GB&U: One In A Row

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

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

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

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

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.

Nationals Trade RHP Ayala to Mets

After some confusion with the press releases this morning from the team, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports:

"The Nationals traded right-handed relief pitcher Luis Ayala to the Mets on Sunday morning for a player to be named later, but that player is expected to be infielder Anderson Hernandez.

Ayala requested the trade weeks ago because he wanted a change of scenery. He was going through a divorce and had other off-field problems.

Ayala has struggled this season, compiling a 1-8 record with a 5.77 ERA in 62 appearances.

Hernandez will join the Nationals on Tuesday against the Phillies. He will be a backup infielder for the remainder of the season."

At least the man with two last names is healthy and a legitimate shortstop, instead of having to run Ronnie Belliard and Pete Orr out there.

Ayala leaves the Nats/Expos organization after five major league seasons. His career record is 37-32 with a 3.32 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. This year has been his worst as a pro though, going 1-8 , 5.77, 1.47 and his struggles recently have been worse than that. He's given up six earned runs over 6.1 inning in his last six appearances. He was once considered one of the best set-up men in baseball, but Tommy John surgery after his injury in 2006's World Baseball Classic has reduced his capacity and he has not been the same pitcher since.

Hernandez used to be a pretty decent prospect in the Mets organization, however, the luster has really fallen off of his star. He's hit over .300 several times in his seven-year minor league career, but this season is undoubtedly his worst. With Triple-A New Orleans, he's batting .201/.264/.306 with 5 HRs, 35 RBIs and 11 SB (with 7 CSs) in 441 at bats. Some of that can be attributed to the Mets yanking the starting 2B job from him last year in the Luis Castillo trade, but he's not made any reason for the Mets to regret their decision, despite Castillo's deflating numbers.

Anderson has not made an appearance for the Mets this season. He has a lifetime .139 average in 87 major league at bats.

GB&U: Number Nine, Number Nine...

RESULT: Nats lost to Rockies 13-6, ninth consecutive defeat.

GOOD: Ronnie Belliard. He went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and played SS/1B. Lastings Milledge. Despite another error in CF, he went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

BAD: John Lannan. For what it's worth, that was his worst outing as a big leaguer. We sat real close to home plate, and he had nothing. From the first pitch of the game you could tell. He had no location, no movement, nothing. Final line: 4 IP, 8 ERs, 7 hits, 4 BBs, 2 Ks. Throw this one out.

UGLY: Tim Tolman. Sending Jesus Flores home in the sixth inning was unconscionable. He's arguably the slowest guy on the team, there's only one out, you've got the opposing pitcher on the ropes. Hold him and you've got second and third with one out. It's smart baseball. Tolman made a very poor decision, and now Flores -- the team leader in RBIs -- is day-to-day with a strained calf. It just keeps getting worse.

100-LOSS WATCH: 20 to go with 38 games remaining.

NEXT GAME: Today to close out the series with Colorado. Odalis Perez (5-8, 4.12) versus all-star Aaron Cook (14-8, 3.87).

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

More Crow Post-Mortem

GM Jim Bowden's pathetic attempt at spin today is a shoddy attempt at damage control. The crocodile tears he shed for the Post's Chico Harlan may sway the casual fan, but the sheer hubris and fortitude it took for him to detail the negotiations in the press like this, regardless if you believe him or not (I do not), is incredible. It is unprofessional and immature to the extreme. It's no wonder many of his peers don't return his phone calls. They know anything they say can and will be held against them in the court of public opinion. Bowden's "interview" with the Post today was a disgusting attempt to shift blame to the player and his agent, and the disrespect he shows Crow and his father (Bowden repeatedly refers to him as "the father", not by name) is shameful and embarrassing.

But we now know the score, and here's the first independent analysis of yesterday's debacle, and it ain't pretty.

Keith Law, of Scouts, Inc. and ESPN.com, a former member of the Toronto Blue Jays front office and former writer for Baseball Prospectus knows the draft. It's what he does. And his independent opinion: Bowden blew it. Not just with Crow, but the whole draft. Here's the sad indictment from his most recent column.

"The Nationals' failure to sign Aaron Crow is yet another strike against the regime of embattled general manager Jim Bowden, whose name has popped up in the investigation into embezzlement of signing bonuses in Latin America.

In full-on spin mode, Bowden now is claiming that Crow and his advisors didn't give the Nationals any indication before the draft what it might take for Crow to sign (even though this information was common knowledge in the industry) and didn't provide a dollar figure until Aug. 12. If the Nationals genuinely didn't know what Crow wanted, it was either willful ignorance or the worst case of a signability analysis I've ever seen. And if they weren't willing to go much over slot, they could have just taken Arizona State's Brett Wallace (taken by the Cardinals at No. 13) or Long Beach (Calif.) high school hitter Aaron Hicks (taken by the Twins at No. 14), signed either for slot at No. 9 and made the plausible argument that they took the best player available.

The Nationals didn't do anything later in their draft to salvage this misstep. They gave back-of-the-first-round money to outfielder J.P. Ramirez (selected in the 15th round, 451st overall), who didn't make my top 75 prospects for the draft and ranked No. 155 on Baseball America's list (roughly a fourth/fifth rounder). They signed just two prospects off my top 75, none higher than catcher Adrian Nieto at No. 40, and nobody in Baseball America's top 50.

It's not a Houston 2007 disaster -- where the Astros didn't have picks in the first and second rounds, then failed to sign their third- and fourth-rounders -- but it's a significant problem for a team whose farm system was gutted under years of MLB-state ownership. The Nationals now will have two picks in the top 10 next year, an extremely expensive proposition, and in a draft class that is no stronger than this one. (In fact, a rough cut at the top 10 prospects for next year's draft would include at least five that I expect will be advised by Scott Boras: Stephen Strasburg, Grant Green, Dustin Ackley, Andy Oliver and Donovan Tate.)

It's a bad outcome for a franchise that needed another good draft to continue the farm system's comeback, which has already had unforeseen setbacks this year with the struggles of their top two picks from 2007, Ross Detwiler and Josh Smoker. "

Wow. This isn't one of us saying it. Although each of us that have a blog the last 24 hours have said all of this ourselves--except probably detailing just how much was too much money spent on Ramirez and Jones. So not only did the Nats not sign their first round pick, but they gave first round money to a 15th round pick that isn't in anyone's top 75 and projects as a fifth outfielder.

"Worst case of a signability analysis I've [Keith Law] ever seen."

Fire Jim Bowden.

GB&U: Failed Draft Pick Signing Edition

RESULT: Nats fail to sign first round draft pick RHP Aaron Crow, now under contract to the Fort Worth Cats.

GOOD: I fail to see the good out of all of this, unless it is the last nail in Jim Bowden's coffin. Actually, the real good of this is that the Nats will definitely have two of the top dozen picks in next year's draft, hopefully with Rizzo at the helm and Bowden far, far away.

How can a team dedicated to rebuilding through the draft fail to sign its most important pick? Moreover: How can a team draft a player that all along had no inclination of coming to DC, when there are multiple needs throughout the organization, such as:

1) Quality Middle Infield Prospects;

2) Power, especially at first base;

3) Overall depth.

It's clear that Crow never wanted to play for Washington, and he's taking a very big risk to his future to avoid that fate. He ultimately turned down an awful lot of money to play independent ball, trying to avoid injury, and re-enter the draft next year. Godspeed, Mr. Crow.

BAD: This really has to be the last straw for Bowden. He gets up on the podium on draft day, pronounces Crow is the next great National first-round draft pick, announces very clearly that the organization has given him all the tools necessary to have a successful draft, then doesn't sign the player over what will ultimately be less than $1M. Granted, that's a lot of money to you and me, but shouldn't be what stands in the way of getting your first round draft pick signed.

UGLY: The reaction around the Natosphere has been anger, disappointment, apathy and disgust. There's a real feeling among Nats fans that there's little direction, no cohesiveness and a general distrust of management right now, from the top (the Larners) all the way down to the field manager. For a team and organization that's becoming the butt of jokes across the league, this is the icing on a nasty tasting cake.

GAME RELATED CONTENT: Oh, by the way, the current team on the field lost their eighth game in a row last night, and now the team's best pitcher is talking in veiled messages at his center fielder.

From the Post's game story: "Said Redding, after it was done: "The most frustrating is when you know the inning should have been over and you give up runs to guys who shouldn't have been at the plate. "

It was a poor play on Milledge's fault, but for crying out loud, it was in the FIFTH FREAKING INNING. If this team could score more than three runs a games (a good night these days), you wouldn't be having this conversation.

NEXT GAME: Nats go for nine in a row tonight against the Rocks. Hard Luck John Lannan (6-11, 3.40) against old Nat Livan Hernandez (10-9, 5.94). Hernandez has been the easiest starting pitcher to get a hit off of in the Major Leagues this year. Over/under tonight for the Nats? I'll set it at 6.5.

So That's It

According to Baseball America's John Manual:

The Nationals signed 15th round pick J.P. Ramirez, a lefthanded-hitting outfielder with a smooth stroke and a Tulane commitment, for $1 million.

Ramirez is a solid consolation prize, but the Nats missed on their top pick. Washington failed to sign Missouri righthander Aaron Crow, according to industry sources. One source indicated the Crow camp, led by his agents the Hendricks Brothers, dropped their demands to $4 million from the $8-$10 million range, and that the Nationals came up from slot to $3.3 million, but that the two sides ran out of time and wiggle room and couldn’t work out a compromise.

So the Nats didn't sign their #1 pick, their prized possession, over $700K? Shocking. This ought to be a heck of a press conference trying to dance their way out of this one. Simply incredible.

"Be patient," they said.

"Our guys know the draft," they said.

"Crow's a front-line, once a generation pitcher," they said.

"Build through the draft and spend once we're competitive," they said.

They lied.

O's Sign Matusz: What's It Mean For Crow?

Here's the story about the Orioles signing first round pick, fourth overall, LHP Brain Matusz out of San Diego.

Here's the pertinent part:

The Orioles and first-round pick Brian Matusz have agreed to terms on a major league deal that would immediately insert him onto the club's 40-man roster and toward the top of the organization's list of pitching prospects, The Sun has learned.

Matusz, a left-hander out of the University of San Diego and the fourth overall pick in June's amateur draft, will receive a $3.2 million bonus.

So what does it mean for the Nats first rounder RHP Aaron Crow? Well, that's quite a bit less bonus money than he's reportedly demanding, but he got the Major League contract. Would Kasten relent if Hendricks lowered the up front bonus money that much? Would Hendricks blink if Kasten ponied up $5M - $7M and not the contract?

This is really fascinating stuff. I haven't seen any other signings yet today, so this could very well be the first domino of the six top-ten picks (and 10 of the top 30) that at the start of the day were still left unsigned.

GB&U: Swept Away Again (and goodbye Mets fans!)

RESULT: Nats lose to Mets 9-3. Sweep. Seven-game losing streak.

GOOD: Pete Orr. Pinch-hittin' Pete comes through with a triple to make things interesting for a little while. Good for you, Pete. It's nice to see him have a little reward for sacrificing his shot at playing for the Canadian Olympic team to stay with this terrible, almost historically bad last place team.

BAD: Collin Balestar. Mama said there'd be days like these. 6 IP, 5 ERs, 4 hits, 5! BBs, 3 Ks, 2 HRs. For the season he's 2-5, 5.06. He looked good first time through, but lost something the second time through the line-up. Granted, the Mets can hit. But you can't expect to have success walking Argenis Reyes (.239) and Fernando Tatis three times!

UGLY: Mets fans. They apparently invaded the Ladies' Night tent pre-game last night, then committed a fan interference taking a David Wright foul ball from in front of Austin Kearns in the RF corner. And I don't know about the upper deck, but the lower bowl was crawling with them. I know it's an inherent problem in DC, but it still sucks.

INJURY: Guzman sat with lingering soreness in the bad thumb. Flores had a tummy ache. Gonzo finally put on the DL, with Boone returning from injury purgatory.

NEXT GAME: Tonight against the Rocks. Tim Redding (8-7, 4.61) hosts Jorge de la Rosa (5-6, 6.28) in game one at 7:35 pm from Nationals Park. See you there. Not too many Rockies fans in DC.

Photo (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Schneider, Mets Continue Pounding Nats, 9-3

Washington -- Brian Schneider and Carlos Delgado each hit home runs off Washington Nationals starter Collin Balestar, and the New York Mets took a one-game lead in the N.L. East over the Philadelphia Phillies as a result of their 9-3 victory over Washington Thursday night before 31,058 patrons at Nationals Park. Washington managed only six hits against Mets starter Oliver Perez and a trio of relievers. It was Washington's seventh straight loss.

Balestar was not sharp at all last night, as he allowed five earned runs on four hits and five walks in six innings. This is the second night in a row that walks have really hurt the Nationals' starters, as Jason Bergmann allowed six walks in Wednesday's start. Balestar took the loss, lowering his record to 2-5 and raising his ERA to 5.06. Balestar has yet to reach the seventh inning in any of his eight starts for the Nats. Last night was a season high for him in walks, and tied a season high in earned runs allowed. He also allowed five earned runs against Cincinnati on July 6, his second start.

The Washington rookie cruised through he first three innings, allowing no hits and just one walk, but the wheels came off in the fourth and things just got worse in the fifth. Mets OF Argenis Reyes led off the fourth inning with a single to left center field, and David Wright followed with a double to left that moved Reyes up to third. Carlos Delgado grounded to SS Ronnie Belliard, starting in place of Cristian Guzman, who was a late scratch with lingering soreness in his left thumb, and Reyes scored. Carlos Beltran drove a sacrifice fly to center that scored Wright on the next play, and the Mets took a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, OF Fernando Tatis walked on four straight balls, and Schneider drilled a 1-0 fastball to left center for his third home run of the season.

"This is the big leagues and guys make adjustments," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "That second time through the lineup, it looked like they made adjustments."

The Mets picked up another run in the sixth, as Delgado hit his 26th home run to straight-away left field, and the Mets held a 5-0 cushion.

Washington attempted to make a fight of it though. In the bottom of the seventh they finally got to New York starter Oliver Perez (W, 9-7, 3.91). Austin Kearns led off with a soft liner to center, but was erased on Aaron Boone's force out. C Wil Nieves walked, moving Boone up to second. Willie Harris fouled out for the second out, and Acta called for Pete Orr to pinch-hit for reliever Garrett Mock. Orr has been making the most of his time with Nats recently, and he has every right to relish his time with the team as he sacrificed a spot on Canada's Olympic team to remain with the last-place Nationals. Orr came though again last night, as he tripled to right field, driving in Boone and the slow-footed Nieves all the way from first base. Orr then scored on Emilio Bonifacio's bunt single -- not quite a suicide squeeze, but close enough -- and the Nats had cut the lead to 5-3. Unfortunately, that's as close as they could get.

"We had momentum for a little bit," Orr said. "But they did a good job of shutting us down the next three innings."

The Nats got two walks from Lastings Milledge and Austin Kearns in the bottom of the eighth, but Boone struck out and Nieves grounded out to end the inning without further incident. Milledge went hitless, ending his career-best 14-game hitting streak.

New York added four runs in the top of the ninth against closer Joel Hanrahan on a Damion Easley RBI single and errors on ground balls by Belliard and Bonifacio. Only two of the four runs charged to Hanrahan were earned.

Friday night Washington hosts the Colorado Rockies for the start of a three-game set. Tim Redding (8-7, 4.61) squares off with Jorge de la Rosa (5-6, 6.28) in game one at 7:35 pm from Nationals Park.

NATS NOTES: The loss drops Washington to 44-78 and are 21.5 games behind now division-leading New York, who move to 65-56 with the win. The Nats are now two games ahead of the Seattle Mariners and three ahead of the San Diego Padres for the worst record in the Major Leagues.

As of this post, the Nats have still not signed their first round selection from this year's Amateur Draft, RHP Aaron Crow from University of Missouri. Crow's agent, Randy Hendricks, issued a statement yesterday that Crow had signed a contract with the Independent League Fort Worth (TX) Rock Cats and will play there this season if their demands for an over-slot bonus and a Major League contract are not met. It is believed that Crow and Hendricks are looking for a bonus in the $5MM - $8MM range. MLB recommended slot bonus for the #9 pick is $2.15MM.

SS Cristian Guzman (thumb) and C Jesus Flores (stomach virus) were scratched from Washington's lineup. Guzman was originally listed with the starters but was a late scratch.

The Nationals activated INF Aaron Boone from the disabled list and placed SS Alberto Gonzalez on the DL. Gonzalez had lingered on the Nats bench for eleven games with his glut injury before finally being relegated to the DL.

Photo of Balestar (c) C. Nichols 2008.

Mr. Oppenheim's Article, Part II

Gabe Oppenheim replied to my comment on his article this morning, and invited me to call him to talk about things. We then exchanged several e-mails and did eventually have our conversation. He gave me permission to paraphrase and use some of his remarks in his e-mails to explain his perspective, but declined to answer directly by commenting on my blog or as a comment to his own story on the Post.

I will start by saying that I believe him to be sorry about the way his article was perceived. But he also admitted that he really doesn't understand how or why people are misinterpreting his story. He said that he understands fan loyalty and passion and thought his article conveyed that, and not the condescending, mocking tone that I, and many others, perceived.

He stated his article was about the certain men at that certain table that he quoted, but readily admitted he did a poor job explaining that in the article. He even mentioned he had some filler at the end about the little boy that got the trivia contest right and won tickets, but that it was "trimmed" by his editor.

He stated in his opening e-mail:

I'm sorry if the story in any way misrepresented the scene. To be perfectly honest, I'm a huge baseball fan and as such, I have great, great respect for fans who follow teams -- especially ones who follow bad teams.

-snip-

I assure you I didn't came in with an intention to mock. I think the words I use in the piece can be taken of two ways: as indicators of the table's ineffaceable dignity, despite the losses, or as sardonic tweaks.

When pressed on the issue of categorizing Nats fans as "men, mostly middle-aged", he replied:

"You are obviously right that Nats fans aren't all middle-aged men, and my first graph is deceptively constructed (not intentionally). I realize now that it seems as if I'm characterizing the whole place, when really I was trying to characterize only the men at the table -- when really, I wanted the article to be ABOUT only the men at my table. But that doesn't come through, and it's my fault.

I did say that the 70 in attendance were "fanboys of various ages," which was supposed to cover the rest of the place. The problem became that people misinterpreted "fanboys" to be a term of mockery and male chauvinism; I assumed women could be subsumed under "fanboys," too, just as they can be under the phrase "you guys.""

We talked about the use of the term "fanboy" and it's generally negative connotation in the sporting world, but again, he didn't understand that and didn't feel the term was negative. And since I am not female, I won't speak to the phrase "you guys" as being insutling to women, but will allow the women who read this tell me if they are insulted that a writer for the Washington Post thinks it's ok to label women as "you guys" and "fanboys".

What is still troubling to me is that after trading e-mails and speaking for about 10 minutes, he still didn't understand why I, and others were upset. He was sorry that we were, and time and again stated that was not his intention, but he still didn't get it. It's not the references to old allegiances that people took exception to. It speaks more to the way the whole theme of the article seemed to belittle the subjects of the story.

He kept saying that it wasn't his intention, but that's obviously the perception.

But there is a larger point. The Post sent a writer from the Style section to cover a sports event, and Mr. Oppenheim did not understand my frustration at all about that distinction. He said,"They wouldn't send me to do a game story." But why not? They have interns write gamers. Why not someone from the Style section. Do you think they'd send Chico Harlan to write a story about the American Urological Association's yearly exhibition?

Mr. Oppenheim also admitted to me that he was unaware of the long-time problems fans have had with the Post's coverage of the Nationals, something he now is completely submersed in.

Here's what it boils down to: the Post sent a Style Reporter with no institutional knowledge to cover a baseball story and he wrote an article that had absolutely nothing to do with why the event was being held and many Nationals fans found it at least troubling, if not down-right insulting. And the author, though honestly sorry for the way his article was perceived, doesn't quite understand why they feel that way.

Photo (C) C. Nichols 2008.

Open Letter to Gabe Oppenheim, Washington Post

Gabe Oppenheim of the Washington Post attended the Q&A event with John Lannan at the ESPN Zone yesterday, and he must have attended a different event than I did. Apparently, all he saw was middle-aged men giving pathetic worship to even bigger losers--the home team. What shame! Being a fan of a losing team. You can read Mr. Oppenheim's words here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/13/AR2008081304030.html

Even the title "Nats Don't Even Need a Hit to Reach Fan Base" is condescending. How did this get past the editors? I'll tell you why: THEY DON'T CARE. The game story wasn't even on the front page of the section. This is the respect the Major League Baseball team in Washington, DC gets from the local paper. A 24-year-old beat writer on his first real job, a couple of interns, and a hack from the Metro section writing about losers that root for other losers.

Below is my open letter to him, which I posted under the comments to his article. I suggest if you feel the same after reading his article to leave a comment as well.

Mr. Oppenheim,

I was at the event at ESPN Zone yesterday, and your report is misguided at best and disingenuous at worst. This event was attended by a wide variety of Nats fans, adult men, women, teenagers, children; everyone.

The Post's coverage of the Nationals has been much-maligned and criticized, but this is the first time a Post article has outright insulted the fan base. The condescending tone of your article implies that the true Nats fan is a pathetic loser that roots hopelessly for other losers--the only thing missing from your article was a reference to these men getting out of their pajamas and their mother's basements to attend the event.

You so obviously had an agenda when writing the article, since you ignored to speak with--or even mention--any number of the female fans, or the children who asked questions of one of their heroes, or the teenagers in the back of the room that had come up from their group party in the lower lever of the ESPN Zone to see a Major League player speak.

Ask your photographer that was there, she got all our names and hometowns for the pictures she took that never made it into the article since you ignored that section of the audience.

Your article is an embarrassment to what was once a proud, local sports page, but unfortunately now typical of the lack of coverage the Nationals receive. If a visitor from another town picked up yesterday's sports section, they wouldn't have even known there was a local MLB team here, since there was no mention of the only major sports team in season on the front page of the section. There were Olympics stories, and the obligatory Redskins story--but no mention of the Nats. Even when the Wizards and Capitals were truly pathetic, their game stories were on the front of the section. Below the fold maybe, but at least there.

The Nats are bad, but not invisible. And despite your misleading article, they have a passionate, diverse fan base; one that deserves respect, not ridicule.

Dave Nichols

Bottomfeeder Baseball Blog

http://bottomfeederbaseball.blogspot.com/

Gee, look at the diverse crowd at the event yesterday. Women, children, teenagers. Oh hey, even a couple of middle-aged men were there too!