{"id":1268,"date":"2011-05-08T13:22:40","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T17:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=1268"},"modified":"2011-05-08T13:22:40","modified_gmt":"2011-05-08T17:22:40","slug":"nats-rotation-cycle-7-goodbadinconclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=1268","title":{"rendered":"Nats Rotation Cycle #7: good\/bad\/inconclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1307\" style=\"width: 156px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/gorzelannyTom_Copyright-Ed-Wolfstein.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1307\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1307\" title=\"gorzelannyTom_Copyright Ed Wolfstein\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/gorzelannyTom_Copyright-Ed-Wolfstein.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1307\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gorzelanny, our #5 pitcher, is starting to look like our #1.  Photo Ed Wolfstein<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After a surprising 3-1 series at home against San Francisco, and after a fantastic run through the rotation, the team hits the road for 3 straight divisional series away and a set of games that could easily define their season.\u00a0 How did our pitchers fare?\u00a0 Not terribly well.\u00a0 A sweep in Philadelphia gave the team a worst-case start to this critical road trip, but they then took two of the first three in Florida (surprisingly; they&#8217;ve been awful in Miami for years).<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how our pitchers looked this go-around:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Good<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jordan Zimmermann<\/strong> may not have gotten the win for his 5\/6 outing (<a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/mlb\/gameday\/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_06_wasmlb_flomlb_1&amp;mode=recap_away&amp;c_id=was&amp;partnerId=rss_was\">box\/gamer<\/a>) but he pitched pretty well.\u00a0 6ip, 2 runs for a &#8220;real&#8221; quality start.\u00a0 Zimmermann&#8217;s k\/9 rate is way way down from his performances in the past; he&#8217;s only got 24 in 41 innings.\u00a0 By way of comparison in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/z\/zimmejo02.shtml\">2010 he had 27 in 31<\/a> on the comeback trail, and in 2009 he had 92 in 91 innings.\u00a0 Unless he&#8217;s purposely pitching to contact this drastic reduction in Ks\/9 is worrisome.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tom Gorzelanny<\/strong> had his third straight good-to-great outing, beating the Marlins on 5\/7 (<a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/mlb\/gameday\/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_07_wasmlb_flomlb_1&amp;mode=recap&amp;c_id=was&amp;partnerId=rss_was\">box\/gamer<\/a>).\u00a0 He only gave up 2 hits through 7 innings, though a walk and a homer tagged him with 2 earned runs.\u00a0 Gorzelanny is turning into a find for this team.\u00a0 He&#8217;s the only starter who has yet to really have a bad outing and continues to pitch really well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jason Marquis<\/strong> couldn&#8217;t follow up on his 5-hit gem and got pounded at the &#8220;Link&#8221; in Philadelphia on 5\/4 (<a href=\"http:\/\/washington.nationals.mlb.com\/mlb\/gameday\/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_04_wasmlb_phimlb_1&amp;mode=recap&amp;c_id=was\">box\/gamer<\/a>).\u00a0 Line: 5ip, 10hits (!), 7runs (6 of which were earned) and only 2ks.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 His first &#8220;meltdown&#8221; of the season.<\/li>\n<li>If Marquis&#8217; start was bad, then I guess <strong>John Lannan<\/strong>&#8216;s needs a new category.\u00a0 Lannan becomes the first Nats pitcher not to complete the 5th inning this season, only lasting 2 innings in an ugly 5\/5 loss (<a href=\"http:\/\/washington.nationals.mlb.com\/mlb\/gameday\/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_05_wasmlb_phimlb_1&amp;mode=recap&amp;c_id=was\">gamer\/box<\/a>).\u00a0 Line: 6runs on 7 hits in 2innings completed (he faced 6 consecutive batters without retiring one to open the 3rd inning).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mediocre\/Inconclusive<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Livan Hernandez <\/strong>is Mr YoYo.\u00a0 One good outing, one medicore one.\u00a0 One great outing, then one bad.\u00a0 On Tuesday 5\/3 he had an off night (<a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/mlb\/gameday\/index.jsp?gid=2011_05_03_wasmlb_phimlb_1&amp;mode=recap&amp;c_id=was&amp;partnerId=rss_was\">gamer\/box<\/a>), getting battered around for 10 hits and an additional 4 walks (two of which were intentional, and one of THOSE was clearly against his wishes when facing <strong>Ryan Howard<\/strong>).\u00a0 In the end, it wouldn&#8217;t have mattered since his offense mustered only one run (on a solo shot from <strong>Michael Morse<\/strong>).\u00a0 Final line: 6 1\/3, 10hits, 4 runs, 4 bb, 4ks and a loss.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Starter Trends<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>MLB Trends (through 5\/7)<br \/>\nLhernandez\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,bad,good,good,bad,good,soso<br \/>\nMarquis\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,good,good,soso,great,bad<br \/>\nLannan\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,soso,soso,bad,soso,good,really bad<br \/>\nZimmermann \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0good,good,good,bad,bad,good,good<br \/>\nGorzelanny\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0soso,good,soso,good,great,good<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relievers of Note<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>One day after a relatively electrifying MLB debut for the team, <strong>Henry Rodriguez<\/strong> showed what we can probably expect in the longer term.\u00a0 On 4\/30, he threw 11 fastballs that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brooksbaseball.net\/pfxVB\/pfx.php?month=4&amp;day=30&amp;year=2011&amp;game=gid_2011_04_30_sfnmlb_wasmlb_1%2F&amp;pitchSel=469159&amp;prevGame=gid_2011_04_30_sfnmlb_wasmlb_1%2F&amp;prevDate=430\">averaged 98.7mph<\/a> and got two strikeouts in a clean 1 inning of work.\u00a0 On 5\/3 he threw 24  pitches, walked two guys, allowed a hit and got no strikeouts.\u00a0 He  showed a change up (a 90mph changeup, nice), but could not control his  slider.\u00a0 I think the jury is still out on this guy.\u00a0 But he had to be a  pretty amazing change of pace after Livan for 6 innings.\u00a0 On 5\/5 he got  stretched out a bit but had another typical up and down session; 2 hits  and a walk and 3Ks in 2 innings.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tyler Clippard<\/strong> had a pretty good line on friday 5\/5: 6 batters faced, 6 strike outs.\u00a0 <strong>Adam Kilgore<\/strong> reviewed the outing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/nationals-journal\/post\/how_tyler_clippard_struck_out_six_batters_on_22_pitches\/2011\/05\/07\/AFLul7HG_blog.html?wprss=nationals-journal\">here<\/a>.\u00a0 He now has 27 Ks in 21 innings so far and an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/teams\/WSN\/2011.shtml\">ERA+ of 301<\/a> on the season.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Storen<\/strong> continues to be electric in the closer role.\u00a0 He&#8217;s given up just one earned run in 17 appearances thus far, good for an 805 ERA+.\u00a0 Can&#8217;t ask much more out of your fireman.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Thoughts on the offense<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The continued deficiency of the offense is reaching troubling areas.\u00a0 We&#8217;re a month into the season; no more excuses about &#8220;slow starts&#8221; or &#8220;getting back into the swing of it.&#8221;\u00a0 As of 5\/7, the team is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/play-index\/inning_summary.cgi?year_game=2011&amp;team_id=WSN#gotresults&amp;year=2011&amp;team_id=WSN&amp;ajax=1&amp;submitter=1\">5-17 when scoring four runs or less<\/a> (and 10-0 when scoring five or more).\u00a0 This sounds great; all we need to do is score 5 or more runs a game and we&#8217;re the &#8217;29 Yankees.\u00a0 If your offense is already struggling, and they know they have to score a ton of runs to have a shot, team morale could fade fast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, the team hovers near .500 despite having the 15th or 16th NL ranked offense in most categories.\u00a0 They&#8217;re batting as a team 79 OPS+, putting them 20% below average.\u00a0 <strong>Rick Ankiel<\/strong> is taking his .221 batting average onto the DL for a couple weeks, giving <strong>Roger Bernadina<\/strong> his best yet chance to own Center field and the leadoff position.\u00a0 If he were to succeed, it may be a great kick start for the team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a surprising 3-1 series at home against San Francisco, and after a fantastic run through the rotation, the team hits the road for 3 straight divisional series away and a set of games that could easily define their season.\u00a0 How did our pitchers fare?\u00a0 Not terribly well.\u00a0 A sweep in Philadelphia gave the team [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlbpitching","category-natsrotationreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1268"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1308,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268\/revisions\/1308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}