Martinez takes No. 1 400:
Washington Nationals win for second of three games The Washington Nationals won 2-0 at Dodger Stadium, 18 games into his seventh season off the bench in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. That night, he earned his 400th win as a manager. los angeles dodgers In the series.
The 59-year-old captain, who boasts an overall record of 400 wins and 488 losses, did his best to downplay his role in it, citing players and coaches in his postgame comments. We were able to reach the milestone.
After the win, he returned to the clubhouse and took a beer shower in the visitors’ clubhouse.
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
When asked if he celebrated with the staff, he said, “It wasn’t just the coaches, it was the whole team.” “I took a beer shower and it was a little cold and smelly, but I’m thankful for them. Look, this is never about me, I don’t know what I would be without them there and my coaching staff. I can’t do what I did, so I’m very grateful to them.”
More important to the coach was the fact that he and his club won the series and ended the West Coast trip with a win against San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles with a 5-4 record.
“They’re fighters, they really are,” he said of his club. “They play with passion and heart, and the energy today was really good, so it was great to win today and get back to the East Coast. Playing for the Dodgers was a great experience for me. Like I said, it’s a great place to play and we feel really good getting on that plane right now. We came to the West Coast, and it hasn’t been easy, but we’re doing great. went.”
Garcia, JR. AT 2B:
Bob Carpenter called the bottom of the eighth inning of Wednesday’s Nationals victory, in which Luis Garcia Jr. was diving from side to side on the right side of the infield, “…without a doubt the greatest defensive game of all time.” ” [García’s] Big league career. ”
“He played unbelievable defense today, he really did,” Davey Martinez said in a postgame press conference after the final game of the series in Los Angeles. “He’s got it, and we’ve always said that. It’s a question of consistency with him. But he’s been playing really well. I’m proud of him. He’s struggling at the plate. He’s doing all the little things we ask him to do. He steals bases for us when we let him. He plays really well. “I’m doing it.”
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Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Garcia Jr. is 15-for-51 (.294/.321/.490) in 16 games and 53 PA appearances in 16 games earlier this season, going 1-for-3 at the plate in the series finale in LA. However, as his manager said, he is looking forward to his future success. After the ups and downs of the past few years, this season has been more patient and calm.
Martinez gave some credit to Nats third base and infield coach Ricky Gutierrez.
“Ricky did a great job with him in terms of just getting comfortable and taking his time and throwing the ball to first base instead of trying to throw it over there,” Martinez said. Like I said, he’s playing really well right now. I moved him up to No. 4 because his at-bats were good. He’s trying to see if he can score early, and he was able to do that today and it’s held up. ”
Mike Rizzo talks about L.A.’s Mitchell Parker:
Mitchell Parker made his MLB debut earlier this week against a heavy-hitting Dodgers batting lineup, pitching 81 pitches over five innings, striking out four, allowing just four hits and two earned runs, becoming the first player since Stephen Strasburg to win in his MLB debut. He became the first Nationals rookie to do so. I did it in 2010. Not a bad start to a major league career.
The 24-year-old Parker, a fifth-round pick by the Nats in 2020, impressed on the trip and was closely watched by D.C.’s GM.
in him Visit weekly with Audacy’s The Sports Junkies on 106.7 the FANNationals GM and Director of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo detailed what he focused on as he watched Parker take his next step.
“Mitchell came along, and he was always a quiet kid. It was the Corona draft, the fifth-round draft that we did after Corona, and he was a fifth-round pick out of junior college. He was a true It’s a success story of player development. This guy came out of junior college and was a power pitching, strikeout, walk type of guy. We defined his characteristics and really improved his athleticism and mechanics so he could be better. Allowing him to get into the strike zone at a rate that allows him to be successful at his job.
“He always had a good thing, a left-handed, big-bodied guy who threw in the mid-’90s, he had a hammer curve, he had a split finger, and his amateur career and early His problem throughout his pro days was the quality of his pitching. Minor league pitching coaches and our pitching coordinators told him for years, “You have to hit the strike zone,” “If you can’t hit the strike zone, you’re a player.” I can’t play,” I thought. It’s a play at the plate.” And what was really impressive to me was walking into Dodger Stadium with probably 50,000 people in the stands and seeing these up-and-coming players fired up for their first start. I think that’s what I witnessed. When you were inducted into the Hall of Fame, and I think there was probably a poster on the wall right behind you, you walked out into the hall with the poise and confidence and control of the situation like a really veteran guy. , What I saw throughout that game was the most emotional thing for me.
“The content was great, the performance was great, we won the game, and that was good. But when this guy was on the mound in front of a big crowd, you didn’t realize it was his first start. “I think his previous experience in the big leagues says a lot about him as a person and how he’s trained and how he’s developed to get up to this point. ”
