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Nats' 'Pen mightier than Braves' horde

May 17, 2007 12:35 am

BY TODD JACOBSON

WASHINGTON--The door to the Nationals' bullpen swung open and left-hander Billy Traber trotted in from right field a little sooner than he probably expected.

The left-hander arrived on a flight from Columbus, Ohio just as Levale Speigner threw the first pitch in Washington's 6-4 come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Braves. By the fifth inning, the just-promoted reliever was on the mound, and a few minutes later, he was back in the dugout, a tidy scoreless inning under his belt.

But really, Traber's story could be told from the vantage point of any number of relievers. Washington's bullpen got plenty of work yesterday, but the result, whether it was right-hander Saul Rivera working his 10th straight scoreless inning or Jon Rauch nailing down his second save of the season, was almost always the same.

Six Nationals reliever combined on five scoreless innings, bailing out former bullpen mate Levale Speigner in his first major league start and allowing Washington's bats to recover from a 4-1 deficit.

Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman homered and drove in two runs and left fielder Ryan Church provided the go-ahead runs with a three-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it was the bullpen that drew most of the attention as the Nationals (14-26) celebrated their fifth win in six games.

"Obviously today we showed what we're capable of," Rauch said. "It's a long season. Give guys credit for going out and doing what they've been doing. We just have to keep it going."

Rauch was the closer last night, but it isn't likely to last long. There are few defined roles in the Nationals' bullpen and fewer egos, for though Rauch has pitched three scoreless innings filling in for regular closer Chad Cordero, order will be restored Friday and Cordero--the owner of 95 career saves--will have his old job back, manager Manny Acta said.

"Whether you come in and you're a long guy or you're a guy that has to come in and eat innings and set up and close, your job is to come in and get outs," Rauch said.

They did that about as effectively as possible yesterday, allowing just two baserunners in relief of Speigner--formerly of the bullpen himself.

With right-hander Shawn Hill on the disabled list with a strained left shoulder, Speigner, a Rule 5 pick from the Minnesota Twins, into the starting rotation to pitch against the team he grew up rooting for in Thomasville, Ga.--the Braves.

After struggling with control issues in several relief appearances, he challenged Atlanta's hitters as he planned, which turned into a problem of its own. Of his 58 pitches, 45 were strikes--and a few were too hittable.

Andruw Jones drove home two runs in the first inning with a single and the Braves added a pair of runs in the fourth inning on singles by Scott Thorman and Willie Harris.

"I think we could've stretched him a little bit more but they were hitting him a little bit," Acta said.

So Speigner was done after allowing eight hits and four runs in four innings and the Nationals turned to Traber, a starter-turned-reliever. His contract was purchased from Triple-A Columbus yesterday morning when right-hander Jerome Williams was put on the disabled list with a small tear in his right labrum.

Traber pitched a scoreless fifth inning to qualify for the win, setting off a chain reaction: Ray King, Winston Abreu, Rivera, Cordero and Rauch all followed suit, blanking the Braves out of the bullpen.

"They stopped those guys and gave us a chance to bring in the big guns," Acta said.

Zimmerman doubled in a run in the first inning off of Braves starter Kyle Davies and homered in the fourth, but Washington's key offensive sequence of the game came in the fifth inning. After Ronnie Belliard trimmed Atlanta's lead to 4-3 with a groundout, Zimmerman walked and Church walked to the plate.

He had just three RBIs in the 14 games since he was named Washington's cleanup hitter as he struggled to adjust to the steady diet of curveballs and sliders pitchers reserve for the most feared hitters in a lineup.

"It's just one of those things trying to get accustomed to that four hole," Church said. "I'm not really accustomed to every team really paying attention to you and being sandwiched between some good hitters in Zimmerman and Kearns."

This time, however, he jumped on a curveball by Davies and lined it into the gap in right field. It cleared the bases and all that was left was for the Nationals' bullpen to do its thing.