Matt Williams made the right decision for Nationals to remove Zimmermann

It will be debated the rest of the winter if the Nationals end up losing Game 2 versus the Giants and eventually lose the series but if you ask me he made the right move to remove Jordan Zimmermann from the game. Before you say it, yes Zimmermann retired 20 straight and had only thrown 100 pitches, but Buster Posey was coming to the plate. Zimmermann had held him down for his career to just a .250 on-base percentage coming into the game, but Posey is one of the best fastball hitters in the National League, with Zimmermann pumping nothing but fastballs.

Drew Storen had been hot in the bullpen since the bottom of the eighth just in case a situation like that was to occur. Storen allowed a pair of hits to the two batters he faced, but in hindsight why not make the move? Storen, since August 24 hadn’t allowed an earned run and only 11 hits in 15 and one-third innings. Posey had only had four plate appearances against Storen in his career, drawing a pair of walks, with a base hit, which is a very small sample.

Matt Williams is in a tough spot as a manager in the month of October with a team that is projected to run through the National League postseason. No matter the outcome of the game, Williams made the right move to remove Zimmermann from the game for a fresh Drew Storen in my opinion.