Time for Clipp and Store(n)

Everyone in NatsTown has been talking about "Clipp and Save" or some variation of that when talking about Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps closing games up for the Nats. All season, Clippard has been pitching gem after gem, and so was Capps... until May 23rd.

Clippard stayed great. Clippard has gotten 5 holds since May 19th and hasn't blown a save or gotten a loss since that day. In 10 2/3 innings in his last 9 appearances, Tyler Clippard hasn't given up a single run and has only given up 4 hits. He has been electric.

Matt Capps is a different disappointing story. Capps has only gotten 2 saves since May 23rd. In the same time period, he's also blown 4 saves and gotten 2 losses. Capps has watched his ERA skyrocket from 2.11 on May 19th to 3.62 today. Meanwhile, in the same period of time since May 19th, Clippard's ERA has dropped from 2.22 to 1.66. Clippard has earned and re-solidified his spot in the bullpen as the set up guy, but Capps should take a seat to give Drew Storen a shot at saving some games.

After all, that's why the Nats signed Storen 10th overall in the 2009 draft behind Strasburg. Storen has too few appearances for these stats to mean a whole lot, but here it goes anyways. In his only 10 appearances this season, he is 1-0 with 3 holds and a 1.93 ERA. He's given up 2 runs on only 6 hits in those 9 2/3 innings pitched. Oh, and he's batting 1.000. (1 for 1... even though it doesn't matter much for a closer especially.)

The Nats are in a funk, losing 5 of their last 6, including 3 of 4 to the NL-worst Houston Astros. Washington's season is falling away from them, and they're at risk of losing it entirely if some fixes aren't made. The starters have been respectable, and the bullpen is starting to fall apart yet again. It's time to fix the most glaring problem now; the fact that the team's closer cannot close a game when the starter puts him in the position to do so. It's time to give someone a chance to save a game besides Matt Capps. Bring on Clipp & Store(n).

Nats Subdue The Freak

Tim Lincecum goes 4 2/3 innings, giving up 6 earned runs and 5 walks. It was an unpleasant display. The real problems started for Lincecum in the 5th.

Adam Kennedy stole his way around the bases after being walked in the 5th. Lincecum never looked to hold guys on base. Zimmerman stole a base as well after being walked.

Ian Desmond put the icing on the cake to The Freak's outing with 2 outs in the 5th. To take a term from Todd Wellenmeyer last night, Desmond had a "duck fart" single to right field that scored Zimm and Hammer, putting the Nats up 6-0. Lincecum got yanked here, and then Denny Bautista got them out of the jam after he threw a wild pitch that let Desmond get to 2nd.

Eventually the Nats added another run, and the Giants got 3, give the Nats a 7-3 victory and putting them at 24-23 on the year.

It was the kind of breakdown that you don't expect to see from the reigning 2 time NL Cy Young Award winner who is now 5-1 on the year. The likelihood of the Nats losing to a 5+ ERA guy like Wellenmeyer and losing to a less than 3 ERA guy like Lincecum were against the, but again, the team figured it out. This sort of success against a Cy Young winner may have been exactly what the Nats needed to get their stagnating offense a boost. In the 11 games prior to last night, the Nats had scored more than 5 runs only twice, one of them was in a 10-7 loss against the Mets.

On the other side, Atilano looked great until the 6th inning, where he looked like he almost gave up a bit. But never fear, Doug Slaten got them out of the inning. Storen gave up another run in his one inning appearance on a walk and a hit, but the run was not earned on an Ian Desmond error. Tyler Clippard had a great 2 inning outing to close the game where he gave up 1 hit and struck out two. He threw 19 pitches in 2 innings, and 14 of them were strikes.

The Nats looked great against a San Fran offense that has struggled all year. The Nats will try for the same results this afternoon at 3:45 in the east before they head down the coast to San Diego for a 3 game series against the NL West leading Padres.

Bye Bye Mile High, Hello Drew Storen, & Good Riddance Brian Bruney

Well, this blogger has been calling for the Nats to fire RHP Brian Bruney since I started the blog. The Nats listened. Brian Bruney has been designated-for-assignment, so he'll likely be a free agent before long. Listening to his own inner-brilliance, Mike Rizzo has promoted RHP phenom Drew Storen, likely a few weeks before his "Super Two" date. So the Nats may lose some cash on him in the long run, but this shows that the club is looking to keep winning now, rather than looking to the future. That's exciting for someone who rarely misses a game.

Unfortunately, the Nats set the wrong kind of record this past weekend from Denver, although it was going to happen eventually. The team lost their 3rd consecutive game for the first time... all season. That's right, before the 3 consecutive losses to the Rockies in Colorado this past weekend, the Nats had not lost more than 2 games in a row in 2010. The Nats record has just plummeted to 20-18 (he says with juuuust a hint of sarcasm). I am still in awe of the Nats club that can lose 3 in a row, still be 2 games above .500 and be 3rd in the NL East.

A few thoughts on Brian Bruney are bulleted below, and why the Nats bullpen will be significantly better without him:

• He sucked a lot and here's the proof.
• This season as a reliever, Bruney had a disgusting 7.64 ERA in 19 games. In those 19 games, he gave up 18 runs on 21 hits and 20 walks. In 17 2/3 innings, he put 41 players on base.
• The Nats lost 12 of Bruney's 19 appearances. Although he didn't get many decisions, Bruney was often put in the game with the Nats down only a run or two, and put the game out of reach by giving up runs.
• Only twice in May did the Nats get a win on a Bruney appearance. In the final one as a National, the Nats were up 14-6.

To the big story, though, is Drew Storen's promotion to the Nats nearly 3 weeks before Stephen "the Messiah" Strasburg. This is great for the team, for Drew, and for Jesus for a few reasons bulleted below:

• Although Strasburg is the #1 prospect in the organization, Storen would certainly have been the #1 pitching prospect if it weren't for Baseball Jesus.
• He has been the antithesis of Bruney in the minors by sporting a 1.08 ERA in 16 2/3 innings with 15 Ks.
• Storen now gets the benefit of coming up early and getting the stories focused on him for a few weeks before Jesus takes over national baseball coverage. He earned this by signing literally the week the Nats drafted him. He deserves the spotlight becaues of talent, dedication, and loyalty.
• Strasburg will be happy to see his very young quasi-mentor in the minors get some well-deserved praise I'm sure.

Drew Storen is supposed to be the closer of the future for the Nats, although Matt Capps has fulfilled this role well this year. If Storen meets expections and is as great as advertised, Matt Capps may join Cristian Guzman on the trading block in July. However, if the team is still competing and the rest of the bullpen continues to under-produce, Capps may stay to close while Storen shares setup responsibilities with Clippard. And if nothing else, Clippard can give his violent delivery a rest a little more often to put off his inevitable surgery in the next few years.

I know I'll be closely monitoring the game today for a possible Storen appearance with Craig Stammen on the mound, who hasn't made it into the 6th inning in 2 of his last 3 starts. You know that Riggs will get Storen in there if he can.