From the Nationals:
The Washington Nationals today selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Ron Villone from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League and designated left-handed pitcher Mike Hinckley for assignment. Nationals Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo made the announcement.
Villone, 39, is 56-59 with 85 holds and a 4.75 ERA (591 ER/1119.1 IP) in 654 games (93 starts) spanning 14 seasons with Seattle, San Diego, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Colorado, Houston, Pittsburgh, Florida, New York (AL) and St. Louis. The previous four seasons (2005-08), Villone posted a .203 (76-for-375) batting average against when facing left-handed batters. Villone pitched in 74 games for the Cardinals last season, posting a 4.68 ERA.
Villone signed with the Nationals as a minor-league free agent on April 11. In eight appearances with Syracuse, Villone walked two, struck out 5 and posted a .160 batting average against en route to a 2.35 ERA (2 ER/7.2 IP).
Hinckley, 26, posted a 4.66 ERA (5 ER/9.2 IP) and issued 11 walks in 14 relief appearances with Washington.
To watch Hinckley’s Chico like blooper pitch from last night, click here. It’s a few seconds in.
Zimmerman goes for 25 tonight…
On the Sony picture, How Do You Know? about a Nationals reliever…
…Hollywood actors Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson are in talks to act in James L. Brooks” upcoming romantic flick, featuring Reese Witherspoon in the lead…
…basically a love triangle featuring the three actors, wherein Wilson and Paul fight it out for Witherspoon’s love…
…While Paul plays a white-collar executive vying for Witherspoon’’s affections, Wilson plays a professional baseball pitcher, who is also in love with Witherspoon…
And a fun quote of the day from ESPN’s MLB Draft Blog:
Seattle is in an interesting spot in this draft, selecting No. 2 overall and finishing as the runner-up in the Stephen Strasburg sweepstakes. Short of the “Washington Natinals” misspelling the San Diego State right-hander’s name and calling out the wrong identification number, the Mariners will choose among the likes of Scheppers; 1B/OF Dustin Ackley; RHP Alex White; RHP Aaron Crow; prep arms like LHPs Tyler Matzek, Matt Purke and RHP Shelby Miller; and perhaps SS Grant Green, whom the Mariners have seen on several occasions this spring.
Entries (RSS)
May 7th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Just FYI - The video link goes to a page with lots of videos and it auto plays one. Here is a link to the 6th inning meltdown, including the Hinckley pitch at about 31 seconds in. http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4455033
Can’t for them to start filming the movie this summer!
May 7th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Thanks Cheryl!
May 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Hey, no fair Kristen. April Fool’s Day was last month. No more jokes, OK.
Oh wait *** this guy really IS a Nat?
May 7th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Revolving door…but no relief. Why not Clippard??
May 7th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Part of me feels bad for Hinckley, getting DFA’d the next day after that pitch.
I can’t lie though, I was laughing my ass off at the time. I can’t even really get mad about our team anymore; it’s more like comedic relief than anything else. No pun intended about the relief there.