Rzepczynski thrilled to join Nationals after whirlwind day

Marc Rzepczynski was taking a nap in Northern California when he was startled to find out he'd just been traded from the Athletics to the Nationals.

Not upset, mind you, because he was suddenly heading from a last-place club to a first-place club for the final six weeks of a pennant race. But the veteran left-hander's life was suddenly being uprooted, and his new team needed him on the other side of the country ASAP.

"I was actually taking a nap when this happened," Rzepczynski said. "We had a day game, so I was just relaxing. It was kind of a shock, but I'm definitely happy to be here. To go from a team that's struggling a little bit to a team that's in first place ... what else would you ask for at this time of the year?"

How about being thrown right into a game less than an hour after putting on your new jersey? It almost happened.

Rzepczynski's flight from San Francisco to Dulles was delayed an hour by a mechanical problem. He didn't land until 7:30 p.m., at which point the game was already in the second inning. By the time he finished the 30-mile drive from the airport to the ballpark, it was roughly 8:15 p.m., and the game was in the fifth inning.

Rzepczynski dropped his stuff off in the clubhouse, was handed his new uniform (jersey No. 23), got dressed and headed to the bullpen both to meet his new teammates and start to limber up. Sure enough, with starter Max Scherzer beginning to labor a bit in the eighth, Rzepczynski joined right-hander Shawn Kelley in warming up.

"I've been around long enough so that I can trick my body into getting ready," said the veteran, who has pitched for five different clubs, including the World Series champion Cardinals in 2011 after a midseason trade from the Blue Jays. "But I'm just excited. I had adrenaline going getting ready. I'm definitely happy to be here."

Rzepczynski wasn't needed in the game; Scherzer finished the eighth, and Mark Melancon pitched the ninth to secure a 4-0 victory. But the left-hander enjoyed meeting the rest of his new teammates in the clubhouse postgame.

And he'd like to have more than six weeks with them.

"It's amazing," he said. "At the end of the day, with a team that's losing, you're making plans for the offseason already. Then, all of a sudden, I'm playing in October, or hopefully I have a chance to play in October. It was one of those where it reminded me a lot of '11 when I was with the Cardinals. Being traded at the deadline, then all of a sudden winning the World Series. So hopefully I'll have the same thing happen here."