NewsBeimel faces Nats for first time since trade
Southpaw reliever excited to pitch vs. former teammates
By Lisa Winston / MLB.com
08/19/09 7:02 PM ET
WASHINGTON -- In the topsy-turvy world of baseball, it took a road trip for Rockies reliever Joe Beimel to finally get to sleep in his own bed for the first time in more than two weeks.Just 18 days after the Washington Nationals traded the southpaw to Colorado at the July 31 Trade Deadline in exchange for a pair of Minor League relief pitchers and cash, Beimel returned to the nation's capital as the Rockies came to town for a three-game series that began on Tuesday night.
And while Beimel didn't need a road map to find the visitors' locker room -- he'd already been there last year, when the stadium opened with the Los Angeles Dodgers -- it was still a little odd that first day, passing by the door that had been his for the first four months of this season.
After serving as arguably one of the most effective left-handed relief specialists in the Majors in 2008, when he posted a 2.02 ERA in 71 games for the Dodgers, the 32-year-old Beimel signed with the Nationals on March 18 as a free agent.
Something of a late bloomer, he was drafted in the 18th round in 1998 out of Duquesne University by the Pittsburgh Pirates and came up through that system, pitching for them in the big leagues in 2001-03. He spent time with Tampa Bay and Minnesota before signing with Los Angeles, for whom he was a stalwart for three seasons prior to '09.
But while his 3.40 ERA in 45 games was one of the few bright spots for an inconsistent Nationals bullpen over the first half of the season, it also made him one of their more marketable commodities as they built towards the future, making the July 31 deal a win-win situation for both parties.
Certainly Beimel felt like he came out a winner, now finding himself in the thick of a playoff hunt that sees the Rockies leading the National League Wild Card race with just over six weeks to go, and in fact very much in the NL West race as well at 4 1/2 games behind Beimel's old team, the Dodgers.
"I feel like I'm in a pretty good place now with a chance to make the playoffs," Beimel said. "I had a lot of fun here in Washington, but you play this game to win, and it's always nice when you can join a contender and get into a playoff race."
The Rockies arrived in town on Sunday evening after a three-game set in Florida, and got to enjoy some down time that evening as well as Monday. For most of the players, it was a chance to play some golf, as manager Jim Tracy did, or do some sightseeing.
But for Beimel, there was other business to attend to.
"I spent the off-day packing up my old apartment here, because I hadn't had a chance to do that when I got traded," he said. "But I've been in hotels since I got traded, so it was actually nice to have a place to come home to and unwind."
With the help of his girlfriend and both of their parents, he had a decent-sized "work force" to make the task go a little more quickly, packing up most of his belongings into his car, which will then be shipped to Denver.
"A lot of the stuff, I never unpacked to start with," he said. "It was still sitting there in boxes, so that actually made it a little easier, since I didn't have to do anything with it."
In fact, after all that, Beimel even managed to get in some sight-seeing of his own on Monday night.
"I actually went to the Lincoln Memorial," he said. "It's one of those things where you always think, 'Oh, I have time to do that.' And then before you know it, you're gone, so I got to do that."
While Beimel didn't get into Tuesday night's 4-3 win over Washington, thanks in large part to right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez's eight masterful innings which gave most of the Rockies' bullpen some extra rest, he's hoping to get a chance to pitch in one of the final two games of the three-game set.
"I've played with most of these guys most of the season and have watched them, so I know their strengths and weaknesses," he said. "With that being said, they've watched me all year and know the same things about me. But it will be nice to get out there and face some of the guys. Hopefully we can pick up a couple of wins here and keep our lead in the Wild Card race."
Lisa Winston is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
