NewsWillingham flying solo in homer dept.
All nine of his '09 dingers have come with bases empty
By Kevin Roberts / Special to MLB.com
05/31/09 8:12 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Josh Willingham is in the middle of a hot streak that even Nationals manager Manny Acta calls "odd."Willingham's hitting .327 in his last 16 games, and since May 7, he's at .315 with eight homers in 73 at-bats, with just nine RBIs. Willingham hit two home runs in Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Phillies, and both came with no one aboard. He has nine homers this season, and all of them have been of the solo variety.
There are 21 National League hitters with nine or more home runs. Among them, only Willingham has fewer than 24 RBIs.
"I'm proud of the fact that I have nine home runs, but I sure wish some of them were two-run or three-run homers," Willingham said.
"It's just unfortunate that they've all been solo home runs,' Acta said. "It's kind of odd."
Willingham had 23 hits in May, and 13 have been for extra bases. He's been one of Washington's best hitters, but like everyone else in the clubhouse, it's hard to enjoy personal success while the team is struggling. Winning games is the most important stat for him.
"I don't think it gets to the point where you're thinking: 'Why come to the ballpark?'" Willingham said. "No, you come to the ballpark every day to win. When you think about it, we're not that far away. If I didn't think we could turn it around, that would be one thing. But we can, and if we have everybody staying together, we'll do that.
"Everybody thinks we're close. We've got to keep after it. I don't know what else to say. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. The one thing we can do is come to the ballpark the same way every day, regardless of whether we won or lost the night before -- work hard, play hard, try to do the little things to help the team win."
Moyer's milestone: Jamie Moyer beat the Nationals on Sunday to notch his 250th career win. It was hard to appreciate from the Nationals' side of things, but Acta hopes his young team is taking note of what Moyer has accomplished, and how he's done it.
"It says how much he's persevered in this game,'' Acta said. "There have been a couple times in his career when he's been written off. To have won 250 games at this point in his career, that's remarkable. It's something for our young players to learn from.
"He pitched well, he changed speeds, and he kept them off balance with that 82-mph fastball and his changeup."
Nationals lefty John Lannan, who opposed Moyer, said he has not had a chance to sit and talk with the Phillies veteran. While they have different stuff, Lannan said he appreciates the way Moyer goes about his business.
"He's a great pitcher,'' Lannan said. "He battles, he gets outs. It's pretty cool to watch, actually."
Kevin Roberts is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
