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Nats' Hill can't get over his struggles
Nationals at Orioles
Date published: 5/17/2008
BY RICH CAMPBELL BALTIMORE --Shawn Hill is facing a conundrum that stands to jeopardize his season.His breaking ball isn't working right now because he can't get the proper feel for it. But he can't practice throwing it between starts because he's nursing a sore arm. It's a classic Catch-22 for which the downtrodden right-hander has no answers. Either keep throwing an ineffective breaking ball or endure so much pain in his pitching forearm between starts that he'll be worthless on game day. "I'm frustrated," he said. "I'm fairly confident [the problems with breaking ball] will pass, but at the same time I know I can throw a lot better. It's getting old, basically, waiting for it to get to the point where I want it to be at." In the meantime, then, there will likely be more starts like the one that led to the Washington Nationals' 5-3 road loss to the Baltimore Orioles last night. Hill gave up five runs on eight hits, two walks and three strikeouts. "At this point right now, even though I'm not able to throw the way I want to, the pros of working on stuff in the side sessions don't outweigh the cons of putting the stress on [my forearm]," he said. The Nationals (18-25) began the second quarter of the season with a loss that zapped the momentum generated by their three victories in the preceding four-game series against New York. Not only did Hill give up more runs than he had in any of his previous five starts this year, the Nationals made three costly defensive miscues and left nine runners on base. Washington gave Hill a 2-0 lead only three minutes after the first pitch was thrown. Felipe Lopez hit a leadoff single, Cristian Guzman stroked a double and Ryan Zimmerman singled them both home. Hill (0-1) couldn't hold the lead, though, and didn't get much help doing it. "His breaking ball was non-existent," manager Manny Acta said. "He had no command of it at all. This is the big leagues. If you're going to pitch five, six innings with only one pitch, these hitters are going to catch up to you." Hill knows that, of course. But he's in too much pain to hone his breaking ball in bullpen sessions between starts.
Date published: 5/17/2008
Nats Hitting
(posted by
RichCampbell
, May 17, 2008 3:27 pm)
I completely agree. The Nats struck out 9 times last night with at least one runner on base. Their starting pitching has been admirable, but they're now last in the NL in batting average (.235). That's not gonna cut it.
Nats V Orioles
(posted by
GlenK
, May 17, 2008 9:03 am)
The problem is the Nats hitting! Still!
They have 4 runs in 20 innings! They need to average 5 runs every 9 innings to have a chance, 6 to be competitive!
Right now the couldn't hi the ground if thy fell down!
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