Sunday, June 26, 2011

Nationals expected to name Davey Johnson manager(Photo-Video)

Davey Johnson is expected to be named the Nationals’ manager today, succeeding Jim Riggleman, who resigned abruptly Thursday in a contract dispute.
Johnson, 68, has been a senior adviser with the Nationals since 2009. He has been a manager for 14 seasons in the major leagues, but not since 2000 with the Dodgers.
Johnson won the World Series with the Mets in 1986 and has won five division titles with six runner-up
finishes with the Mets, Reds, Orioles and Dodgers.
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told Fox television, which aired the White Sox-Nationals game Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field, that he had reached an agreement with Johnson to manage the team but details needed to be worked out before an official announcement could be made. That is expected to happen today, when Johnson arrives in Chicago.
John McLaren, who replaced Riggleman on an interim basis, will manage the team today before yielding to Johnson when the ­Nationals play the Los Angeles Angels on Monday in Anaheim.
Ozzie’s rant of the day
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had a message for critics who ­believe that Juan Pierre should be benched in favor of Dayan Viciedo, Brent Lillibridge or any warm body in the organization: Don’t waste your breath.
‘‘I don’t give a [darn] what people say about me. As long as I’m manager of this team and JP’s here, he’s playing,’’ Guillen said before the Sox’ 3-0 victory Saturday against the Nationals.
‘‘They say I’m protecting him. I’m not protecting anyone. If they want Viciedo here, then as soon as he’s here, he’ll play every day. I play JP because I think he’s the best guy to help us win.’’
Unsung hero
Brian Bruney, who gave up a home run to Michael Morse that broke up a scoreless game in Friday night’s 9-5 loss to the Nationals in 14 innings, responded with 21/3 ­scoreless innings after John Danks left with a strained oblique in the third.
‘‘We stretched Bruney a little more because I didn’t want to bring [Jake] Peavy in the middle of an inning,’’ Guillen said. ‘‘And Bruney did a tremendous job to hold those guys out there.’’
‘‘It’s not the ideal situation ­[coming in cold], but you do what the team needs and you know that 24 other guys are counting on you,’’ Bruney said. ‘‘My job is to eat a couple of innings up. And Jake came up big.’’
That old Cub
Tom Gorzelanny, who didn’t make it past the fifth inning in his previous start against the Orioles on June 19 (10 hits, five runs, no strikeouts in 42/3 innings), was a tough-luck loser. The Marist product from Evergreen Park, who pitched for the Cubs last year, allowed one run and seven hits and struck out eight in seven innings.
‘‘I’ll tell you what, Tom ­Gorzelanny pitched his rear end off,’’ Peavy said.

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