(Nyjer Morgan flashed his "hockey mentality" again on Saturday night? Reuters Photo/Gary Cameron.)
Good for Jim Riggleman for benching and publicly calling out Nyjer Morgan on Sunday for his antics on Saturday night, after Morgan stupidly collided with Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson and forgot to touch home plate in the eighth inning. Chalk up another one in the Nyjer Morgan "taketh away" category. On Sunday, Nationals Journal had quotes from Riggles about the incident:
"I think it was just a culmination of Nyjer's anger that was brewing... I think he was just having a day like where he was upset about some things and did an unprofessional thing. He went after the catcher. So I certainly don't condone that, but we've all made mistakes. I think that's not Nyjer's style of play to do something like that. That's totally uncharacteristic. I think the culmination of the day, when I called him in, told him I was going to hit him eighth instead of leadoff, and I think it just was building up all day. I think he thought I was wearing that equipment there at home plate."
(Jim Riggleman, via Nationals Journal, 8/29/2010)
Don't worry, Bryan Anderson, the guy wearing the equipment, was unfazed:
"It's going to take a little bit bigger of a guy than that to take me down... so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, it was, because it was a cheap shot, but not really, I guess."
(Bryan Anderson, via St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8/29/2010)
And while we're piling on Nyjer Morgan, the Philly Inquirer caught up with the fan Nyjer hit in the head with a ball last Saturday night in Philadelphia. The fan describes the heckling being dished out by the a-holes in Philly:
"There were one or two guys in Section 148 that were riding him pretty hard for a couple of innings. Mostly they seemed to be heckling him about the way he wore his uniform. He was the only player on the field who was wearing his [uniform] old-style with the full stockings. They were screaming at him about looking like a jockey. ...Stuff like that."
(via Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/28/2010)
Tough week to be Nyjer Morgan, eh? Maybe he should consider joining Rob Dibble in exile for a few more games?
On Sunday afternoon, the Nationals announced that they would be bringing back Livan Hernandez for the 2011 season. So now we know who at least one of the five names will be in the Nationals 2011 rotation. Can we say the same about the name of the 2011 starting centerfielder anymore?
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Morse seems to have right field locked down, so that means Bernadina could go to CF. Not sure if that is the best move offensively, but sometimes addition by subtraction is the best way forward.
Posted by: Mike K | August 30, 2010 at 08:12 AM