Thursday’s News & Notes
A 2-2 split on a sweltering Wednesday in the Nats minors
The Quick Rundown…
| Team | Yesterday’s Result | Today’s Game | Pitching Matchup |
| Syracuse Chiefs | Won, 2-1 | vs. Louisville, 10:30 a.m. | Ross Detwiler (4-5, 5.37) vs. Chad Reineke (5-2, 2.52) |
| Harrisburg Senators | Lost, 4-1 | @ Binghamton, 10:35 a.m. | Shairon Martis (2-2, 3.57) vs. Brandon Moore (5-3, 3.78) |
| Potomac Nationals | Lost, 6-4 | vs. Frederick, 7:05 p.m. | Danny Rosenbaum (3-3, 2.61) vs. Oliver Drake (4-2, 3.09) |
| Hagerstown Suns | OFF DAY | @ Delmarva, 7:05 p.m. | Matt Grace (6-4, 4.26) vs. Jacob Pettit (5-1, 3.95) |
| DSL Nationals | Won, 9-4 vs. DSL Cubs2 |
vs. DSL Marlins, 10:30 a.m. | Ivan Pineyro (0-0, 4.50) vs. TBD |
Syracuse 2 Louisville 1
• Martin, J (W, 1-4) 6IP, 2H, 0R, 2BB, 4K
• Mattheus (S, 2) 1⅔ IP, 2H, 0R, BB, 2K
• Flores 1-3, R, HR, RBI
• Blanco 1-3, 2B, RBI
Apparently, somebody had a plane to catch after this one. It was over in just 2:01. J.D. Martin showed up large, pitching six shutout innings before handing it over to the bullpen with a 2-0 lead. Josh Wilkie gave up a solo shot, but still managed a hold before handing the ball over to Ryan Mattheus for the save. A Jesus Flores solo home run, a double from Corey Brown, and a Fox trot in front of an RBI double from Gregor Blanco was the extent of the Syracuse offense. Thanks to the stellar pitching, that was just enough.
Binghamton 4 Harrisburg 1
• Davis (L, 2-2) 6IP, 4H, 2ER, 3BB, 8K, WP, E (PO)
• Chico 2IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, 5K, 1HR
• Moore 2-3, R, HR, RBI, BB
• Rhinehart 2-3, 2B, BB, K, E (throw)
Binghamton first stung Erik Davis on a third inning Tobi Stoner double that was later followed by a Reese Havens triple. Tyler Moore answered right away with a solo shot to lead off the fourth in what would be Harrisburg’s lone tally for the evening. Davis gave up his second run in the bottom of the 6th on a Bubba Bell walk and stolen base followed by an Allan Dykstra RBI single. Dykstra advanced to second on a throwing error by Rhinehart, but Davis escaped further harm by inducing an Eric Campbell ground out to end the frame. Matt Chico gave up two runs in relief on a homer by Salomon Manriquez in the bottom of the 8th. This morning the Harrisburg Senators announced that Shairon Martis had been activated from the DL while Matt Chico had been placed on it. Martis is slated to start today’s game, while previously announced starter Oliver Perez has been pushed back to Saturday.
Frederick 6 Potomac 4
• Selik (ND) 5IP, 5H, 3R, 1ER, 2BB, 2K
• Frias 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 1K
• Hood 3-4, R, 2B, RBI
• Leon 2-3, RBI
• Zimmerman 0-3, BB, E (Throw)
It’s now 10 straight losses at home, as the P-Nats continue to struggle Last Night In Woodbridge
Hagerstown Suns — OFF DAY
The lead is now just a ½ game over the second-place Greensboro Grasshoppers as the Suns travel to fourth-place Delmarva for three, then last-place Lakewood before heading home to host Delmarva for four more. The road may be just what the doctor ordered, though, as the Suns have gone 20-9 there vs. 15-15 at Memorial Stadium
DSL Nationals 9 DSL Cubs2 4
• Mendez 4IP, 5H, 4R, 3ER, 1BB, 4K
• Martinez (S, 1) 3IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 3K
• Mercedes 2-5, 2R, 2B
• Eusebio 3-5, 2R
• Rosario 2-2, R, 2B, 3RBI, 2BB
After blowing leads of 2-1 and 4-2, the D-Nats scored five unanswered runs in the middle third of the game for a 9-4 win over the DSL Cubs2 squad. Gilberto Mendez started but was lifted after four with all four runs allowed on five hits and a walk. Joel “necesito comer un bocadillo” Barrientos (6′ 2″, 145) and Anderson Martinez combined for five innings of scoreless relief, with Barrientos getting the win and Martinez getting the save. The D-Nats’ 3-4-5 hitters combined to go 7-for-12 with four runs scored, two doubles, two walks, and three RBI.
Draft related point of interest. (for me at least) A number of people have discussed Rendon’s future position with Zim at third. Some have suggested the outfield. Most seem to think second base which would imply moving Espi to shortstop and possibly trading Desmond. I’m a big fan of Desmond’s and his future so I hope that doesn’t happen. To me the logical position on the Nats would be first base where he would be outstanding defensively and his shouder would not be so much an issue. But I haven’t seen one person suggesting this.
You must not have seen Desmond’s numbers, he’s not hitting at all, certainly not enough for a full time player.
Desmond could also be moved to CF, which was discussed a lot more when his D was struggling.
But unless he hits, he’s not much of a candidate for anything other than a backup middle infielder.
Once the draft picks start to sign does this mean that we cut ties with Chico and Mock?
Mock is on the 40-man. As much as I’ve wanted him gone over the past two years, he’s safe (for now) unless one of the draft picks gets a Major-League contract & has to be added to the 40-man roster.
“He’s on the 40-man” The only things that he can get a justifiable DFA IMHO. Why do we need Mock at this point? Let someone else have him who can more easily give him innings without hurting prospect development.
Sould: We don’t – I’ve been calling him a million-dollar arm with a 10-cent head since probably 2009. I guess Rizzo still likes him, and that’s apparently good for something.
Jackson; if Rendon is that good of a hitter, we’ll find a place for him to play. There’s no use in speculating NOW what position he’ll play in 3 years. He may totally wash out or he may fly through the system and force a change.
If (for sake of argument) Rendon earned his way onto the 25-man roster out of next spring, then my guess is that he’d play 2nd and we’d have to do something with Espinosa and Desmond. But, that’s only if Rendon’s bat is better than one of those guy guys. Frankly a surplus of good-hitting middle infielders is a good problem to have.
Rendon speculation on position is why I’m not as in to the baseball draft. These guys have to show what they can do in the minors first before we start assigning them to positions, IMHO.
As a rookie Desmond had offensive stats in the top third of all major league shortstops. This year, despite his poor start, not to mention the rest of the team’s, only Reyes, Drew, Tulowitski, and Castro have distinctly better stats in the NL. Gonzalez and Theriot and Rollins and Bentacourt are doing somewhat better, but not that significantly when it comes to production–total bases, runs + rbi’s. And Desmond is only two stolen bases fewer than the leader, Reyes. The latter has been caught stealing four times compared to Desmond’s twice. Oh, Theriot and Castro have three more errors.
The only major knock on Desmond is his consistently low on base average, and I admit that likely will always be low.
Well, I suppose if you turn a blind eye to defense…
There you go bringing up the little things like defense again.
There you go, Sue. We beg to differ. Guess you think Desmond is not that good defensively. On the other hand, I think he is good, potentially very good. Appreciate the sarcasm, Mark L. Well, maybe not that much. Sounds a bit too much like Nats’ Journal.
SueD raises a valid point. Desmond struggled defensively at every level in the minors, and developed a reputation for making the “wow” play, but botching too many routine plays at SS. I’ll grant you that the errors since the birth of his child have dropped dramatically, but you’ll have to accept a certain amount of skepticism from some of us.
I’m still convinced he could be a poor-mans’ Robin Yount if he was moved to CF, but what do I know when it’s all said & done.
Desmond is not hitting this year but in the last month his defense has improved drastically ie the number of errors in the first month vs the second month is like day and night. Still needs to hit better though. We all hope that once Zim is back the offense will improve but that is to be seen. Only 1 more week to find out!!!