|
Washington's Mike O'Connor (54) walks dejectedly past first baseman Nick Johnson after being pulled in fourth inning. |
BY RICH CAMPBELL
WASHINGTON--
The cheer went up from the Nationals Park crowd in the fourth inning last night when Manny Acta ascended the dugout steps and began his slow walk to the pitcher's mound. Most major league managers will try their best not to saddle a pitcher with the ignominy of being relieved in the middle of an at-bat, but Acta simply couldn't leave Mike O'Connor out there any longer.This cheer, then, was a thank-you to Acta.
O'Connor had thrown 10 balls in 11 pitches, and the one exception was an RBI single by Florida Marlins right fielder Jeremy Hermida. As much as Acta wanted to spare O'Connor the embarrassment in his first major league start in almost 20 months, he had no choice.
With a 2-0 count against Florida's Jorge Cantu, O'Connor handed the ball to Acta, received a swift pat on the back from his skipper and then jogged off the mound with his head down. His control problems ensured his demise and, ultimately, were the main culprit for Washington's ugly 11-0 defeat in front of 28,663.
"The way I was throwing, I can't say anything about him taking me out at that point," O'Connor said. "I mean, it's his decision to make."
It was the Washington's most lopsided loss of the season and its fourth in its last five games. The Nationals have lost seven of eight against the first-place Marlins this season.
Even if O'Connor had been sharp, a Nationals victory was an improbability because of Florida starter Andrew Miller. The sixth-overall pick in the 2006 draft held the Nationals to two hits and struck out seven over seven innings and was simply overpowering in the best of his 21 career starts.
O'Connor (1-1) was promoted to the starting rotation on Tuesday in large part because Matt Chico was demoted after six ineffective starts. The 27-year-old left-hander, went 3-8 as a starter for Washington in 2006 and was 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA as a starter at Triple-A Columbus earlier this season, so the Nationals wanted to give him a chance.
This quickly turned into an avert-your-eyes performance. With about 12 family members and friends in attendance, O'Connor's night turned sour before fans had time to settle into their seats.
His first pitch of the night was an 87-mph fastball to Cody Ross, which Ross blasted almost 400 feet into the left field stands.
Control problems were a recurring theme from that point on.
"I just wasn't able to get the ball down and got behind," O'Connor said. "I wasn't able to throw offspeed for strikes and just had a tough game."
Two walks and a wild pitch helped the Marlins rally for two runs in the third inning, and then everything fell apart in the fourth.
Wes Helms led off with a home run to left, making the score 4-0. Matt Treanor followed with a double and moved to third on Miller's sacrifice.
O'Connor then walked Ross on four pitches and allowed a first-pitch single to Hermida that brought Treanor home to make it 5-0.
Four more balls in a row to Hanley Ramirez challenged the crowd's patience, and the boos began. Then, after O'Connor started off Cantu with two balls, Acta put him out of his misery.
"I think it's better to take him out of there 2-0 than after he gives up a three-run homer," Acta said.
Joel Hanrahan came on in relief, and he didn't fare much better. His first offering was a wild pitch that allowed Ross to score.
Then, as the final indignity for O'Connor, Hanrahan threw ball four to Cantu. By rule, the walk was charged to O'Connor, making his final line: 3 innings, nine runs, six hits, six walks and one strikeout. Out of 78 pitches, he threw 40 balls.
"Very poor control," Acta said. "Less than 50 percent of his pitches were strikes. Actually, he couldn't throw any of his pitches for strikes. Not a very pretty outing."
Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla finished the rally by belting the first pitch he saw into Florida's bullpen, just beyond the outstretched arm of Nationals left fielder Elijah Dukes. The grand slam made it 10-0.
Acta wouldn't guarantee another start for O'Connor, saying that he doesn't make such decisions so quickly after a bad outing. Regardless, O'Connor vowed to change the outcome his next time out.
"It's definitely disappointing, but I have confidence in myself," O'Connor said. "I know I'm better than that. The next time out, I'll do better."
Miller, meanwhile, was practically unhittable. The 22-year-old was one of the top prospects that the Detroit Tigers traded to Florida last offseason in exchange for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. His mid-90s fastball, which he deceptively throws across his body, was too much for the Nationals' hitters.
Miller had surrendered a total of nine earned runs in 8 innings in two April starts against Washington, but he was much more effective last night.
"He threw more strikes than his outings before," Acta said. "He has that good fastball. He throws across his body and just basically overmatched our guys."
Florida
AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg | |
CRoss cf | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .175 |
Hermida rf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .298 |
HRamirez ss | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .338 |
Amezaga ph-ss | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .231 |
Cantu 3b | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .280 |
Uggla 2b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | .271 |
Tankersley p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
Lindstrom p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
LGonzalez lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .284 |
BCarroll pr-lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .077 |
Helms 1b | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .212 |
Treanor c | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .279 |
AMiller p | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .154 |
Andino ph-2b | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .200 |
Totals | 35 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
Washington
AB | R | H | BI | BB | SO | Avg | |
FLopez 2b | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .272 |
CGuzman ss | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .308 |
Zimmerman 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .240 |
Chico p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 |
Rauch p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
WHarris ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 |
NJohnson 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .225 |
Boone ph-1b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .262 |
Milledge cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .258 |
Kearns rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .208 |
WPena ph-lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .225 |
Dukes lf-rf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
Flores c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .308 |
O'connor p | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
Hanrahan p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | --- |
Belliard ph-3b | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .190 |
Totals | 30 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
Florida | 102 | 700 | 010-- | 11 |
Washington | 000 | 000 | 000-- | 0 |
E--Lindstrom (1). LOB--Florida 6, Washington 5. 2B--LGonzalez (5), Treanor (3). HR--Uggla (9), off Hanrahan; Helms (2), off O'connor; CRoss (2), off O'connor. RBIs--CRoss (6), Hermida 2 (16), Uggla 5 (25), Helms (7). SB--CGuzman (1). S--AMiller. SF--Uggla. GIDP--Milledge. DP--Florida 1.
Florida | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
AMiller W, 3-2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6.52 |
Tankersley | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.73 |
Lindstrom | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 |
Washington | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
Oconnor L, 1-1 | 3L | 6 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 13.00 |
Hanrahan | 2M | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.76 |
Chico | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.42 |
Rauch | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3.12 |
Inherited runners-scored--Hanrahan 3-4. WP--O'connor, Hanrahan, Chico.
T--2:55. A--28,663 (41,888).
Rich Campbell: 540/735-1974
Email: rcampbell@freelancestar.com
MARLINS 11 |
