Center Field Gate

Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was named the recipient of the National League Rawlings Gold Glove award for third basemen for 2009. It was the first time that Zimmerman has won the award. Zimmerman led all National League third basemen for 2009 in total chances (an MLB-best 459), assists (an MLB-high of 325), range factor per game (2.97) and games started (153).  At the beginning of the year it was thought that New York Mets third sacker David Wright was a shoo-in for the award, but the Mets third baseman suffered through a difficult year of injuries. San Diego Padres’ third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff was in the running against Zimmerman for the award — and was actively touted for it by the San Diego front office. Two Cardinals and two Phillies were also named as recipients of the honor: Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino and shortstop Jimmy Rollins and Cardinals backstop Yadier Molina and pitcher Adam Wainwright.

The Washington, DC chapter of the Internet Baseball Writers Association has voted Washington Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman its 2009 Goose Goslin MVP Award. The award is voted on by the DC-IBWA — an organization that represents Washington Nationals’ internet writers, on-line media outlets, and bloggers. Goslin was a left fielder for the Washington Senators from 1921-30, 1933 and 1938. He also played for the St. Louis Browns (1930-32) and the Detroit Tigers (1934-37). As Nationals News Network notes in quoting from the Hall of Fame’s description: “Burly and strong-armed, Leon Goose Goslin swung the bat with Ruthian effort and forged a reputation as a powerful clutch-hitter. He spearheaded his teams to five American League pennants — three with the Senators and two with the Tigers. He drove in 100 or more runs on 11 occasions and hit .300 or better 11 times, compiling a .316 lifetime average and 2,735 hits. He led the Senators to a World Series title in 1924 with a .344 average and three home runs.”

Zimmerman played in 157 games for the Nats in 2009, hitting .292 with 33 home runs. 106 RBIs and 110 runs scored. His amazing defensive play at third base puts him in line to receive his first gold glove award. Zimmerman finished seventh in at bats, seventh in plate appearances, fourth in runs scored, eighth in extra base hits and sixth in RBIs in the National League. By any measure his was an extraordinary season.  

Zimmerman took first place honors with 88 points, including 14 first place votes. Nyjer Morgan finished second and Willie Harris a distant third. The Walter Johnson Starting Pitcher of the Year Award was given to John Lannan, with second place going to Jordan Zimmermann and third to Craig Stammen. The Frederick “Firpo” Marberry Relief Pitcher of the Year award was given to a deserving Tyler Clippard. Other awards were given to Adam Dunn (Frank Howard Slugger of the Year), Nick Johnson (Mickey Vernon Comeback Player of the Year), John Lannan (Josh Gibson Humanitarian Player of the Year), and Derek Norris (Minor League Player of the Year). Zimmerman took three awards in all: the MVP award, the Sam Rice Hitter of the Year award and the Joe Judge Defensive Player of the Year award.

Voters for the awards were asked to name first, second and third place for each category. First place votes received five points, second place votes received three points and third place votes received one point. Twenty ballots from association members were submitted from the following online media outlets: Nationals News Network, Nationals Pride, We’ve Got Heart, Centerfield Gate, FJB, Federal Baseball, The Nationals Enquirer, DC Sports Box, Nationals Inquisition, Nats Fanboy Looser, Planetary Nats, Bang! Zoom!, Nats Nation, Let Teddy Win!, Nationals Review, DC Sports Plus, and Passing Time Between Wil Nieves Bombs. Full results can be found at Nationals News Network.

The most dramatic moment of the Washington Nationals 2009 season came during the last at bat of the last inning of the last game the team played in front of their home fans: with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning — and Nats fans on their feet and screaming — rookie Justin Maxwell put a heart-of-the-plate fastball (thrown by one of the game’s best relief pitchers), into the first row in left field, sealing a stunning 7-4 come from behind victory. Maxwell’s hammer came on the ninth pitch from Mets’ reliever Francisco Rodriguez who came into the game in the last inning to nail down the victory for the New York Nine. But Rodriguez — the strikeout king of relief pitchers — struggled with his control, ever as much as Mets’ defenders struggled to get outs.

The stunning victory in the home half began with an Alberto Gonzalez single to the left of scrambling Mets’ shortstop Wilson Valdez, who threw wide of first. Gonzalez — head first into the bag — was safe. With the score 4-2, Nats fans seemed fated to take their punishment, but when Mike Morse singled to center (two on, no one out), the crowd of some 23,900-plus began to take an interest. Willie Harris then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, moving Gonzalez to third and Morse to second. With men on second and third and one out, Elijah Dukes (whose first swinging strike was intended to win the game) had one of his most patient at bats — and Rodriguez walked him. Bases loaded.

Ryan Zimmerman came to the plate — and Nats’ fans were on their feet. Zimmerman had already put one into straightaway centerfield (in the eighth), and Nats fans supposed he might do it again. But Rodriguez fanned him on three straight pitches, the last a nasty cutting fastball that Zim couldn’t touch. Adam Dunn came to the plate. The Nats’ most important long ball hitter (38 home runs), had struggled in his last 30 at bats — and through most of the night. But as deftly as Rodriguez had handled Zimmerman, he seemed to wilt before Dunn’s big-bat threat, walking him on a 3 and 2 pitch that wasn’t even close.

Rodriguez was non-plussed: he called for the ball as Dunn walked to first, forcing a run in from third. Dunn’s base-on-balls trot put the Nats one run away from a tie. But it was still 4-3 Mets. Dunn’s walk brought Justin Maxwell to the plate — a rookie with no big game history. As with Zimmerman, K-Rod went after Maxwell, just missing on his first pitch before registering two strikes (looking). But then, oddly, Rodriguez grew cautious (he threw a ball wide), just as Maxwell began to battle. Rodriguez threw another ball and the count was full. Maxwell fouled off the next two pitches, including a high-in-the-zone might-have-been that hooked harmlessly into the left field seats. Rodriguez had taken something off the pitch and it wasn’t hit very hard. So Frankie made his calculation. Impatient, and knowing he was facing a rookie, he put his best fastball over the plate — something that a kid from Olney, Maryland would never be expected to touch.

And Maxwell put it over the left field fence.

The Atlanta Braves scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning to down the Washington Nationals, 6-3 at Nationals Park on Sunday. The loss meant a three game sweep of the Nats at the hands of the surging Chops, who now await word on the Rockies’ tilt against the Cardinals in Denver. The Atlanta victory put them just two games behind Colorado in the Wild Card standings — and if Colorado loses against the Redbirds, that difference would shrink even further. The Atlanta win spoiled a good outing from Nationals’ starter Livan Hernandez, who pitched a solid 6.1 — giving up only six hits and three earned runs. It was by far the best outing by a Nats pitcher during the series: the Chops scored 21 runs against the Anacostia Nine in the three game tilt in D.C.

On Sunday, the Nats jumped out to an early lead, with Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham hitting back-to-back home runs in the first inning. The back-to-back homers ended a run of frustrating at-bats for Nats hitters, who have had problems putting together big innings from the middle of their order. In all, the Nats broke out for nine hits in the game, but it wasn’t enough as, once again, the Nats’ bullpen couldn’t keep the Braves off the board. Mike MacDougal’s recent ninth inning woes continued, as he appeared cold coming in from bullpen — and couldn’t find the strike zone. The result was three Atlanta runs and a 6-3 Nats loss.

A heads-up Justin Maxwell stolen base followed by a Pete Orr fly ball to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Nats a 5-4 walk off win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park on Wednesday night. The Nats’ comeback win was sparked by a Ryan Zimmerman three run home run, a shot into the centerfield bullpen off Trolley righthander Chad Billingsley that tied the score at three. Billingsley was into the sixth and pitching a no-hitter until Zimmerman’s blast. It was Zimmerman’s 31st home run and 100th RBI of the season. The Nats went ahead 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t keep the lead — as a shaky outing by closer Mike MacDougal and two Cristian Guzman throwing errors allowed the Dodgers to tie the game in the top of the 9th.

The Nats looked like they were headed for yet another anemic night at the plate, as Billingsley mastered the Anacostia line up with six innings of no hit baseball. But with runners on first and second in the sixth, the suddenly tiring Billingsley was visited by Dodger pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. On the very next pitch — with Zimmerman at the plate – the Dodger righty threw a ball that hung up-and-in on Zimmerman, and ended up over the fence. In all, Billingsley threw six innings, giving up only one hit. It was a masterful if vain performance by the 12-10 Dodger. Nats fans were pleased to discover that they’re not the only ones frustrated by poor defense. An eighth inning fly ball off the bat of Adam Dunn dropped between confused left fielder Manny Ramirez and centerfielder Matt Kemp, while a sure double play bouncer up the middle was thrown wide at first. The miscues sent the Nats into the top of the ninth with a one run lead and a chance to close out the game.

The Nats were actually lucky in the 9th, despite MacDougal’s keep-em-in-the-game pitching and their two errors: two line shots ended the inning with the bases jammed. The Dodgers were only able to score once in the top of the ninth, leaving the score tied at four. In the bottom of the final frame, Justin Maxwell hit a single past a diving Ronnie Belliard into left, was sacrificed to second by Alberto Gonzalez and then stole third. A surprised Trolley catcher Russell Martin threw wide of the bag at third to put Maxwell 90 feet from home. That brought journeyman Pete Orr to the plate. His long fly ball to right — dropped by the usually sure-handed Andre Ethier — won the game.

The Washington Nationals finished their three game set with the Mets with a 6-2 loss and finally made their long awaited escape from the Big Apple. The Nats played with little spark the entire game, and interim manager Jim Riggleman let them know it in the clubhouse after the loss. “It was just a lackluster performance. We can’t have that,” Riggleman said. “We were flat, and it’s just not acceptable. We were down a run and it was almost like, ‘Let’s see what we can do here to get through it.’ I just wasn’t pleased with the overall intensity of the game.” The lack of intensity showed on the field, but most especially with the team’s bats. Mets’ pitcher John Maine corraled the Nats with his one of his best performances, holding the Anacostia Nine to two hits in five innings. The team didn’t score until the ninth inning, when Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn notched RBI singles against Mets’ reliever Brian Stokes.

Once again, for a Nats team that struggled all year to find pitching, the teams drought at the plate is surprising. But there may be more to the slump than just “one of those things” that will correct itself. While Riggleman didn’t say it, it wasn’t just that the Nats wanted to escape from New York: it may be that after nearly 150 games, the team is ready to escape from the season. “We have a lot of guys who are fighting on this ballclub to make an impression for the future,” Riggleman said. “I just reminded them that the last couple of weeks of the season count. You can’t play with a lack of energy. If you do, it’s going to show up in somebody’s mind, and [that person] is going to be making decisions about your future in this organization.”

Nats first baseman Adam Dunn disagreed with Riggleman’s clubhouse assessment, saying that he didn’t think the team was flat — it just wasn’t hitting. “I was in the game, so I’m not going to sit here and say I was flat. I wasn’t, and I can only speak for myself,” Dunn said. “I’m going to say no, I don’t think we were flat. We ran against some guys that pitched pretty good. We are not swinging the bats very well. That’s been the case.” In spite of the team’s lackluster performance, the game seemed to mark a transformation in the season long journey of Garrett Mock, who pitched through seven innings. While the young starter gave up nine hits, he was effective enough to hold the Mets to four runs and seemed to slide through the New York order after a rough third frame. That’s been a pattern for Mock, but at least in New York on Sunday, he survived the rough patches. “Mock gave us four good innings after the damage was done. If that is a meaningful game, we might have to pinch-hit for him in the future,” Riggleman said. “You put your club behind — four runs in three innings — you don’t get those opportunities to pitch those next four innings and show how good you are.”

Livan Hernandez pitched his perfectly predictable and steady six innings on Wednesday, but like lambs to slaughter, the Nats’s were sheared by Philadelphia hitters in a 6-1 loss. The bullpen was once again the problem: while Hernandez pitched six innings of seven hit ball, and kept the Anacostia Nine in the game, the normally competent Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett and Jason Bergman could not master the Phillies’ order. As always, Nats’ killer Jayson Werth proved a difficult out. In the bottom on the seventh, Werth put a Bergman pitch into the seats in left center that put the Nats down by five. ”I made a mistake,” Bergmann said. “I threw the wrong pitch in the wrong spot. I was ahead of him. I should have thrown my pitch. I was trying to throw a bouncing slider down and away. We all know it was not a down-and-away slider. It was a hanger. I threw him one before that and he had a look at it. He could see it coming.”

But the problem was not so much Werth as it was (yet again) the lack of timely Nats hitting; or rather, the lack of any kind of hitting at all. The team’s biggest hitters are struggling, flailing at the plate at pitches out of the zone. Worse still, the hitting drought (which has reached epic proportions over the last five games), has built an environment of clubhouse frustration. Ryan Zimmerman, though not normally so talkative, summarily and glumly waved away reporter requests for post-game interviews. Zimmerman had good reason for being frustrated — but so do Nats fans: the middle of the Washington line-up have been mimes in Philly, though last night’s drama was the worst yet. Guzman, Dunn, Zimmerman and Willingham (who might normally strike terror into the hearts of opposing pitchers) bleated their way to a pathetic 0 for 15 on the night.  

Zimmerman’s uncharacteristic frustration followed a team lecture by interim manager Jim Riggleman, whose own irritation was much more public: ”We have a good ballclub, and this good ballclub just found ways to shoot itself in the foot and lose a ballgame, which adds to the record, the negativity and allows people to write those [negative] things,” Riggleman said. “Our record does not indicate the quality we have. That ballgame did not indicate the ballgame that it was. It’s 2-0 for a long time, and now it ends up 6-1, and it looks like the worst team in baseball again. I’m just reminding our players that when you make those many mistakes in a ballgame, you are going to allow those things to be said, and we have to be accountable for that.”

The Marlins-Nationals match-up has sparked another friendly exchange of questions from “N.L. Least” bloggers. This time the N.L. East Chatter community (and, more specifically, the guys from The Real Dirty Mets Blog) provided five questions for CFG on the Nats, while we (and our cohorts) provided another five to Wally Londo of FishGuts on the Marlins. In the wake of the Phish’s blowout of the Nats in soggy Miami on Saturday (which saw the Marlins dominate the Nats’ pitching staff) the questions from our colleague seem particularly pertinent. The good news? We aren’t the only ones who have noticed Ian Desmond — who had another amazing night, this time going 4-4 in only his second game as a major leaguer. It won’t last, of course, but with twenty games left in the season, Nats fans can be assured of this: after a summer of struggle, the Nats finally have the one thing that every successful team must have to win — a solid front office that knows what it’s doing.

Stickguy (TRDMB): rate the odds (highest to lowest) on which guys will get traded in the off season. For the Nats, special emphasis on Dunn.

CFG: The odds? I think the odds of Cristian Guzman being traded are about 80 percent, Dunn about 10 percent and Zimmerman 0 percent. The marginal, veteran .230 to .250 hitters (Belliard et al) are gone and what is left are prospects, projects and the core. No one will touch the core (Zimmerman, Lannan, Dunn, Willingham, Flores, Morgan) the projects (Gonzalez and Dukes) are projects (no one really knows how good they will be — or if they will be good at all) and the prospects are the great unknown — like Ian Desmond and Stephen Strasburg are coming, they are good, and they will make a difference. But not right away. So trades? There’s not much to trade, to be honest, with the exception of Guzman.

Prismo (TRDMB): What do you think is the most needed area for improvement in the offseason for the Nationals?

CFG: Defense, defense, defense. And I don’t see how the Nats get better at defense without moving Guzman off the ballclub. The problem is his $8 million (due next year) and his shakiness at short. So if you can’t move him and Ian Desmond is going to be handed the shortstop job, you think odd things: like shifting him to second. It’s a bad idea, but you never know. With Nyjer Morgan playing a full year and Flores back from an injury the Nats should be better in the field, but should be probably won’t be good enough. They need a good glove man, like Orlando Hudson, up the middle.

Prismo (TRDMB): Starting pitching seems like the obvious pick, but the offense has been bipolar, the bullpen mostly terrible, and the defense very shoddy at times. Or should they just ignore these problems, and fully focus on minor league development?

CFG: If you ignore these problems for this next year, the next problem you will have will be putting people in the seats. And right now, that’s not a crisis. People here in DC still go to the games and still root for the team. But it could be a problem in the future and you can’t ignore it. So I don’t think the Nats are just going to focus on minor league development. Yes, it’s important to Mike Rizzo, but the Nats lost so much credibility before he was named as Bowden’s replacement this year that the team just can’t afford to ignore what’s happening in the parent club with all eyes on the future. I would expect them to resign Livan Hernandez and pick up another veteran pitcher (like John Garland, or a John Garland type) and sign a middle infielder with a good glove. And their offense hasn’t been “bi polar” — it’s been good. Very good, in fact. You know, I also hate to read on the internet about how some club has a top ranked farm system. Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati — they have very solid farm club operations. But who the hell cares? And Nats fans will sometimes say that: well we have a good farm system. That’s great, but you know, I don’t live in Harrisburg.

Matt R (NLEC): Is it just that I don’t know much about the Nats, but who is Ian Desmond? Where did he come from?

CFG: Hope springs eternal: so here goes. He is the bright shortstop of the future who is going to hold down that position, with Gold Glove after Gold Glove for the next ten years. Well, that’s the hope. More specifically, Ian Desmond is a 24 year old talent rich guy and former 3rd round 2004 draft pick of the Montreal Expos who has had his share in injuries, but who has gotten through them and worked hard at his game. Everyone in the Nats organization predicted that sooner or later he would be in the show. “Later” ended up being this September. He showed this year in AA and AAA that he can hit the cover off the ball. He’s solid. The only question is: has he really arrived? He looks ready to me. The other night, against the Phillies (and in his major league debut) the thing that impressed the most is that he didn’t look nervous, he didn’t look scared, he didn’t overswing. He looked like he belonged. You kind of had to be there to feel it, frankly. Down in the lower boxes, the Nats new brain trust just fell silent as he trotted on the field. And when he put one into the center field seats later in the game, they didn’t really cheer — they just kind of looked at each other. Mike Rizzo had this “I told you so” grin on his face. I think he’s here to stay.

Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman both went deep for the Nationals, but the big blow in the Anacostia Nine’s 5-3 win at Miami was Mike Morse’s pinch-hit double that provided the difference in the win. Dunn recorded his 37th and Zimmerman his 29th home runs, while J.D. Martin pitched a respectable five complete to give the Nats the win. But Morse was the big story. “He’s gotten some big hits for us,” Nats interim manager Jim Riggleman said of Morse after the game. “That’s twice now that he’s driven in two runs and he’s doing it against right-handed pitching. It’s tough to go up there and pinch-hit, and he’s gotten two two-out hits now. You try to match guys up against left-handers, but those situations haven’t come up and Mike has found a way to stay sharp through his batting practice and his work with [hitting coach] Rick [Eckstein]. He’s prepared and he’s given us great at-bats.”

Ryan Zimmerman celebrates his 29th

The inimitable Carpenter-Dibble duo commented at length on the suggested switch during the Nats broadcast vs. the Marlins on Friday night, with Dibble noting the history of successful position switches in the majors: Michael Young made the transition from short to third in Texas this year, he noted, and “let’s not forget” (Dibs said) that Alex Rodriguez also made the shift from short to third. Of course (as Dibble failed to note) it’s not as if either Young or Rodriguez shifted positions because they were defensive liabilities, but to ensure that two natural shortstops –  slick fielding Texas rookie Elvis Andrus and bound-for-the-hall Yankee Derek Jeter — remained at their positions. So let’s get this out of the way: the Nats want to shift Guzman not to take advantage of his abilities, but because they want to hide them. That is, the shift is hung on the rather dubious proposition that bad shortstops are not quite as bad when they play second base. 

Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs attempts to unpack that argument — but without really unpacking it. He says that ”if Guzman has lost significant range  . . . then it is quite possible that the Nationals will get a larger benefit from reducing the amount of balls hit in his direction than they would by squeezing a marginally better bat into the line-up at second base.” Which means two things: it means that because second basemen get fewer chances Guzman will make fewer errors and it also means that getting a better bat at second won’t make up for Guzman’s weaknesses at short. But even that’s only a part of the picture. The real question here is not about how to match Guzman’s production at the plate, but how to cover up his weaknesses in the field: having failed to field ground balls at shortstop, can we really expect Guzman to field them at second? 

And the answer to that question is “no.” Teams don’t get better by hiding their defensive liabilities, but by replacing them — unless . . . (and it’s a pretty big and very important unless) . . . unless that defensive liability meets two other criteria: you can hide the defensive liability by playing him at first base and the defensive liability hits over forty homers a year. Unfortunately for the Nats (and for Guzman), the position of  “don’t-worry-about-the-errors-this- brawler-can-hit” is already taken. Then too, shifting Guzman to second because it seems as if it’s an easier position to play doesn’t make sense. Because it’s not true. Not only do second basemen often (but not always) get the same number of chances at second as a shortstop, but playing second doesn’t mean they don’t have to occasionally sprint to their right or left. Plus (plus!) second basemen have to make the turn on a double play. That oughta be easy for Cristian, especially with a gimpy foot. But rest assured, Mike Rizzo said he told Guzman that such a shift has been done before — and successfully. Lots of shortstops have made the move to second and they’ve benefitted from it. You know, like Felipe Lopez. So . . . so what’s really going on here?

My sense is that for all of the tortured explanations given by Rizzo and Riggleman, the Guzman-to-second bandwagon is being contemplated for any number of reasons: none of them having to do with Guzman’s glove. Rizzo might be calculating that trading Guzman is not a good idea, because the return on him would not be nearly enough to compensate for the loss of his bat. Then too, Rizzo must know that there wouldn’t be many takers for a guy who’s still owed $8 million. And  . . . and if you really want to trade Guzman, why would you signal that you think his glove is a liability (by saying you’ll shift him to second) and why would you tell every team in the league that the reason his glove is bad is because he’s injured. I can just imagine what Mike might say: “listen, we have this no glove injured shortstop who we owe $8 million — what can you give us?” It could be that Rizzo has his eye on a hotshot shortstop that he can pick up as a free agent: but I’ll be damned if I can find one worth any amount of money. Or it could be (it just could be) that Rizzo is thinking that if you’re really (absolutely no-matter-what) committed to hotshot rookie Ian Desmond and you really don’t want to lose Guzman’s bat, there’s only one way to do it: and that’s keep them both  — and play them both. Maybe. But that’s a hell of a gamble.

John Lannen looked nearly unhittable for six complete innings tonight, but Philadelphia hitters got to him in the seventh, hitting back-to-back home runs and powering the first place Phillies to a 5-3 win at Nationals Park.  The damage was done in the top of the 7th, when Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez hit back-to-back homers. The Werth-Ibanez dingers were enough to chase Lannan, who was relieved by the usually effective Tyler Clippard. But Clippard gave up a homer to Chase Utley that sealed the game. The Nats threatened in the ninth against shaky Phillies’ closer Brad Lidge, but with runners packing the bases Ryan Zimmerman (the hero of Monday’s contest) and Adam Dunn (already the proud papa of 35 round trippers this year) could not bring them home. Zimmerman struck out to Ryan Madson and Adam Dunn hit a crippled duck to second base.

A dejected John Lannan gave up 4 round trippers on Tuesday (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)