During Friday night's Washington Nationals 17-5 trouncing of the Baltimore Orioles it seemed Natstown was spiraled into a strange euphoria as the team finally broke lose of the shackles of a bad offensive cold spell that plagued the team for two straight games. Everyone in the organization seemed surprised and happy, everyone except Nationals starter Jason Marquis.
Though Marquis has been the Nationals strongest starter this year, Manager Jim Riggleman made the decision at the end of the fourth-inning that he would pull Marquis in favor of reliever Henry Rodriguez. Marquis had not been sharp, giving up five runs on eight hits, striking out only two and walking three. In a one run game, Riggleman made his decision and informed Marquis of it as he came back into the dugout.
What followed was a passionate and angry Marquis following Riggleman down the Nationals dugout lobbying to stay in the game. A couple of times Riggleman tried to diffuse the situation by slapping him on the back and talking with him, but Marquis would not have it. Marquis was ultimately pulled only pitching four-innings with no chance to get the win and on top of that he was pulled just before the Nationals game deciding inning where they opened the flood gates. Nationals.com:
"I thought Jason was struggling through it and I made the decision to take him out of the one-run game," Riggleman said. "Had I known we were going to score six, maybe I would let him go out there. He was going to go one more inning at most. I just knew if somebody got on, I was going to take him out."
The Nationals scored six runs in the top of the fifth-inning and Rodriguez eventually earned the win.
Though Marquis was angry, he does not see this as an ongoing issue. He insists he got caught in the heat of the moment and just wanted to be out there with his teammates.
"I want to be out on the field, battling out there with my teammates," Marquis said. "It's a one-game thing. So I'm going to go out there, do my work like I always do, prepare for the fifth day, take that ball and be ready to get a W."
Video of Marquis' tirade can be viewed here.