BOTTOMFEEDER BASEBALL BLOG

Probably a bad time to be doing this, but...

2008-12-11T17:41:00.005-05:00

AND WE'VE CHANGED OUR NAME!!!

This blog will now be known as...NATS NEWS NETWORK!

Please click on the link above to go to our new site. All the archived posts are there, and any new content is going up over there. I still have some tinkering to do, but I don't want to maintain two sites anymore. Besides, I think when you visit the new site you'll be as happy with it as I am.

Please let me know of any comments or critiques once you get over there.

I really liked the format I used for my Caps Blog, so I utilized it for the new Nats blog. Also, one of the big questions I heard all last summer was "What's bottomfeeders have to do with it?" or "Did you name your blog bottomfeeders cause the team stinks so much?" So I wanted a more Nats-centric name and feel and I incorporated the team colors as well.

Please feel free to let me know how you feel about the new site. E-mail me at the new e-mail address (you'll see it over there) or leave a comment in one of the posts.

Thanks, see you on the new site.
Best,
Dave

Nats Select Reliever in Rule 5 Draft

2008-12-11T14:43:00.002-05:00

In the Major League portion of the Rule 5 Draft held today in Las Vegas at the conclusion of the Winter Meetings, the Nationals selected RHP Terrell Young from the Cincinnati Reds with the first overall pick.

Young, 24 (6'3", 175), went 2-5 with a 2.88 ERA this season in two stops in Class A (Sarasota of the Florida State League and Dayton of the Midwest League). His fastball is said to be mid-90s, with an occasional 98 mph.

He's never pitched above Single-A. In five seasons in Rookie League, Low-A and High-A, he's thrown 142.2 innings with a 3.60 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. He's struck out 131 and walked 87. His record is 5-10 with 12 career saves.

Does anyone think that this sounds like a player that is seriously going to compete for a spot in the Nationals bullpen this season? Remember, a player selected in the Rule 5 Draft must remain on the drafting team's 25-man roster all season or be offered back to the original club.

Is Eight Years, $160M Enough?

2008-12-10T22:58:00.002-05:00

It's hard to comprehend a contract to play baseball that runs eight years and will pay the player $160 million dollars. I'm not gonna get all philosophical on ya, but that's a heck of a lot of money.

But is it enough? Scott Boras said at the beginning of this adventure that it would take 10 years and $200M. I think everyone knew at that point that statement was a bunch of posturing. And most everyone knows by now that Mark Teixiera grew up in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and would be more than happy to play for one of the teams that call that region home--if the money was right.

Now we know that the Yankees probably won't be making an offer since they're courting every single blue chip pitcher on the market. Boston covets the switch-hitting 1B as well. And the Angels, and owner Arte Moreno, would really like to keep Tex on the payroll.

So it seems we know two things now:

1) The opening bid, and

2) The suitors are probably down to three (the Nats, Red Sox and Angels)

Despite what Roch Kubatko might think over at MASN.com, it would shock me at this point if the Orioles made an offer at this point. The Nats offer is already so well past the "feeling out" point that the O's can't come in now and try to get Teixiera for anything less.

So that leaves just three, and maybe really only two. The Angels have said that Tex was their "first priority", but don't their efforts seem just a little lackadaisical. Doesn't it seem like they keep throwing their name out there just to say they were staying in it? I've seen that act for a while now, I'd hope that I would recognize it when I see it.

And Boston really just got into it in the last couple of days. Everyone assumes that Theo Epstein will sweep in and whisk Tex away from the next biggest suitor, but has the bar been set too high? Could we be seeing a situation unfolding where, like A-Rod with the Rangers, the first offer is the best?

We probably won't know for a few days at the very least. But with a solid offer on the table and apparently a lot of effort put into this from both sides already, it's not too hard to start envisioning an early present under the tree.

I Usually Don't Get Worked Up Over These Things, But...

2008-12-10T17:11:00.003-05:00

Here's a report from Enrique Rojas of ESPN.com on their "MLB Winter Meetings Blog" :

The proposed trade between the Nationals and Rockies involving right-hander Tim Redding and outfielder Willy Taveras fell apart because one of the players did not pass his physical exam.

You mean the Willie Taveras? The same guy who went .251/.308/.296 last season in 470 at bats. Read that middle number again. He had a .308 on base percentage last season. Granted, he led the NL in stolen bases. But you know what the result was? 64 runs scored. SIXTY FOUR.

Willie Harris scored 58 runs in 100 less at bats from the bottom of the order for the most part.

For the SABR inclined reader, his OPS+ was 56. This number is based off how good a player is plus-or-minus 100. Of players with 350+ at bats, Corey Patterson was the worst in the NL at 48. Taveras was bottom ten.

He led off for the bulk of his at bats, and while in that slot OBP'd a cool .299.

Lifetime, his slash stats are: .283/.331/.337 (OPS+ 72). So at age 26, when a player starts to enter his prime years, Taveras had his statistically worst year in the bigs. Oh yeah, as a point of reference, Nook Logan's career OPS+ is 76.

Harris has OPS+'d 94 and 98 the last two years as a part-time player. His lifetime OPS+ is 75.

Of Taveras' 558 career hits, 80 have been of the extra-base variety. He's never had 20 doubles in a season, despite all that speed. His career triples high is five, despite all that speed and playing in Colorado the last two years.

He's had seven career home runs in 1972 at bats.

Now, I'm not going to argue that the Nats shouldn't trade Tim Redding if they get a good deal for a player in a position of need. But Willie Taveras, statistically speaking, was one of THE WORST regular position players in the majors last year. If you have a fantasy team where you need stolen bases and have a bunch of high average guys to cover for Taveras, sure, trade Redding for him. But real baseball doesn't work like fantasy.

Taveras is good for only one thing: Stealing second base when one of his weak ground balls manages to make its way through the infield.

Jumping On The Hondo Bandwagon

2008-12-05T12:14:00.003-05:00

It just makes sense for the Nats to bring Frank Howard back into the fold in some capacity. He has too much baseball knowledge and good will in this area to ignore.

Kristen, on her post for Nationals Buzz at MASN.com did a great job collecting the feelings of the many other bloggers who've already chimed in on the subject in repsonse to Dave Sheinin's piece in the Post yesterday.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2007.

Speak of the Devil (or something like that)

2008-12-03T15:54:00.001-05:00

From the Nats Press Relese today. I'll have commentary later on.

NATIONALS ANNOUNCE 2009 SPRING TRAINING SCHEDULE

Washington slated to host Orioles at Nationals Park for spring finale

The Washington Nationals today announced their 2009 Spring Training schedule, which is highlighted by a two-game barnstorming series against the Baltimore Orioles. The Nationals will host the Orioles for an exhibition contest on April 4 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., after the two clubs play the day prior at Harbor Park, home of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, in Norfolk, VA.

The Florida-based portion of the Nationals’ spring schedule includes 32 Grapefruit League contests, one exhibition game and four off days. It will commence on February 25 with a road tilt against the Houston Astros in Kissimmee, FL, before the Nationals host the Detroit Tigers the following day for their home opener. The Nationals will host 15 games at Space Coast Stadium—14 Grapefruit League affairs and an exhibition contest against Italy’s World Baseball Classic team on March 3.

For the seventh consecutive spring, the franchise will be based at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, FL. The team’s report/workout dates are as follows: pitchers/catchers report (February 14), position players report (February 17), first full-squad workout (February 19).

Tickets for the Nationals-Orioles game on April 4 at Nationals Park will be available to the public when individual-game regular-season tickets go on sale in February, and proceeds from the game will benefit the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. Individual-game tickets for the Nationals’ spring contests at Space Coast Stadium will be available beginning on January 17 at 10:00 a.m. They can be purchased at the Space Coast Stadium Box Office, online at nationals.com, or by calling 888.632.NATS(6287).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS 2009 SPRING TRAINING SCHEDULE

DATE DAY OPPONENT LOCATION TIME
February 25 Wednesday at Houston Kissimmee, FL 1:05 pm
FEBRUARY 26 THURSDAY DETROIT VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
FEBRUARY 27 FRIDAY HOUSTON VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
February 28 Saturday at St. Louis Jupiter, FL 1:05 pm
MARCH 1 SUNDAY BALTIMORE VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 2 Monday *** OFF DAY ***
MARCH 3 TUESDAY TEAM ITALY (WBC) VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
MARCH 4 WEDNESDAY NEW YORK-NL VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 5 Thursday at Detroit Lakeland, FL 1:05 pm
March 6 Friday at Baltimore Ft. Lauderdale, FL 1:05 pm
March 7 Saturday at New York-NL Port St. Lucie, FL 1:10 pm
MARCH 8 SUNDAY NEW YORK-NL VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
MARCH 9 MONDAY HOUSTON VIERA, FL 7:05 PM
MARCH 10 TUESDAY NEW YORK-NL VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 11 Wednesday *** OFF DAY ***
March 12 Thursday at Atlanta Orlando, FL 1:05 PM
March 13 Friday at Houston Kissimmee, FL 7:05 pm
March 14 Saturday at New York-NL Port St. Lucie, FL 1:10 pm
MARCH 15 SUNDAY DETROIT VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 16 Monday at Florida Jupiter, FL 1:05 pm
March 17 Tuesday *** OFF DAY ***
MARCH 18 WEDNESDAY FLORIDA VIERA, FL 7:05 PM
MARCH 19 THURSDAY BALTIMORE VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 20 Friday at Detroit Lakeland, FL 1:05 pm
MARCH 21 SATURDAY ST. LOUIS VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 22 Sunday at Houston Kissimmee, FL 1:05 pm
March 23 Monday at St. Louis Jupiter, FL 1:05 pm
March 24 Tuesday at Baltimore Ft. Lauderdale, FL 1:05 pm
MARCH 25 WEDNESDAY ATLANTA VIERA, FL 7:05 PM
March 26 Thursday *** OFF DAY ***
March 27 Friday at New York-NL Port St. Lucie, FL 1:10 pm
MARCH 28 SATURDAY HOUSTON VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 29 Sunday at Florida Jupiter, FL 1:05 pm
MARCH 30 MONDAY DETROIT VIERA, FL 1:05 PM
March 31 Tuesday at Detroit Lakeland, FL 1:05 pm
April 1 Wednesday at Toronto Dunedin, FL 1:05 pm
April 2 Thursday at Philadelphia Clearwater, FL 1:05 pm
April 3 Friday at Baltimore Norfolk, VA * 3:30 pm
APRIL 4 SATURDAY BALTIMORE WASHINGTON, DC ** 6:05 PM

Spring Training Blues

2008-12-02T12:41:00.003-05:00

I had a few moments this morning and since the Nats have failed to release their Spring Training schedule yet, I compiled what is publicly known about it by visiting the other teams websites in the Grapefruit League.

Eight of the the teams (BAL, FLA, BOS, ATL, PHI, TOR, TB and NYY) have released their tentative schedules. Seven (NYM, STL, MIN, HOU, CIN, PIT, DET) have not. The Nats don't play against BOS, TB or NYY.

The Nats have only 10 games with the eight teams that have released their schedule. With ST starting 2/25 this season (to allow for the stupid World Baseball Classic) and running through 4/3, that leaves a possible 39 dates, of which the Nats have filled 10. So the possible 29 dates will be filled with the seven teams that haven't released their schedule yet. Of those seven, MIN, CIN, PIT and DET play on the other side of the state (I'll get to this), meaning that the bulk of the 29 remaining dates will be filled with JUST NYM, STL and HOU.

Now, here's the quirky part: the Nats have games scheduled with TOR and PHI, who also play on the gulf coast, on APR 1 & 2 respectively, with dates open March 30 and 31. It doesn’t take a big leap to guess that the Nats will play the ENTIRE LAST WEEK OF SPRING TRAINING ON THE ROAD, come up to DC for the "fan fest" or whatever they're calling it, then travel BACK TO FLORIDA for the season opener!!!

Here's the complete schedule as announced by other teams so far (all games 1:05 pm):

MAR 6 @ BAL
MAR 12 @ ATL
MAR 16 @FLA
MAR 18 FLA
MAR 19 BAL
MAR 24 @ BAL
MAR 25 ATL
MAR 29 @ FLA
APR 1 @ TOR
APR 2 @ PHI

Say Mar 30 and 31 they play at DET (Lakeland) and PIT (Bradenton) on their way across the state to play on the gulf coast. They probably won't play MIN (just too far in Ft. Myers) and let's just guess they get one in against CIN (they never have before, but let's play along). And say they have a home and home with Houston (Kissimmee). That's still just five more games removed from 29 OPEN DATES!!! Let's guess they have four off days (the O's have four). That leaves 20 games made up with just two teams.

So I'm here to tell you, get used to seeing the Mets and Cardinals in your spring training box scores, because that's all that’s left. Unless they're just going to intrasquad for the bulk of Spring Training.

Happy Thanksgiving Nats Fans!

2008-11-27T18:44:00.002-05:00

I'm thankful for all of you that read my blog on a regular--or semi-regular--basis.

Thanks for all the comments and kind words along the way, and the criticism where warrented

I'm also thankful for my fellow Nats bloggers--All Of You--for providing a healthy and diverse forum for discussion about our shared passions: Baseball and the Washington Nationals.

Best wishes for a happy holiday weekend. Hope everyone ate too much turkey and pumpkin pie!

Ryan Wagner--Nats Property or Not?

2008-11-24T11:46:00.003-05:00

Checking out all the info about the upcoming Rule 5 draft, most lists have Ryan Wagner listed as a Washington National. According to the Nats press release of October 30:

The Washington Nationals today announced they have outrighted right-handed pitcher Chad Cordero, right-handed pitcher Ryan Wagner and infielder Pete Orr to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. All three players elected free agency.

But in the transaction section of MLB.com, the transaction was listed thusly:

Washington Nationals: Sent RHP Ryan Wagner and INF Pete Orr outright to Triple-A Syracuse. Orr refused the assignment and is a free agent. Activated INF Nick Johnson, OFs Justin Maxwell and Wily Mo Pena from the 60-day disabled list. Activated RHP Chad Cordero from the 60-day disabled list and sent him outright to Triple-A Syracuse. He refused the assignment and is a free agent.

So did Wagner indeed refuse the assignment becoming a free agent, as the Nats press release clearly stated, or was the transaction report in MLB.com legit and Wagner accepted his demotion to Triple-A Syracuse? Now we know Pete Orr has subsequently re-signed this the Nationals, per MLB.com and (and other sources):

Washington Nationals: Signed INF Pete Orr to a Minor League contract.

But no mention of Wagner resigning anywhere, if he ever was a free agent in the first place.

Even Natosphere minor league resident expert NFA is confused on Wagner's standing:

RHP Ryan Wagner (heard he re-signed … trying to confirm)

Since Major League Baseball doesn't post a list of players eligible for the Rule 5, this type of situation is tough to fact-check. It's not like it's a tremendously huge deal, since Wagner's velocity had not returned by September, and any team claiming him would be taking a big risk on holding a roster spot on a guy that last time he pitched competitively was only throwing 83-84 with his fastball.

But it would be nice to know the facts going into the game.

Glad to be back, and much thanks to staff photographer Cheryl Nichols for turning this once-proud Nats blog into a Ken Griffey Jr. tribute page in my absence. Just kidding, she did a great job and I have expressed my gratitude to her in person, you can rest assured.

DAVE IS BACK!

2008-11-24T10:55:00.001-05:00

Good news to the followers of the Bottomfeeder Baseball!

My husband and founder of Bottomfeeder Baseball blog is back from vacation and I am happy to turn the reins back over to him. I did my best under my time constraints to get a few posts done while he was out, however, wish I could have done more. It was a busy 10 days for me. Not a ton of Nats news to report, however, I fully enjoyed making a few "fun posts." :)

Thanks for continuing to check back even though you knew he was out of town. He does a great job and hope you keep reading.

Go Nats!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Junior!

2008-11-21T16:02:00.015-05:00

HAPPY 39TH BIRTDAY GEORGE KENNETH GRIFFEY JR!

It has been a joy to grow up with Junior and watch him play the greatest game on earth.

Since being selected as the first overall pick by the Seattle Mariners in 1987, Griffey has been one of my absolute favorite players of all-time (and I have a lot of favorites so that means something!).

Griffey Jr. has another job to keep him busy in the off-season which is a great honor. I am very proud to have him represent the game and our country.

"The Kid" has played major league baseball for twenty seasons. I sure hope that I get to see him play another season because it would not be the same without seeing that big smile, effortless swing and name on the scoreboard.

Special Highlights and Memories for Me:

09/14/1990 - First, and only, father and son to hit back-to-back homers

07/14/1992 - All-Star Game MVP (Hit single, double and home run in San Diego)

07/12/1993 - MLB All-Star Game Home Run Derby - Griffey was the first and only player to hit the warehouse at Camden Yards in Baltimore

1997 - Griffey Jr. was awarded the AL MVP (.304 BA/56 HR/147 RBI)

06/27/1999 - Jr. hit the final home run at the Kingdome, a three-run homer off of Rangers' Aaron Sele in the first inning

07/15/1999 - Safeco Opens - "House that Griffey Built"

09/26/1999 - Junior's last home game in a Mariners uniform (I was there!)

06/22/2007 - Junior's return to Seattle for the first time since trade to Reds

And my absolute favorite memory.....
10/08/1995 - Griffey Jr. buried underneath his teammates, having scored from first on Edgar Martinez's epic double off Jack McDowell in the 11th inning of Game 5 against the Yankees to win the A L Division Series!!! (I start tearing up every time I was this!). My Oh My - The Miracle Mariners!

John Lannan named to Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team

2008-11-20T12:10:00.003-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS JOHN!

Photo (c) Cheryl Nichols 2008

Press Release from the Nationals:

Washington Nationals left-handed pitcher John Lannan today was named to the
50th Annual Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team. Lannan was one of 10
players to earn the citation, which annually recognizes one rookie for each
position on the field, as well as the top right-handed and left-handed pitchers.

The 24-year-old turned in one of the top rookie seasons in franchise
history, going 9-15 with a 3.91 ERA in 31 starts. Lannan led all big league
rookies and tied for eighth in the NL with 21 quality starts, which represented
the third-highest total ever by a Washington Nationals (2005-08) pitcher and
tied for the fifth-highest rookie total in the past 23 years, beginning with the
1986 season. He finished among this season's freshman leaders in wins (tied for
sixth), ERA (fourth) and starts (tied for third), while also ranking among the
top rookies with 182.0 innings (fifth), 112 strikeouts (fifth) and a .252
batting average against (third).

Lannan has a career mark of 11-17 with a 3.95 ERA in 37 starts. He was
selected by the Nationals in the 11th round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft
out of Siena (NY) College.

Griffey becomes American Public Diplomacy Envoy

2008-11-19T02:22:00.004-05:00

This blog is dedicated to the Washington Nationals, however, in the absence of breaking news like Teixeira is now a Nat, I am posting something that has impact on baseball and Washington so seemed fitting. Besides, Dave is unavailable and said that I could post whatever I'd like and Griffey Jr. is one of my favorite baseball players of all time. Congrats Ken!

The following is the AP press release:

WASHINGTON -- Ken Griffey Jr. has joined a new team.

The star outfielder became the newest American Public Diplomacy Envoy, introduced Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Griffey is set to make his first baseball-related trip for the State Department to Panama in January. In his role, he'll represent the "values of the United States, not the government of the United States," Rice said.

"When Ken Griffey travels overseas, one of his greatest objectives will be to talk to young people and to spark their interest in America and in our culture," she said.
Griffey said he was eager to get going.

"When Dr. Rice called and said that she would like me to do this, I didn't really have to think about it," he said.

"After a certain age, you pretty much set your ways. But if we can reach out to young children about our culture and also about our pastime, which is baseball -- not those other sports like football," he said, drawing laughs in a State Department ceremony.

Griffey, who turns 39 this week, is sixth on the career home run list with 611. He played for Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox last season, and later filed for free agency.

Griffey joined former baseball star Cal Ripken Jr., figure skater Michelle Kwan and actress Fran Drescher as envoys.

On the same day Griffey was introduced in the role, a baseball clinic Ripken was to give for kids in Nicaragua was canceled by its sponsors because protests surrounding local election results were causing travel problems.

Ripken became an envoy for the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in 2007.

Nats Sign Matt Whitney to Minor League Contract

2008-11-17T00:05:00.004-05:00

Matt Whitney signed a minor league contract with the Nationals on November 15th which includes an invitation to spring training, according to MLB.com.

Whitney was drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 1st round (33rd overall) in 2002 and the Nationals claimed in Rule 5 draft from Cleveland in 2007.

Whitney, 24, spent all of 2008 with Triple-A Akron, where he hit .268 with 10 home runs and 56 RBIs.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: He is normally a third baseman, however, can also play first. He will most likely not have a job out of spring training.

Pete Orr Returning to Nats?

2008-11-14T02:37:00.006-05:00

According to Mark Zuckerman at The Washington Times, Pete Orr will be returning to the Nationals.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Meet the Press with Willingham and Olsen

2008-11-11T18:50:00.008-05:00

The Washington Nationals held a press conference today at Nationals Park to introduce OF Josh Willingham and LHP Scott Olsen, acquired Wednesday night for 2B Emilio Bonifacio and minor leaguers RHP P.J. Dean and SS Jake Smolinski. General Manager Jim Bowden, Assistant GM Mike Rizzo and Special Assistant Bob Boone were also in attendance.

Some highlights:

Willingham on his position:
"I'm a left fielder as far as I know."

Bowden on Willingham's position:
"We acquired him as a corner outfielder, not as a first baseman."
Olsen on his fluctuating velocity last season:

"I missed a week and a half of spring training which kind of set my throwing program back which might have been arm strength that wasn’t able to get built up like it had been. "

Bowden on the message this trade sends to the fans and to the team:

"This is a huge message to send to the Washington Nationals' fans."

__________________________________________

Here's the full transcript. If you just want my commentary, it's at the bottom.

Bowden: The Washington Nationals want to wish everyone a happy Veteran's Day. We chose to trade three minor leaguers for two veterans on Veteran's Day. Last Wednesday at the General Managers' meeting we completed a five-player trade with the Florida Marlins. Late last night we concluded the trade: the Washington Nationals acquiring 24-year old left handed pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham. This continues our plan to build an organization for the long term. We believe Scott, a young left handed starting pitcher that pitched over 200 innings last year, 190 the year before, continues to improve, developed a third pitch this year, his changeup, to go along with his fastball and his slider and certainly we feel he has the chance to be a major part of our rotation for a long time. Josh Willingham gives you a tremendous at bat every time up, in fact he's sixth in the major leagues for right hand hitters with 4.1 pitches per at bat. He can hit the tough pitcher and the tough pitch. Really knows how to give a good at bat. Both these guys are winners. We're very very pleased to introduce them to you today. And we'll start with Josh Willingham.

Willingham: I'll just say that I'm happy to be a Washington National. Florida was the only organization that I knew. I was drafted in 2000 by them and had developed good relationships and they gave me the opportunity to play at the big league level for the first time. So I have a lot of good things to say about that organization and very grateful for the opportunity that they gave me. Moving forward this is a brand new opportunity that I'm looking forward to. I know some of the guys on this team, met everybody, everybody's been great. I'm really looking forward to moving forward with the Nationals. You talk about the plan they have for this team and I'm going to believe in it. You know what you'll get from me. I'm going to play hard every day. I love playing the game, I think that's the most important part. Just to have an opportunity to play in this stadium of this caliber, it's brand new and think it's going to be a good opportunity and I'm looking forward to it and I appreciate the opportunity.

Olsen: Very similar story to Josh. I got drafted by the Marlins and that's all I've ever known. I've never been traded before so this is all new for me and meeting all the new people here, everybody's been great. It's the same game no matter where you're at and I look forward to playing here and being a National and try to win. That's the bottom line is you want to win ballgames. And with the group we have we're going to go out and play hard and hopefully we're going to be able to do that.

Olsen (on confidence): I developed a third pitch which helped tremendously. Coming into 2005 and 2006 I really only had a fastball/slider and it worked well for a year. I never had enough confidence in the changeup until about half way through 2007 and then in 2008 I started throwing it a lot. I finally found a grip I liked. A lot of it was just having confidence in the fact that if you throw it where you want to threw it you're going to get a good result. My confidence got built up with that pitch and it really turned things around for me.

Olsen (on being the ace): You want to be the ace no matter where you're at. I think that at least for me I apply myself so that I can be out there every five days. I don't like missing any starts and as part of an ace that's what you've got to do. I'm sure I'm not the only one of people in the rotation that want to be that. I expect an open competition and we'll see in spring training what happens since it's not my decision.

Olsen (on what it will take to get to the next level): I hope there's another level. I would like to think you're never satisfied with the year. As a pitcher you pretty much aren't going to go 33-0 so there's always room for improving and you just try to do that. You watch tapes and you try to improve on any small aspect or big aspect of the game to help you win. But I hope there's another level up there.

Olsen (on his fluctuating velocity last year): Honestly, I have no idea. I got a lot of questions about my velocity early on in the year. I was pitching pretty well early on and it didn't seem to affect anything. I missed a week and a half of ST which kind of set my throwing program back which might have been arm strength that wasn’t able to get built up like it had been. Over the course [of the season] by September your arm strength is there so the velocity comes back. I think, presuming we stay healthy, I don't think that'll be an issue.

Willingham (on his position): I've played a lot of positions. I'm a left fielder as far as I know. The past three years that’s where I've played exclusively. I've done some catching before and was in infielder before that. I'm comfortable in left field now. I can play other positions but that something I haven't discussed.

Bowden (on Willingham's position): We acquired him as a corner outfielder, not as a first baseman.

Bowden (on trading for vets): It shows the commitment from ownership and from Stan Kasten, our president. We're really determined on winning for our fans. This is a huge message to send to the Washington Nationals' fans. But remember, these guys are still very young, they’re in their 20's so we control them for three more years. This was not a trade and rent-a-player for a year. These are two players that can spend a long time playing here. We're all embarrassed by the season we had last year. Its strictly unacceptable. You want to talk about injuries or lack of depth or whatever it was--it's embarrassing and except for the first pick overall we're getting in June, we don't ever want to have that happen again. We're on a mission to continue the plan and bring winning baseball back here to Washington.

Bowden (on 2B job): Manny Acta will make that decision. Those decisions will happen once we get to spring training, not now. There's a lot that can happen between now and then. Certainly we were impressed with what Anderson did here in September. He hit over .300 for us (ed. .333/.407/.383 with no home runs and 17 RBI in 81 at bats for DC last season), drove some runs in. He's gone to winter ball and he's hitting .400 over there (ed. .404/.432/.629 with one home run and 15 RBI and four steals in 89 at bats). Our reports are tremendous on what he's done there. We remember that he led the Pacific Coast League in hits the year before. So maybe he's just starting to mature, come into his own and he's certainly someone that's going to be given consideration.

Bowden (on OF sorting out): I'm always a big fan of competition. Whenever you have depth you also have means to make other deals to make your team better in other areas. Those are decisions Manny will make when we get to spring training and have our team set at that point.

Willingham (on trade rumors): You knew there were going to be some deals made because of the significant number of players that were going to be going to arbitration. As far as who, you didn't know who. I think they [the Marlins] made it pretty obvious that they were going to make some deals. I didn't have a clue if I was going to be in it until last night.

Olsen (on trade rumors): I had a pretty good idea that I was going to be moved, just based on the situation and all the starting pitchers that they had in Florida. I had a feeling, it was just a matter of where and when it was all going to be finalized.

Olsen (on maturing): I knew something had to change. It just started off slow and you just try to keep yourself out of situations where there might be a problem. I think that's the biggest thing with this maturing and everything that everybody claims that I've done. It think it comes down to one thing and that's just don't be in a situation where something might happen.

Rizzo (on Bonifacio): He's an exciting player, but you have to give to get. To get a 24 year old starting pitcher and an established power corner player you have to give up some things to get them and Bonifacio was certainly something that was painful to give up, as were the two young players. But in this industry, to land a position player and a pitcher of their ability levels you have to give up something.

Bowden (on financial flexibility): We have flexibility. There's no question that Stan [Kasten] and ownership want to build an organization that can win not just in the short term but the long term, and we're continuing along that same plan--that's not going to be changed because one year that we had. If there was a free agent that fit into those long-term plans, that’s a possibility. I think our preference is always to build through the draft and trades. All of us agree that’s the best way to do it, but will we look at other avenues and free agency, of course. It would be stultifying not to.

Bowden (on team morale): It shows that you have a commitment to winning. A commitment that we're going to continue to go in the right direction and we're not just going to wait for the farm system to develop players here. We said when we were building up our development and scouting that one of the means of using it would be for trading, and we've lived up to that. Without that great scouting…this trade doesn't happen for us.

Willingham (on his back injuries): The back is good. It's been good since I was able to come back and play, I guess late June -- I don't know the exact day I came back. I was healthy, it just took me a little while to get going when I came back and it's been good every since. You never know what's going to happen, but it's something that I'm a lot more comfortable managing myself. I met with a lot of doctors and it's something that we've got definite plan when something flares up.

_______________________________________________________

So there you have it, for better or worse. There's already a lot that's been written about this deal, and I'm sure that there will be many more volumes as well. The deal makes next year's team better and I don't think they gave up all that much to accomplish that. Bowden's larger message is that the organization realizes that the fan base is going to shrink and that they HAD TO address the talent level on the major league roster, what Nats fans pay to watch.

Are Willingham and Olsen all-stars? Probably not. We pretty much know was Willingham is, barring a Ryan Ludwick-type explosion. Olsen? He's just 24. He's got three full seasons in the bigs. His velocity returned in September. He still hasn't entered his physical prime.

I'm not going to harp on the team for deviating from "The Plan" like some of my brethren. They didn't trade anyone away that was going to be part of the "first great Nats team". They aren't blocking anyone that should be playing. To the contrary, Olsen will allow Martis and Zimmermann to stay in the minors where they belong for another season.

The Nats got two completely average major league players for a utility infielder and two fringy low minors prospects. Love it or leave it.

Nats Add Willingham, Olsen

2008-11-10T23:18:00.003-05:00

Washington Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden made his first significant move of the off-season, acquiring OF Josh Willingham and LHP Scott Olsen from the Florida Marlins for 2B Emilio Bonifacio and low minor leaguers RHP P.J. Dean and SS Jake Smolinski.

Willingham and Olsen are both arbitration eligible, so their big league salaries will increase this off-season. This marks a major acquisition for a team that has been practicing patience and rebuilding through the draft and the minor leagues.

Willingham, 30, appeared in 102 games last season and hit .254/.364/.470 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI. He hit 26 and 21 homers in 2006 and 2007, and he has a lifetime .361 on base percentage He's a corner outfielder by trade, and the deal will have repercussions throughout the lineup. If Willingham plays in the outfield, something will have to give with Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes or Austin Kearns. Willingham could also play first base, which would displace Nick Johnson, who is recovering from wrist surgery.

Olsen is a 24-year old left hander. He went 8-11 with a 4.97 ERA in 2008 over 33 starts and 201.2 innings. Last year's numbers were somewhat of a regression from his rookie season, and Olsen has a history of physical confrontation with teammates and a drunk driving arrest. But he represents a major upgrade over most of the other candidates for the Nationals 2009 rotation.

Bonifacio, acquired from Arizona at last year's trade deadline for reliever Jon Rauch, was slated to be the Nats starting second baseman and lead off hitter, but was outplayed down the stretch by Anderson Hernandez and Alberto Gonzalez.

Dean, 22, pitched for Class A Vermont, going 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA in 10 starts. Smolinski, 19, played for the Gulf Coast Nationals, Vermont and Class A Hagerstown, and hit .271 with four home runs and 33 RBIs.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: So Stan Kasten and Jim Bowden think the Nats aren't that far away and acquired a couple of major league parts for what will be a utility infielder for Florida and a couple of low-level prospects. As soon as I saw this, I thought to myself, "What's the next domino to fall?" This only makes me think MORE that the Nats will sign either Teixiera or Dunn this off-season.

With as bad as the team was last season, and season ticket holders dwindling, the organization HAD TO do something to improve the quality of the major league product. This obviously gives them two more major league players. With a legitimate cleanup hitter, their everyday lineup won't be all that indistinguishable from anyone of eight or ten teams that consider themselves wild card candidates. The starting rotation needs another veteran, but at least Nats fans will watch major league baseball this summer, without -- and this is the key -- giving up the farm.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Nats Add Three to 40-Man Roster

2008-11-10T15:25:00.003-05:00

The Washington Nationals announced today that they have added OF Leonard Davis, SS Ian Diamond and RHP Luis Atilano to their 40-man roster, thus protecting the three players from the Rule 5 draft of eligible minor league players. If selected, a player must remain on the selecting team's 25-man roster the entire next season or offer that player back to his original club. Jesus Flores was a Rule 5 pick of the Nats from the New York Mets.

Davis, 24, is the reigning Nationals Minor League Player of the Year. He hit .310 with 28 doubles, 25 home runs, 76 RBI, a .365 on-base percentage and a .567 slugging percentage in 122 games for the top three affiliates in the Nationals’ system in 2008.

Diamond, 23, with Harrisburg this season, hit .251 with 14 doubles, 12 home runs and 44 RBI in 93 Eastern League contests. Desmond has tallied 74 extra-base hits (45 doubles, four triples, 25 home runs) the last two regular seasons.

Atilano, 22, began the season in the Single-A South Atlantic League and finished in Double-A with Harrisburg. At the three levels this season, Atilano went a combined 5-2 with a 2.50 ERA (26 ER/93.2 IP) in 24 games (15 starts). He posted a .248 batting average against and walked just 2.2 batters per 9.0 innings pitched.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: None of these three players figures to be a significant contributor to the Nats, but since they had the space on the 40-man roster they are worth protecting. Davis and Desmond are playing in the Arizona Fall League with decent results though, and could bear watching as the season progresses as low priced alternatives should injury or ineffectiveness rear its ugly head on the Nats 25-man roster as the season goes along.

Nats Unveil New Unis

2008-11-06T17:30:00.004-05:00

I'll have more updates later when we can load all of the pictures we took today, but the Nats had a fashion show of their new uniforms today at ESPNZone.

As you can see, Lastings Milledge was more than happy to get up and model with the models.

The changes are pretty significant to the road and alternate jerseys. The Road Grays get a curly W and script "ashington" across the chest, the Sunday Reds get white piping, the curly W replaces the interlocking DC on the left chest, and the DC goes on the left sleeve.

As for the Alternate Blues, well, what can I say to accurately describe them? The white piping on the blue looks great, but the logo is an interlocking DC is "Stars and Stripes". They'll wear an accompanying blue hat with red bill and interlocking stars and stripes DC logo. The team said they would wear these monstrosities for July 4 and other military appreciation days. Honestly, they would have been better off wearing camo like the Padres, cause that logo is just plain terrible. The above picture doesn't do it justice.

More pictures to come tonight.
----------
UPDATE:

Here are the pictures we took yesterday at the unveiling of the new unis.

Holy Cow (no pun intended)--Young Sent To Syracuse

2008-11-04T12:58:00.007-05:00

This just in, a single sentence press release from the Nats:

First baseman Dmitri Young has been outrighted to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. The Nationals’ 40-Man Roster now stands at 35.

Bottom(feeder) Line: I guess that's how they move Young off the roster. He obviously won't decline the assignment, cause where else is he going to get a $5M major league contract? So he accepts and becomes the highest paid minor leaguer. Either way, it's pretty cold.

How bad does this look right now? This is a guy that the GM and the team heralded in his all-star comeback player of the year season of 2007, then grant him a HUGE two-year reward contract for $10M. And now, half-way through that contract, flat demotes back to Triple-A. That's just great roster maintenance (noted with sarcasm). For a team that has upper management preaching fiscal responsibility, how many more of these terrible reward contracts do they have to see before they do something about the guy handing them out?

Young got a big raise, now he's sent to Siberia (ever been to Syracuse in April?). Guzman got a new contract and promptly went out and got hurt. Belliard got a two-year deal. Willie Harris' new deal has to pop up any day now. At least Willie is in shape. But here's still more evidence, if any more are needed, of Jim Bowden's ineffectiveness. Here's a team that loses their first round pick over $700,000, but is paying their Triple-A first baseman $5M.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008

Much Ado About Nothing

2008-11-03T12:55:00.008-05:00

Now that the World Series has thankfully passed and gone away, we're onto the Hot Stove portion of the baseball season. The GMs are collecting in Dana Point, CA this week for their annual meetings to discuss free agents and trade markets over pina coladas.

Nats' GM Jim Bowden (yup, still here) has a lot of work to do in overhauling what was the worst team in baseball last year. Garnering the #1 pick in next year's amateur draft is nice, and since it's doubled up with the tenth pick for failing to sign last year's first rounder Aaron Crow, the Nats' scouting department (Now With More Scouts!) had their work cut out for them. But the fruits of next year's draft will only be realized down the road, not benefiting next season's big league squad.

That's where Jim Bowden -- for better or worse -- comes in. It's his job to put together a major league squad in the off-season. And if you're a season ticket holder like me (who has already, by the way, received my invoice for next year), you'll want to know what Bowden does to improve the squad. If you objectively take a look at the Nats 40-man roster and project an opening day roster the answer, unfortunately, is probably not much.

After essentially waiving Chad Cordero, Pete Orr and Ryan Wagner last week, the Nats have six players eligible for arbitration: Ryan Zimmerman, Tim Redding, Saul Rivera, Willie Harris, Jesus Colome and Shawn Hill. They still have control over Zimmerman, so don't expect the team to open up their pocketbooks any earlier than they have to. They'll extend the least amount possible to renew Zim, further alienating him and his agent to the possibility of along-term deal. But that's another column. Guess that they offer Redding, Rivera, Harris and Colome arbitration. Hill's a big medical question. Anyone heard anything about him lately? I haven't.

So where does that leave the squad? Here's one blogger's impression of the opening day roster:

OF (5): Milledge, Dukes, Kearns, Pena, Harris
INF (6): Zimmerman, Young, Johnson, Belliard, Guzman, Bonifacio
C (2): Flores, back-up (Nieves hopefully)
SP (5): Redding, Lannan, Balestar, Martis, Free Agent
RP (7): Hanrahan, Rivera, Hinckley, Bergmann, Colome, Mock, Shell
Players on 40-man left out: Bernadina, Maxwell, Montz, Hernandez, Casto, Gonzalez, Chico, Clippard, Detwiler, Hill, O'Connor, Estrada

So where, exactly, does that leave the Nats room to ponder new players, either by free agency or trade? Obviously, first base needs to be upgraded, but the team is on the hook for both Johnson ($5.5M) and Young ($5M) at a significant rate. They both come off the books at the end of 2009, but can/will the Nats eat either of these contracts?

There's a lot of speculation right now, about what the Nats may or may not do this off-season about upgrading the offense next season. Adam Dunn is the rumor that won't go away. But the bottom line may be: nothing. The infield is set, unless they eat either Johnson or Young's contract. They have three candidates for the second base job as it is, and Belliard is the back up all over the infield. If they re-sign Harris, the outfield is set too, with Wily Mo Pena blocking up a roster spot for someone. So if the offense improves, it will probably come from the internal players improvement.

As for pitching, well, here is the glaring spot that the major league roster needs help. Yes, there's a lot of good young pitching in the farm system, but someone has to pitch until then. Even if you pencil in Redding (not a given) with 24-year old Lannan, 22-year old Balestar and then 22-year old Martis, there's another spot open.

The GM said Jordan Zimermann will compete for the spot, but is that fair? He has just 187 innings pitched in 38 minor league games between Vermont, Potomac and Harrisburg. Granted, his 2.74 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 205/65 strikeout-to-walk rate all look pretty good. But will that translate into a spot in the opening day rotation? Other candidates are Hill, O'Connor, Mock, Bergmann, Clippard and Detwiler. Mock and Bergamnn will probably be pressed into duty in the bullpen, leaving the competition pretty thin.

This leaves the Nats with the option of filling a spot with a veteran if they so choose, much like they did this year with Odalis Perez. Who might that candidate be? Well, it won't be Sabathia, Dempster, Lowe or Burnett, that's for sure. There's no way the Nats spring for someone that will take a multi-year contract. Some guy at SI.com says the Nats will sign Pedro Martinez! Fat chance. IF the Nats decide to sign a free agent pitcher, it will very likely be of the bargain basement one-year variety right before--or during--spring training, a la Odalis. Among the group that might be left could be Randy Wolf, Brett Tomko, Steve Traschel, Jason Jennings, etc.

Not very inspiring, but any of these fine gentlemen would allow Zimmermann, Detwiler, et al to get some more minor league time under their belts. Remember, all these scenarios envision Redding re-signing, AND Balestar AND Martis in the rotation. That, my friends, is an awful lot of conjecture.

And the bullpen, for better or worse, looks set. Hanrahan will close. Rivera and Hinckley will set-up. Bergmann, Mock, Shell and Colome pick up the slack. Estrada and a host of others in AAA Syracuse (enjoy April up there fellas) will be at the ready. It's entirely possible the team signs a moderately priced free agent to help out. Someone like Jeremy Affeldt would probably be too expensive, but would be a great addition. He's a quality lefty that could also close should Hanrahan falter. But the market will be flooded with free agent relivers looking for work.

An objective eye into the 40-man roster sees very little opportunity for drastic improvement. The team has stated on many occasions that their primary objective is to re-build the minor leagues and strive for the future. So far, they've stuck to "The Plan". Will this off-season bring deviation to The Plan? GM Jim Bowden has gone on record saying he'd like to acquire a middle-of-the-order slugger that meets the team's stated goals. Here's what he told season ticket holders last September as part of a public Q&A:

"Ideally we'd like to have a controlled player, in his 20s, that can be part of the solution."

Wouldn't every team like that player? In the same widely speculative article that MLB.com's Bill Ladson published yesterday about Adam Dunn, he also mentioned Prince Fielder and Matt Hollday as possible trade candidates. Fielder is arbitration eligiable, but generally fits the description above, while Holliday is only under contract for 2009 -- basically a rent-a-player, much like Alfonso Soriano.

So as the GM meetings evolve into the winter meetings, and the holidays give way to spring training, ask yourself this: What has the team and GM done today to make the 2009 major league roster better than the 2008 model? The answer, quite possibly, could be absolutely nothing.

Photo by Getty Images

Happy Halloween, Nats Style!

2008-10-31T12:51:00.007-04:00

Courtesy of Cheryl Nichols

Courtesy Danielle and Denise Kloke

Courtesy Kristen Hudak (We've Got Heart)

We'll see how the players will dress up next week at the unveiling of the new uniforms! The Nats will unveil their new jerseys for next season on Thursday, Nov. 6 at noon at the ESPN Zone. Manny Acta, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge will be there and after the jersey presentation, there will be a 30-minute autograph session. The event is open to the public.

Very Scary!!!

Nats Waive Cordero; Pena Re-ups

2008-10-30T18:39:00.009-04:00

From the Washington Nationals this afternoon:

NATIONALS OUTRIGHT THREE PLAYERS TO SYRACUSE, ANNOUNCE WILY MO PENA HAS EXERCISED OPTION ON 2009 CONTRACT

The Washington Nationals today announced they have outrighted right-handed pitcher Chad Cordero, right-handed pitcher Ryan Wagner and infielder Pete Orr to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. All three players elected free agency. The Nationals also announced they have rejected a $5 million club option on outfielder Wily Mo Pena, who subsequently exercised a $2 million player option for the 2009 season. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made the announcements.

Pena, 26, has batted .241 with 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 32 RBI in 101 games with the Nationals since being acquired from Boston on August 17, 2007 in exchange for a player to be named (first baseman Chris Carter). He is a .253 hitter with 77 home runs and 225 RBI in 560 big league games spanning seven seasons with Cincinnati, Boston and Washington.

The 26 year-old Cordero pitched in only six games last season and had season-ending right-shoulder surgery on July 8. Cordero’s 128 career saves rank second on the franchise’s all-time list behind only Jeff Reardon (152). He departs having pocketed 113 of the 157 saves recorded by the Nationals since 2005.

Wagner, 26, did not pitch in the big leagues in 2008 while working his way back from June 5, 2007 SLAP repair surgery on his right shoulder. He is 11-9 with 30 holds and a 4.79 ERA in 148 games with Cincinnati and Washington.

In 2008, the 29 year-old Orr batted .253 with seven RBI in 49 games in
his only season with the Nationals.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: This was totally predicted. Cordero couldn't return to the team for any kind of guaranteed money with his injury, and after Bowden told the media before Cordero about their intention to non-tender him, Cordero certainly wasn't going to do any favors for the team. Hopefully he gets healthy and someone gives him a fair shot, but I think it'll be into the season, just like Freddie Garcia this year, before someone signs him.

Wagner never fully recovered from his labrum surgery, like most who have it done. I will be shocked if he's ever a useful MLB player again. Orr will sign somewhere for organizational depth.

Pena, however, is another story. The Nats are stuck with him, and he with them. If it really was the injury keeping him from producing last year, the $2M salary won't look so bad. Then, the Nats will give him a two-year, $5M per deal just like Young and Guzman. I kid. Seriously though, if he still looks terrible in spring training, it'll be interesting to see if the Nats eat his salary, since outfield is one place on the team that they actually have some talent, and it'll be tough to carry Pena's dead weight all season, unless they hide him like they did Meathook this summer.

Photos (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Interesting Dates to Keep In Mind

2008-10-30T10:40:00.004-04:00

Doing some light reading this morning I ended up at Cot's Baseball Contracts. There's some very interesting stuff in this website about player, manager and front office contracts. Also, he's published a timeline of important off-season dates, which I'll excerpt from here.

Close of 2008 World Series--The day after the end of the World Series marks the beginning of the 15-day period during which eligible players may elect free agency or demand a trade. Former club retains exclusive negotiating rights until 15-day filing period expires. A player who has filed for free agency may engage in general discussions with other clubs but may not discuss contract details or sign with them until the filing period ends. CBA, Article XX (B).

4th day after 2008 World Series--Last date to request waivers on draft-excluded players until 25 days prior to the opening of the 2009 season. MLR 10 (e) (6).

16th day after 2008 World Series--First day Major League free agents may negotiate and sign with a club other than their former club. Article XX (B)(2)(c).

November 3-6, 2008--General managers' meetings, Dana Point, California.

November 10, 2008--End of waiver period (August 1 - November 10). Waivers secured on or after August 1, 2008, expire at 5 p.m. EST. MLR 10 (c)(4).

November 11, 2008--Beginning of new waiver period (November 11, 2008 - February 15, 2008). Waivers secured on or after Nov. 11, 2008, remain in effect until February 15, 2009. Exception: special waivers.

November 20, 2008--Deadline day for clubs to file reserve lists for Major League club and all Minor League levels. Last date to make an off-season outright assignment of an injured player to the Minor Leagues if the player does not meet the requirements listed in Article XIX (C) (b) of the CBA.

December 1, 2008--Last date (midnight EST) for former club to offer salary arbitration to ranked XX(B) free agents in order to be eligible for compensation if those free agents sign elsewhere.

December 7, 2008--Last date (midnight EST) for player who declared XX(B) free agency to accept offer of arbitration from his former club.

December 8, 2008--Deadline (5 p.m. EST) to outright a player off the 40-man roster prior to the Rule 5 Draft.
December 8-11, 2008--Winter Meetings, Las Vegas.
December 11, 2008--Rule 5 Draft.

December 12, 2008--Last date (midnight EST) to tender 2009 contracts to unsigned players.

January 5-15, 2009--Salary arbitration filing. CBA, Article VI (F) (5).

January 19 or 20, 2009--Exchange of salary arbitration figures between MLB Labor Relations Committee and MLB Players Association.

February 1-21, 2009--Salary arbitration hearings, Phoenix. CBA, Article VI (F) (5).

February 14, 2009--Voluntary reporting date for pitchers, catchers & injured players (moved up from Feb. 20 for WBC). CBA, Article XIV (A).

February 15, 2009--End of waiver period (November 11 – February 15). Waivers secured on or after November 11, 2008, expire at 5 p.m. EST.

February 16, 2009--Beginning of new waiver period (February 16 – May 4). Outright waivers secured on or after February 16 remain in effect for 7 days or until 5 p.m. EST, May 4, 2009 (the 30th day of the season), whichever is earlier. Optional waivers secured on or after February 16 remain in effect until 5 p.m. EST April 28, 2009. Exception: special waivers. MLR 10 (f).

February 17, 2009--Voluntary reporting date for other players (moved up from Feb. 25 for WBC).

February 22, 2009--Mandatory reporting date. CBA, Article XIV (A) (moved up from March 5 for WBC).

March 2-11, 2009--Clubs may renew contracts of unsigned players. Paragraph 10 (a) of Uniform Player Contract.

March 15, 2009--Last day to trade a player who has exercised his right to demand a trade before he is declared an unrestricted free agent. (A player has the right to demand a trade if he signed a multi-year contract before October 23, 2006, then was subsequently traded.)

March 18, 2009--Last day (by 2 p.m. EST) to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay only 30 days’ termination pay. CBA, Article IX (B). (For split contracts, the Major League rate of termination pay is owed if Unconditional Release waivers are requested after 2 p.m. EST. However, the requirement for split contract termination pay does not apply for players who may not be assigned to the minor leagues without their consent and for players selected in the preceding Rule 5 draft.)

April 1, 2009--Last day (by 2 p.m. EST) to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay his full 2009 salary. (Only 45 days’ termination pay is due.) CBA, Article IX (B).

April 5, 2009--Official opening of 2009 season. All clubs must reduce their active rosters to 25 players before April 5, 2009.

May 4, 2009--End of waiver period (February 16 – May 4). Waivers secured on or after February 16, 2009, expire at 5 p.m. EST.

May 5, 2009--Beginning of new waiver period (May 5 – July 31). Waivers secured on or after May 5 (the 31st day of the season) remain in effect through 5 p.m. EST July 31. MLR 10 (c)(4). After May 5, outright assignments to the minor leagues may be made only with outright waivers in effect.

May 15, 2009--Earliest date a club may re-sign a player it unconditionally released between midnight Aug. 31, 2008 and April 5, 2009. MLR 8 (i) (2).

June, 2009--First Year Player Draft. MLR 4.

June 16, 2009--First day a club may trade a player who was signed after the expiration of the 15-day free agency election period. A Club may assign the contract prior to this date for other player contracts and/or a cash consideration of no more than $50,000 if the player gives his written consent. CBA, Article XX (B) (6).

July 14, 2009--All Star Game, Busch Stadium, St. Louis.

July 31, 2009--Deadline (4 p.m. EST) for trading players without waivers in effect. MLR 10 (b)(1). End of waiver period (May 5 – July 31). Waivers secured on or after May 5, 2009, expire at 5 p.m. EST. Major League Waivers in effect between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. EST may only be used for optional assignments.

August 1, 2009--Beginning of new waiver period (August 1 – October 4). Trade waivers secured on or after August 1, 2009, remain in effect until 5 p.m. EST, October 4, 2009 (the last day of the 2009 season). Outright waivers secured on or after August 1, 2009, remain in effect until midnight EST, August 31, 2009. MLR 10(c)(4)(iv). Players may be traded only after Major League waivers have been secured in the current waiver period. MLR 10 (b) (1).

August 15, 2009--Last date (midnight EST) to sign players selected in June Rule 4 Draft, except for college seniors, who may sign at any time.Last date to bring player up for "full trial" to avoid draft-excluded status.MLR 6 (e).

August 31, 2009--Post-season eligibility lists are established at midnight. MLR 40. To be eligible, a player must be a bona fide member of a qualifying team on Aug. 31 and must remain a bona fide member until the end of the applicable post-season series. Any player unconditionally released between midnight August 31, 2008, and Opening Day of the 2009 season may not be re-signed to a Major League contract by the releasing club until May 15, 2009. MLR 8 (i) (2).

September 1, 2009--Active Major League rosters expand from 25 to 40 players.

October 4, 2009--Close of the 2008 regular season.

December 7-10, 2009--Winter Meetings, Indianapolis.

More Front Office Hires

2008-10-29T14:43:00.003-04:00

The Nationals today named former big leaguer Devon White Special Assistant, Player Development and Pat Corrales Special Consultant to Senior VP and GM.

Here's the pertinent info from the press release:

DEVON WHITE NAMED SPECIAL ASSISTANT, PLAYER DEVELOPMENT & PAT CORRALES NAMED SPECIAL CONSULTANT TO SENIOR VP AND GM

The Washington Nationals today named Devon White as Special Assistant, Player Development and Pat Corrales as Special Consultant to the Senior Vice President and General Manager. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made these announcements.

White, 45, spent last season as the Nationals’ roving outfield coordinator, his initial assignment in coaching after retiring from his 17-year playing career following the 2001 season. A three-time All-Star outfielder, White earned seven Gold Gloves during his career, a total surpassed by only 11 outfielders in the history of the game. He stole 30 or more bases five times and won three World Series Championships.

The 67-year-old Corrales begins his new appointment after serving as Manny Acta’s bench coach for the past two seasons. The upcoming campaign will be Corrales’ 51st in professional baseball, including 40 seasons as a big league manager, coach or player. Prior to joining the Nationals, he spent 17 seasons as a member of Bobby Cox’s staff in Atlanta, the last eight as bench coach.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: Well, no one can say the Nats don't have enough input from baseball people in the front office. They must have one of the largest staffs of consultants and special assistants in the majors. White was a defensive whiz in center field, and presumably will will work with the Nats outfielders in that regard, along with new first base coach Marquis Grissom. Corrales is a good soldier, and he'll be another sounding board for GM Jim Bowden.

With all the entrenching going on in the front office around Bowden, it's becoming evident he won't be going anywhere before the beginning of next season.

In Case You Missed It

2008-10-27T16:20:00.003-04:00

Friday MLB.com announced that former bench coach Pat Corrales will be a "special consultant" to the club for 2009. Specific duties were not elaborated on, and an official announcement would come "as early as next [this] week," according to the story.

Also, the Nationals are scheduled to unveil their new uniform modifications Thursday, November 6 at the ESPN Zone in downtown DC. Preliminarily scheduled to appear are Manager Manny Acta, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge, though again, no formal word from the team was provided.

Stay tuned for details on both of these topics. Let's hope this isn't the biggest news of the Nationals off-season.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Nats Name Coaching Staff

2008-10-24T14:02:00.003-04:00

This just in:

NATIONALS COMPLETE 2009 COACHING STAFF

The Washington Nationals today announced that bench coach Jim Riggleman, first base coach Marquis Grissom, third base coach Pat Listach, hitting coach Rick Eckstein and bullpen coach Randy Knorr will join returning pitching coach Randy St. Claire on the club’s 2009 coaching staff. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden and Manager Manny Acta made the joint announcement.

Riggleman, 55, adds nearly eight seasons of managerial experience to the Nationals’ bench. Riggleman, who has skippered San Diego (1992-94), Chicago-NL (1995-00) and Seattle (interim, 2008), returns to the National League, where he has either managed or served on a coaching staff in 14 of the last 20 seasons. Riggleman’s managerial career is highlighted by the 1998 Cubs, who went 90-73 (.552) to claim the NL Wild Card.

-snip-

The 41 year-old Grissom accepts his first job coaching at the professional level and returns to the organization that drafted him in the third round of the 1988 First-Year Player Draft. In 17 big league seasons with Montreal (1989-94), Atlanta (1995-96), Cleveland (1997), Milwaukee (1998-2000), Los Angeles-NL (2001-02) and San Francisco (2003-05), Grissom batted .272 (2251-for-8275) with 386 doubles, 227 home runs, 967 RBI and 429 stolen bases and garnered four Gold Glove citations in center field (1993-96).

-snip-

Listach—who won the 1992 American League Rookie of the Year award after hitting .290 with 54 stolen bases for Milwaukee—joins the Nationals after spending the previous three seasons compiling a 231-189 (.550) record managing in the upper levels of Chicago-NL’s system. In 2008, Listach’s Iowa Cubs went 83-59 (.585), claimed first place in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League’s American Northern Division and he was named PCL Manager of the Year. Listach, 41, managed the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate to winning records in both 2007 (Tennessee of the Southern League) and 2006 (West Tenn of the Southern League) and coached in the Arizona Fall League in 2001.

-snip-

A September 2008 addition to the Nationals’ coaching staff, Eckstein has established relationships with various Nationals, including Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes and Cristian Guzman. While serving as Columbus’ hitting coach last season in the Triple-A International League, Eckstein gained invaluable exposure to young hitters such as Jesus Flores, Roger Bernadina, Emilio Bonifacio and Alberto Gonzalez. Eckstein—who served as Davey Johnson’s bench coach during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing—has coached in the Nationals’ chain four of the last five seasons, and draws on three seasons of experience as a Triple-A hitting coach.

-snip-

Knorr, 39, returns to Washington in a familiar role, as he served on Frank Robinson’s coaching staff as bullpen coach for the final three-plus months of the 2006 campaign. Knorr is fresh off guiding Potomac to the Single-A Carolina League championship, which came in his fourth season managing in Washington’s chain. During his three-year stint with Potomac, he has managed numerous current Nationals pitchers, including John Lannan, Garrett Mock and Shairon Martis.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: All in all, it's hard to argue with many of the choices. It's Grissom's first coaching gig, and you suppose in addition to coaching first base he'll work withthe outfielders and base running. Obviously, Jim Riggleman brings a wealth of experience to the bench for Manager Manny Acta. Listach has had much success managing in the Cubs minor league system. Randy Knorr is solid as the bullpen coach, and his success at Potomac last year certainly won't hurt his credentials. And the organization loves Rick Eckstein, and he also served as Davey Johnson's bench coach for the Olympic team last summer. Hard to argue with Davey Johnson.

Nats Add Another Young Gun to Scouting Department

2008-10-20T12:00:00.003-04:00

Here's the press release from the Nats:

NATIONALS HIRE DERIC LADNIER AS NATIONAL CROSSCHECKER AND SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO GENERAL MANAGER

The Washington Nationals today announced the hiring of Deric Ladnier as a National Crosschecker and Special Assistant to the General Manager. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made the announcement.

“Deric is among the elite talent evaluators in baseball and we are excited to add him to our staff,” Bowden said. “Deric has a proven track record in the industry, encompassing both scouting and player development.”

An 18-year veteran in scouting and player development, Ladnier joins the Nationals after serving the last nine seasons as Senior Director of Scouting with the Kansas City Royals. During his tenure with the Royals, he oversaw eight drafts while restructuring and stocking the organization’s player development system with prospects such as 24-year-old Alex Gordon (Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year and named J.G. Spink Award winner as the Topps/Minor League Player of the Year in 2006), 25-year-old Zack Greinke (Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year in 2003), 25-year-old Luke Hochevar (first-overall selection in 2006 First-Year Player Draft), 22-year-old Billy Butler (named best power hitter and second-best prospect in Royals organization by Baseball America entering 2006), 27-year-old Mike Aviles (seventh-round selection in 2003 First-Year Player Draft, hit .325 in 102 games this season and is candidate for American League Rookie of the Year), 20-year-old Mike Moustakas (second-overall selection in 2007 First-Year Player Draft, hit 22 home runs in first full professional season), and 18-year-old Eric Hosmer (third-overall selection in 2008 First-Year Player Draft).

Ladnier began his scouting career as an Area Supervisor with the Atlanta Braves in 1991 and advanced within the organization until he was named Director of Minor League Operations in 1996, serving as a Regional Supervisor and Assistant Director of Scouting and Player Development along the way. During each of his eight seasons with the Braves, they were recognized as having one of the top six player development systems in baseball as ranked by industry-expert Baseball America. They were credited with the top minor league talent pool in four of those seasons.

The 44-year-old began his career in baseball as an infielder in the Royals organization. He was selected in the eighth round of the 1985 First-Year Player Draft and remained with the Royals until his seven-year playing career was cut short by a shoulder injury in 1991. Ladnier played collegiately at the University of Mississippi.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: Here's another bright young baseball mind to add to the collection of talent pooling underneath general manager Jim Bowden. Ladnier got his start in Atlanta, which makes this a Stan Kasten hire. Hopefully this is more evidence of Kasten's deeper involvement with -- and commitment to -- the organization, keeping the conspiracy theorists at bay this week.

Ladnier has a good track record as Director of Scouting with the Royals, and has been on the "hot list" of future GMs in the game.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2008-10-16T15:23:00.005-04:00

For those of you interested in what The Hockey News recently described as "The Most Exciting Team in Hockey", I have started a Washington Capitals blog, cleverly titled Capitals News Network.

I have been a fan of the Caps since their inception, and wrote a couple of game stories last year for DC Sports Box, so I figured that made me qualified enough to start a blog. It's pretty 'nuts and bolts' right now, but I'll be doing game previews/reviews, features and community news.

So if you Rock the Red, click on the link and check it out.

And don't worry, it won't interfere with the content in this space.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Roster News

2008-10-15T15:48:00.003-04:00

Text of press release issued today about Nationals roster moves:

NATIONALS OUTRIGHT RYAN LANGERHANS & LAVALE SPEIGNER TO SYRACUSE, CHARLIE MANNING CLAIMED BY CARDINALS

The Washington Nationals today announced that outfielder Ryan Langerhans and right-handed pitcher Lavale Speigner cleared waivers and were outrighted to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. The Nationals also announced that left-handed pitcher Charlie Manning was claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made these announcements.

The Nationals now have 36 players on their 40-man roster, not including five players on the 60-Day Disabled List.

Langerhans, 28, batted .234 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 73 games with Washington this season, and hit .310 with three home runs and 31 RBI in 62 games with Triple-A Columbus. Speigner, 28, appeared in seven games with the Nationals, going 0-1 with an 11.25 ERA, and went 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in a combined 35 games (one start) with Columbus and Double-A Harrisburg. Manning, 29, had a 1-3 record with a 5.14 ERA in 57 relief outings with the Nationals, after beginning the season with Columbus where he had six saves and a 1.95 ERA in 19 appearances.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: Of course Manning would get claimed. He's left-handed and has a pulse. Langerhans and Speigner are solidly in the category of "organizational depth" right now, and hopefully will have a solid season in up-state New York next summer, because if either one of them are in DC for any extended period of time, that means the Nats have been killed by injuries yet again.

I'll Let This Speak For Itself...

2008-10-14T17:35:00.003-04:00

Here is the entirety of a press release issued by the Nationals today...

NATIONALS MEDICAL DIRECTOR RESIGNS

The Washington Nationals today announced that Dr. Ben Shaffer, Nationals Medical Director and Team Orthopedist, has resigned his position as team doctor.

“I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to provide care to the Nationals players and organization the last three years,” said Dr. Shaffer. “From a time standpoint, this responsibility has required an enormous commitment and I have decided to focus my energies on my family, my practice and the other professional teams I work closely with.”

Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden responded, I know I speak for the entire organization in recognizing Dr. Shaffer’s invaluable contributions to our players’ welfare and his orthopedic expertise. His departure is a real loss for our organization.”

Meet the Chiefs (at least their stadium)!

2008-10-14T11:30:00.006-04:00

Staff Photographer Cheryl and I were at a wedding over the weekend in upstate New York, so we decided to take a detour on the way home and swing by Alliance Bank Stadium, home of the Syracuse Chiefs, the newly appointed AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals. The stadium was empty and locked up, of course, being the middle of October. But that didn't stop us from snapping a few pics. Nice to see that they are already acknowledging the parent club!

Photos (c) C. Nichols 2008.

El Tigres (et Nacionales) del Licey

2008-10-09T11:23:00.005-04:00

OK, my Spanish is terrible, but for those of you that need a Nats fix this winter, what better team to follow than the Licey Tigers of the Dominican Winter League?

The roster features current Nationals Ronnie Belliard, Anderson Hernandez, Emilio Bonifacio and Jesus Colome; former Nats D'Angelo Jimenez and Ramon Ortiz, and coaches Rick Aponte (pitching coach) and Julian Martinez (first base coach). Also on the squad are many current or former big leaguers.

With 21 DR League titles and 10 Caribbean World Series titles, Licey is the New York Yankees of winter ball. Here's your chance to root for a Nationals-flavored winner!

It looks like there's even a link to hear the games live! So brush up on your Spanish and follow the Licey Tigres this winter as they compete in the Dominican Winter League and the Caribbean World Series.

Photo courtesy www.licey.com

A Quick Update

2008-10-05T19:49:00.002-04:00

Bottomfeeder Baseball Blog will go on hiatus for about a week. I'm having nerve compression release surgery on my right hand at 7:30 am Monday morning, which will keep me off the keyboard for a while. Please keep me bookmarked, as I do have some off-season ideas planned, as well as major revisions to the look and format of the page.

Don't worry, everyone will know when I'm back!

P.S. My previous column will be the last time I EVER make public prognostications, for good reason!

Playoffs?!? We're talking about playoffs?!? P-P-Playoffs?!?

2008-10-01T15:34:00.004-04:00

With all due respect to the impressive tome that FJB wrote this morning, here are my short-but-sweet playoff predictions, for what they may be worth.

NLDS: Phils over Brewers. Cause Sabathia can only pitch twice at most this series.

Cubs over Dodgers. Cause the Cubs were the best team in the NL all year long, and I think Manny disappears this week.

ALDS: Angels over Red Sox. Cause no one on the east coast knows how good the Angels are.

Rays over White Sox. Cause the Rays have a bunch of ways to win and I'm not sentimental on Griffey or Thome.

NLCS: Cubs over Phils. Cause the Cubs hit better than the Phils pitch. Though it'll be a slugfest.

ALCS: Angels over Rays. Cause the Angels have been here before. Oh, and they are good.

World Series: Cubs over Angels. Cause it's time.

Caveat: What do I know about the playoffs? I'm usually knee deep in football at this point in the year. At least we aren't being hit over the head with Yankees crap this year.

Assessing the Blame

2008-09-30T17:13:00.008-04:00

Chico Harlan of the Post had an in-depth interview with Manny Acta at the end of last week (unknown if it was before or after he knew almost all of his coaches would be released). Among the nuggets was that Manny wouldn't evaluate himself, that he would let others do that. So, where should we start? Obviously Acta was not dealt a full hand on the playing field, so it's hard to access the job he did baseball-wise. So how about in the clubhouse?

Acta talks about the "change in character" of the guys in the clubhouse at the end of the season compared to the beginning. How much can a couple bad apples spoil the cart? To hear Acta and other team officials the last few days, quite a bit. But what the team hasn't said, despite further trying to distance themselves from Paul LoDuca, Johnny Estrada, Felipe Lopez, Jon Rauch and Luis Ayala, is how these players became the malcontents in the first place. Who should be held responsible for that?

LoDuca has a long and storied history of being a trouble-maker in the clubhouse. He's the rah-rah guy that isn't getting the job done in the first place. If LoDuca had hit .280 instead of .230, would he still have been a bad character guy? So LoDuca and Estrada both complained about not starting at catcher when they came back from injury as Jesus Flores cemented the starting position -- one he probably should have had from spring training. Did the team lead them on when they signed them? Did they promise X amount of playing time? Or did they just assume as "dependable veterans" they would have a spot waiting. And so much for Estrada's vow to get back at the Nats. He hasn't even has so much as a sniff of a contract since his departure.

Lopez is a head-scratcher. He started for this team pretty much from the get go, first in left then at second base. In 325 at bats, he hit a paltry .234/.305/.314 with 2 HRs and 25 RBIs. Some wondered if his playing career was over. Then, a day after the team couldn't give him away at the trade deadline, he signed with St. Louis as a free agent, and in 156 at bats he hit .385/.426/.538 with 4 HRs and 21 RBIs. He drove in almost as many runs in his 156 at bats in St. Louis than in 325 at bats here. How does a player flip a switch and go from bad to good just like that?

Luis Ayala was passed over for the closers job, twice. When Cordero got hurt, the job went to Jon Rauch. By many accounts, Rauch and Ayala did not get along very well. Not shocking; the men come from different backgrounds, have vastly different personalities, etc. At least Rauch was a veteran with extensive experience like Ayala, but that didn't keep Ayala from apparently asking for a trade and sulking all season like Rauch ripped the head off his teddy bear. Then, when Rauch was traded, Ayala was passed over AGAIN, this time for rookie Joel Hanrahan, a pitcher who has had his share of commend problems. Granted, Hanrahan has done a mostly good job since given the keys to the ninth inning. But how would YOU feel if you were passed over for a promotion you felt qualified for, TWICE; once by a disliked co-worker and the second time by an entry-level staffer?

So if this team was filled by attitude problems and malcontents for much of the year, who is to blame? Certainly no one has stepped up so far to say "I could have done a better job at handling that situation" or "I made a mistake signing this guy to begin with". Acta makes a point of how he goes about his business:

"But I haven't done anything different than I've done in the past. At all. And that's where bad characters come out, when things are not going well. I have no regrets, and I'm not going to change. I give players space. I let them have their own space. I don't need to be in their locker room all day and in their faces. I need to give them space. That's why I draw a line. I have a good atmosphere for them over here, and they respect me and I respect them."

But then later he acknowledges there was a problem in his clubhouse:

Q: Looking at the clubhouse -- beginning of the year to now, has there been a change in the character here, and do you feel better about the composition of things?

A: I do. I think everybody was able to tell the difference. We needed some new blood in here, some hungry young guys like we have gotten, and things have gotten better. Listen, not one clubhouse in the big leagues is perfect. You can never put together 25 high-character guys. You're always going to find a couple of guys who need more work than the other ones when it comes down to shaping their attitude and how they approach their job. But we're moving in the right direction.

Q: Were there too many bad characters on this team at the beginning of the year, do you think?

A: Umm... I think so. I think so. I think when you're building, like we're doing here, I think you need more high-character guys than what we had at the beginning of the season. Without naming any guys.

Q: Organizationally, lesson learned maybe?

A: Yes. I think we have. I think we have.

So if you have "a couple of guys who need more work" and know that when you're losing "that's where bad characters come out," but insist on "giv[ing] players space", what else would you expect than to have a clubhouse that "need[ed] some new blood in here."

For all the penny pinching the Larners have been accused of -- including allowing their first round draft pick go for what amounted to $900K -- it's indicative of this management team to have to throw away almost $14MM in salary to get rid of bad characters Lopez ($4.9MM), LoDuca ($5MM), Estrada ($1MM), Ayala ($1.7MM) and Rauch ($1.2MM), most of which they went out and acquired on purpose in the first place.

So who is to blame? The Larners for being cheap in the first place, making the team sign washed up veterans to start with? Bowden for selecting and signing the malcontents? Acta for his laisse-faire attitude in the clubhouse? Seems like there's plenty of blame to go around, but to this point, no one has accepted it.

(Almost) Everyone Fired

2008-09-28T16:54:00.004-04:00

In a press release issued by the team immediately following today's 8-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Washington Nationals dismissed their entire coaching staff except Manager Manny Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire.

The coaches that were sacked included bench coach Pat Corrales, third base coach Tim Tolman, first base coach Jerry Morales, hitting coach Lenny Harris, bullpen coach Rick Aponte and strength and conditioning coordinator Kazuhiko Tomooka.

It's an almost complete overhaul for a team that finished with 102 losses, the worst record in major league baseball. Because of Thursday night's rain-out, the team finished with a record of 59-102, assuring the franchise the #1 overall pick in next year's amateur draft.

There has been speculation much of the season about the job status of General Manager Jim Bowden, and at this writing, there has been no further word on his status.

Team President--and minority owner--Stan Kasten this past week issued denials of his desire to step aside, saying that his primary responsibility is rebuilding this team and bringing a winning team to Washington.

GB&U: 1-0-0

2008-09-26T22:32:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose to Phillies 8-4, loss #100 for the season.

GOOD: Cristian Guzman. 2-for-4, RBI. Kory Casto hits his second big league home run. Bonifacio, Montz with RBIs.

BAD: Lastings Milledge. 0-for-4, three left on base.

UGLY: Collin Balestar. One and two-thirds innings, 7 earned runs on seven hits and a walk. Ryan Howard took him deep in the first inning, Utley cleared the bases with a double in the second.

INJURY UPDATE: No real update, but the team placed Young, Belliard and Flores on the disabled list today. Young went onthe 60-day. Not really sure what the official moves accomplished, and haven't really seen an explanation.

NEXT GAME: Tomorrow at 3:55 pm. John Lannan (9-14) versus Jamie Moyer (15-7). Would be real nice to get Lannan into double digits.

Will They Stay or Will They Go?

2008-09-26T21:03:00.003-04:00

If you're out trolling on the internets after the misery from the City of Brotherly Love, here's something to whet your whistle for Monday's post-season announcements. From Nats Journal:

Manny Acta said today that some on his coaching staff will not be back next season. "Changes are going to be made," Acta said. The manager said not specify which of his assistants would be let go, and said the team was not yet ready to make an announcement. Such a determination, though, marks the first sign of change entering the offseason; last year, at this same time, Acta met with General Manager Jim Bowden and several other front office members and emerged from the meeting by announcing that everybody on his staff would return.
All of Acta's assistants have been with the team for at least two years. One team official called the staff the "worst in baseball."
I'd really like to know which team official made that last statement. I'm sure you all can guess just as well as I can which coaches are most on the hot seat at this point. But let's review position-by-position:

Pat Corrales , Bench Coach: Second season as bench coach, appointed by Manny Acta. Corrales is a venerable baseball man, finishing his 50th season in professional baseball. Is it time for him to take the retirement he so obviously has earned?

Jerry Morales, First Base Coach: Second season as first base coach, appointed by Acta. The two worked together in Montreal as well. Morales and Corrales are Acta's two experienced lieutenants.
Randy St. Claire, Pitching Coach: Has been with the franchise for six seasons, the longest tenured coach on the staff. The starters were generally better than expected this year, depsite starting journeymen and untested rookies. The bullpen, however, was an unmitigated disaster.
Tim Tolman, Third Base Coach: Second season as third base coach, appointed by Acta. Tolman also coordinates spring training and has plenty of experience dealing with minor leaguers, but 2007 was his first year on a big league coaching staff.
Lenny Harris, Hitting Coach: Took over for Mitchell Page in 2007, was originally staffed as minor league infield coordinator. One of the best pinch-hitters in his long major league career.
Rick Aponte, Bullpen Coach: Second season, appointed by Acta. Nationals are his only major league coaching gig. Generally well-liked by bullpen staff and pitchers. Is a pitching coach with Licey in the Dominican Winter League, winners of the 2008 Caribbean League title.
Who stays? Who goes? Does it depend on the General Manager? Of course it does. Monday will be a very interesting day in Nationals history, and this announcement tonight is just the tip of the iceberg.

Scenes from "Fan Appreciation Night"

2008-09-26T11:13:00.004-04:00

Last night's final home game in the inaugural season of Washington's Nationals Park was rained out. A disappointing, but fitting, way for the season to end. The end of the baseball season is always sad, and last night was no exception. After at least 99 losses, there figures to be a lot of change in the off-season. Rather than dwell on the good, bad and ugly that was the 2008 season today, I thought I'd simply share some photos that we took last night and let them stand for themselves.

Nats Fall One Loss Away From Ignominy

2008-09-25T12:46:00.002-04:00

Washington, DC -- It's not the way Tim Redding wanted to end his mostly positive season. On a chill evening in late September, Redding hoped to preserve his personal .500 pitching record for a team that started the contest a collective 39 games below .500. Unfortunately for Redding and the Washington Nationals, he was not as sharp as he had been most nights previously this season, and the Nats fell to the Florida Marlins 9-4, before 23,299 brave souls remaining to see the end of this disappointing season. The loss is Washington's 99th of the season, as the Nats have lost eleven of their last fourteen games.

Redding's very first pitch to the first batter of the game, all-star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, left the park as Ramirez launched his 33rd home run of the season. Rookie Cameron Maybin followed with a double, and would eventually score on a wild pitch. Before they had batted, the Nats trailed 2-0. Redding escaped the second inning unscathed, but would not last the third.

Ramirez started the damage again with a one-out double. Rookie OF Cameron Maybin sacrificed Ramirez to third, who then walked to home on a Jorge Cantu double to deep left field. OH Josh Willingham and 2B Dan Uggla both earned free passes from Redding which would haunt the veteran starter. OF Jeremy Hermida singled to right field on an 0-2 pitch, allowing Cantu and Willingham to both score. The next batter, 1B Gaby Sanchez, in first his major league start, doubled to the out of town scoreboard in right, driving in Uggla, and mercifully ending Redding's evening -- and season.

Marco Estrada entered and promptly allowed an infield hit to catcher Matt Treanor and Hermida snuck home from third, closing the book on Redding. He finished two and two-thirds innings, surrendering seven earned runs on seven hits and two walks. He struck out four and allowed one home run, Ramirez' solo shot to start the game.

Redding was one of the big stories for the Nats early this season, as he started the season 6-3 with a 3.16 ERA, prompting talk of an All-Star appearance. He didn't get a decision in any of his next nine starts, though, and went 0-3 with a 9.17 ERA over his last four. His season ends with a record of 10-11 and and ERA of 4.95.

"First half, real good," Redding said. "Second half ... not good."

The Marlins collected eighteen hits on the evening, and several new faces for Florida had big nights. Ramirez and Hermida both went 3-for-5 and rookies Maybin and Sanchez each collected three hits as well.

The Nationals batters did not fare as well against Marlins starter Josh Johnson (W, 7-1, 3.61). Johnson missed much of the season recovering from last off-season surgery, but he's quickly proving that he belongs in next year's rotation. He went six innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and three walks.

Emilio Bonifacio and Pete Orr -- subbing for flu-ridden Ryan Zimmerman -- each had two hits for the Nats. Bonifacio's triple in the third inning led to a run, and he, Orr, SS Alberto Gonzalez and C Wil Nieves each had RBIs.

The highlight of the game for the Nats was LF Roger Bernadina's full-out diving catch onto the warning track just in front of the visitor's bullpen in left field, robbing 3B Jorge Cantu of extra-bases. It was, simply, one of the finest defensive plays you'll see from an outfielder, and gives hope that the young players the Nats are running out there to end the season will one day be part of a winning season, not one that needs to win its remaining four games to avoid triple digits.

Collin Balestar (3-6, 4.83) gets the first chance to keep 100 at bay, as he takes on Anibal Sanchez (2-5, 5.57) in the last game in the inaugural season at Nationals Park, weather permitting, at 7:10 pm.

NATS NOTES: The Seattle Mariners lost to the Los Angeles Angels last night, giving them 100 losses, to stay one game behind Washington for the worst record in the major leagues. Should they tie, Washington will still receive the first pick in next year's amateur draft due to finishing with a worse record the previous season.

GB&U: 99 Losses

2008-09-25T11:02:00.009-04:00

RESULT: Marlins beat Nats 9-4. Nats stand one shy of 100.

GOOD: Emilio! went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Pete Orr went 2-for-4 with and RBI. Wil Nieves went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

BONUS GOOD: Roger Bernadina's diving catch in left field was as good as you'll ever see, and rightly earned him the Web Gem on ESPN's Baseball Tonight last night.

BAD: Roger Bernadina. He went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and stranded four base-runners.

UGLY: Tim Redding. Here's a guy that really wanted to end the season on a good note, after all the decent pitching he's done this year, and he just got roughed up last night. Only made it through 2.2 IP, allowing 7 runs on 7 hits and 2 BBs, 4 Ks and 1 HR allowed.

BONUS UGLY: The weather for tonight's game, the last home game of the season. Does not look promising. Let's hope they don't wash the whole thing out. I know, what's one more game? But it's the last one!

NEXT GAME: Tonight, weather permitting, at 7:10 pm from Nationals Park. Collin Balestar (3-6, 4.83) faces Anibal Sanchez (2-5, 5.57). Sanchez has a tweaked hammy though, so if they play in the rain it's questionable if Florida will allow him to go out there on the wet field.

FRONT OFFICE UPDATE: In a response to yesterday's Sporting News article about unrest at the top, Nats President Stan Kasten vehemently denied rumors of his demise to Bill Ladson at MLB.com. Reassuring to hear it straight from the horses mouth. Still, can't help but feel Monday will be an interesting day in Nats history.

FUN STUFF: If you haven't seen it yet, here's video shot by BF Staff Photographer Cheryl Nichols (alias: diehardnatsfan) of the radio guys, Charlie, Dave and Jack, dancing to Wil Nieves' batting song. It's fairly hysterical and Charlie couldn't stop laughing when she showed it to him after Tuesday night's game! We'll still trying to track down the song title and artist so you too can add to your iPod.

Game Photos and Video (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Good Heavens

2008-09-24T14:57:00.003-04:00

An article in the Sporting News on-line today recounts a story that is Exhibit A why the Nationals are the "miserable" franchise yesterday's Times article suggests:

Trouble in D.C.

The shotgun marriage of Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten and general manager Jim Bowden should end soon. According to several major league officials, Kasten wanted to fire a member of the Nationals' scouting staff for an embarrassing display in the press box before a game at Colorado. The scout loudly and profanely criticized the Rockies' player-development operation. Bowden convinced ownership to keep the scout in question. That showed Kasten that he lacked the authority to do the job as he did with Atlanta. As Braves president, Kasten was an unheralded hero for the manner in which he brought order to the organization and allowed the baseball operation to do its job without outside interference.

The Nationals desperately needed the same type of leadership. If Kasten leaves, as expected, it will be a huge setback for an organization mired in chaos. That seems to be Bowden's preferred manner of operation.

This is the worst possible news at the worst possible time. On the heels of Friday's Q&A and the Times insightful article about the misery surrounding the franchise this team seems to be stuck in a quagmire of negative vibes.

But if this Sporting News article is true, we all might as well go back to rooting for our original teams. If the Lerners are going to pander to Jim Bowden and effectively neuter Stan Kasten, keeping him from being able to fully execute "the Plan" while Bodes continues to embarrass himself, the organization and its fans with practically everything he touches? Well, that's a dark day indeed my friends.

A lot of big ticket firings/retirements/quittings happen the day after the season ends. Monday will go a long way in determining the future of this franchise.

Here's the link to the full story. The bit on the Nats is half way down.

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=462356

GB&U: Eliminating the Fish

2008-09-24T11:55:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat Marlins 9-4, eliminate Florida from the playoffs.

GOOD: Shairon Martis! First major league win, hopefully of many. 5.1 IP, 3 ERs, 5 hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. And a cream pie in the face for dessert. The Attorney General! Alberto Gonzalez went 4-for-5 with 3 runs and 2 RBIs. The Man with Two Last Names! Anderson Hernandez went 2-for-5 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs from the lead-off spot. Lastings! 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs! ZIM!!! 2-for-5, Homer (#14) and 2 RBIs.

BAD: Not much. Hanrahan gave up a solo tater closing things up. Other than that, a good all-around win.

UGLY: Paul LoDuca got a pinch-hit at bast in the 7th and was roundly booed by the sparce crowd before the at bats, and after he singled. Grudges make good baseball fans!

NEXT GAME: Tonight, Game Two of the three-game series. Tim Redding looks for his eleventh win against Josh Johnson (6-1) for Florida.

Martis' Big Night Leads Nationals Over Marlins, 9-4

2008-09-24T11:22:00.006-04:00

by Anthony Amobi and Dave Nichols

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the 2008 season comes to a close, teams in the second division such as the Washington Nationals have nothing to play for but pride and the chance to see youngsters and role players compete for jobs next year. Last night, rookie Shairon Martis – who at 21 years old is youngest of the young on the squad – earned his first Major League victory as the Nats officially knocked Florida out of playoff contention, defeating the Marlins 9-4.

Martis (W, 1-3, 5.89) was good, but not particularly spectacular, as he went five and one-third innings and gave up three runs – all earned – on five hits. He struck out five and walked two. Meanwhile, his opponent on the mound, Scott Olsen (L, 8-11, 4.23), took the loss as he went five innings and gave up four runs – three earned – on eight hits, while striking out two and walking one. Martis' teammates came in huge for him, as Ryan Zimmerman belted his team-leading fourteenth home run, SS Alberto Gonzalez had four hits, three runs and two RBIs, and Lastings Milledge went 3-for4 with three runs driven in.

Florida took a 1-0 early lead in the very first inning as Mike Jacobs plated Hanley Ramirez with a two-out single. In the bottom of the frame, the Nats would come right back, as 2B Anderson Hernandez (2-for-5, two runs, two RBIs) reached base with a single before Zimmerman slammed a two run home run to deep left field off of Olsen and Washington took the lead, 2-1.

The Marlins tied the game at two in the top of the second inning as Josh Willingham took Martis deep with his thirteenth home run of the season. Undaunted on this evening, Washington would regain in the lead in the bottom of the third inning as Lastings Milledge hit a sacrifice fly that plated Alberto Gonzales – who had singled to start the frame and advanced to third – for a 3-2 lead.

In the fifth inning, Washington would take a 4-2 lead as Alberto Gonzalez hit a one-out double and advanced to third on Zimmerman's single. Milledge knocked in Gonzalez with a sacrifice; however, the inning would come to end and the Nationals failed to do any more damage as OF Elijah Dukes grounded out and Aaron Boone struck out looking.

Florida added another run to come with one of tying in the sixth inning as Martis walked Jorge Cantu and Mike Jacobs in succession. Manager Manny Acta decided at that point to lift Martis and hand things off to the bullpen. Dan Uggla singled off Stephen Shell to plate Cantu, but Shell induced a ground ball double-play ball from Josh Willingham to quash the rally and finish the frame.

Washington added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Walks to Willie Harris and pinch-hitter Pete Orr were sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt by Wil Nieves, and Hernandez ripped his third hit of the night off Marlins’ reliever Jesus Delgado to center to put the Nationals up, 5-3.

The Marlins became unglued in the eighth inning and Washington took the opportunity to rip them for four more additional runs late in the game. Willie Harris again walked to lead off the inning, and advanced to second off a Nieves sacrifice bunt. Reliever Eulogio De La Cruz walked pinch hitter Roger Bernadina and then he and Harris executed a double-steal without a throw. Hernandez came through again and plated both Harris and Bernadina with a single to center to put the Nationals up, 7-3.

After Hernandez advanced to second off a wild pitch by De La Cruz, Gonzalez drove him in with a single to center. Minutes later, Lastings Milledge capped off the inning by singling up the middle to score Gonzalez – who had advanced to third off a passed ball by catcher Jeff Baker – putting Washington’s ninth and final run on the scoreboard.

Cody Ross homered off Joel Hanrahan in the ninth inning to score Florida’s fourth run, but by then, the game was more than over.

With only five games left in the season – including the final two games in the inaugural season of Washington's Nationals Park– the Nats are eagerly trying to avoid the 100-loss plateau, the ultimate mark of a disastrous season. They need to win four of their last five to do the trick, but at least got started on the quest last night.

A scant crowd of 20,657 came out to Nationals Park on a autumn evening and left home happy, but not fulfilled in any sense of the imagination considering how long the season has truly been for even the most loyal and ardent fan.

Tonight's game is at 7:10 pm, game two of the three-game series with the Marlins. Tim Redding (10-10, 4.67) hosts Josh Johnson (6-1, 3.65).

Stock Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Bowden & Rizzo Post-Mortem, Part Deux

2008-09-22T14:13:00.007-04:00

Same format.
---------------

Q (Unidentified): To Rizzo: Can you describe what you look at over the summer leagues and who are the top three candidates in next year's draft if you had to say today?

A (MR): Summer leagues reviewed by Dana Brown, and his staff is feverishly working and scouting right now. Cape Cod is scouted "intensely". "We're well into the beginning of preparation for the '09 draft." As for naming the top three, he said, "It is a long ways from the draft. I don't like to name names of people that we're bearing down and looking at. We're going to do our due diligence on all our players that we have, and Strasburg's name comes up, Green the shortstop at Southern Cal, there's a bunch of names that we feel are on the upper echelon of the 2009 draft."

C (BF): Fairly standard answer. Doesn't want to tip his hand, but Strasburg, as mentioned in any number of baseball publications, is the consensus #1 pick in next year's draft. Now Seattle just has to win one or two of its final seven games.

Q (Unidentified): Why did we have so many injuries? Can we do something about our training staff? Also, "What would we have been, record-wise, if we did not have the injuries this year?"

A (JB): "Always" looking into better ways of training, treatment, etc.

A (MR): "In our minor league system, we've done a phenomenal job of keeping pitchers healthy." "Position player-wise, it's good to draft athletes that are strong, flexible, versatile..."

A (JB): "All of our baseball people felt that if we stayed healthy, and all the players performed up to their potential, we could have gone 82-80."

C (BF): There, my friends, was my favorite answer of the day. Jim Bowden thought this team was talented enough to go 82-80 out of spring training. As far as talent evaluation goes, that simple statement is grounds for dismissal. So either he's telling the truth and has zero concept about how to evaluate personnel to assemble a winning baseball team or he lied to this fan in public in answering this question. It's a classic Bowden answer too. "[I]f all the players performed up to their potential" is the prototypical Bowden deflection statement. He over hypes the players, then when they fail to live up to the inflated expectations he placed on them, it's their fault they failed to reach those expectation.

Q (CS): As far as injuries, aren't there are some injuries you can't do anything about?

A (JB): "When a player is hurt, you're not going to get a player playing up to their potential." "Doctors couldn't understand how [Kearns] could actually be throwing a baseball" due to the chips in his elbow.

C (BF): Of course when a player is playing hurt he's not going to live up to his potential, let alone achieve his normal level of success. Bowden is all about potential instead of realizing what a player is and evaluating him as such. He sees Kearns and thinks, "This guy has the potential to hit 30 home runs" and suddenly, he's got that expectation of him, instead of concentrating on the fact that Kearns has hit more than 20 homers exactly once in his big league career. It's a fairly typical problem of old-school GMs though, to evaluate and plan based on potential instead of performance. That's one of the bigger points that most people fail to grasp about the book Moneyball. The point Michael Lewis was trying to make about Billy Beane wasn't that he was trying to fill his system with "three true outcome" guys, but that he evaluated players based on what they do on the field, not the potential of what they might do.

Q (Unidentified): How do you feel about the success of the teams in the minors, and can you name a couple of the minor leaguers that might make an impact next season?

A (MR): "We're so proud of our young people." He touted the GCL and Dominican teams in addition to the Potomac team. He explained how the team was ranked 28 when he got there and it was #8 last year and hopes to go higher.

A (JB): Jordan Zimmermann. "[He's] the one prospect that we have that the 29 other teams call us on all the time. We feel he has the potential to be a pitcher that goes into our rotation right out of spring training next year." He then went on to say that he expects Zimmerman AND Martis, who won't be 22 until March, to BOTH be in the rotation, along with Lannan and Balestar, giving the team "four young guys under 23" to man the starting rotation.

C (BF): Again, let's tell the media that the 22-year old prospect, who has logged a total of 187 minor league innings, has the potential to start the season in the rotation next year, already setting the player up for blame when he proves he's not ready and forces whoever is in charge to find a suitable replacement. Zimmerman dominated at Single-A Potomac this year and was pretty good at Double-A Harrisburg. But his K/9 has dropped slightly at each stop up the ladder and his ERA was a run and a half higher at Harrisburg than at Potomac. That's not surprising, but you'd think that a team this bad would let a kid dominate at the Double-A level before forcing him into a job at the major league level where he'll be pitching for a last place team.

Q (Dave at Bottomfeeder Baseball): I asked Bowden some follow-ups regarding the middle infield and injuries. Well, I thought they were questions. Listening to the tape, I was pretty fired up and pretty much barked at him and I interrupted him several times. I was pretty rude, and I did apologize after the show was over. Anyway, what I asked was this: When Bonifacio, Gonzalez and Hernandez all revert to their career minor league numbers, who plays second base? And: Injuries happen, but they happen to Guzman, Johnson, Kearns and Young every year. How do you explain away your history for giving out reward contracts?

A (JB): "I think if you look at the back of Guzman's baseball card, and look at games played in his career, you'll find it's about 148 games on average per year. Obviously, we've had him the two years here in Washington he's been hurt. But for the rest of his career that wasn't the story." Then he went on to describe how he "wants to play the game every single day", he "plays the game hard", he "plays the game right', he's "a shortstop", he has "more hits [this year] than David Wright" and I think there was something in there about saving kitties stuck in trees and helping old ladies cross the street.

"We signed [Nick Johnson] to a deal that was significantly below market value, because we thought it was worth taking the risk in case he was healthy. That one didn't work out."

"We think Emilio Bonifacio has a chance to develop into a player like Luis Castillo, he's got tremendous speed-game changing speed; we like him from the left side. If you take his on base percentage from the left side, and take away all his at bats from the right side, you'll like his on base percentage." Also, he reiterated again that he thinks Bonifacio has "the potential to be a lead-off hitter."

C (BF): So I looked at Guzman's baseball card, or the electronic equivalent. In nine seasons, Guz has played 1165 (through Sunday), for an average of 129 games per year. Bowden was only 20 games or so per year off. In fact, he's had exactly two season where he's played in at least 148 games, 2000 and 2002. Since he turned 28, Guzman has played in 182 games in three seasons. HE missed all of 2006, appeared in 46 games in 2007, and 136 out of 156 this season. Saying Guzman has averaged that many games a year is simply blowing smoke. Even in his previously "best" season, 2001 (when he inexplicably received enough MVP votes to rank 16th),he only played 118 games with an OPS+ of 110. He is clearly, at age 30, having his best statistical season, and it's still only worth an OPS+ of 104, barely above average. As he regresses to his career numbers (.269/.307/.386), his "reward" contract will continue to be an albatross. At least he owned up to Johnson's contract being a mistake. He completely ignored Dmitri Young's contract.

By the way, Wright has one more hit than Guzman this season, for what that's worth. His OBP is also 40 points higher, has hit 24 more home runs and driven in 64 more. He also has 9 more steals. Talk about cherry-picking stats, Mr. Bowden.

Bonifacio, in his short big league career, has LH/RH splits of .270/.341/.339 and .150/.167/.275. Considering his major league left-handed splits are about the same as his career total minor league numbers, the difference in the minors has got to be even worse. This is a guy that shouldn't be hitting right handed. Of course Bowden would want to "take away all his at bats from the right side." Look, Luis Castillo is a very good singles hitter and had great speed earlier in his career. But again, he's only had three seasons in his career where his OPS+ was over 100. That makes him serviceable, not an all-star.

Q (FJB): After brown-nosing Charlie Slowes, then kissing Bowden's butt a little bit for hitting on Redding and Perez, he then dropped the hammer. "I look at what you did in Arizona...where you had the crystal ball", etc. ad nauseum. "I see you as a future GM in the league. My question for you is that something you want, to be a General Manager at some point in your career?"

A (MR): "The short answer is yes, I have visions of heading up and organization in the future. But for now, I'm really excited about what we're doing here. We've got great leadership here. We're going in the right direction. We're leaps and bounds ahead of where we were in Arizona in their second year of existence." "We've got great leadership with the Lerner family, and Stan Kasten and with Jim...what we've done here since June of '06...is second to none." "We're the youngest team in the major leagues right now. We're fast, we're athletic, we're exciting to watch. We need a few tweaks here and there and we need patience from our fans." "If you like what we did in Arizona, wait a year or two and you'll love it here in Washington."

C (BF): This was Steven's direct attack to Bowden, and probably what got him worked up enough to confront us after the program. But there's no denying that Rizzo knows what he's doing. The draft is not a crapshoot in his hands. He will make a fine GM someday, let's just hope it's not in Seattle or Philadelphia or New York next season.

Q (BF Staff Photographer Cheryl Nichols): How do you educate a fan base that might not be the most sophisticated baseball fan base, get them to invest and be patient, but is dying for a winning baseball team, and keep them form giving up and abandoning the team because the major league product is so poor right now?

A (JB): "More things like coming out here, talking to fans, talking to the media, answering emails and letters from fans. We've been very up-front and honest with them from the very beginning." Certainly we all understand frustration, we all want to win. But when you do win, you don't want to have to break the team down, you want to be able to sustain the winning, like Atlanta did for 14 years, and that's the blueprint we have."

C (BF): I don't know. I'd probably be happy with the Marlins formula of win the World Series, tear down and suck for four years, win the World Series.

Q (Unidentified): Can Roger Bernadina emerge? Can he start next year?

A (JB): "No question. Roger hit over .320 at both Double-A and Triple-A this year. He stole over 40 bases for the second consecutive year. Although at time he might have some bad jumps or angles on balls, he runs a lot of baseballs down. He's got a good arm, he's very athletic. He needs an opportunity at this level to see what he can do. To say that he fits in talent-wise among our other young outfielders, absolutely. It's just a matter of opportunity for him."

C (BF): I would not be shocked to see Bernadina in centerfield next year, with Milledge in left and Dukes in right. Bernadina is a quality outfielder and did hit very well this season. 2007 he hit a combined .259/.338/.356 primarily in Harrisburg. He's just 24, and you have to figure next year in spring training will be his best opportunity to win a job in the major leagues. If Justin Maxwell come into spring training healthy, the two of these kids will be interesting to watch try to win a job from each other.

---------------

And that's how the Q&A ended. Steven and I did spend some time with Mr. Rizzo, Mr. Bowden and Mr. Kasten after the program. Steven has some very detailed posts on the conversations if you're interested (like you haven't seen them yet). They were all very open with their time, and I appreciated each of them taking the time to chat us up.

Being a fan blogger is a difficult thing at times. We're part fan, part media. We're allowed at some events and not at others. The years at RFK we actually were afforded press box credentials on occasion, but since the move that resource has dried up. But having the team president, GM and Ass't GM available to the public in this type of forum is a unique opportunity, and I only wish it happened more than just once a season, but certainly thankful it happened this once.

There are some folks in baseball that think bloggers hide in their mother's basements, taking the team to task anonymously and do nothing but criticize ownership, management and the players. There are others in the business that realize that the new media isn't going away, that anyone with a computer and the interest can act as correspondent or columnist, and embrace their ideas and opinions. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be able to evaluate and analyze performance, or to project future performance.

Some people think if you don't see a player in person, interact with them, have personal intimate knowledge of them that you can't truly be able to gauge their performance and have some knowledge-based projection of future performance. They are wrong. That's one of the most important functions of fan blogs. We're the media watchdogs of this generation. Newspaper columnists used to serve that function, but anymore the mainstream media is a partner with the team in order to sell the team and to sell copy, that is is the paper even dedicates the resources to cover the team in the first place.

So again, thanks to the Washington Nationals for appearing in this forum and taking questions from their stockholders (the fans) and from the new media watchdogs. We may not agree on some (a lot) of things, but one thing I (and the others in the Natosphere) share with the Nationals is the passion and desire for the team to win. One of the last things Mr. Kasten said to me, when I mentioned that I do this because I want the team to be a winner, is: "That's where people are wrong. As much as you think you want the team to win, we (the team) want it that much more." Both entities want to win for different reasons though, and that's where Mr. Kasten might be missing it. The team wants to win for monetary and professional glory. The fans want to win for civic pride. Which goal is loftier?

GB&U: Thank Goodness That's Over

2008-09-22T11:21:00.004-04:00

RESULT: Nats swept by Padres, 11-6, 6-1, 6-2.

GOOD: We're three games closer to the end of the season. Padres virtually eliminated from Steven Strasburg Sweepstakes.

BAD: The Nats are virtually assured of losing 100 games. With six remaining, they'll have to go 5-1 to avoid triple digits.

UGLY: Take a look around the Natosphere. Lots and lots of negativity floating around, as the Nats approach the 100 loss mark. Well, maybe not everyone is down. Anyway, as the Nats limp home, this off-season will go a long way in determining the future of this franchise for the foreseeable future.

NEXT GAME: Tuesday against the Marlins in the last home-stand of the season. Only three more dates for you to give the Lerner family your money for this season.

Nats Weekend Round-up: Lose Pair to Padres

2008-09-22T11:19:00.002-04:00

Washington -- The Washington Nationals continued their limp to the finish line of the baseball season over the weekend, dropping a pair of games to the Padres by scores of 6-1 and 6-2. Combined with Friday night's 14-inning 11-6 loss, the Nats were swept by a team that had been equally bad in the standing as they had over 154 games. The Nats now stand one-half game ahead of Seattle to avoid the worst record in the major leagues for 2008. The Mariners have played one fewer game and have on fewer victory that the Nats. Washington has lost five straight and eight of their last ten. Seattle is working on an eleven game losing streak of their own.

Saturday night the Nationals were dominated by 6-foot, 10-inch right-hander Chris Young. Young (W, 6-6, 4.11) was masterful in keeping down the Nats offense, pitching seven innings and allowing no runs on just two hits and four walks, striking out five. He threw 66 of his 111 pitches for strikes. Young battled injury all season long, and won for just the second time since May 16. He even added a home run, the first of his major league career, against Nats starter John Lannan in the seventh inning. Lannan (L, 9-14, 3.68) didn't pitch poorly, allowing just one earned run over his seven innings, but three unearned runs led to his demise. Lannan allowed four hits and three walks, striking out five. He surrendered two home runs, Young's and 2B Edgar Gonzalez', his seventh.

Two errors led directly to runs, as Will Venable reached ahead of Gonzalez' homer, and Ryan Zimmerman threw one away with a runner on in the eighth, allowing both base-runners to move up and eventually score on an infield single by Chase Headley. The lone Nats run came courtesy of an Aaron Boone ground-rule double in the eighth inning, scoring Emilio Bonifacio from second base.

San Diego completed the sweep Sunday afternoon, on a perfect day weather-wise for baseball. Cha Seung Baek (W, 6-10, 4.87) threw seven innings, allowing just one earned run on five hits, to defeat the Nats 6-2. Baek, who pinch-hit in Friday night's marathon, struck out five and did not walk a batter. His counter, Nats' starter Odalis Perez (L, 7-11, 4.27), gave up three earned over six innings on five hits and one walk. He struck out eleven Padres in the brilliant sunshine. 29,608 fans saw the last Sunday home game of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez, the Padres budding superstar first baseman, went 2-for-3 with a home run and three runs scored and 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff added two hits and three RBIs. Ryan Zimmerman homered -- his thirteenth of the season, driving in two, and finished 2-for-4 on the day. Willie Harris also contributed two hits.

San Diego outscored the Nats 23-9 in the sweep, their first on the road since July 2006. Washington needs to go 5-1 in their last six games to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1976 as the Montreal Expos.

The Nats are off on Monday, and begin a three-game series with the Florida Marlins Tuesday night, their last home games of the season, before concluding the 2008 season on the road at Philadelphia.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Bowden and Rizzo Q&A Post Mortem (Part 1)

2008-09-20T17:18:00.009-04:00

If you want to see the Tale of the Tape, head on over to Fire Jim Bowden. The following is Part 1 of a condensed, excerpted and analyzed pseudo-transcript and review of the proceedings held Friday at the ESPN Zone in downtown DC.

If you haven't heard yet (and if you're reading this blog, how in the world?), Friday at the ESPN Zone Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden and Assistant GM Mike Rizzo appeared and took Q&A from fans and bloggers. It was widely anticipated and quite surprising that the team's GM and Assistant GM, a man most definitely on the hot seat and the most logical choice to take his place, appeared in the same place at the same time and took questions in the same forum from the public.

Anyway, I'll paraphrase the questions (and description of the questioner) since most of them were rambling and disjointed, provide the pertinent parts of the answers, and them some commentary on the responses. Q (Question), A (Answer) and C (Commentary).

-------------
Intro by moderator Charlie Slowes.

Q (by Charlie): So the Nats' Triple-A franchise moving to Syracuse?

A (Jim Bowden): Some generally meaningless banter about Syracuse, the facilities, and the town, especially noting its proximity to DC "only an hour plane fight away".

C: (Bottomfeeder): Everyone knows that an organization's top prospects generally finish their seasoning at Double-A, and that today Triple-A is filled with Four-A guys and emergency injury replacements. Where the Nats affiliate with is pretty immaterial, except for how fast they can get to DC when needed.

Q (CS): To Rizzo: So you're getting ready for next season already, looking at free agents and next year's draft?

A (Mike Rizzo): "It's a very active part of the season, actually." They're putting things together in Viera, have guys going to Arizona for the fall league. "Baseball is a 12 month a year working environment now."

C (BF): Natch. We had some softballs lobbed early.

Q: (CS): Looking at young players, how 'bout that Anderson Hernandez (this would be a constant theme)? He was a lousy hitter in the Mets Triple-A this year but looks like a "completely" different hitter with the Nats?

A: (JB): "A year ago he led the PCL in hits, but he was in a difficult situation being behind Jose Reyes." "Hard to stay motivated" being sent back down after leading a league in hits [ed. also in at bats. He's Cristian Guzman light].

C (BF): Here are Anderson Hernandez' stats as a major leaguer. Here are his stats as a minor leaguer. Does he think we don't have access to these numbers? He's a lifetime .264/.310/.354 hitter in eight seasons and 3500 at bats in the minor leagues. I'm not cherry-picking here. This is his career. And he's not young anymore, he'll be 26 in spring training. Rizzo compared him (favorably) to Adam Everett.

Q (CS): How important is September for young players?

A (JB): You have to take into account the situation. Hitting against Brandon Webb is different from hitting against another call up.

Q (self-described season ticket holder from the beginning): Very disappointed in the season. Why did we bring older free agents in that failed rather than have the young guys, that eventually played anyway, up from the beginning. Wouldn't it be better to sign one huge free agent than sign all these re-treats?

A (JB): "One thing we don't want to do is rush a player to the big leagues" before he's ready. In the case of Flores, they thought he needed to have another "half-year" in Triple-A. Thought they could trade LoDuca if he had hit. "In the case of Mackowiak, of course that didn't work, but if you don't sign Mackowiak, you also don't get Willie Harris, you don't get Odalis Perez, and when you sign those kind of guys in the $850 (K) to $1.5 (MM)-ers, you're not going to hit on all of them. If you were going to hit on all of them, they're not going get $850K." As for signing one big guy, it would have to be in the model they were looking for, in his 20s, someone they could lock up for 5-6 years, that will "be part of it when we're ready to win."

C (BF): Of all the things said today, this was one of the most illuminating and confusing. Bowden said, "...if you don't sign Mackowiak, you also don't get Willie Harris," et al. We all get the idea that the team wanted to put as little money as possible into the major league team this past off-season. The only guy they signed to a legitimate major league contract was LoDuca. That's why Bowden could show some success witht he free agents. Basically, and he admits to it, it's a "throw it against the wall as see what sticks" approach. Sign a bunch of low-prices retreats. See who hits (or gets people out). Don't get saddled with a 4 or 5 year bad contract (like they did with Guzman originally). Willie Harris found a little pop, but has done essentially what he did in Atlanta last year. Odalis Perez is a 4.25 ERA guy that can look real good one night and terrible his next start.

The original questioner included guys like Maxwell and Daniel and some others, but the real question here is about Flores. What I'm about to say may make some close friends of mine angry, but Bowden was essentially correct about Flores. If they could have had someone else healthy this season to catch, Flores would have been the better for spending the year in Triple-A. Hitting, he's as ready as he's gonna be. But game calling, and game managing, he's got a LOT to learn still. Does that mean he shouldn't have been learning to do that here, like Milledge and Dukes (and yes, Zimmerman) have been given the luxury? We can have that argument all night. But Flores would have been a better catcher on the big league lever next year with a year of tutelage instead of having to produce here during on-the-job training. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong guys to carry the water this year, signing LoDuca and Estrada, and wasted $6M dollars in the process, and still had to rush Flores up anyway.

Q (Fire Jim Bowden): How did you let Aaron Crow go for less than $1M (severely paraphrased)?

A (JB): "We're not going to be (hemmed?) into a marketplace, there's a dollar value for players to sign, Brain Matusz [ed. Orioles #1 draft pick] was taken with the fourth pick in the draft and at the end of the day we offered more money than what Matusz got. We also had the leverage to get the 9-B [compensation pick] if we don't sign the pick for next year." He said it would have been irresponsible to give a draft pick everything he wanted, that it would be a bad precedent.

A (MR): It costs us 10 month of developing a player. We negotiated in good faith, but couldn't come to an agreement with the player. But we have two picks in the top 10 next year.

C (BF): My bottom-line opinion on this, after hearing everything in the past, and this session Friday, and other conversations I've had with "baseball people", is that Kasten drew the line in the sand that night and said, "ENOUGH." He was willing to go over slot, but not ridiculously so, and not set a precedent for this type of last minute extortion by over-bearing agents. The Nats have gone a long way to make Mr. Hendricks and Aaron Crow out to be the bad guy in this, but I really think the team ultimately said that this was their gig, via con dios, and good luck in independent ball. Next year's the kicker though, because if they can't sign the 9-A pick, they lose it. And for a team that will already have one of the top three picks in the draft to sign, it's going to be a tall order. They might be on the hook for $10-15 MM in bonus money for just two picks next season, depending on the guidelines by MLB and the market once it develops.

Q (CS): How difficult were the 11th hour negotiations? How is it good for the player to go to the independent leagues?

A: (MR): We "hope Crow has a great year", but it cost him a year of eligibility, and it's going to be difficult for him to recoup that loss.

Q (CS): Didn't the player lose more than the team?

A (JB): People say we walked away, the player walked away too. "We promised a September call-up", etc. The player lost more than the team did.

C (BF): It's certainly debatable as to who lost more in this. Crow is an exceptional talent, and will be right back in the top 10 in next year's draft. He walked away from almost $4M though, and that was guaranteed, the only guaranteed money he would see until he made the bigs. I guess when the season ticket renewal numbers come out we'll have a better idea how it hurt the team, because I think the Crow fiasco hurt the team more in fan relations than baseball-wise. Trying to get the average fan to pay for a sub-standard major league product touting a build-from-within strategy is fine AS LONG AS YOU SIGN YOUR PICKS. Ask educated fans what their number one pet peeve with the organization was this year, and it's gonna be Crow.

Q (4-year season ticket holder): When you scout, do base decisions on who represents the player?

A (MR): Part of the equation, but not a deciding factor. "We never walk away from a particular agent."

C (BF): Except maybe Mr. Hendricks now. As Keith Jackson was fond of saying "These two teams just plain don't like each other."

Q (Unidentified Fan): What do you look at for the starting outfield next year?

A: (MR): Competition. Dukes, Milledge and Kearns. Expecting Kearns to be the player he was two-three years ago.

A (JB): We'll look at trades, and "we'd love to have a 4-hole hitter." If we had a little more production the kids would be better off. "As for how the outfield is lined up, Manny's gotta evaluate how everything is set up defensively, maybe find out if there's an area, without getting specific in one of the three spots, maybe we have to make an outfield position change to upgrade the defense without getting specific."

C (BF): Since Bowden wouldn't be specific, let me be: Milledge is moving to left and Dukes is playing center next year. Or maybe Bernadina in center and Dukes in right. How no one in the mainstream picked up on this and reported is shocking. Milledge has plenty of talent, but he's proving that he has a hard time reading the ball off the bat, especially balls hit right at him. He makes up for some of this in his athleticism, but he's been pretty lousy in center field this season. Has it hurt this year? No. The team would have lost 95 games regardless. But if Milledge and Dukes are going to be part of the long-term solution here, they have to find out where each is going to play before they can build around them. Dukes is a singular talent, and his cannon in right is perfect. I can't even put Kearns into the discussion. If his atrocious performance this season was all due to the injury and he comes back and is a 20 homer/.350OBP guy, super. There's a place in this league, and probably on this team for a guy like that. Let's just say we need to see it first.

Q (CS): You guys had a lot of injuries. How do you know what a guy is going to give you the following year (re: Kearns, Johnson)?

A (JB): "We have to evaluate what the doctors and the medical people think about their chance of coming back. "Those are tough judgments to make."

C (BF): Basically, he said, "You never know." I'm not sure if this was a veiled reference to Kearns, Johnson, or in general. The team is saddled with two contracts at first base that cannot stay on the field at this point in their careers in Johnson and Young. They need production at first, for the time being so that this team doesn't look like a glorified Triple-A team, and for the future. Marrero's broken foot this year didn't help in that evaluation process. Wonder if Pedro Alvarez ends back up in next year's draft?

Q (Full-season ticket holder): The team stunk this year and is getting worse? Why should we continue to sink more money into a lousy product?

A (JB): "One of our goals...is to try get a big bat in the line-up." "Ideally we'd like to have a controlled player, in his 20s , that can be part of the solution."

C (BF): They're going to try to sign Adam Dunn. Really, it's a no-brainer. If Jim Bowden isn't released from service, Adam Dunn will be a Washington National in 2009.

Q (Unidentified Fan): Are you going to use some of your minor league outfield talent as trade bait?

A (JB): "One of the reasons you build up your minors system is so you can make a deal to get an impact player."

C (BF): True. But this team has no reason to be trading any of its minor league talent until it's also ready to invest in select free agents and sign their own home-grown stars to long-term contracts. We're only a very short time into a long, patience-required building process.

Q (Unidentified): We've become much better defensively in the last 30 days with the acquisitions of Alberto Gonzalez, Emilio Bonifacio and Anderson Hernandez.

Q (CS): Does this give you flexibility in the infield?

A (JB): "We feel pretty blessed that if [Guzman] were to go down for a while, we've got a Gonzalez, Anderson even a Bonifacio, we've got three guys that can play the position."

C (BF): Yes all three CAN play the position. So can Pete Orr. So can Ronnie Belliard. So can Willie Harris. I imagine Zim would LOVE the opportunity. Here's the thing to remember here about our new middle infield help: NONE OF THEM HAVE HIT AT THE MINOR LEAGUE LEVEL. Bonifaco is the most qualified. .285/.340/.362, with his defense and speed, could turn out to be a real good player. But he's not really suited for the job -- lead-off hitter -- that Bowden keeps wanting to place him in. As a number 8 hitter, Bonifacio would be a much more palatable option.

How about we stop pretenting Milledge is going to be a power hitter and let him hit lead-off. He's fast, showed in the minors to have a good OBP (.376 in 1200 ABs), and would have decent pop from that spot as well. I'm just saying. We already went over Anderson's track record. And let me say this about Alberto Gonzalez: I LOVE this guy. He's yet another Rizzo guy, originally signed by the D-Backs in 2002 as a minor league free agent. He's probably got the best range and arm of anyone in the major leagues--RIGHT NOW. But he can't hit a lick. .276/.327/.383 in 1800 minor league at bats just doesn't project. He's a classic glove guy. Again, that would be real valuable on a contending team. And I guess since Guzman is only going to get worse, Gonzalez might stick around to be used in that capacity. But should catastrophe hit Guzman again, Gonzalez couldn't save anywhere near the amount of runs on defense that he would cost the team on offense. There's a reason the Yankees let him go despite having no heir apparent for Jeter. Oh, and Gonzalez will be 26 in the spring too. These guys aren't as young as they are being made out to be.

------------

THUS ENDS PART ONE. I've had a long day, and tomorrow will be longer. I will post Part Deux on Monday's off-day. It's the part where I raise my voice to the GM, then apologize for it. Should be great entertainment for all.

GB&U: Oh, there was a game today, too

2008-09-20T01:24:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats fall to Padres 11-6 in 14 innings.

GOOD: Roger Bernadina. 3-for-5 with a walk, RBI and 2 stolen bases. Lastings Milledge. 3-for-6 with a walk. 7/8ths of the Bullpen. They got 7 innings out of 7 relievers until Speigner took over.

BAD: Collin Balestar. Had trouble spotting anything but the fastball. 5 IP, 5 ERs on 9 hits -- but no walks. This was one of those occasions where he had to throw strikes with the fastball cause he couldn't located anything else, and they were teeing off on him. His fastball was pretty flat too.

UGLY: Levale Speigner. Guess it's safe to say at this point he isn't part of The Plan (tm). 2 IP, 5 ERs on 4 hits and 2 BBs.

NEXT GAME: Later today, 7:10 pm start. John Lannan against Chris Young. Interesting pitching match-up.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I know i promised the good parts of the transcript of today's Q&A with Jim Bowden and Mike Rizzo, but 14 innings has taken its toll. I will get it posted tomorrow, I promise. I'll leave you with this nugget though: Bowden admitted Rob Mackowiak was a bust, in the context of "you win some, you lose some" when it comes to signing inexpensive free agents. Remember Rob Mackowiak?

Meet The (Pseudo) Press

2008-09-19T10:34:00.014-04:00

Today was the big day: GM Jim Bowden and Assistant GM Mike Rizzo took a Q&A from Nats fans at the ESPNZone downtown. I'll have some transcript highlights later after tonight's game, but wanted to offer some initial reaction to the Q&A and overall general impressions of the performance of the Nationals front office.

The very first question came from a season ticket holder from day one, and was to the effect of: Why should I pay my money to see this product when it's steadily gotten worse every year? THAT'S the type of day it was. There were some softballs lobbed up, and some casual fan questions like: What would the team's record have been without all the injuries (Bowden's response: 82-80!), but for the most part, the fan (and blogger) questions were direct, informed and pointed.

Bowden was Bowden. His answers were what we've come accustomed to hearing, and we really didn't learn much new from him. Of the Crow fiasco, he said that the team was disappointed, but the team needed to be responsible and eventually let the player go. There was more blame shifted to Mr. Hendricks, Crow's agent, and how the player was hurt more walking away because of the relatively small financial difference than the team was. He touted all three recent middle infield acquisitions as contributors on the major league level despite less-than-stellar minor league numbers.

He defended how the team has operated in the media, stating how the team has been up-front about how they were going to re-build. He defended their selective approach to free agency, going after the Tim Redding/Odalis Perez/Willie Harris types, saying that if you miss with one of them you're only costing the team $850K-$2MM, as opposed to big ticket busts like Barry Zito or Carlos Silva. He also said, in response to a question about signing LoDuca and Estrada, that the team doesn't want to rush any of it's top talent before it's ready and risk doing the player harm instead of good, which is why he signed those two guys in the off-season.

Rizzo performed well in the select questions that were directed to him. He was pretty blunt about Crow being the player they wanted. He explained how in Arizona, where he was previously, they had a specific way of scouting and drafting, and that he was trying to instill that here. He thinks the Nats are way ahead of where Arizona was when he started there. He thinks the team is going about things "the right way" and some of the talent they have stock-piled will be ready soon, and hopefully at the same time.

Then, when things were done, Steven from Fire Jim Bowden and I had a chance to speak with Mr. Rizzo first, then Mr. Bowden and eventually Team President Stan Kasten, who did not take Q&A during the main part. The conversations were all particularly interesting and intriguing on many levels. There was not much new information exchanged necessarily, but insight into each man's thought process about the game, the team, the fans, the main-stream media, and the functions and responsibilies of fan bloggers.

I will have transcript excerpts and commentary posted late after tonight's game.

One baseball related item: Jake Peavy has been scratched from tonight's start. The Padres offer Dirk Hayhurst, a right-hander from Canton, Ohio, in his place. Hayhurst has been up since late August and is 0-2 with a 8.49 ERA in 11.2 innings.

Santana, Schneider Handle Nats Easily 7-2

2008-09-19T10:34:00.009-04:00

Washington -- Perennial Cy Young candidate Johan Santana allowed just one run and struck out eight, his catcher, Brian Schneider, hit two home runs in a game for the first time since 2003, and the New York Mets emphatically closed out the four game series with a 7-2 victory over the Washington Nationals before 25,426 at Nationals Park.

Santana (W, 14-7, 2.65) was stellar in his performance as usual, going seven innings and allowing Mets manager Jerry Manual to rest most of his bullpen, after plowing through seven relievers in Wednesday's game. Santana allowed eight hits and two walks, but the strikeouts helped snuff possible rallies all night. Manual still used three more pitchers to seal the deal, but Joe Smith, Scott Schoeneweis and Pedro Feliciano closed the door effectively on this occasion.

The Mets scored runs in each of the first five innings to dominate early. Nats starter Tim Redding (L, 10-10, 4.67) was not sharp, going only three innings and surrendering five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits and a walk. Four of the seven hits were of the extra-base variety, including Schneider's first homer of the evening, a lazy fly ball to right that just kept carrying over the fence and into the Nats bullpen. Schneider, RF Ryan Church, SS Jose Reyes and LF Dan Murphy all had two hits apiece.

Despite pounding out thirteen hits, the Nats could only manage to push two across, and not until the late innings. In the seventh inning, Anderson Hernandez doubled in Wil Nieves, with pinch hitter Luke Montz moving up to third with just one out. But Santana got Cristian Guzman to pop out to second base and Ryan Zimmerman flied out to deep right. One inning later, Elijah Dukes and Willie Harris each reached via single off Mets reliever Joe Smith, and Nieves delivered Dukes on a single up the middle with two outs. Unfortunately, there would be no heroics this evening, as Alberto Gonzalez grounded to third to end the threat.

The Nationals had to be content taking two of the four games from their division rival, as one team attempts to win the N.L. East and the other is trying to avoid losing 100 games for the first time in franchise history.

Washington hosts the San Diego Padres for a three-game series this weekend, which may decide who gets the #1 pick in next year's amateur draft. Both teams enter play with identical 58-95 records, trailing the Seattle Mariners by one-half game for the worst record in major league baseball. Seattle has equal losses but one fewer win. Friday night's match-up features Nats rookie Collin Balestar (3-6, 4.54) facing the Padres veteran Jake Peavy (9-11, 2.77).

NATS NOTES: Washington is 28 games behind Philadelphia in the N.L. East. The Mets kept pace with the Phillies and remain one-half game behind for the division pennant. New York is one and one-half games ahead of Milwaukee for the Wild Card spot in the National League.

Zimmerman finished the game 3-for-5 after slumping the first three games of the series. Guzman, Dukes and Nieves all added two hits each as well.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

My Question for Jim Bowden and Mike Rizzo

2008-09-19T10:34:00.006-04:00

I am attending the Q&A with Washington Nationals GM Jim Bowden and Assistant GM Mike Rizzo today at the downtown ESPN Zone at 12:00 noon. It should be a rousing good time.

In advance, here is the question I plan to ask of them:

With notable exception, the DC baseball fan base is still relatively unsophisticated. While educated fans know, despite the Aaron Crow fiasco, how much time, energy and money is going into rebuilding a minor league system that was decimated by years of neglect while MLB was steward of the franchise, how do you explain to the casual fan -- the ones that pay to see THIS team you've assembled: journeymen starting pitchers, relief pitchers dicarded from other organizations and career back-up position players elevated to starters here -- the lack of credible major league talent on the field, when do you envision the organization investing in the MAJOR LEAGUE roster, and, projecting a bit, where do you see this team's most pressing needs once some of the home-grown talent that you've hand-selected becomes major league ready?

If someone beats me to this question, I'll just ask him about the Manny wig. Or maybe, the last time he spoke to Kevin Towers

:-)

See you all in a couple hours.

Homers, Knight Too Much For Nats

2008-09-17T13:01:00.013-04:00

Washington -- Carlos Beltran hit two home runs, 33-year old rookie Brandon Knight was strong through five innings, and the beleaguered bullpen held on -- barely -- as the New York Mets salvaged game three of a four game series with the Washington Nationals, 9-7, in front of 25,019 bi-partisan fans at Nationals Park. The Nats tried valiantly to come back against the imploding Mets bullpen, scoring in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings but it was just not enough in the end, as former Nat Luis Ayala got the last out of the game to record his eighth save since joining the Mets last month.

The Mets jumped all over Nats rookie starter Shairon Martis early. All-star SS Jose Reyes belted a home run to right field on the game's fifth pitch, and Carlos Delgado followed suit three batters later to take a 2-0 lead before most of the crowd had settled into their seats or taken a bite of their chili dog. Washington got one back in the second when Kory Casto doubled in Lastings Milledge, who had reached on an infield single. But Martis' trouble would continue in the top of the third.

Reyes walked to lead things off, and LF Dan Murphy sent a screaming line drive to right center, scoring Reyes without a throw and Murphy sliding into third with a triple. A batter later, Delgado delivered Murphy home with a single, and Beltran followed that with his first home run of the evening, a no-doubt-about-it shot into the bleachers in right field. Martis would get the final two outs of the inning, but was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the third, ending his shortest stint in his brief major league career. His final numbers were pretty ugly: three innings, six earned runs, five hits, two walks, three home runs and four strikeouts. Martis, 21, is now 0-3 in three starts with a 6.23 ERA.

The Mets added solo runs in the fourth and sixth innings to take an 8-1 lead before the Nats bats woke up and began the comeback against a parade of Mets relievers. In the bottom of the sixth, facing Ricardo Rincon, pinch hitter Alberto Gonzales singled home 2B Emilio Bonifacio, who had earlier doubled. Elijah Dukes crushed a two-run home run off Brian Stokes down the line in left field in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to 8-5. Beltran his second of the night, his 26th of the season, in the eighth off reliever Charlie Manning, making the score 9-5. Aaron Heilman actually held the Nats scoreless in the eighth, although he gave up a double and single to start the inning, and the Nats found themselves down four starting the ninth.

Manager Jerry Manual called on side-arming Joe Smith to open the ninth against Milledge who found himself safe at first on David Wright's throwing error. Dukes drew a walk, putting two on with no outs. Manual lifted Smith in favor of Pedro Feliciano to face Anderson Hernandez, and Feliciano induced a hard ground ball to first baseman Delgado, who made a nifty back-hand stop to get the speedy Hernandez by half a step for the first out. Were the ball two feet more to Delgado's right, he never would have touched it and we might have witnessed a different ending. But they say baseball is a game of inches, and that axiom was no more applicable than last night.

Feliciano went on to get Bonifacio to tap a come-backer to the mound for the second out, and the Nats found themselves with backs to the wall once again. But catcher Wil Nieves was undaunted. After taking two strikes, he settled into the batter's box and found a pitch he finally liked, and he drilled it to the gap in right center, scoring Milledge and Dukes from second base, giving Nats fans a few more gasps of air and bringing the tying run to the plate.

Manager Manny Acta announced Luke Montz as the pinch-hitter for pitcher Garrett Mock, and Manual countered with his de facto closer, former long-time Washington National Luis Ayala. Acta called Montz back and got lefty-swinging Roger Bernadina off the bench to face Ayala. Bernadina worked Ayala into a 2-2 count, but the crafty veteran put one up in the zone that the youngster couldn't lay off, and when Bernadina swung through for strike three, Ayala pounced off the mound with a fist pump and beaming smile.

Ayala was no doubt proud about delivering the Mets a much needed victory against his former team and relief -- albeit temporary -- for their own relief corp.

The finale of the four-game set is Thursday night at 7:10 pm, in a match-up of squad aces. Tim Redding (10-9, 4.54) matches up with Johan Santana (13-7, 2.70).

NATS NOTES: Washington falls to 58-94, 27 games behind Philadelphia in the N.L. East. The Nats are ahead of Seattle and San Diego one-half game for the worst record in the majors. The Nats need to go 5-5 in their final 10 games to avoid 100 losses.

The team announced that RF Austin Kearns, C Jesus Flores, 2B Ronnie Belliard and 1B Dmitri Young will all be shut down and will not appear again in 2008.

GM Jim Bowden and Assistant GM Mike Rizzo will appear Friday at noon at the ESPN Zone in downtown DC for a Q&A with fans. Radio broadcaster Charlie Slowes will be the moderator.

GB&U: Close But No Cigar

2008-09-17T13:01:00.012-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose to Mets 9-7.

GOOD: Wil Nieves. 3-for-5, two run single in ninth inning to bring up tying run. Elijah Dukes. Monster 2-run shot to left, his 13th of the year. Emilio! 2-for-5 with a run and RBI. Kory Casto with two hits and an RBI. Guzman had two more hits, raising his average to .315.

BAD: Zim, 0-for-4 again. Bullpen. Bergmann, Speigner and Manning each give up a run already trailing in the game. If ANY of them do their jobs, the Nats would have had a chance last night.

UGLY: Shairon Martis. I know he's just 21, and he was rushed into this here at the end of the year due to Bergmann's stinking up the joint (Fire Jim Bowden and I see opposite sides of this issue). But Martis was awful from the start. His fastball had no movement and his other pitches were just dull. He needs at least another full year in AA honing his other pitches so on the nights when he doesn't have his good stuff he can get hitters out. His line: 3 IP, 6 ERs, 5 hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks, 3 HRs.

INJURY UPDATE: From the Nats Redundancy Department of Redundancy: Kearns, Flores, Belliard and Young all shut down for the year.

NEXT GAME: Tonight for game four at 7:10 pm. A match-up of "aces". Tim Redding (10-9, 4.54) faces Johan Santana (13-7, 2.70).

Poor Jason Bergmann

2008-09-17T13:01:00.010-04:00

Sources tell me that at the ESPN Zone function today where Jason Bergmann appeared, took fan questions and signed autographs, only five Nats fans showed up. Bergy's had his share of disappointments this season, but this had to be tough today.

This is the first of these lunchtime events I've missed, and usually there's been 50-75 people in attendance. Granted, these were all while school was still out, and despite public reports, brought all types of fans out to the event. Maybe Mr. Oppenheim was closer to the truth than I was willing to admit.

GM Jim Bowden and Ass't GM Mike Rizzo are scheduled to appear Friday at ESPN Zone as previously mentioned (with fake transcript) here. It promises to be must-see tv. I wouldn't miss it for the world. And if only five people come out for that, then that just means more face time for me!

GB&U: METS-KILLERS!!!

2008-09-17T13:01:00.006-04:00

RESULT: Nats shut out Mets 1-0. Mets fall from first place!

GOOD: Odalis Perez. 7.1 IP, 0 runs, 4 hits, walks, 7 Ks. Outstanding. Even scored the only run of the game. Mike Hinckley and Joel Hanrahan were perfect.

BAD: The Nats only got one run themselves. Zim had a particularly rough night, going 0-for-4 and stranding 5 runners.

UGLY: Man, are the Mets in trouble. Manager Jerry Manuel had a 15 minute closed-door meeting pre-game, and then they go out and get shut out by Odalis Perez. Injury to insult, they lose Fernando Tatis to a separated shoulder. He's done for the year.

NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:10 for game three of four. Nats rookie Shairon Martis (0-2, 2.70) takes on Mets rookie Brandon Knight (0-0, 6.43). Knight is a 33 year old rookie that sepnt most of his summer playing for the U.S. Olympic team. I think enough is said there.

Perez, Nats Blank Mets 1-0

2008-09-17T13:01:00.001-04:00

Washington -- The Washington Nationals are again proving to be the Achilles' heel to the New York Mets in a pennant race. After giving the Mets so much trouble last season during the Mets now-famous collapse to fall out of the playoffs, the Nats are up to it again. Washington has now defeated the Mets two straight games, including Tuesday night's 1-0 shut out by Odalis Perez and company, and have knocked the once division-leadings New Yorkers from first place in the N.L. East. Philadelphia beat Atlanta, moving a half-game in front of the slumping Mets for the first time since August 26.

Perez was simply outstanding on the mound -- and in the batter's box -- for the home team last night. He went seven and one-third shut out innings, allowing only four hits and walking no one, striking out six. The Mets scratched out just four singles, two of which were back-to-back pinch-hits in the eighth inning.

At that point, Manager Manny Acta went to rookie reliever Mike Hinckley, who forced SS Jose Reyes to bounce into a fielder's choice and struck out Ryan Church to end the threat. Hinckley has yet to allow a run in his first nine major league innings pitched. Joel Hanrahan pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his ninth save of the season, striking out two. Perez (W, 7-10, 4.26), the veteran left-hander signed right before the season, retired thirteen in a row at one point and did not allow a runner to advance past second base. It was his longest outing since 2005.

"He had the best command of the season so far," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "He threw every one of his pitches for strikes. He was able to stop the middle of the lineup. He was just tremendous."

Mike Pelfrey (13-10, 3.67) was the hard luck loser for the Mets. He went seven innings, allowing one run on seven hits and four walks, striking out four.

The lone run of the game came in the fifth inning. With two down already, Perez lashed a soft liner to left center field, which LF Fernando Tatis dove for and missed, allowing the ball to get by and Perez to trot into second base with a double. Tatis would stay down in tremendous pain, and was helped off by members of the Mets training staff. He separated his right shoulder on the play, and will miss the rest of the season. When play resumed, Pelfrey walked lead-off hitter Willie Harris. As he's done all season long, SS Cristian Guzman came up with a big hit, delivering a ground rule double into the Mets bullpen to score the only run needed for the evening.

Harris would save that lead in the top of the sixth, as he made an outstanding Willie Mays-style catch with his back to home plate off a drive to left by David Wright with two out and two on. "It was a great play," Wright said. "But we needed to do a better job of putting more pressure on them in more innings, not just having one opportunity and have that make or break the game."

For the Mets, memories of last season's collapse -- especially losses to the lowly Nationals -- have to be creeping back into their consciousness.

Wednesday night is game three of the four game set. Nats rookie Shairon Martis (0-2, 2.70) takes on Mets rookie Brandon Knight (0-0, 6.43). Knight made one start in July for the Mets, and has made two subsequent relief appearances. This is a spot start, as Friday's rainout pushed Johan Santana's regular turn off. Knight pitched for the U.S. Olympic Team in Beijing this summer. Martis makes his third start for the Nats.

NATS NOTES: The win raises the Nats record to 58-93, 26 games behind Philadelphia in the division. The win also moves Washington out of the worst record in the majors, one half-game ahead of Seattle.

GB&U: Collar Tightening Again For Mets?

2008-09-15T23:58:00.005-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat Mets 7-2 behind gem from John Lannan.

GOOD: Lannan. Seven innings, one run, one hit. He was simply awesome. He scattered three walks amongst seven strikeouts. He did not allow more than one base runner in any inning, and he had four 1-2-3 innings, including the last two he pitched. So much for hitting a wall.

BAD: David Wright. I don't usually mention opponents in the GB&U, but Wright merits exception. He was 0-for-4 with 2 Ks and grounded into a potential rally-killing double play in the top of the eighth.

UGLY: We'll stick with the theme here: Pedro Martinez. Wow, is this the same guy Nats fans so lustily booed several years ago when he was head-hunting at RFK that night? Petey gave up 8 hits and 4 BBs in 6 IP, with just 3 Ks. It's kinda amazing he only gave up four runs. I think the Mets are in trouble again.

NEXT GAME: Tomorrow night. The Nats try to knock the Mets from first place AGAIN, as New York clings perilously to a half-game lead over the suddenly red-hot Phillies. The four-game series continues as Odalis Perez (6-10, 4.48) and the Nats try to play spoiler against Mike Pelfrey (13-9, 3.77) and the Mets.

Stock Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008

Lannan Tosses Gem, Beats Mets 7-2

2008-09-15T23:51:00.002-04:00

Washington -- Washington National rookie starter John Lannan has pitched in his share of bad luck this season, considering that he has been one of the better pitchers for a team that is last in most batting statistics. But Monday night, facing a team that currently leads the N.L. East, Lannan took matters into his own hands, allowing only one hit and one earned run over seven innings, and the beleaguered Nationals bullpen suffered no repeat of Sunday's collapse, holding on for the 7-2 victory over the New York Mets before 21,759 patrons at Nationals Park.

Lannan (W, 9-13, 3.97) had struggled a little bit of late, but was sharp from the very beginning on this beautiful evening for baseball. The game time temperature was 77, and dipped to the low 70s with a light breeze by the middle innings. By that point, Lannan was well in control of the game. He scattered three walks, and struck out seven, including all-star 3B David Wright and the resurgent 1B Carlos Delgado twice each. Lannan has three 1-2-3 innings, including the sixth and seventh, showing his team that he does indeed have the strength to pitch deep into a meaningful game. He threw 59 of his 97 pitches for strikes, and left after the seventh to a standing ovation from the Nats faithful.

Offensively, Washington was paced by 2B Anderson Hernandez' two-run double in the sixth inning and Elijah Dukes' three-run shot in the eighth, his twelfth of the season. Ryan Zimmerman and Aaron Boone both drove in runs, Lastings Milledge went 3-for-4 with two runs and a stolen base, and all-star SS Cristian Guzman added two more hits.

The defense even chipped in with an outstanding diving catch by Willie Harris in left field, robbing OF Fernando Tatis of a hit, and two double plays, none bigger than in the top of the eighth, as Michael Hinckley, who has yet to surrender a run in seven and two-thirds innings since his call-up, got Wright to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to quash any chance of a Mets comeback.

But John Lannan's progression from draft pick to prospect to rotation mainstay was the story of the night. His development remains one of the main topics of what otherwise has been mostly a season of disappointment for the Washington Nationals and their fans as they challenge for the worst record in the major leagues.

The four-game series continues Tuesday night, as Odalis Perez (6-10, 4.48) and the Nats try to play spoiler against Mike Pelfrey (13-9, 3.77) and the Mets, who find themselves perilously close to another late-season division lead collapse.

NATS NOTES: The win puts the Nats record at 57-93. Washington is 26.5 games behind the Mets in the division, who now are only one-half game ahead of suddenly red-hot Philadelphia. The Nats are one-half game "ahead" of both Seattle and San Diego for the worst record in baseball.

GB&U: Wow. What Else Can You Say?

2008-09-14T21:01:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose 8-7 to Marlins. Losing streak at 5 games.

GOOD: Collin Balestar. The rookie starter took a no-hitter into the sixth, and his line was impressive: 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, 3 BBs, 5 Ks.

BAD: The Line-up. Manny decided to go with an almost completely rookie line-up, save for Zim, Langerhans and I guess Milledge doesn't count anymore either. The rooks built a lead that should have held up though, leading 6-1 entering the bottom of the 8th inning.

UGLY: The Aforementioned Eighth Inning. The Nats have had some ugly innings this year to be sure, but tonight probably took the cake. Four different pitchers gave up 7 runs (6 earned) on 7 hits and 4 walks, including back-to-back walks to start the inning by Saul Rivera and Manning's walk of Paul LoDuca on 5 pitches. Then, Hanrahan threw one away when no one covered first base on a bunt hit. The very definition of ugly.

NEXT GAME: Tomorrow night the Nats host the Mets at 7:10 pm. John Lannan (8-13) faces Pedro Martinez (5-4). Come out and boo the Mets with me. Seriously, I know it's football season, but if you're reading this, make the effort to come out tomorrow night. I'll be in Section 131, Row SS right on the aisle with three empty seats. First round's on me.

GB&U: Quiet 2-1 Loss

2008-09-12T21:50:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose to Marlins 2-1.

GOOD: Shairon Martis. Five innings, two hits, three walks, one earned run, nine strikeouts.
Wee Willie Harris went 2-for-3 with a walk.

BAD: Cristian Guzman. 0-for-4, two left on base, and a throwing error that resulted in the winning run scoring.

UGLY: Fifteen individual runners left on base. Example A on why the Nats need a to get a slugger in the line-up. They just have trouble stringing base hits together to score runs.

NEXT GAME: Tomorrow. 7:10 pm from Dolphin Stadium. Tim Redding faces Josh Johnson.

Dukes Issues Apology

2008-09-12T19:11:00.004-04:00

Courtesy of Nats Journal:

"I just wanted to apologize to my teammates and the Nationals organization and the fans for my actions in the game Wednesday. It was wrong. I basically let my emotions just get the best of me. You know, it was just tough for me to take in what I had to endure, basically, and I just shouldn't have did it and it was wrong. I wanted to apologize about it, because you know, I talked to Jim Bowden and Manny Acta and I let them know that I apologize for it, and I'll try not to let it happen again. And for my teammates especially, I just want to apologize again to them for my actions."

Appropriate. Contrite. Consice.

Since Boz Brought It Up...

2008-09-12T13:58:00.007-04:00

I wasn't going to continue on about the Dukes incident from Wednesday's game. Plenty of others have already fanned the flames on the continuing saga of Elijah Dukes and his episode in New York Wednesday night.

Now The Washington Post's esteemed veteran columnist, Tom Boswell, has chimed in with his opinion, presumably since there are no more swim meets to write about.

First of all, what would Boz know about being toxic in the Nats clubhouse? This is only the second time this summer he's written about the Nats. The Natosphere's long-term criticism of the Post coverage (of lack thereof) for the Nationals is an exhausted subject, including in this space. But Boz takes the cake in today's column, offering conflicting views about who Dukes is, how he acts and how he reacts to events.

In one breath, Boz admits,

In a season of boredom and disappointment, Dukes has been, by far, the best reason to watch the Nats. In their search for core pieces of their future, youngsters Lastings Milledge, Jesús Flores and John Lannan have shown promise, but hardly greatness. Others, including Collin Balester, Emilio Bonifacio and Joel Hanrahan, are on the horizon. But besides Zimmerman, Dukes stands alone.

But then, as if Boz himself has his finger on the pulse of the clubhouse, decrees,

When he smiles, or connects with a fastball, electricity hits his team and you can see the vague outline of a future. But when he beats his chest after a walk-off walk, infuriating the pitcher, or glares at the home plate ump as his walk-off home run is still leaving the park, the Nationals' room grows darker.

Conflicting statements about Dukes are hardly new. Even his own teammates are divided on the issue. Chico Harlan, in his story about the Wednesday's game, offered quotes by Zimmerman, Milledge and Acta, and each had a different reaction to the unpleasantness. But what bothered me in Harlan's gamer was how he seemingly pitted Zim's comments against what Milledge said, and both comments were played down by Acta's statement. In the presentation, it's like Harlan was TRYING to create a rift.

The Post has been timid in it's coverage of Dukes, however, compared to his hometown paper, the St. Pete Times. While a profile of a troubled athlete is a legitimate story, is it necessary to append that article with a list of birthdays, mother's names, and gender of his children? Isn't that just the least bit inflammatory? And forget about the treatment Wednesday's dust-up got in the New York papers. Sensationalism at its finest. You'd think after reading some of these articles, Dukes was the second coming of Edi Amin, Hitler and Kublai Khan all rolled into one. At least the ESPN.com games story mentions the histrionics where it belonged, at the bottom of the article.

With the constant undertones of subliminal racism permeating the media coverage of Dukes, it's no wonder the kid has an over-reaching and potentially dangerous sense of "prove them wrong" mentality. It's obviously what drives him on a daily basis, makes him the ballplayer that he is, but ultimately could drive him from the game and society.

It's true Dukes brings this on himself. Ultimately, it's him and him alone that will -- or won't -- change the public's perception of him. Boz counsels Dukes in his closing paragraph,

The choice is clear. Soon, Dukes has to grow up. Not totally, but enough. Adults adapt. Elijah, you have to be the one to change, because the game, like the world, never will.

Seems like someone that uses redemption as motivation would only use the word "change" as more fuel to the fire. What Dukes did the other night was nothing to warrant investigation, suspension or public reprimand, even if it happened on a once-a-week basis. Dukes knew, when he was hit with a 3-2 change-up to load the bases, that it wasn't intentional. He took his base without incident and the game went on. If he has to change anything, he just has to get used to getting hit. Cause if you're gonna blow a kiss or thump your chest toward the opponent's dugout, you're gonna get knocked down.

Stay classy Elijah. Don't hear the word "change", think "adapt". Celebrate in the clubhouse. Don't let your emotion motivate your opponent. Let your immense talent do your chest-thumping and kiss blowing for you. Others went through worse. Live long enough to become a nuisance.

Stock Photos (c) C. Nichols 2008.

GB&U: 18 Is Not Enough

2008-09-11T12:48:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose to Mets 13-10.

GOOD: Cristian Guzman. First career two home run game. 5 RBIs. Elijah Dukes. Home run, did not take Pelfrey's head off after the beaning.

BAD: Opening Day Odalis Perez. Yuck. I won't even type his numbers. Joel Hanrahan. Another home run allowed. Sa-ool Rivera. The season can't end fast enough for him. He's throwing meatballs up there right now.

UGLY: Dukes taunting the Mets fans. I'm going to say this slowly so everyone knows where I stand: This...has...got...to...stop. I am the biggest unabashed Dukes fan around here, I think the kid can hit 40 home runs (sorry if I'm propounding Bill Ladson-like hyperbole here). But he has to know that his actions last night night were wrong and irresponsible.

INJURY UPDATE: Flores tried to do some simple drills pre-game and had to stop. He ain't coming back this year, it would be foolhardy to think and prepare otherwise.

NEXT GAME: Second off-day this week today. Nats start a three-game series with the Marlins Friday. If you play a Major League baseball game, and no one is there to see it, does it still count in the standings?

Nats Pitching Wastes Power Surge; Lose to Mets 13-10

2008-09-11T12:46:00.002-04:00

Queens -- There have not been many instances where the Washington Nationals have hit three home runs in one game this season, let alone lose a game in which they accomplished the feat. But that's the exact scenario that played out before 52,431 screaming New York Mets fans Wednesday night at Shea Stadium, as the Nats fell 13-10 to the division leaders.

For the second night in a row at the soon to be replaced and demolished Shea, the Nats fought back from a large deficit and scored more runs than their season average, only to be ultimately thwarted in their efforts to play spoiler to the contending Mets. Cristian Guzman continued--and added to--his amazing run at the plate, smacking two home runs and driving in five on yet another three-hit night. His "slash" numbers (batting average, on-base average and slugging average) are all at full single season career highs at .314/.344/.445, and he now has nine home runs and 52 RBIs for the season.

The Nats also got a long home run by Elijah Dukes, his eleventh (2-for-4, 2 runs), who taunted the crowd on his way around the bases and then at the dugout, blowing kisses to the Queens faithful. Dukes later would be brushed back and have words with Mets starter Mike Pelfrey, and in a subsequent at bat, hit by Pelfrey on a 3-2 count.

"Some people react different than other ones," Manager Manny Acta said of Dukes. "It's very common after a homer to get pitched inside. I think we'll let it go at that."

Washington totaled ten runs on eleven hits and five walks, and on a normal night, that might have been enough for victory. But David Wright led the Mets on a thirteen hit, eight walk evening of their own, as he went 4-for-4 with a walk, home run, three RBIs and four runs scored. Wright, almost forgotten in New York with the re-emergence of 1B Carlos Delgado, is hitting .296 with 28 HRs and 109 RBIs for the Metropolitans. OFs Carlos Beltran and Fernando Tatis each added three hits and two RBIs as well, and former Nat Brian Schneider chipped in with a two-run single in what would be the deciding seventh inning.

The Nationals found themselves down early in the game, due to a season's worst outing by starter Odalis Perez. Perez surrendered an RBI single to Beltran in the first inning, got through the second unscathed but then completely collapsed in the third. Perez struck out his opponent, Pelfrey, to start -- and finish -- the inning, an indication of just how bad it was. With one out, SS Jose Reyes singled to center, then stole second base ahead of Ryan Church's base on balls. Wright knocked in Reyes and moved Church to third with a single up the middle. Beltran took Perez' second pitch to deep left center for a double, scoring Church and advancing Wright to third base. Perez intentionally walks Delgado to get to Tatis, and the surprisingly resurgent outfielder made him pay, as he crushed one to deep left center for a double as well, plating Wright and Beltran. Second baseman Damion Easley finished the carnage, singling to left field, scoring Delgado and Tatis.

Just like that, the Nats trailed 7-1. Perez would complete the inning, but not return for the fourth. He allowed seven runs -- six earned -- on eight hits and three walks. But as poorly as he pitched, he did not take the loss.

The resilient Nats scored a single run in the fourth on a Wil Nieves ground out, three in the fifth inning courtesy of a Ryan Zimmerman ground out and Kory Casto two-run single, and two in the sixth inning on Guzman's two-run shot to right field to take Perez off the hook and tie the game.

Unfortunately, Saul Rivera (L, 5-6, 3.68) gave the lead right back in the bottom of the seventh, allowing consecutive singles to Wright and Beltran, Delgado's sacrifice fly, and Schneider's bases loaded, two out, two run single. The score was 11-7 entering the eighth inning, but the visitors were still undaunted. Aaron Boone hit a one out single to left center and Emilio Bonifacio walked, setting up Cristian Guzman's second home run of the night, a deep blast to right field just in front of the Big Red Apple that looms over right field. With just one out though, the Nats could not extend the rally, as Zimmerman flied out and Milledge grounded to third to go to the bottom of the inning still trailing by one.

The score didn't stand there long though. With Joel Hanrahan on the mound, Church drew a five pitch pass and Wright, capping his perfect evening, took a 2-2 fastball to deep left center, and all left fielder Roger Bernadina could do was watch it leave the park. Luis Ayala entered for the Mets, and recorded his second 1-2-3 save in as many nights for New York, his seventh in eight attempts since the trade.

The recent scoring outburst has to be a harbinger of good things toward next season, but the disappointment of scoring 18 runs in two games --with two losses to show for it -- was evident in the Washington dugout following the final out.

Washington is off on Thursday before starting a three-game series in Miami against the Florida Marlins. Friday's starters are expected to be Shairon Martis (0-1, 3.60) and Scott Olson (6-10, 4.41).

NATS NOTES: The loss drops Washington to 56-90. San Diego lost as well, so the teams remain tied for the worst record in the Major Leagues. Seattle won, and is now three games ahead of both teams in the loss column.

C Jesus Flores tested his sprained ankle before the game, and was still in a considerable amount of pain doing the simplest drills, such as playing catch. The team will not rush his return, Acta said.

Stock Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008

State of the Nationals?

2008-09-10T16:49:00.005-04:00

http://www.espnzone.com/washingtondc/

Mark your calendars for Friday, September 19th at 12 p.m., and join us at ESPN Zone for the 2008 State of the Nationals address.

Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden and Assistant GM and VP of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo will address the Nationals’ current season, the Nats’ off-season plans, and the organization’s ongoing development. Fans will be invited to ask questions of Bowden and Rizzo throughout the event, gaining insight in the future of the hometown team.

Boy, oh boy, oh boy. I can't wait for this. Dead men know no fear? I have to imagine EVERYONE from the Natosphere will be in attendance. Here's a little excerpt from the possible transcript:

Charlie Slowes: OK, let's open it up to some questions. In the back here...

Bottomfeeder Baseball: Jim, do you understand how foolish you looked in the Manny Ramirez wig?

Charlie: BANG, ZOOM! Let's get another one...

Fire Jim Bowden: Jim, do you like my t-shirt?

Charlie: UN-BEE-LIEVABLE!!! Next...

We've Got Heart: Jim, did you know that Luis Ayala has a win and six saves in seven tries for a division leading team, and he was passed over for the closer's job here--TWICE???

Charlie: How about one from the kids:

Dancing Boy: Mr Rizzo, Will you be our new G.M.?

Charlie: Oops. How about another one from our younger fans?

Fick Fans: Mr. Bowden, you broke our hearts. BRING BACK FICK!!!

Charlie: BANG, ZOOM! One more...

Nats 320: Jim, I have an Unofficial Poll of all the readers of My Blog and EVERYONE is re-upping their Season's Tickets. By the way, can I have the African Queen pose with you for a picture?

Charlie: Does anyone have a question for Mike? Over here...

NFA: Say the team did sign Aaron Crow. Would he have been assigned to one of the GCL teams, Vermont, Potomac, Hagerstown, Harrisburg, Columbus or Washington? Would he have played in the Instructional League? The Arizona Fall League? Or one of the Latin American Winter Leagues?

Charlie: WOW! Any more? OK, over here...

Mr. Irrelevant: Isn't the Redskins pre-game on yet?

Charlie: Yikes! That's all the time we have for today folks. Let's go get another Curly W for the books!!!

Next Friday cannot come soon enough. See you all there!

Gopher Balls Bury Nats; Lose 10-8 to Mets

2008-09-10T13:39:00.000-04:00

QUEENS -- The New York Mets are in a tightly contested battle for first place in the N.L. East with the Philadelphia Phillies, and the loser will probably miss out on the post-season. The Washington Nationals are in a close battle of their own for the worst record in baseball. With last night's 10-8 victory by the Mets, one team inched closer to their goal; the other fell closer to ignominy.

Taken at face value, Tuesday night's game could be seen as a microcosm of the season for the Nats: some good things, some very bad, some fight and ultimately, disappointment. The Mets rode a fourteen-hit attack, including four home runs, to out-muscle their division brethren. And while the Nats had eight runs and twelve base hits of their own, only two were of the extra-base variety, and they could not scrape enough together to pull even in the end.

Neither starter was sharp for their teams and both had left the game by the fourth inning. Nats starter John Lannan allowed five earned runs on eight hits -- including two home runs -- and one walk, striking out only two. His ERA for the season rose to 4.09, the first time it's been over four runs per game since April 17, his third game of the season against these same Mets. His counterpart, Oliver Perez, was worse. In three and one-third innings, he surrendered seven earned runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out only three. But a parade of relief pitchers held the Nats mostly in check, culminating with former National Luis Ayala shutting the door on any comeback attempt, as he recorded a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to secure his sixth save in seven tries since being acquired by the Mets for 2B Anderson Hernandez in a waiver trade in mid-August.

Ayala has been nearly perfect for the Mets. Including Tuesday night's save, he has allowed earned runs in just two of his eleven appearances for the Mets, earning a victory and six saves. In eleven innings, he has given up ten hits and just one walk, striking out eight, including Elijah Dukes looking in the ninth inning. The Mets learned on Monday that their all-star closer, Billy Wagner, will be shelved the remainder of this season and most of 2009 due to ligament replacement surgery on his left (pitching) elbow. So Ayala will continue to perform in the job for a contender that he was passed over for -- twice -- by a cellar-dweller.

Carlos Delgado, left for dead earlier in the season, has been carrying the Mets offensively most of the late summer, and he did it again last night. Delgado finished 3-for-3, with two home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored. It was his fourth multi-homer game in his past thirteen games. After the second homer, many of the 50,382 chanted "MVP, MVP" as Delgado circled the bases. For the season, the Mets 1B has accumulated 35 home runs and 103 RBIs.

"It's great to be able to contribute," Delgado said. "It's great to be able to help the team. I think we've got a great club. It's a great race. It's awesome."

Ryan Church contributed his twelfth home run, a two-run shot, and Carlos Beltran added a solo shot directly ahead of Delgado's second home run of the evening in the sixth inning against Nats reliever Charlie Manning (L, 1-3, 5.20).
Washington received their offense from familiar--and not so familiar--sources. Cristian Guzman continued his terrific 2008 campaign, going 2-for-5 with his seventh home run, two RBIs and two runs scored. Second baseman Hernandez, trying to punish the Mets for trading him, went 2-for-5 as well, driving in three and scoring two from the lead-off spot.

But all things being equal, the Mets were perfectly happy having Ayala to close out this victory as they take a two and one-half game lead over the Phillies for the right to represent the N.L. East in the playoffs. And the Nats have to take solace in a young player having a good game in defeat, in another lost season.

Wednesday's game features Odalis Perez (6-10, 4.19) and Mike Pelfrey (13-9, .62) on the hill.

Game time is 7:10 pm from Shea Stadium.

NATS NOTES: The Nationals fall to 56-89 with seventeen games to play and are 25.5 games behind the Mets in the N.L. East. After play Tuesday night, Washington is tied with San Diego for the worst record in the Major Leagues with a .386 winning percentage. Seattle is two games ahead of both in the loss column, having played two fewer games.

3B Ryan Zimmerman went 3-for-5 with an RBI to raise his season average to .286. RP Michael Hinckley, called up when rosters expanded, threw another shutout inning and has not allowed a run in five appearances since his recall, covering five and one-third innings.

GB&U: Not Enough In the End

2008-09-09T22:42:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats lost to Mets 10-8.

GOOD: Anderson Hernandez. Trying to make the Mets regret trading him, Hernandez went 2-for-5 in the lead-off spot with 3 RBIs. Guz went 2-for-5 with a homer and 2 RBIs. He's back up to .311. Zim continues to hit, going 3-for-5 with a ribbie. Zim's up to .286.

BAD: John Lannan. 3 IP, 5 ERs on 8 hits and a walk. Location, location, location. He couldn't hit his spots, and aiming them over resulted in a plethora of hard hits, including 2 of the Mets four homers on the night.

UGLY: Bullpen. Estrada gave up two earned in one-third of an inning. Manning gave up two solo shots in two-thirds. Bergmann gave up one earned in one inning. Not very good.

NEXT GAME: Wednesday at 7:10 pm from Shea Stadium. Odalis Perez (6-10) versus Mike Pelfrey (13-9).

A Little Light Reading: Next Year?

2008-09-08T16:44:00.005-04:00

One of our favorite fellow bloggers had his take on what the team may look like next year, and while it may be a little early for that, I figured on the off-day it might a fun exercise. I won't critique his work, because every one is entitled to His Own Opinion, but I'll offer my thoughts, and most of these were expressed trading e-mails today with some other brilliant baseball minds.

The biggest decision during the off-season is not one of player personnel, but one of front office personnel. Whether the team retains Jim Bowden as GM is the biggest question facing this organization. That said, Let's Speculate!

OUTFIELD: We're almost certain to see a Dukes-Milledge-Kearns outfield next year to start, with Harris and Pena as back-ups. Pena has a player option which he's certainly take, and the team will at least try to see if the injury he hid all season was to blame for his poor play. They just won't throw $2M away. Harris is not under contract for next year and is arbitration eligible, and players of his sort (4th OFs having career years) are typically not the kind that rebuilding teams should be clogging their system with. That said; a) this team has a history or doing just that, and b) with so many questions in the OF, he's probably a pretty good investment, unless he costs Guzman money.

INFIELD: We're looking at Johnson and Young (both crutches) at first, Bonifacio at 2B, Guzman at SS and Zim at 3B. All these guys are under contract, there's no one in the minors pushing them and the team has already gone on record saying they aren't going to chase big-time free agents, nor should they at this point. Then I think they'll keep Belliard and Gonzalez as utility players. Gonzalez is a legitimate defensive wizard with a cannon, and will be invaluable providing middle infield defense in the late innings. As long as they don't have to ask him to swing the bat all that often. Anderson Hernandez is a spare part, and will stay warm in Triple-A (wherever that may be next year) in case of injury.

CATCHER: Pretty simple: Jesus Flores and Wil Nieves, or some other veteran catch-and-throw guy (think Gary Bennett-types). Flores' development is one of the few bright points this season, and he just needs to keep playing to keep getting better.

OTHERS: That's 14 position players right there, probably one too many. It may come down to Gonzalez' glove over Belliard's bat, Young or Johnson's infirmary, or the team willing to eat $2 to rid themselves of Pena. Boone, Casto, Langerhans, Orr = phooey. I don't think any of those guys get a contract. They don't particularly merit one. Bernadina needs another minor league year seeing AAA pitching

STARTERS: It's a complete crap shoot for pitching, starters and relievers. Who knows what the rotation looks like other than John Lannan and perhaps Collin Balestar? Redding isn't under contract, can they keep him for the $1M he cost this year? Do they try to bring back Perez? He stayed relatively healthy and relatively productive. They clearly don't see Bergmann, Estrada or Mock as long-time starters. Do they reach for a low priced free agent? Maybe so. I'll guess Redding, Perez, Lannan, Balestar, Low Priced Free Agent.

BULLPEN: Who knows? Can Chief come back? Will Wagner's velocity return? Will Rivera's arm fall off? Here's a throw it against the wall guess: Hanrahan, Rivera, Manning, Shell, Mock, Bergmann and someone not on the roster right now, perhaps another lefty. I think Cordero starts on the DL, and Wagner, Colome and Speigner are all non-tendered.

BOTTOM(FEEDER) LINE: Until the albatrosses of Johnson, Meathook and Kearns are gone, this team is going to be stuck in the bottom third of the league. Hopefully the draft picks of the last three years turn out to produce major league players and the progress is quicker than that, but most of the talent is still 2-3 years away. Next year may look an awful lot like this year, with hopefully fewer long losing streaks due to a more consistent line-up.

Let's just hope Dukes stays out of trouble this winter and he and Zimmerman play a whole year next year. That could be exciting. Dukes is really starting to look like the player scouts have been saying for three years he could become and Zim finally looks like he's healthy again.

And when/if we start seeing some of this pitching talent in the lower levels finally start trickling up to Nationals Park, then, and only then, will the front office (whoever may be in charge by then), be ready to fill the holes with a free agent here or there.

GB&U: Extra Innings, Extra Effort Over the Weekend

2008-09-08T11:29:00.004-04:00

RESULT: Nats take two from Braves over weekend; Saturday 8-5 in 10 innings, Sunday 7-4 in 14 innings.

GOOD: Saturday -- Elijah Dukes! 4-for-5, 2 HRs, 3 RBIs, 2 runs. Ryan Zimmerman. 2-for-5, HR, 2 RBIs, 2 runs. Guz! Ho-hum, two more hits. Ryan Langerhans! Pinch-hit homer in the 10th. Wee Willie also hit his 13th homer of the season.

Sunday -- Dukes! 1-for-7 (ouch), but three-run double in top of the 14th. Boy, Oh Boy Alberto Gonzalez. 3-for-4 with a walk, his first home run and 3 RBIs! THE BULLPEN!!! 8 innings of shut out ball, including five in extra innings. Very solid.

BAD: Saturday -- Joel Hanrahan. The dreaded "blown-save-win". 3 hits and 2 walks in one inning allowing two earned runs. He got bailed out by Langerhans, et al.

Sunday -- Collin Balestar. There will be days like these. 11 hits and 2 BBs in just six innings. Pretty amazing he only gave up four earned with that many base runners.

UGLY: Saturday -- Emilio! 0-for-5. Haven't had too many of those lately though, as his average is up to .254 including the O-fer.

Sunday -- Luke Montz. Sorry kid. 0-for-7, five runners stranded. There's an underlying reason he wasn't a prospect entering the season.

NEXT GAME: Off on Monday, the guys can probably use the rest. Tuesday it's up to New York to face the suddenly struggling Mets. Opening Day Odalis Perez (6-10, 4.14) faces some guy named Jonathon Niese (0-0, 15.00 in 3 IP).

GB&U: Hammered in Atlanta

2008-09-06T14:45:00.004-04:00

RESULT: Nats pounded by the Braves 10-5.

GOOD: Kory Casto. He went 3-for-5 hitting in the clean-up spot. Good for him. Bad for the Nats that Casto has to hit 4th in a weaker than normal line-up (no Milledge, no Dukes).

BAD: Marco Estrada. Ponch was just merely bad, giving up two earned in 2.2 IPs on 3 hits and 2 BBs.

UGLY: Jason Bergmann. If he wants to stay in the rotation, he's doing a lousy job of it. He managed only 7 outs last night, allowing 7 ERs on 5 hits and 3 BBs, including walking two straight to load the bases and giving up a hit to the Braves starter. His indignancy after the game adds to the problem.

"I was extremely [upset]," Bergmann said. "I don't want to have the whole year ruined on a couple of bad starts here at the end."

Those are the words of a guy that doesn't realize how bad he's been and how much he's been hurting the team his last few starts.

NEXT GAME: Tonight in Game 2. Tim Redding (10-8, 4.55) against Mike Hampton (2-2, 5.67).

GB&U: Shut Out Again

2008-09-05T12:55:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats shut out by Braves debut pitcher 2-0.

GOOD: Ronnie Belliard. If indeed his groin injury shelves him for the rest of the season, he went out on a good note, going 3-for-3. For the season he is hitting .287/.372/.473 with 11 homers, 46 RBIs and 3 SBs. Shairon Martis. It may be his only start of the season, but it went pretty well, despite walking the bases loaded in the fourth. His line was 5 IP, 2 ERs, 4 hits, 5 BBs and 2 Ks. The bullpen. Mock, Manning, Shell and (gasp) Speigner combined for three innings of one-hit baseball.

BAD: Cristian Guzman. Even in a great year, you'll have a stinker. Guz went 0-3 with 3 Ks.

UGLY: Belliard's Injury. He's been very dependable this season, and a real trooper playing wherever Manny tells him. He may be the only player in the bigs this year to have player every infield position. Unfortunate his season has to end this way.

INJURY UPDATE: GM Jim Bowden announced 1B Dmitri Young will rejoin the team Sunday and be in uniform Tuesday against the Mets, primarily as a pinch-hitter. He said that before Belliard's injury though. Still, expect to see a lot of Kory Casto down the stretch.

NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:35 versus the Braves in game two. Jason Bergmann (2-10, 4.83) takes on Jair Jurrjens (11-9, 3.59) from Turner Field.

Belliard Injured; Nats Shut Out by Braves 2-0

2008-09-05T12:52:00.002-04:00

Atlanta -- Atlanta Braves rookie James Parr, making his Major League debut, threw six innings of two-hit baseball, and three Atlanta relievers did equally well against the suddenly anemic again Washington offense to defeat the Nationals 2-0 before an announced crowd of 18,708 at Turner Field. It was the 21st time the Nationals have been shut out this season -- leading the majors by a fair margin -- and most in the majors since the 1978 Atlanta Braves team matched the feat.

Parr did an excellent job in his big league debut, walking three and striking out three in addition to the two base hits, both by 1B Ronnie Belliard. Belliard doubled in the second inning with one out, but was stranded there as Elijah Dukes fouled out to first and Anderson Hernandez flied out on a well hit ball to center. In the fourth inning, Belliard reached on an infield single but was erased on a double-play grounder by Dukes. Belliard had another hit in the seventh inning, legging out another infield hit, but this one might have cost him the rest of his 2008 season. Belliard came up lame on the play and was replaced by pinch-runner Kory Casto. After the game, it was revealed Belliard strained his right groin, and was scheduled for an MRI Friday morning.

"I hurt it right then, as I was running to first base," he said. "It hurts." There was no timetable for his return. "He may be down for the year," manager Manny Acta said.

Nationals starter Shairon Martis also made his Major League debut, and was impressive in his own right. He went five innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and five walks, striking out two. The walks hurt Martis in the fourth inning, as he walked the bases loaded -- including the pitcher -- before allowing an RBI ground out to make the score 2-0. Martis, 21, pitched for the Netherlands in the Olympics and went 4-4 at Double-A Harrisburg this season with a 3.98 ERA in 14 starts, striking out 57 and walking 28 in 74.2 innings.

Besides Belliard's three hits, the only other Nats to reach via hit were Ryan Zimmerman, who doubled leading off the ninth inning and pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina in the eighth.

Mike Gonzales, despite allowing Zimmerman's lead-off double, recorded the next three outs for his ninth save of the season.

Washington faces Atlanta in the second of the three-game series Friday night at 7:35 pm. Jason Bergmann (2-10, 4.83) takes on Jair Jurrjens (11-9, 3.59) from Turner Field.

NATS NOTES: The loss moves the Nats record to 54-87, 25.5 games behind division-leading New York. The Mets have a three-game lead over second place Philadelphia and start a three-game series with the Phillies Friday at Shea Stadium.

C Luke Montz, recalled after Jesus Flores was injured earlier in the week, made his Major League debut as well, going 0-for-3 at the plate and throwing out pinch-runner Josh Anderson at second base.

RHP Shawn Hill was scheduled for arthroscopic surgery Friday morning on his troublesome right elbow by the renowned Dr. James Andrews. No details had been released when this article was published.

GM Jim Bowden issued a statement that 1B Dmitri Young would rejoin the team Sunday night and would be in uniform for Tuesday's game in New York.

GB&U: Taking Back Nats Park

2008-09-04T11:29:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat dirty Phillies 9-7.

GOOD: Odalis Perez. Way to stick up for your teammate. Cristian Guzman! 8 multi-hit games in a row, three-run double to break the game open. ZIM! Third homer in 8 games, that's more like it.

BAD: Marco Estrada. Couldn't get anyone out in the sixth, allowing Howard's second two-run bomb.

UGLY: Joe Blanton. Usually I don't give out awards to the other team, but Blanton looked lousy last night. 4 earned in 4 inning son 6 hits and 3 walks. Pew. Hope he's not listening to sports talk in Philly this morning. BIG series for the Fightin's this weekend in Gotham.

INJURY UPDATE: Collin Balestar has a sore glut. He'll be pushed back to next Tuesday, prompting Martis to get the ball tonight and pushing another Bergmann shelling off until tomorrow.

NEXT GAME: Tonight in Hot-lanta. Shairon Martis makes his ML debut against Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10, 5.49).

Big Eighth Inning Propels Nats to Win Over Phillies 9-7

2008-09-04T11:27:00.000-04:00

Washington -- Cristian Guzman led a 13-hit attack, Ryan Zimmerman homered for the third time in his last eight games, and the Washington Nationals used a four-run eighth inning to bury their division-rival Philadelphia Phillies 9-7 before 23,122 at Nationals Park.

Guzman set a franchise record with his eighth consecutive multi-hit game, going 3-for-5 on the evening, with a double, two runs scored and three RBIs. His average is up to .311, and he is 21-for-39 (.538) during his multi-hit streak. He was joined on the hit parade by Zimmerman (2-for-4, home run), CF Lastings Milledge, and 1B Kory Casto, all with multi-hit performances against Phillies starter Joe Blanton and five relievers. Elijah Dukes and Roger Bernadina added stolen bases -- Bernadina's first career SB.

The game was tied at five heading to the bottom of the eighth. Phils reliever Chad Durbin, who had entered the game in the seventh, took the hill for Philadelphia but probably wished he hadn't. Casto met him with a single to right field to start the inning off. Pete Orr pinch-ran for Casto, and took second on a one-out wild pitch to Bernadina. The rookie outfielder then lashed the next pitch to left, pushing Orr up 90 feet to third base. Manager Manny Acta called for Ronnie Belliard to pinch-hit for pitcher Saul Rivera (W, 5-5, 3.52), and Belliard delivered a humpback liner over the shortstop's head to score Orr with the lead run.

But the Nats weren't done yet. Bernadina measured Durbin's delivery on several pitches from second base, and with the count 2-2 he took off for third and slid in safely ahead of the tag of third baseman Pedro Feliz. Durbin then finished the walk to 2B Emilio Bonifacio and the bases were loaded for hot-hitting all-star Cristian Guzman. "Guz" took two balls and on the third pitch lined a double to the gap in center field, clearing the bases and giving the Nats a 9-5 lead.

Guzman gave the dugout his customary finger-wagging salute as he stood on second, watching Phillies Manager Charlie Manual lifting Durbin (L, 5-4) from the game, probably one batter too late.

"I was just trying to put the ball in play," Guzman said. "I saw the ball go into the gap, so 'Thank you.' "

The ninth inning provided some fireworks though, as Closer Joel Hanrahan was called on to shut the door. He managed to do the job, but not without some excitement. RF Matt Stairs and 2B Chase Utley both pushed in runs against Hanrahan, pitching in a non-save situation. But he got OF Jayson Werth to strike out swinging to end the game, and as he exchanged fist-bumps with catcher Wil Nieves, Hanrahan let out a big sigh as if to say, "Whew, got through that one!".

Zimmerman, Casto, Milledge and Dukes all provided RBI hits earlier to get the Nats started, and Zimmerman's home run in the seventh, to tie the game, was a no-doubt-about-it shot to straight-away center.

The Phillies rode the power swings of 1B Ryan Howard and Utley to score their early runs. In the first inning, Nats starter Odalis Perez plunked Utley with the first pitch the all-star second baseman saw -- retribution from Tuesday night's home plate collision with Nats catcher Jesus Flores, who left the game with a sprained ankle and will miss 2-4 weeks. Howard followed with a "big fly" to right center to take the early lead. Utley tripled in the third inning to drive in a run, and Howard added his second two-run homer -- to almost the exact spot of the first -- in the sixth inning.

Perez finished the evening pitching five innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits and three walks, striking out five. No pitch was bigger than standing up for his fallen teammate in the first inning however.

Washington starts a nine-game road trip Thursday night in Atlanta against the Braves. Shairon Martis makes his Major League debut against Jo-Jo Reyes (3-10, 5.49) for the Braves. Game time is 7:10 pm from Atlanta's Turner Field.

NATS NOTES: With the win, Washington's record stands at 54-86, 25 games behind division-leading New York. The Phillies drop to 76-64, trailing the Mets by three game as they head into a three-game series in New York this weekend.

Nationals RHP Collin Balester has a mild left gluteal strain, which forced Washington to juggle its rotation. He will not start as scheduled on Friday against Atlanta and instead will take his next turn Tuesday against the Mets. Jason Bergmann's start moves back from Thursday to Friday.

GB&U: Nats Shut Out, Flores Goes Down

2008-09-03T10:06:00.004-04:00

RESULT: Nats shut out by Phillies 4-0.

GOOD: Michael Hinckley's Major League debut. One and two-thirds scoreless with two strikeouts. John Lannan went six innings, allowing two earned on five hits and two walks with four Ks. Another unrewarded quality start.

BAD: Only six hits. Levale Speigner gave up two runs and three hits in one-third of an inning.

UGLY: In the third inning, Chase Utley barrel-rolled Jesus Flores at the plate trying to steal home. Trying to knock the ball loose is one thing, but diving with your shoulder at a guy's knee is something completely different. I was not a good play, despite how the two teams are trying to play it off. Utley had no chance on the play and he went low and right at Flores' knee. If he'd tried a hook slide he had a chance and would have avoided injury. Don't be surprised when Utley gets buried in the ribs tonight.

The X-rays were negative on Flores ankle, but he's having an MRI this morning. Don't expect him back this season.

ROSTER NOTE: C Luke Montz was recalled from Triple-A Columbus immediately after the game. He'll back up Wil Nieves while Flores mends.

NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:10 pm from Nationals Park. Odalis Perez (6-10, 4.14) takes on Joe Blanton (6-112, 4.69).

I'm Back. Did I Miss Anything?

2008-09-02T12:39:00.004-04:00

Of course I pick the weekend the Nats complete a 7-game winning streak to go out of town with no internet service.

I'll have a GB&U recap of the streak later on today, and regular coverage resumes promptly. Thanks for your patience while I was gone.

GB&U: Dodgers Dead In The Water

2008-08-28T23:07:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats spank Dodgers 11-2.

GOOD: Cristian Guzman! Hits for the CYCLE!!! His career rebirth continues with a feat not accomplished in these parts since April 2005. Relatively recent history for a Cycle. Anyway, Guz went 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBIs.

Elijah Dukes! Two home runs, three runs and four RBIs! His moderate showboating on the second homer aside, these are the kinds of nights Nats fans dream of out of Dukes.

Ryan Zimmerman! 3-for-5, two runs scored. Zim's got the average up to .272. Maybe his shoulder is starting to feel less cranky on him. Still think we're going to see a completely different player in spring training. Oh, by the way...Ryan's only 23. Bob and Don reminded me of that tonight.

John Lannan! Another quality start, dominating after allowing a two-run shot to Manny in the first. 6 IP, 2 ERs, 4 hits, 3 BBs, 2 Ks, WIN! He's now 8-12, 3.92.

BAD: Not much to choose from. Have to hang it on Wil Nieves (0-for-4, K) Sorry Wil.

UGLY: The Dodgers. Whew, they stink. Getting swept by the worst team in baseball, losers of seven straight and nine straight overall on the road. They go into Arizona

NEXT GAME: Tomorrow the Nats welcome Atlanta for a three-game series. Odalis Perez (5-10, 4.21) takes on Jorge Campillo (7-6, 3.37).

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I will be on vacation as soon as I finish typing, and will return Monday afternoon. Cheryl has permission to post over the weekend if she likes. Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend.

GB&U: Not Every Day You Beat a Legend

2008-08-28T11:17:00.023-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat Greg Maddux and the Dodgers 5-4.

GOOD: Ryan Zimmerman. His first homer since May 17 (really?!?). Guz and Emilio! Two hits apiece from the middle infield. Lastings. RBI and SB. Tim Redding. Despite three solo homers given up, he had a another quality start. Joel Hanrahan. A four-out, one-run save with very little nervousness.

BAD: Saul Rivera. Two-thirds of an inning, one run on three hits and a walk. Joel had to bail him out in the eighth. Signs of wear on Sa-ool recently.

UGLY: Lastings Milledge. Got caught on the oldest trick in the book. After embarrassing Maddux the play earlier by taking third on a groundout when Maddux slipped and was a little bit late covering the base, the 17-time Gold Glover took his revenge.

A combacker took Maddux close to the third base line, and he looked at Milledge, then poised to throw to first to make the play. Milledge broke when Maddux' arm went through, but Maddux held the ball and Milledge was a dead duck. Lastings managed to get into a run-down, allowing Jesus Flores to advance to second, but it was a done deal. Maddux got his.

NEXT GAME: Tonight, looking for the sweep agaisnt the Dodgers. A pair of impressive rookies face off, with John Lannan (7-12, 3.95) on the hill for the Nats, facing Clayton Kershaw (2-4, 4.11) for L.A.

Here's the slideshow from last night's game:

All photos (c) C.Nichols 2008.

GB&U: Now With More Happiness!

2008-08-27T11:22:00.005-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat L.A. 2-1.

GOOD: Joel Hanrahan. Walks the tightrope to earn his fifth save. Lastings Milledge. Hits his 13th homer of the season, his sixth in August, and made a terrific diving catch in center field. Guz went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Ryan Zimmerman. Despite alomst throwing two balls away (one to second, one to first), he made four double plays from third base and could have had an around-the-horn triple play if he'd throw to second instead of home on the botched play that allowed the Dodger's only run.

BAD: Lots of 0-fers last night. Wee Willie, Belly-yard, Jesus, Langerhans all went hitless. Derek Lowe was on last night, and made mince-meat of some of the guys.

UGLY: Lack of control. Balestar only walked one, but hit two batters -- in succession, no less. And Hanrahan had zero control of his 97 MPH heater, but managed to get Kemp and Ethier to swing anyway. Stuff like that will do that.

INJURY REPORT: Kearns down (15 DL for stress fracture in left foot--sayonara). Dukes up (1-for11 with one home run and one ejections arguing balls and strikes. Mid-Season form!).

NEXT GAME: Tonight against the sinking Dodgers. Tim Redding (8-8, 4.54) faces future Hall of Famer 353-game winner Greg Maddux (6-10, 4.25).

Nats Walk High Wire, Beat L.A. 2-1

2008-08-27T11:13:00.001-04:00

Washington -- The Washington Nationals newly-appointed closer, Joel Hanrahan, had a rare one-run lead to protect in the ninth inning Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And though he struggled with his control and put two runners on base with only one out, he managed to wiggle free of his self-induced predicament to record the final two outs without incident to hold on to that precarious lead, earn his fifth save of the season, and deliver a victory for the home crowd, the first win at home for the Nationals in 23 days. The 2-1 win was shared with 26,110 faithful at Nationals Park.

Hanrahan was throwing gas all inning, but had very little control over where the ball would end up. His fastball routinely touched 97 MPH, and a closer with a heater like that can get away with a few things on occasion. Luckily for the Nats, this was one of those occasions. Hanrahan got SS Nomar Garicaparra to ground to third to start the inning, but gave up a single to 3B Casey Blake before walking pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney on five pitches to set up the dramatics. Despite running the count to three balls on each of the final two batters, Hanrahan managed to induce CF Matt Kemp into flying out to center and RF Andre Ethier to ground out to 3B Ryan Zimmerman, who had a very busy night himself, to end this contest.

The Nats really had little business being in a game this close, much less with the lead after eight innings. Los Angeles seemed to keep the bases clogged all night long against starter Collin Balestar, who gave up five hits, two walks and two hit batters in five innings. But Balestar came up with the outs when he needed them most, and limited L.A. to one earned run among all those base runners. Balestar earned his third win of the season against six losses, and his ERA stood at 4.70 following the game.

Ryan Zimmerman deserves much of the credit for playing Houdini last night, as the third baseman turned four double plays, including two with the bases loaded to end rallies. But it may have been the one double-play that got away that was the most important play of the night. In the fifth, Balestar hit Garciaparra and Blake before walking pitcher Derek Lowe to load the bases --all with no outs. Lead-off hitter Kemp then smacked a sharp grounder down the third base line. In one motion, Zimmerman backhanded the ball, stepped on third and threw home for what should have been a double play.

However, catcher Jesus Flores thought Zimmerman missed the bag and the play at home was a force-out, so he tagged the base instead of Garciaparra, who scored without a play. Flores then fumbled the ball as he tried to transfer from glove to throwing hand, and he never got the throw off to first to try to get Kemp. But with one out and runners on first and second, Balestar got Ethier to fly out to center and 2B Jeff Kent to ground to third to end the threat.

"Any ball that comes at that guy [Zimmerman] is an out, so you don't have to worry about that," Balestar said. "I was able to throw a couple of two-seams in to get them to hit the ball over there, and that's where you want them to hit it."

Washington's hitters had difficulty with Dodgers veteran starter Derek Lowe all night long. He pitched an eight inning complete game, allowing just six hits and one walk, but made two mistakes and the Nats made him pay. In the second inning, Lowe (L, 10-11) left a cutter to high in the strike zone and CF Lastings Milledge got enough of it, sending it just over the left-center field fence into the flower garden that lines the Dodgers bullpen area. It was Milledge's 13th home run of the season, and sixth in August. He has raised his batting average and on-base percentage about 20 points over that time period as well, up to .260 and .325 respectively. The Nats played small-ball to get their second run. 2B Emilio Bonifacio dumped a single into shallow center field, took second on Balestar's successful sacrifice, advanced to third on a Willie Harris ground out, and scored on all-star SS Cristian Guzman's fisted liner to left center. Guzman had three of the Nats six hits, and raised his average back up to .296.

Los Angeles -- active at the trade deadline, adding Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake -- have lost five in a row, seven of eight, and are 0-5 midway through a ten-game road trip that could very well end their playoff chase. They are now two games below .500 and three games behind the Arizona Diamondback in the N.L. West. Only Arizona's three-game losing streak gives the Dodgers hope that the D-Backs aren't going to run away in the season's final four weeks.

The Nats wish they had a pennant chase to occupy themselves with, but must take solace that their efforts in the season's remaining 30 games could help shape how the National League seeds for the playoffs.

Wednesday, the Nats host the Dodgers in the second of the three-game series. Tim Redding (8-8, 4.54) faces 353-game winner Greg Maddux (6-10, 4.25) for L.A.

NATS NOTES: The win runs Washington's record to 47-85. They are 26 games behind division leading New York.

Before the game, the Nats placed struggling RF Austin Kearns on the 15-day disabled list with a stress fracture in his left foot. The injury was believed to have occurred August 3, and Kearns is expected to miss two-to-four weeks.

Following the game, the team announced that they reinstated OF Elijah Dukes from the DL. Dukes missed the last 19 games with a right calf strain. He went 1-for-11 with a solo home run and three walks in six games during his rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus. The 24-year-old is batting .264 with nine doubles, two triples, six home runs and 23 RBI in 54 games with the Nationals. He owns a .364 on-base percentage and has recorded 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts. He has missed a combined 72 games during three DL stints this season.

NATIONALS PLACE AUSTIN KEARNS ON DISABLED LIST

2008-08-26T15:30:00.003-04:00

Fromteh Nats Press Release:

The Washington Nationals today placed right fielder Austin Kearns on the 15-Day Disabled List, retroactive to August 25, with a stress fracture of his left foot. Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made this announcement.

Kearns is expected to miss two-to-four weeks with the injury which was originally sustained on August 3. He was examined yesterday in Washington, DC by orthopedist Dr. Edward Magur, who recommended rest and immobilization with a walking cast. This is Kearns’ second DL stint this season. He missed 38 games after having surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow on May 23.
Kearns has batted .217 with 10 doubles, seven home runs and 32 RBI in 86 games this season with Washington.

Did anyone know Kearns was hurt? Was this reported anywhere? Originally sustained August 3? He's been playing on a stress fracture for over three weeks?

Stephen Hunter, and Me, on Baseball

2008-08-26T12:19:00.003-04:00

The Post's Pulitzer-winning movie critic, Stephen Hunter, wrote an essay today about baseball. It is pure genius, and if you haven't read it yet, here's the link. It's touching, insightful, obvious, subtle, subversive and genius.

He writes so much better than most, and so eloquently, what it means to be a baseball fan and how to cope with loving baseball. He takes the now-famous A. Bartlett Giamatti quote and derives even deeper meaning than Commissioner Giamatti even instilled.

It is difficult to be a fan of the current Washington Nationals.

Poor play, mismanagement, divisiveness and contention between the team and the city, continuous injury, scandal and investigation of the scouting department and General Manager, high prices for refreshments, exclusivity of certain sections of the ballpark for the privileged, and a stadium built to provide baseball as entertainment instead of letting the game serve as the primary focal point all are among the laundry list of challenges Nationals fans have to their enjoyment of the local team, for so long missing from the Nation's Capital.

I suppose I should add cranky blog proprietors to that list as well.

But Hunter's main point is correct: Baseball is hard on those who love it. And while I fully endorse his conclusion, I'm sure you have your own coping mechanism. But the moral is the same: One does what one has to in order to continue their love of the game. Some of us love by worship. Some love by immersion in statistics. Some love by monetary gain. Some love by collecting memorabilia. Some love by collecting memories, good and bad.

And some, like myself, and as Mr. Hunter advises, love by hating. And I think it may be an inherent trait, one born of a Know-It-All (guilty, I'm afraid). I hate the things I hate because if I were in charge, I would not do things that way and therefore they are wrong and I hate them. I know what's right and wrong. Others have some grasp of the concepts. Inevitably, though, others' knowledge of right and wrong is faulty, because mine is the only perfect right and wrong.

And that is why I hate. And why I continue to be a fan of the worst team -- and one of the worst-run teams -- in baseball. Because I know what's right. And by picking out and publicizing all the faults, and problems, and misdirections of the team it is my way of making those wrongs right, at least in my own head.

No wonder my daily column is called Good, Bad and Ugly. It's two-thirds negative.

GB&U: Cubs Take Rubber Match

2008-08-25T11:13:00.004-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose 6-1 to Cubs.

GOOD: Austin Kearns. Put the Nats on the board with his 7th home run of the season. Want to know why the Nats are so bad this year? Check out this analysis on Runs Created by Fire Jim Bowden. Excellent work.

BAD: Jason Bergmann. 6.1 IP, 4 ERs, 4 hits, 4BBs, 6 Ks. He's a reliever. Get over it.

UGLY: Only 4 hits and one walk yesterday off Rich Harden, Carlos Marmol and Jeff Samardzija. In fact, the Nats got Harden into exactly ONE three-ball count before the 7th inning. That is not winning baseball.

INJURY UPDATE: Good news: Elijah Dukes is rehabbing in Columbus. Bad news: He was ejected for arguing balls and strikes yesterday.

NEXT GAME: Off-day Monday. Tuesday starts a three-game series with the Los Angels Dodgers. Collin Balestar (2-6, 4.99) takes on Derek Lowe (0-10, 3.89) for the Dodgers.

GB&U: Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

2008-08-24T00:45:00.002-04:00

RESULT: Nats beaten by Cubs 9-2.

GOOD: Ryan Zimmerman. Zim had three singles on the day. That has to count for something. I guess asking Zim to hit a home run once in a while would be out of the question though.

BAD: There was enough to go around. Perez was stinky, giving up 5 runs -- 4 earned -- in 4.1 IP on 10 hits and 4 walks. How did he only give up five total? Marco Estrada was not nearly as successful as he was in his debut the other night, giving up three earned on Ramirez' second homer of the day.

UGLY: Today's RBIs? From Emilio! and the Man With Two Last Names. Enough said.

NEXT GAME: Sunday in the sunshine from Wrigley. Jason Bergmann (2-9, 4.50) versus Rich Harden (8-2, 2.04). Who do YOU like in that match-up?

Cubs Follow Script; Pound Nats 9-2

2008-08-24T00:42:00.002-04:00

Chicago -- A day after the Washington Nationals had their way with the N.L. leading Chicago Cubs, the Cubbies returned the favor, riding the strong right arm of all-star Ryan Dempster and two home runs by slugging third baseman Aramis Ramirez to defeat the Nats 9-3 before 40,000-plus at Wrigley Field Saturday afternoon.

Dempster scattered eight hits in his seven and one-third innings, but gave up just one run -- on an RBI single by Anderson Hernandez -- notching his 15th win of the season against just five losses, setting a career-high mark for victories in one year. He walked just one batter and struck out four along the way. "I don't know. I'm not worried about that. It's a great personal accomplishment, but my motivation is one reason and one reason only and that's to get to the playoffs and win the World Series," Dempster said. "I will take 15 wins and a World Series and I'd be the happiest player in baseball."

Washington starter Odalis Perez was not nearly as sharp. He battled constant trouble, and allowed four earned runs -- all in the fourth inning -- on ten hits and four walks in four and one-third innings. Perez put multiple runners on each of the first three innings but remained unscathed -- until the Cubs finally made him pay in the fourth.

Perez got Dempster to ground out to start the inning innocently enough, but then walked OF Alfonso Soriano, no small feat. 2B Ryan Theriot followed with a single to center field, and Derrick Lee smacked a ball up the middle that scored Soriano. That brought Aramis Ramirez to the plate, and he deposited a 1-2 fastball over the ivy in left field for a three-run home run, all the offense the Cubs would need on this day.

"You can only work out of so many jams against such a good ball club," Nationals manager Manny Acta said.

Perez (L, 5-10, 4.21) found himself in another jam to start the fifth. OF Kosuke Fukudome reached on an error by second baseman Hernandez, and after Dempster sacrificed him to second, Fukudome scored on a Soriano double to left field. That extra base hit sent Perez to the showers, his day -- and that of the Nats for all intent -- over.

Ramirez would add another three-run home run off reliever Marco Estrada in the eighth inning, his 22nd of the season. Theriot reached on an infield single, Daryle Ward walked, and Ramirez drove another offering over the ivy, this one to right field. Mark DeRosa added his 17th homer of the season as well for Chicago.

Ryan Zimmerman had three singles in four trips to the plate, but could not find a batter behind him to drive him in today. Maybe the Nats should have saved a couple of those extra runs they scored Friday afternoon for this contest.

The series wraps up Sunday at 2:20 pm. Jason Bergmann (2-9, 4.50) matches up with Rich Harden (8-2, 2.04) for the Cubs.

NATS NOTES: The loss lowers the team record to 46-84, 26 games behind division leading New York. The Nats have lost thirteen of their last fifteen games.

OF Lastings Milledge took a Dempster fastball off his left hand late in the game, but seemed to be fine, despite some nasty bruising. "I'll be all right," said Milledge, who remained in the game but didn't have to bat again. "It's a little sore, but I've got to play."

OF Elijah Dukes, on the DL with a right calf strain, homered Friday night during his rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus. The Nats hope he can rejoin the team next week

GB&U: Big Willie Style!

2008-08-23T15:41:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat Cubbies 13-5. Two wins in a row.

GOOD: Big Willie! Two homers, six RBIs. Nuf said. Ronnie Belliard, hitting in the five hole, went 4-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs. Lead-off hitter Emilio! Bonifacio went 2-for-5 with two runs, Jesus Flores went 2-for-2 after pinch-hitting.

BAD: John Lannan. He earned the win, but was not sharp. He pitched six and one-third innings, allowed five earned runs on seven hits and three walks, and struck out just three. He's had plenty go the other way though, so he gets a pass for today.

UGLY: Zim. 0-for-4.

NEXT GAME: Little late getting this posted, so the next game is the current game. Nats currently losing 9-1 in the eighth. Ugh.

Cubs Can't Stop Willie; Nats Beat Cubs 13-5

2008-08-23T15:23:00.002-04:00

Chicago -- The Cubs intentionally walked Willie Harris, for good reason. In a career day, Harris went 2-for-4 with two home runs, six RBIs and three runs scored, and the aforementioned intentional walk, the second of his eight big league seasons. Harris' big day carried the Washington Nationals over the Chicago Cubs, owners of the best record in Major League Baseball,13-3 before 40,513 sun-drenched Cubs fans at Wrigley Field.

The Nationals had a field day against four different Cubs pitchers. 1B Ronnie Belliard, hitting in the five hole, went 4-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs, lead-off hitter Emilio Bonifacio went 2-for-5 with two runs, Jesus Flores went 2-for-2 after pinch-hitting, and Aaron Boone had abases-clearing 3-run double pinch-hitting in the eighth inning.

The Nats fun on the base paths didn't start until the sixth inning, after the Cubs got up to a 4-0 lead. Cubs starter Jason Marquis lost control of the strike zone, walking Cristian Guzman and Ryan Zimmerman after allowing an infield single to Bonifacio. Lastings Milledge drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly, followed by a two-run double by Belliard. Austin Kearns walked and Harris hit his first homer of the day.

In the seventh, Bonifacio reached via infield hit again, stole second and scored on Guzman's base hit.

In the eighth inning against reliever Chad Gaudin, Belliard hit his second double of the day, Harris earned his intentional pass, and Flores muscled a single out to left field, loading the bases. Boone pinch-hit for reliever Steven Shell and delivered a double to deep center field, clearing the bases. The ninth inning provided some fireworks as well, with Belliard and Harris both going deep with the wind blowing out to left field.

John Lannan (7-12, 3.95) earned the win despite having rough patches of his own, but he's had plenty go the other way this year. He pitched six and one-third innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and three walks,striking out three. Shell, Saul Rivera and Jesus Colome kept the Cubs off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Neal Cotts (0-2) took the loss for the Cubs. Game two of the three-game series is today at 1:05 pm. Odalis Perez (5-9,4.06) faces all-star Ryan Dempster (14-5, 2.92) for the Cubs.

NATS NOTES: The Nats meager two-game winning streak pushes their record to46-83, 26 games behind the division-leading New York Mets.

Aaron Crow Speaks!

2008-08-22T12:44:00.005-04:00

If you want to hear Mr. Crow give the reasons why he turned down $3.3M- $3.5M and is willing to risk his career to pitch in an independant league until next year's draft, you can listen in tomorrow at noon to Baseball Digest Daily Live (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily).

Eric SanInocencio, Ass't SID for the Gulf South League is the host, and he e-mailed me today and asked if I would help spread the word. Here's his e-mail:

For this week's show, we've booked former National top draft pick Aaron Crow. Aaron will be joining us in our second segment, and chat about everything that took place before the deadline that didn't allow him to get a contract completed with Washington.

The show as I mentioned starts at Noon ET, and Crow will join us right at 12:30. Our first half will feature Lars Anderson, one of the top prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization.

I'll post the link to the show below, and on that page you can archive any other show I've done.
I've had some great guests (Dayton Moore, Chad Durbin, Matt LaPorta, etc.) so feel free to check any of those out as well.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/baseballdigestdaily
Eric SanInocencio
Assistant Sports Information Director
Gulf South Conference

I have an engagement tomorrow during the day, but you can be sure I will listen to the chat once it's in the archive. It should be a very interesting listen.

Nats beat Phils 4-3; Halt 12 Game Skid

2008-08-22T11:34:00.001-04:00

Philadelphia -- For one game, at least, the breaks fell to the Washington Nationals. It was the Philadelphia Phillies reliever that surrendered an eighth inning lead. It was the Phillies shortstop that could not handle a ground ball, allowing a go-ahead run to score. It was the Phillies second baseman that threw a ball away to lose a double play. It was the Phillies first baseman who struck out three times and left four runners on base. And it was the Phillies starting pitcher that allowed one earned run over six and two-thirds innings, only to be victimized by a lack of run support.

Granted, the Nats did a bunch of similar things that kept this game close as well, but on this night they made fewer mistakes than the competition and quietly got back into the win column.

The winning runs scored in the top of the eighth against Phillies reliever Ryan Madson (L, 3-2). Ryan Zimmerman led off with an infield single and Lastings Milledge singled to right field. 1B Ronnie Belliard put down a perfect sacrifice moving both runners up. Nats RBI leader Jesus Flores dumped a ball into shallow center field scoring Zimmerman, and slumping Austin Kearns muscled a ball up the middle for an RBI single, plating Milledge with what turned out to be the winning run. Manager Manny Acta called on closer Joel Hanrahan in the bottom of the eighth, and Hanrahan did his job, pitching two shutout innings to nail down his fourth save of the year.

"It's a big weight off our shoulders," Hanrahan said. "We knew people were writing about it everywhere. Now we want to win a couple more."

Things should not have been that close though. Reliever Saul Rivera had an atypical poor outing in the seventh, giving up two earned runs on three hits, including light-hitting catcher Carlos Ruiz' third home run of the season. The other run came courtesy of Ryan Zimmerman's two base throwing error (sixth of the season) on a Shane Victorino nubber and ground-out RBI by pinch-hitter extraordinaire Greg Dobbs. Rivera (4-5) was credited with his fifth blown save of the season, but was awarded the win as he was the pitcher of record when the Nats took the lead in the eighth inning after he had departed.

The game was scoreless through five innings, as veterans Tim Redding and Jamie Moyer matched each other pitch-for-pitch. Neither hurler factored in the decision, but both took advantage of slumping offenses to keep their respective teams in the game. Redding finished six innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and one walk, striking out five. He gave up a run in the sixth when OF Jayson Werth double to deep right field, and all-star 2B Chase Utley drove him in with a single up the middle.

Moyer was just as good, going six and two-thirds innings, allowing two runs -- one earned -- on five hits and three walks while striking out four Nationals. He was, however, victimized by his defense. Nats 2B Anderson Hernandez and SS Christian Guzman started the sixth inning off with back-to-back singles. After Zimmerman struck out, Milledge hit a would-be double play grounder to third, but Guzman made a hard "take-out" slide into second, and on the turn Utley fired the ball down the first base line, drawing 1B Ryan Howard off the bag for an error. Hernandez scored without a throw for an unearned run. In the top of the seventh with one out, Moyer walked Kearns and gave up a single to Willie Harris. After pinch-hitter Aaron Boone popped out to Howard, Hernandez pushed a ball up the middle that Jimmy Rollins got his glove on, but then lost in the transfer from glove to throwing hand. It was officially scored a hit, but the Phillies faithful scored the play an error and rained boos down on 2007's N.L. MVP, who is also in the midst of a 3-for-33 slump at the plate.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. After twelve straight losses, the Nats were perfectly happy that the boos were coming from the other side of the field last night.

Washington faces the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field for the first of a three-game series this afternoon at 2:20 pm. John Lannan (6-12, 3.81) takes the mound for the Nats against Jason Marquis (8-7, 4.67) for the first place Cubbies, who own the best record in baseball.

NATS NOTES: The win raises the Nats record to 45-83. They trail the New York Mets by 26 games in the N.L. East.

SS Cristian Guzman made his first start after missing six games with an injury to his left thumb.

GB&U: One In A Row

2008-08-21T22:14:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats beat the Phillies, 4-3. They stop the losing streak at 12.

GOOD: Tim Redding. 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 hits, 1 BB, 5 Ks. Joel Hanrahan. 2 IP, o runs, 2 hits 1 BB, 2 Ks. Anderson Hernandez played second, went 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Guz went 2-for-5. Zim went 2-for-5. Kearns bounced one up the middle for an RBI.

BAD: Saul Rivera. He was awarded the win, but was the least effective pitcher of the night for the Nats. He gave up two earned runs on three hits and a walk -- surrendering Carlos Ruiz' third homer of the year -- in his lone inning pitched.

Zim threw one down the line in the seventh allowing Shane Victorino to go from first to third, and scored on a ground out by Greg Dobbs before the Ruiz homer.

UGLY: Philly Phans. They booed Howard when he struck out. They booed Rollins when he ranged for a ball but couldn't come up with a throw. They said something nasty to Willie Harris in the left field corner after catching a fly ball by Pat Burrell.

NEXT GAME: Tomorrow afternoon at 2:20 pm at Wrigley. John Lannan (6-12, 3.81) takes the hill against Jason Marquis (8-7, 4.67).

GB&U: I Don't Have It In Me to be Funny Today

2008-08-21T10:05:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose to Philies 4-0, loss number 12 in a row, shutout for the league-leading 19th time this season.

GOOD: Ronnie Belliard. He went 2-for-4. New bullpen fodder Marco Estrada pitched two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and get this: NO WALKS! Keep it up, kid! EMILIO! 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Anderson Hernandez, making his first appearance as a National, went 3-for-4 hitting in the 8 hole.

BAD: No power! Nine hits, but only one extra base hit. Hard to go score when you need to string three singles together in one inning.

UGLY: Austin Kearns is almost an automatic out these days. Since his season high batting average mark of .231 (!) on August 5, he's gone 6-for-47 with one home run and 3 RBIs (both on that HR). His season numbers: 302 ABs, .215/.306/.305 with 6 HRs and 30 RBIs.

NEXT GAME: Another one today against the Phils. Tim Redding (8-8, 4.66) faces ageless Jamie Moyer (11-7, 3.64) at 7:05 pm from Citizen's Bank Park.

GB&U: This One Goes to Eleven

2008-08-20T00:56:00.004-04:00

RESULT: Nats beaten by Phillies 5-4, losing streak at eleven games.

GOOD: Ronnie Belliard. The Nats "slugging" 1B went 4-for-4 (with zero runs scored). Wee Willie Harris went 2-for-5 with his 10th home run. Jesus Flores. He played!

BAD: Emilio! 0-for-5, .216 for the season. Demonstrating the old axiom that you can't steal first base.

UGLY: Nothing particularly ugly, unless you count the awkward steal of third by 30-something journeyman 3B Greg Dobbs off Bergmann/Flores.

INJURY/ROSTER: Guz didn't play but the team assures us he's only a "day or two" away. Casto sent down to Columbus to make room for the "Man With two Last Names" Anderson Hernandez.

NEXT GAME: The misery continues tomorrow against the Phillies. Collin Balestar (2-5, 5.06) faces Brett "The Boxer" Myers (5-10, 5.02) at 7:05 pm from Citizen's Bank Park.

GB&U: Imperfect 10

2008-08-18T11:39:00.003-04:00

RESULT: Nats lose to Colorado 7-2, another sweep, 10 in a row.

GOOD: Odalis Perez. He had another quality start, going six and allowing three earned. it was kinda ugly for a quality start, since he walked four, but he only gave up four hits. Unfortunately, one of the hits (Stewart's home run) came after an error and a walk. OK, so maybe it wasn't so good.

Wee Willie went 2-for-5. Milledge went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

BAD: Jesus Colome. The forgotten man reminded us of why he should be forgotten. 1 IP, 3 ERs, 2 hits, a walk and a HBP.

UGLY: Yet ANOTHER runner thrown out at home. This time it was Ryan Langerhans going on a "contact" play after the Nats had just taken the lead. It was the second out of the inning. Why do they keep doing this. This team is not good enough to be making bad out on the base paths, yet they seem to do it just about every game. In that situation, you made an out and traded Langerhans on third for Nieves on first. Does that sound like a good trade to you?

This quote, from Langerhans in the Post's write-up, kinda says it all about this team:

"When we're in a little stretch like this, everybody's trying to give it their all, and you're, like, 'I've got to do it' instead of almost like, 'I'm gonna do it,' " Langerhans said. "You just get up there and you want to get it done so bad sometimes it ends up working against you."

NEXT GAME: Monday's an off day, and Manny told the team to "have a barbeque" or something to get away from baseball for a day.

The Nats pick it back up Tuesday in Philadelphia, where Jason Bergmann (2-9, 4.51) tries to beat the streak against Joe Blanton (6-12, 4.79) at 7:05 pm from Citizen's Bank Park.

Weekend Round-Up: Nats Losing Streak at 10

2008-08-17T21:27:00.009-04:00

Washington -- The Washington Nationals lost a pair of games over the weekend to the Colorado Rockies, extending their season-high losing streak to ten games, and traded Luis Ayala, one of their long-time bullpen pitchers, to a division rival.

Saturday: Starter John Lannan was not as sharp as normal, and the Rockies rode the arm of recently acquired starter Livan Hernandez (11-9) to beat the Nationals 13-6. The Rockies got a terrific performance from SS Troy Tulowitzki (three hits, three RBIs) and two hits apiece from 1B Garrett Atkins, RF Brad Hawpe and 3B Ian Stewart.

Lannan was rough from the start Saturday night. He gave up eight earned runs on seven hits and four walks with two strikeouts in four innings to take the loss. His record for the season is 6-12 with a3.81 ERA. Reliever Garrett Mock fared no better, allowing three earned runs on three hits and two walks in just two innings. The Nats got a good effort from Ronnie Belliard, who had three hit sand three RBIs. Lastings Milledge added three hits and scored twice.

Washington committed three errors, one each from Emilio Bonifacio,Ryan Zimmerman and Milledge. They also allowed four stolen bases, two each form Willie Tavares and Matt Holliday.

Sunday: Washington's losing streak reached ten games, as the Rockies had two big innings and the Nats offense was a no-show once again in the sunshine, with the final score 7-2. The Nats actually out-hit the Rockies on Sunday, but once again made bad outs on the bases and were otherwise unable to take advantage of having runners on base. Willie Harris, Pete Orr and Milledge all had two hits apiece as part of the ten-hit effort, but Ryan Langerhans was thrown out at home on a "contact" play in the second inning, and Emilio Bonifacio was thrown out trying to steal second base in the third.

Starter Odalis Perez (L, 5-0, 4.06) turned in a quality start,allowing three earned runs on four hits and four walks over six innings. The three runs came following an error by SS Pete Orr, a walk by Perez and three-run home run by 3B Ian Stewart. Colorado got four more runs in the eight inning off of Charlie Manning and Jesus Colome. OFs Brad Hawpe and Seth Smith both homered as well for the Rocks. All-star Aaron Cook (15-8) got the win, giving up only two earned runs on seven hits over five innings.

NATS NOTES: With the losses, the Nationals record stands at 44-81,24.5 games behind division-leading New York.

On Sunday, Washington announced a trade, sending RHP Luis Ayala to the Mets in exchange for a player to be named later, expected to be minor league SS Anderson Hernandez. Ayala was once the Nats most dependable reliever, but he has not been the same since surgery after an injury following the World Baseball Classic in 2006. Hernandez hit .301 for Triple-A New Orleans in 2007, but this season is hitting only .201 in441 bats for the Zephyrs.

Photo of Lannan (c) C. Nichols 2008.
Photo of Langerhans courtesy of Anthony Amobi, DC Sports Box.