Left-hander is all smiles in debut at Nationals Park Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez is the polar opposite of his fellow starter, the always intense Stephen Strasburg.
Happy and approachable even on a game day, Gonzalez had little trouble putting aside his ugly first start for Washington. In his debut at Nationals Park in front of a sellout crowd of 40,907 in the home opener, Gonzalez was brilliant in an eventual 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon.
A trade acquisition from Oakland in December, Gonzalez pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits and no walks and striking out seven Cincinnati batters. That rendered his struggles Saturday in Chicago a distant memory. Just another reason for the gregarious 26-year-old to crack a grin.
| Nationals notes |
| » Outfielder Michael Morse will rest for six weeks to allow his strained right lat muscle, reinjured in a minor league game last week, to heal. There is no timetable for his return after he resumes baseball activities. |
| » Nats reliever Drew Storen had his right arm in a sling after undergoing elbow surgery Wednesday to remove a bone chip. Storen, struggling with arm pain since early in spring training, is likely out until July. |
| » |
| Anthony Rendon, the No. 6 pick in last June’s draft, has a partial fracture of his left ankle. Rendon was hurt April 7 playing for Single-A Potomac. In college, he tore ligaments in his right ankle and later fractured that same ankle. |
“He’s always happy,” Nats manager Davey Johnson said. “If I don’t have a smile for him, he’s hacked off at me. Not just before the game — during the game.”
That’s the complete opposite of the laser focus displayed by Strasburg, whose pitching coach, Steve McCatty, treads carefully when chatting with his pupil on a game day. But as Washington (5-2) is beginning to find out early in this 2012 season, those different approaches to the game are all valid. The starting rotation has a combined 1.99 ERA in 402?3 innings. It also has struck out 43 batters and walked just 10.
“I think it’s not only for the starters. The whole team is just meshing together. Big smiles. We’re all positive as soon as you walk in here. We want to be around each other,” Gonzalez said. “We wanted to start something. And I know the front office did a great job by putting this together. This is going to be a great year for us.”
Gonzalez didn’t get the win, of course. Brad Lidge gave up two runs in the ninth inning. Joey Votto walked before a double by Scott Rolen. Jay Bruce was then intentionally walked. Afterward, Ryan Zimmerman said he should have had a hard-hit ball by Ryan Ludwick, who slipped one past the National League’s best defensive third baseman to tie the game.
But Lidge escaped further trouble, reliever Craig Stammen struck out the side on 10 pitches in a dominant 10th inning and Washington needed just one hit to win it in the bottom of that frame.
Zimmerman was hit by a pitch and went to second base on a Jayson Werth single. The runners advanced on a ground out by Xavier Nady. Then Roger Bernadina, who three times hit a ball hard and watched the defense make an out, didn’t even need to put the ball in play. A wild pitch by Reds reliever Alfredo Simon allowed Zimmerman to break home with the winning run.
