). Game time is 10:15 PM Eastern.

Lineups: Duke Makes First Start of Season In San Francisco; Harper Returns

Andrew Flax — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:44:50 +0000

Remember when I said some matchups against the Dodgers were ones you should not look to for offense? This game is the exact opposite. With Bryce Harper‘s return today, the Nationals will only be missing Jayson Werth on offense, and perhaps will have some semblance of run-scoring. Aiding the Nationals’ offensive quest will be Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong, who has struggled nearly as much as the Nationals’ starter. He has an 8.06 ERA and has allowed the most runs in baseball. It could be worse for him too: in his last outing, he allowed eight runs in two innings, but only three were earned. Some have suggested that another poor performance could see him removed from the Giants’ rotation, so the Nats’ bats may be attempting to DFA him. Interesting fact: He has yet to allow fewer than three runs in a start, and the Nationals are 20-3 when scoring three or more runs. Zach Duke may be in a similar situation. He has an 8.40 ERA as the long relief man in the Nationals’ bullpen, and is making his first start of the year in place of Ross Detwiler. If he gets shellacked, he could very well be waived too. The pressure is on for both starters to not get lit up, while the offenses are salivating. Here are tonight’s lineups:

May 17, 2013; San Diego, CA, USA; Washington Nationals left fielder Bryce Harper (34) prior to his at bat during the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Washington

Denard Span CF

Steve Lombardozzi 2B

Harper LF

Ryan Zimmerman 3B

Adam LaRoche 1B

Ian Desmond SS

Roger Bernadina RF

Jhonatan Solano C

Duke LHP

San Francisco

Angel Pagan CF