Last night, the Potomac Nationals defeated the Winstom-Salem Warthogs 1-0.  Jordan Zimmermann continues to shine at Class A, giving up no runs and striking out 9 in his 7 innings of work.  Elijah Dukes played centerfield and went 1 for 4 with a double and 3 strike outs.  Paul Lo Duca went 0 for 2 with a walk.  He caught 1 runner stealing, but also allowed 2 stolen bases.  Here’s some photos from the game.

We caught up with Lo Duca after the game to ask him a few questions:

How’s everything going? How did you feel out there tonight?

So far I’m ready to go but I’m waiting for them to call me to see if I can come back.

How disappointed were you about missing the first Mets series?

[Laughter] I was real disappointed, ya know, but it was probably better off.  I’m anxious to go back and play there.  We go back on May 12th…it’s on my calendar.

How do you like DC so far and how has the experience been different than playing in NYC?

You know it’s good, I like it a lot actually. It’s a great city. I mean everywhere you go you can find some kind of monument or some kind of landmark. Very very cool, I’m living in Alexandria right now, and I really like it.

How are you adjusting to playing on a young rebuilding team vs. a strong contending team?  Do you see your role differently?

No, I really don’t see my role differently. I think were going to start winning. I think this team struggled a little early on, but the guys know that we have a chance to win and we’re gonna win now.

Has it been a challenge for you to learn the young pitching staff so quickly, since injuries kept you out of spring training?

A little bit but not that bad.  I know most of the guys now.  You know I didn’t get to do much catching during the spring and it took me a little while to get used to them, so a little bit yea, but not too bad.

What do you think has been the key to the Nats picking it up in the past week?

I think we are just doing the little things.  You know we’ve lost a lot of one run games and I think lately we are getting some breaks and that needs to happen every once in a while, but you gotta come to the ballpark believing you’re gonna win, and I think that’s starting to happen.

You caught Jordan (Zimmermann) tonight and he’s one of the top prospects.  How did he look and what do you think about his stuff?

I’ve loved him from day one. I caught him in spring training and I think he’s got a great future and he’s gonna be a big league pitcher for a long time.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Injuries, Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.