Williams discusses Nats' 15-7 loss
By Dan Kolko
The Nationals concluded their four-game-in-two-day stretch tonight by getting pounded by the Marlins 15-7, but that means nothing.
Matt Williams' ball club had already clinched home-field advantage through the National League side of the playoffs earlier today by way of their 4-0 win over Miami, so the nightcap was meaningless from a standings perspective.
The Nats got in their work, got a couple regulars some at-bats to stay fresh, and emerged healthy after a really rough last 48 hours.
Here's Matt Williams after the loss.
On if the Nats made it out of these long two days in good shape: "Yeah, I think so. It's never easy - four games in two days. But the good thing is it's September. We've got a lot of guys and we were able to flip-flop lineups a little bit. So yeah, I think overall, we're OK. Still have some question marks on guys in the bullpen the next couple days, but making sure we get them one day, not push them to two necessarily. So there's still some questions. But overall, OK."
On Craig Stammen's rough outing: "Just, ball was up tonight. The regular work that he gets is great, but there's situations like tonight where he hasn't pitched in a while and we've got to get him in that game. It's a different spot than he's used to, but he'll be fine."
On what he thought of Taylor Hill in his first major league start: "Good. We tried, man. If the ball doesn't hit him, the ball's right there. We tried to get him a W, but it didn't work out. He gave us a great effort, and in a situation where it wasn't regular for him over the last couple weeks, he competed. It was great."
On if Jayson Werth set a tone with his intensity tonight: "Yeah, sure. It's important for us to play with intensity and all the stuff we talked about, and he sets that example every day. His timing was good tonight, he was right on balls. Hit a ball to right-center really good. The double to left was a breaking ball that he stayed on. So all-in-all, real good."
On how Rafael Soriano looked in his inning of work: "Good. He worked through the lefty, threw some curveballs tonight, which was interesting. Bigger breaker tonight. Cutter was good. Fastball was good, 83 (mph). So he was good."
On if Soriano has thrown a curveball before: "He's thrown it. Generally, he doesn't throw it a lot. But it just gives him a little different look."
On Craig Stammen's rough outing: "Just, ball was up tonight. The regular work that he gets is great, but there's situations like tonight where he hasn't pitched in a while and we've got to get him in that game. It's a different spot than he's used to, but he'll be fine."
On what he thought of Taylor Hill in his first major league start: "Good. We tried, man. If the ball doesn't hit him, the ball's right there. We tried to get him a W, but it didn't work out. He gave us a great effort, and in a situation where it wasn't regular for him over the last couple weeks, he competed. It was great."
On if Jayson Werth set a tone with his intensity tonight: "Yeah, sure. It's important for us to play with intensity and all the stuff we talked about, and he sets that example every day. His timing was good tonight, he was right on balls. Hit a ball to right-center really good. The double to left was a breaking ball that he stayed on. So all-in-all, real good."
On how Rafael Soriano looked in his inning of work: "Good. He worked through the lefty, threw some curveballs tonight, which was interesting. Bigger breaker tonight. Cutter was good. Fastball was good, 83 (mph). So he was good."
On if Soriano has thrown a curveball before: "He's thrown it. Generally, he doesn't throw it a lot. But it just gives him a little different look."
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