Williams discusses Nats' 11-0 romp over Phillies
By Dan Kolko
Nationals fans can't possibly find much wrong with tonight's ballgame.
The Nats pounded out 14 hits, pushed across 11 runs and shut out the Phillies, earning a nice 11-0 win.
Jordan Zimmermann worked seven scoreless, Anthony Rendon drove in four and came up a triple away from the cycle and Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits - including a triple - in the win.
Here's manager Matt Williams after the game.
On Rendon and Denard Span combining to give the Nats a lead two batters into the bottom of the first: "I think it set the tone with Anthony in the first inning. Denard steals second, he's got a 3-1 pitch and he doesn't get too big. He simply stayed with the approach of what we needed to have happen there and ended up getting a base hit. But it was done the right way, and I think that's indicative of the way we've swung the bats the last two days. Last night didn't work very well, but tonight it did. I think that approach is fantastic. Anthony had a great game. Everybody swung the bat really well."
On the importance of Span reaching base as often as he has recently: "It sets the table for the guys in the middle. Certainly it helps if he has the ability to steal second base and get into scoring position with nobody out in the top of the first. It just puts pressure on the other club. Anthony stole a base, as well. It set our offense in motion a little bit, especially after last night. To score one in the bottom of the first is good for us to get off the shneid, if you will, from last night."
On being able to take Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond out in the later innings: "It was good. I wanted to get Anthony out of there, too, but Danny's still nursing a sore hand a little bit from getting jammed. If I had my druthers, I'd rather get Anthony out of there, too. But then again, he's a triple away from something very special, as well. So that's a hard one. But it's nice to get them out of there for innings when we can and try to rest guys as much as possible. We don't have a whole lot of off-days left because of the rainouts. So we've can, we've got to do that."
On Zimmermann's outing: "Same as last time. In the zone, good slider to right-handers. Fastball up, ahead in the count, up out of the zone. He got some chases. He was aggressive. Tempo was good. Throwing strikes. Working fast, even with some of the long innings we had offensively, he still stayed with it and kept his tempo going."
On seeing Zimmermann back to his old self the last couple starts after a bit of an injury scare in July: "Yeah, it's great. Early on, we talked a lot about him not being able to find the slider. In June, he found it. With the one start in Philly, other than that, he's had no issues with anything. He feels great. We could've had him go out for another inning, but there's really no need in that regard. He's not going to pitch the ninth for a potential shutout, anyway. So decided to get him out of there and save some bullets, anyway."
Here's manager Matt Williams after the game.
On Rendon and Denard Span combining to give the Nats a lead two batters into the bottom of the first: "I think it set the tone with Anthony in the first inning. Denard steals second, he's got a 3-1 pitch and he doesn't get too big. He simply stayed with the approach of what we needed to have happen there and ended up getting a base hit. But it was done the right way, and I think that's indicative of the way we've swung the bats the last two days. Last night didn't work very well, but tonight it did. I think that approach is fantastic. Anthony had a great game. Everybody swung the bat really well."
On the importance of Span reaching base as often as he has recently: "It sets the table for the guys in the middle. Certainly it helps if he has the ability to steal second base and get into scoring position with nobody out in the top of the first. It just puts pressure on the other club. Anthony stole a base, as well. It set our offense in motion a little bit, especially after last night. To score one in the bottom of the first is good for us to get off the shneid, if you will, from last night."
On being able to take Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond out in the later innings: "It was good. I wanted to get Anthony out of there, too, but Danny's still nursing a sore hand a little bit from getting jammed. If I had my druthers, I'd rather get Anthony out of there, too. But then again, he's a triple away from something very special, as well. So that's a hard one. But it's nice to get them out of there for innings when we can and try to rest guys as much as possible. We don't have a whole lot of off-days left because of the rainouts. So we've can, we've got to do that."
On Zimmermann's outing: "Same as last time. In the zone, good slider to right-handers. Fastball up, ahead in the count, up out of the zone. He got some chases. He was aggressive. Tempo was good. Throwing strikes. Working fast, even with some of the long innings we had offensively, he still stayed with it and kept his tempo going."
On seeing Zimmermann back to his old self the last couple starts after a bit of an injury scare in July: "Yeah, it's great. Early on, we talked a lot about him not being able to find the slider. In June, he found it. With the one start in Philly, other than that, he's had no issues with anything. He feels great. We could've had him go out for another inning, but there's really no need in that regard. He's not going to pitch the ninth for a potential shutout, anyway. So decided to get him out of there and save some bullets, anyway."
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