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Back at it at Nationals Park tonight. Believe it or not, there are just eight home games left in the 2011 season before the big ballpark closes down until next April. There was some second-guessing of manager Jim Riggleman for taking out closer Drew Storen in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s win despite a four-run lead and two out. He had given up a solo homer, walked a batter and was at 21 pitches. So Riggleman turned to Sean Burnett for the final out. That was notable considering Storen gave up a three-run lead in Philadelphia in the ninth inning on Sunday and has had his share of struggles lately. Would taking him out on Tuesday hurt Storen’s confidence? Only fair to let Riggleman give his take.

“You’re concerned about that, yeah. But that’s secondary to winning the ball game,” Riggleman said. “You hear things like that a lot of time – like pinch hitting for a guy might shake his confidence – but for me those are things you can’t quantify. If a guy’s confidence is shaken that easily then he might not be the right guy.”

Riggleman also pointed out that it was a non-save situation and letting Storen run up his pitch count was “really uncalled for” in a game that was basically in hand. Storen’s fastball command has been off recently. But not by a lot. Philadelphia, though, isn’t a normal offensive club and in that rowdy atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park they took advantage. Still, Riggleman has said in recent days that given recent results there is no guarantee Storen will be the man called upon in a save situation. Burnett and Tyler Clippard – maybe even Joel Peralta – could be used in that spot, too.

Right-hander Jason Marquis (2-9, 7.71 ERA) is back on the mound for Washington after recording just one out in Philadelphia last Friday. Marquis actually wasn’t hit that hard. There were a number of seeing-eye singles and a potential double-play grounder early in the inning hit the second-base umpire and was ruled a dead ball. So instead of gutting through a rough frame Marquis gave up six runs on six hits with a walk. We’ll see if he can bounce back tonight against Houston left-handed starter Wandy Rodriguez (11-12, 3.65 ERA). Here are the lineups for tonight’s game.  

Astros:

Bourgeois – CF

Sanchez – SS

Keppinger – 2B

Lee – LF

Johnson – 3B

Wallace – 1B

Michaels – RF

Castro – C

Rodriguez – SP

Nationals:

Espinosa – 2B

Desmond – SS

Dunn – 1B

Zimmerman – 3B

Morse – RF

Rodriguez – C

Bernadina – LF

Maxwell – CF

Marquis – SP

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