Nationals look to bounce back versus Giants
By Ryan Ritchey
The Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants will get together for the second consecutive day after the Giants took game one of the five-game series 3-2 over the Nats on Friday afternoon at Nats Park. The Nats will look to bounce back with their best pitcher down the stretch on the bump in Jordan Zimmermann. He will be squaring off against veteran right-hander Tim Hudson. First pitch is scheduled for 5:37 EST. on Fox Sports 1.
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Tim Hudson (9-13, 3.57): He faced the Nationals twice this season, winning both starts. He pitched 12 and one-third innings and allowed three runs, only one of them earned in the two games.
Playoff Experience: Hudson has quite a bit of playoff experience but only one start in the postseason since the 2006 season. This start came back in 2010 with the Atlanta Braves versus his current team. He pitched seven innings of one run baseball, but did not factor in the decision.
Current Nats versus Hudson:
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | GDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Zimmerman | 67 | 64 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 9 | .266 | .299 | .375 | .674 | 5 |
| Ian Desmond | 57 | 52 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 5 | .288 | .339 | .423 | .762 | 1 |
| Jayson Werth | 49 | 44 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 6 | .386 | .449 | .750 | 1.199 | 1 |
| Adam LaRoche | 38 | 33 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | .242 | .316 | .242 | .558 | 1 |
| Denard Span | 20 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .100 | .100 | .100 | .200 | 2 |
| Bryce Harper | 18 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .250 | .333 | .250 | .583 | 0 |
| Wilson Ramos | 18 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | .222 | .222 | .278 | .500 | 2 |
| Nate Schierholtz | 15 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .083 | .267 | .333 | .600 | 1 |
| Kevin Frandsen | 13 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .462 | .462 | .462 | .923 | 0 |
| Anthony Rendon | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .167 | .000 | .167 | 0 |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Jose Lobaton | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | .667 | .667 | 1.333 | 0 |
| Total | 359 | 329 | 84 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 35 | 25 | 48 | .255 | .311 | .371 | .682 | 13 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
As you can see in the above graphic Jayson Werth has had the most success against the right-hander Hudson. His success comes in a good amount of plate appearances as well, making it worth looking at. I’m not sure how Matt Williams gets Ryan Zimmerman into the lineup, but I see him at least getting one at-bat against Hudson as he has also shown some success over his career.
Jordan Zimmermann (14-5, 2.66): He faced the Giants one time, at the end of August and pitched seven innings, allowed two runs, didn’t walked a batter and struck out eight.
Since the All-Star Break he has an unblemished 8-0 record allowing 25 runs in 86 and two-thirds innings. In that time frame he has struck out 81 and walked only nine. These include his no-hitter on the final day of the season, which he will being riding high off of.
Playoff Experience: He pitched in the 2012 NLDS with the Nationals against the Cardinals and made two appearances, one of them a start. He allowed five runs in a combined four innings of work. He will look to change that tomorrow in a must win game for the Nationals.
Current Giants versus Zimmermann:
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | GDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Pence | 22 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 6 | .400 | .455 | .700 | 1.155 | 0 |
| Buster Posey | 16 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .200 | .250 | .200 | .450 | 0 |
| Brandon Crawford | 14 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .231 | .286 | .308 | .593 | 1 |
| Pablo Sandoval | 14 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .462 | .500 | .538 | 1.038 | 0 |
| Brandon Belt | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .286 | .286 | .429 | .714 | 0 |
| Gregor Blanco | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .571 | .500 | 1.071 | 0 |
| Travis Ishikawa | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .500 | .500 | .667 | 1.167 | 0 |
| Joe Panik | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 1 |
| Andrew Susac | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| Total | 105 | 98 | 28 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 20 | .286 | .333 | .388 | .721 | 2 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
The good thing is that the Giants haven’t seen much of Zimmermann over the course of his career. This can play right into the hand of Zimmermann as he comes off the great finish. In order for the Nats to win JZimm will have to be on the top of his game. The Nats can’t go down 0-2 in the series not having faced Madison Bumgarner in the series.