With division title clinched, Gio Gonzalez won’t make final start for Nationals

By Aaron GleemanOct 2, 2012, 1:45 PM EDT
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The Nationals have scratched Gio Gonzalez from his final regular season start tonight after clinching the NL East title last night.

Washington is still fighting Cincinnati for the No. 1 seed, but manager Davey Johnson has decided that resting Gonzalez for a Game 1 start in the NLDS is more important. Tom Gorzelanny will take his place against the Phillies.

Making a 33rd start also could have helped Gonzalez’s case for the Cy Young award, but instead he’ll finish two-thirds of an inning short of cracking 200 innings for the third straight season and ends the year 21-8 with a 2.89 ERA.

Video: Starling Marte refuses to take first base after being hit by pitch

Tim Warner/Getty Images
By Bill BaerJul 16, 2019, 9:31 PM EDT
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Pirates outfielder Starling Marte was hit on the hand by a Jack Flaherty pitch in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Cardinals. Rather than take first base, Marte — who came to the plate with a runner on first base — insisted to home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman that the ball hit the knob of the bat, not his hand. Marte was allowed to continue his at-bat, though manager Clint Hurdle came out to discuss the ruling with Dreckman. Marte eventually grounded into a fielder’s choice. He then got caught attempting to steal second base and the Pirates scored zero runs in the inning.

According to Baseball Prospectus, a team that has runners on first and second with no outs is expected to score 1.55 runs. Having a runner on first base with one out yields 0.56 expected runs. Marte essentially cost his team a run by rejecting first base. Oops.