Nats at Marlins/Morgan adds to suspension

Post #1 » by **Jollay** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:26 pm

Nats (56-75) visit Florida for the final time this year to face the just-over-.500 Marlins. The Marlins have hurt the Nats worse than any other team in the division, beating them eight out of twelve this year. Hanley Ramirez and Mike Stanton, among others, absolutely murdered the Nationals in a Marlin sweep in DC not too long ago.

21-year-old Alex Sanabia (3-1, 3.62 ERA) goes for the Fish against Jason Marquis (0-7, 8.79 ERA). Marquis put together his first great outing as a Nat last week only giving up a run in over seven innings, but still got the loss. If he and Lannan can close out the year strong, it would be a great sign for a rotation minus Strasburg in 2011.

Post #2 » by **craig01** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:13 pm

Marquis will get his first win.

You saw it here first.

Post #3 » by **Jollay** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:01 am

craig01 wrote:Marquis will get his first win.

You saw it here first.

Good call! Marquis doesn't pitch great, but good enough in the 9-3 Nats win. They started the game over three hours late, so I'm pretty sure no one actually saw the game on the east coast. Dunn and Zimmerman each hit three-run bombs to provide the offense.

Nats have won four of five, and are perhaps gearing up for a similar run as last year, when they played very well in September (ie when most of the other teams didn't care).

Post #4 » by **craig01** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 10:01 pm

I was surprised they even played it last night.

I was watching the Rays and flipping channels between innings and saw the deluge of rain ongoing.

Rays game finished at 9:20, and never gave the Nats game another thought...lol

Post #5 » by **Jollay** » Wed Sep 1, 2010 10:58 am

A 1-0 loss for the Nats in 10 innings in the second game of the series. No offense, obviously, as Anibal Sanchez, Jose Veras, and Clay Hensley combine to shut out Washington.

Still a very positive day, as Jordan Zimmermann is awesome, facing the minimum 18 batters is six innings, and striking out nine. He only allows a double to Gaby Sanchez, who is caught trying to tag on a flyball to left from Roger Bernadina.

Zimmermann, Lannan, and Marquis are generally pitching well of late, giving alot more hope that the Nats can get through 2011 without Strasburg.

Joel Peralta and Tyler Clippard shut out the Fish until the tenth, when Drew Storen allowed the winning run.

Scott Olsen goes against Chris Volstad in the series final tonight.

Post #6 » by **Jollay** » Thu Sep 2, 2010 10:37 am

Well, I think we can write off Nyjer Morgan for a while...

Marlins win the final game of the series 16-10 as they drill Scott Olsen and then Craig Stammen for 15 runs in five innings.

Morgan got hit in the fourth, apparently for colliding with catcher Brett Hayes the previous night (separated shoulder) while trying to score. Morgan then stole two bases with the Nats trailing by 11, akin to him not accepting his punishment to the Marlins.

And so in the sixth Volstad threw behind Morgan, and Tony Plush charged the mound. Nyjer grazed Volstad with a punch, but was absolutely walloped by Gaby Sanchez. The benches then emptied.

This is gonna stir up bad blood between these teams for a while. Even Riggleman and Edwin Rodriguez got into a heated conversation. I tend to agree with Riggleman.

"My feeling has always been if you hit somebody, then you did what you set out to do. Now if he decides to run on you, that's his business," Riggleman said about Morgan's steals. "I got no problem with that and we decide when we run. The Florida Marlins will not decide when we run, we decide when we run."

Still, Nyjer going bye-bye.

Post #7 » by **craig01** » Fri Sep 3, 2010 12:06 am

I don't blame Morgan for reacting to the pitch thrown behind him, and I think teams ought to play to score runs no matter what the deficit is.

Morgan, however, was a bit too wound up leaving the field......and I think that reaction will deepen the scar of what has been a Milton Bradley type of year.

He's a knucklehead.

Post #8 » by **Jollay** » Fri Sep 3, 2010 11:07 am

craig01 wrote:I don't blame Morgan for reacting to the pitch thrown behind him, and I think teams ought to play to score runs no matter what the deficit is.

Morgan, however, was a bit too wound up leaving the field......and I think that reaction will deepen the scar of what has been a Milton Bradley type of year.

He's a knucklehead.

That's pretty much the column I read this morning and the conventional thought on the matter...

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sport ... 22894.html

Post #9 » by **Jollay** » Fri Sep 3, 2010 5:08 pm

Jon Heyman is tweeting Morgan will be suspended eight games for his actions this week. That in addition to his seven he is currently appealing.