Davey Johnson puts faith in Henry Rodriguez despite his melt-down late in the innings - MLB
On Sunday, Henry Rodriguez had his worst outing on the mound. Extent of his misery was such, that one will easily establish an opinion that he will not be given another chance late in the innings anytime soon.
Surprisingly, the Washington Nationals’ Manager Davey Johnson brought Rodriguez in the game against the San Diego Padres.
Far from learning any lesson, Rodriguez, it appeared, started from where he had left on Sunday.
Perhaps, the grand slam he was hit had taken such a huge toll on his mind, he is afraid of throwing anything within the heart of the strike-zone.
Much to disappointment of the manager, he started the ninth with three walks, something that was deemed enough for his withdrawal from the mound.
At this time, he is passing through an unfriendly time in the season. Being short on confidence means his control has derailed and hitting the right locations is becoming difficult for him.
To infuse a boost in Rodriguez, Johnson utters that it is just a matter of time before he re-instates his premier form. Just take Sunday’s game aside and one will find he has been doing great job as a closer for most part of his outings on the mound.
“Probably still thinking about Sunday,” Johnson said. “We all still have a lot of confidence in him. He’ll be back.”
Manager believes, since he has been throwing in almost every game, a level had reached where his fatigue was to result in something undesirable. Due to this, he decides to give him rest for some games before he gets his rhythm back.
“I still have utmost confidence in Henry,” Johnson said. “That was his third day in a row going and he threw a lot of pitches. I’ll probably giving him off tomorrow regardless. I still have a lot of confidence in him. I went up to him after the game, I said,
‘Henry, you’re my man. I still got a lot of confidence in you.’ That’s the first time he’s actually been wild.”
Against the backdrop of injuries by relief pitchers Drew Storen and Brad Lidge, having Rodriguez at his best is extremely critical to the strength of the Nationals’ bullpen.
In this context, Johnson is doing a great job by helping Rodriguez find his confidence back.
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