Below The Beltway

It didn’t turn out the way I would’ve hoped, but it sure was one heck of a way to end a ball game.

Fathers are supposed to think positively, particularly on Father’s Day. But the telling part about Keith Zimmerman’s eldest son is that his teammates, his Hall of Fame manager, thought the same was possible. As soon as the Nationals put a man on in the ninth, as soon as 21-year-old Ryan Zimmerman began to walk to the plate, Manager Frank Robinson thought, “We got a shot.”

Zimmerman capped what his father called a “crazy weekend” by drilling a fastball from Chien-Ming Wang over the left field fence, a two-run blast that provided not only a rousing 3-2 victory over the Yankees, but the first curtain call for a National since baseball returned to Washington last year. When ball met bat, with a father’s intuition, Keith Zimmerman rose from his seat with the rest of the announced crowd of 45,157 — the largest to see a single baseball game at the old stadium — and cheered.

“I knew it was gone,” Keith Zimmerman said by phone, “as soon as he hit it.”

Or, to quote my reaction as the ball sailed over the left field fence, oh shit.

Despite the outcome, it was still has a heck of a game, and here’s a few pictures from the day.

First, there’s Johnny Damon at the plate against Mike O’Connor in the top of the 1st:

Then, Alfonso Soriano faces Chein Ming-Wang in the bottom of the first:

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday.

Update: As we walked out of RFK yesterday, I kept asking myself why Torrie had kept Wang in. Yes, he was pitching a great game, but it was hot and humid and it was clear even in the 8th that he was getting tired. I could see Mariano Rivera warming up in the bullpen from where I sat, and I thought for sure we’d see him make the run to the mound before the game was over. When Wang walked the tying run, I thought for sure that he was done. But in he stayed, and over the fence the ball went.

WASHINGTON, June 18 ? In the left-field bullpen at R.F.K. Stadium late Sunday afternoon, the greatest closer in Yankees history began to stretch. It was the ninth inning, and the Yankees had a one-run lead. Mariano Rivera wanted the call.Before the game, he had told the pitching coach, Ron Guidry, that he would be available. Scott Proctor warmed up, and so did Mike Myers. Not Rivera.

So he sat back down to watch Chien-Ming Wang try to complete a masterpiece in the broiling heat. As usual, Wang had induced ground balls at will, and he was one inning from a complete-game victory on a day the Yankees needed just that.

Rivera sat as Wang got a ground out. He sat as a pinch-hitter, Marlon Anderson, rolled a single to right. He sat as Ryan Zimmerman came to the plate determined to swing at the first pitch. Then his heart sank.

His, and the heart of every other Yankee fan there. Joe Torre, though, had his reasons:

“It was my fault,” he said. “I have to be there. Not him. I have to be there.”

Guidry and Manager Joe Torre disagreed. They had used Rivera in the eighth inning in each of the past two games. Wang’s pitch count was low enough. There is a long season ahead, and Rivera cannot pitch every day.

“Deep down inside, you know what kind of guy he is, and you know he would have pitched if we needed him,” Guidry said. “But, you know, it’s early. It’s not panic time.”

That’s the sign of a great manager. Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. When October rolls around, people won’t remember what happened on a hot June day in Washington.