On a night when Ryan Zimmerman hits 2 home runs and a triple, you have to win — right? Well, could have, should have, would have, if only. Ryan Madson is 37 2/3 years old with a lot of local mileage on his arm this week, and he had pitched the last two games in a row. Prior to the game, we wrote that we did not expect Madson and Brandon Kintzler to pitch in this game. Well, with a 4-to-2 Nats lead the first reliever used tonight was Ryan Madson and he imploded and departed with a blown save and the loss. Tanner Roark pitched a full 7.0 innings which meant in a regulation game — the bullpen would only have to cover 6 outs. We are not going to blame the loss on Ryan Madson who is a Tommy John survivor and turning 38 years old in August. This is on manager Dave Martinez to know his players. We have said it before including yesterday with Gio Gonzalez — know your players.
Now we just hope that Ryan Madson comes away from this debacle feeling healthy. We have seen too many pitchers misused and abused over the years. Pitcher’s arms are not machine parts. They breakdown from abuse and overuse.
“Yah, like I said before the game I had conversations with these guys,” Martinez said. “Guys told me they were available. We used them accordingly. That’s how it works.”
How do you define available? Being on the roster technically says they are available but you weren’t going to use Anthony Rendon given the condition of his toe.
“Today wasn’t Maddy’s day,” Martinez continued. “…We really felt he could get through this.”
The postgame press conference with Martinez was a lot of excuses, and he did not take any responsibility for what happened. To say it wasn’t someone’s day is deflecting. Throwing Ryan Madson three days in a row while he had thrown 32 pitches combined in back-to-back games and struggled yesterday was a sign not to pitch “Maddy”.
“I kind of emptied the tank the night before,” Ryan Madson admitted while also saying he only had 5-to-10 pitches in him tonight before he had nothing left.
Unfortunately, Dave Martinez and pitching coach Derek Lilliquist did not go to the mound to check on Madson as they left him in for a total of 26 pitches and a total of 81 pitches over the 3 games in a row. If they pulled Madson after the inning started with 2 singles (6th pitch of the inning) then maybe we are not having this same discussion.
Luckily tomorrow is a day-off. Much needed. Rest up.
