Williams on the sweep, Roark, tomorrow's starter (plus Zimmerman)

Manager Matt Williams covered an array of topics after Thursday's 8-2 win over the Mets at Citi Field, including Jordan Zimmermann's status, Tanner Roark's quality spot start and the Nats' sweep. Perhaps the main topic is whether Zimmermann can start the Nationals' home opener Friday after being scratched Thursday because of flu-like symptoms. The first indication that Zimmermann might be on track to prevent the Nats from employing a bullpen game tomorrow is the fact that the team used left-hander Ross Detwiler for two innings against the Mets. Detwiler would've been the most likely reliever to start Friday. "It indicates (that Zimmermann is doing better), but we still don't know," Williams said. "We don't know how he's gonna feel when he gets to the ballpark in the morning. But we needed to get (Detwiler) in a game. We didn't want to wait too long before he pitches. And it was the perfect opportunity to get him out there today and he did well." Detwiler pitched two scoreless, hitless innings, walking one batter and striking out one in his first appearance of the season. "He looked good," Williams said. "Again, it's been a while since he's been out there, too. So he felt out the first hitter a little bit, but after that he was really good." So back to Zimmermann, if not him or Detwiler, who will make tomorrow's start? "I don't know. We'll have to see how it all plays out," Williams said. "We'll get a report. I haven't talked to (trainer Lee Kuntz) yet, but we'll get a report on him and certainly monitor him tonight and tomorrow and see where he's at. ... "We don't want to send (Zimmermann) out there with him being really sick. So we'll see how that goes in the morning." Williams also discussed the win, the sweep and Roark's outing. On the sweep: "I'm just proud of them the way they went about it. Rough first inning for Tanner, but he settled in nice. It's easy to have things snowball right there, but he stopped it and gave us a chance, which is great." On Roark pitching better after the first: "He just battled through it. Didn't have a real good feel for his breaking ball early and left some balls up. But he settled in. It's been a while since he pitched so he got the feel starting in the second inning. So it was good." On the Nats opening the year 3-0: "Regardless of results at this point - we all want to win of course - but the way they're going about it is pleasing to everybody. I think they're proud of the way they've played so far and so am I. ... "Just the way they're grinding. It started with the first game, being down early and fighting back and then being down today and fighting back is key for us." On the Nats' offense manufacturing runs: "It's the way we're going to have to play from time to time. There's going to be times when guys are feeling good and hitting balls over the fence like we talked about. But the backbone of it is we're going to have to move runners, we're going to get guys in scoring position, get them to third with less than two outs and execute. So I'm pleased with the way they've done that so far." On the Nats bullpen tossing three scoreless innings: "Just they were aggressive. They were aggressive in the strike zone, they went after hitters. That's the secret to their success, certainly, and they're not going to approach it any other way." On the Braves, who come to Washington this weekend: "Well, they're a really good team so we're going to have to play well if we're going to beat them. We want to continue to play the way we're playing, continue to do things right and if we can do that, then we've got a chance." Ryan Zimmerman on the Nats coming back to win all three games against the Mets: "It shows you how good the starting pitchers are. They can give up a couple early runs and then keep them there for six, seven innings. It says something about how they are. Early leads are just that - early leads. We continued to grind out at-bats and score some runs here and there and have a big inning. That's kind of what we did."