Ortiz Given a 'Jolt,' Helps Nats to Victory
Nationals 6, Padres 2

Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 5, 2006 2:16 AM

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 4 -- There was reason for joy, really, because the Washington Nationals had just scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning, the rally that spurred them to a 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres Friday night. They were cruising, up by five runs over the team that leads the National League West. So what if Ramon Ortiz walked the first hitter he faced in the following frame?

Yet here came Frank Robinson, Ortiz's manager. Robinson's team is in last place in the NL East. His pitchers had walked 392 batters to that point in the season. It was nothing new. But he charged out anyway, 70 years old in an out-of-the-way game on a random Friday night over the course of a long summer.

The conversation with Ortiz, if it can be called that, lasted less than a minute. It was completely one-sided. Ortiz and catcher Brian Schneider looked on as Robinson emphatically displayed his displeasure. How could a pitcher be granted a five-run lead, and then walk the leadoff hitter on five pitches?! He pointed at Ortiz. He gestured and jabbed. Then, he turned and left the mound, only to end up back in the dugout, stewing.

Asked why he approached Ortiz, Robinson said, "To get on his [rear] a little bit, get him back in the strike zone.... Sometimes, that's what it takes -- a little jolt."

So consider Ortiz jolted. He threw two strikes to the next man he faced, rookie Josh Barfield, and then followed with a third. Barfield grounded into a double play, and though Ortiz allowed a solo homer to pinch hitter Rob Bowen in the inning, that was all the Padres would get.

"It's good," Ortiz said. "Look, Frank -- I got a double play."

Ortiz finished with a six-inning outing in which he somehow allowed only two runs while giving up seven hits and five walks. But at the behest of his manager, he bore down when he needed to -- and won.

Robinson's confrontation with Ortiz provided some spice to the Nationals' third win in four games. But it came from other sources as well. Shortstop Felipe Lopez, bordering on torrid of late, went 2 for 4 with his third homer as a National. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman went 2 for 3 and sparked the sixth-inning rally with a two-run homer that scored Lopez ahead of him.

And what would a Nationals' victory be without something spicy from Alfonso Soriano? Naturally, he hit an RBI double, a two-out bouncer past third base that put the Nationals up 2-0 in the fifth. He promptly got thrown out stealing third -- inexplicably, it would seem, given that Lopez was at the plate, there were two down, and a base hit would have scored him from second anyway.

Soriano, then, is still something of an adventure, a free swinger and a free thinker. At some point, though, it would figure teams would start thinking about Soriano's presence in left field.

"They should," Zimmerman said.

No, he hadn't played a regular season game in left field before Opening Day this year. Yes, his play out there -- after a major league career spent at second base -- has been something of an adventure. But somewhere, someone must have noticed that Soriano entered play this weekend leading the majors in outfield assists.

"I don't think they believe it," Robinson said. "They hear about the assists and say, 'Yeah, sure.' I don't think they believe he throws that well."

Apparently, the Padres were among the non-believers. Ortiz opened the fifth by -- you guessed it -- issuing walks to Dave Roberts and Brian Giles. With one out, Adrian Gonzalez hit a hard grounder through the left side for a single.

Roberts, one of the Padres' fastest runners, didn't break stride rounding third. Soriano hardly charged the ball, but he noticed Roberts's intentions and came up throwing. "I think, 'Oh, man, I got a chance,'" Soriano said.

Soriano slung the ball with his sidearm, infielder's motion, but there was never a doubt. The throw was low, on a line, directly through Zimmerman, the cutoff man. Catcher Brian Schneider took it on one hop, slightly up the first base line, but had plenty of time to come back across the plate and tag out Roberts.

There it was, his 17th assist of the season. There is no disputing the fact that Soriano has been able to rack up the total because teams have tested him. But the fact of the matter is that only two other players -- Colorado's Brad Hawpe and Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford -- entered play Friday in double figures in assists as an outfielder.

"I surprise myself with my defense," he said.

Despite the Nationals' four-run sixth inning, the game wasn't decided just then. Left-hander Micah Bowie, remarkably effective since he was called up from Class AAA New Orleans last month, retired five straight men over the seventh and eighth, but then gave up a two-out single. Jon Rauch relieved Bowie, but Barfield scorched a double to left, putting runners on second and third.

And who did the Padres send up but Mike Piazza, the likely Hall of Famer as a catcher, ready to pinch hit. On July 9, Piazza pinch hit against Nationals closer Chad Cordero in a game at RFK Stadium, and his monster home run capped a four-run ninth inning and gave the Padres a 10-9 victory.

Here, though, Piazza lofted a lazy fly ball to right, and he was retired uneventfully. The rally died, and Cordero came on to preserve the win -- and pick up his 20th save -- in the ninth. He did it, too, without Robinson having to come to the mound, to remind him that with a large lead, he might as well throw strikes.