The Nationals Gallery

And after all that...

2005-08-10T15:31:00.000-04:00

A win tonight would tie the Nats with the Astros in the NL wild card race.

To try to pull that off, the Nats trot out Livan, who could be diplomatically termed "erratic" as of late. The Astros don't exactly have much with which to answer, though (the Nats dodged Clemens, though Pettitte is readying for tomorrow night), going with Wandy Rodriguez.

Can Watson continue his torrid .400 hitting pace? I, for one, am just happy to see someone speedy finally hitting at the top of the order. Incidentally, the team leader in SB is currently Wilkerson, who has five to go with his 9 CS. Um.

Another one-run game, but this one a win

2005-08-10T15:22:00.000-04:00

Fast forward to last night's game. Watson batted leadoff, going 2-for-5 with a home run and a double. He wasn't the only one to homer, though--there was Wilkerson in the second, Schneider in the fourth, Watson in the fourth, and Castilla in the fifth.

Every starter, Patterson included, had at least one hit except for Nick Johnson (who went 0-for-2 but had three walks), Preston Wilson (no hits in his last 10 ABs), and the true shocker, Guzman (who nevertheless managed a throwing error that scored two runs in the sixth).

Patterson wasn't perfect, allowing three earned runs on seven hits in 5 and two thirds innings, but it should have been more than enough. As it was, his performance was just enough for the one-run win, the first such win for the Nats since July 8. The bullpen thankfully held, and Chief racked up his 37th save.

Remember when it seemed like every game was like this?

First, some belated news...

2005-08-10T15:11:00.000-04:00

Before I get to last night's game, let's back up to some news I overlooked from over the weekend. The Nats called up outfielder Brandon Watson and designated outfielder Matt Cepicky for assignment. Cepicky, needless to say, was not happy:

"I am always the odd man out," Cepicky said as he cleared out his locker after going 1-for-4 in Sunday afternoon's 3-0 loss to San Diego. "I don't understand why me going down is going to help this team win. ... If the team was winning, this wouldn't happen, but unfortunately, the team is not, so they look for a way to help it out."

On the other hand,

Watson was hitting .357 with 14 doubles, 20 RBIs and 26 steals in 38 attempts over 73 games at New Orleans through Friday.

Yes, yes, I know.

2005-08-09T16:28:00.000-04:00

I went and had a birthday and missed out on commenting on two more sad losses, 3-2 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday to complete the sweep for the Padres. Ugh, ugh, ugh.

I don't have much to say today. This team needs to manage to string together some run support for John Patterson tonight. This shouldn't be impossible against a guy like Ezequiel Astacio, but what do I know?

Will the real Ryan Drese please stand up?

2005-08-06T08:54:00.000-04:00

There's no telling which Ryan Drese will show up tonight, but here's hoping it's the Good Drese of the North. Yahoo has Pedro Astacio slated to start once again, which may actually happen tonight.

I'm so tired of one-run losses.

In other news...

2005-08-06T08:46:00.000-04:00

The AP newswire carries a report that the Nats:

"Lost" Sunny Kim on waivers to the Colorado Rockies:
"It was disappointing. We had gotten him through waivers earlier this year, and we were hoping a 6 ERA would get him through a second time, but it didn't happen," general manager Jim Bowden said. "So we wish him nothing but the best in Coors Field."
To which I say: huh?
The article continues:
Kim's departure drops the Nationals' pitching staff to 11, with no reliever who's suited to staying in for more than one or two innings.
But then, we saw that last night.
Activated Tony Blanco off of the DL
Signed former Red Sox (designated for assignment) pitcher John Halama to a minor league contract
Reinstated Henry Mateo from the DL, and promptly sent him to AA

Busy day.

Not pretty.

2005-08-06T08:44:00.000-04:00

Livan did not look good. But still, it might have been enough if not for a shaky performance by Chief, compounded by a Guzman error, that let in the winning run, unearned.

Twelfth straight loss in one-run games. This after managing to score five runs, four earned (though on only five hits), off of Padres starter Woody Williams. Sigh.

Tonight: the Padres

2005-08-05T16:11:00.001-04:00

Tonight's opponents are the Padres, who are coming off an offensively charged series with the Pirates. Before that, they were slumping (though not as badly as the Nats), but then they scored 31 runs in three games.

The Nats are trotting out Livan to prevent that onslaught, while the Nats hitters will face Pedro Astacio, who hasn't exactly pitched that well since returning to the rotation. If the Nats can just keep up something like last night's level of offensive production, this win streak could definitely continue.

That felt good.

2005-08-05T16:11:00.000-04:00

Wow. It has been so absurdly long since the planets aligned in this fashion for the Nationals. There was Patterson's masterful complete-game shutout. There was the grand slam by Wilkerson (was I the only one who didn't know that the Nats were the only MLB team without a grand slam until then?). Every starter but Gary Bennett and John Patterson had at least one hit, even Castilla (1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI) and Guzman (2-for-4 with two RBI). Nick Johnson went 3-for-4. Ryan Church went 1-for-3 with a walk.

It was just an all-around great night. And did I mention that Patterson didn't walk anybody, struck out 13, gave up only four hits, and didn't allow anybody beyond second base? According to the AP writeup, over his past six starts, Patterson sports a 1.02 ERA with 54 strikeouts. Not bad at all.

But most importantly, this was another win. Two in a row! A winning series! For the first time in a month! Sure, sure, it was against a magnificently crappy team, but I'm ignoring that for now.

It felt good to win like that.

Hey, a win!

2005-08-04T19:07:00.000-04:00

So the Nats turned to what the AP writer called "an old formula" last night for a win, which mainly involves scoring a few runs and hoping their offense is worse than yours. Last night, it worked, since the Dodgers only managed one run against TA2, and didn't score at all in the next four innings against the combination of Ayala, Stanton, Majewski, and Cordero. (Overworked bullpen? Nahhh.)

But hey, it's a win, and it wasn't even close by Nats standards, ending with a score of 3-1.

The Dodgers should continue to be crappy enough for the Nats to pull out another and win a series for the first time in weeks. John Patterson, who has looked very impressive recently (working his ERA down to 2.60!), goes up against Brad Penny, starting about...now. Go Nats! String together two wins!

I didn't miss much.

2005-08-01T17:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess I missed a win, but that didn't happen until after two more losses, and didn't prevent yet another lost series. So it goes.

The news from the weekend is that Byrd has been sent to the minors, exchanged for Matt Cepicky, who hasn't exactly been lighting it up in AAA.

Blessed feces, Guzman went 2-for-2 with two walks last night. I still don't really believe it. Combine that with a hit in Friday's game, and it's safe to say he's ON FIRE. 3-for-7 in his past three games? It doesn't get any better than that. His OPS is now a blistering .502.

The next game is tomorrow night, at home against the Dodgers, who are slumping in their own right. Maybe a few wins aren't out of the question here.

Week-end

2005-07-29T14:32:00.000-04:00

All of these one-run losses burn me out, so I'm off for the weekend, which will probably be my last true weekend for quite a while.

I'm pessimistic about anything happening before the trade deadline, but who knows? If so, I'll update on that upon my return.

Another day...

2005-07-28T16:49:00.000-04:00

Another loss.

Another one run loss, in fact. The same old numbers...

Record since July 4: 5-16.
Record in one run games since July 4: 2-10.

Guzman's batting record since June 30: 1 hit in 37 at-bats.
Guzman's current batting average: .180

Who else isn't performing?

2005-07-28T12:54:00.000-04:00

Okay, so everyone knows that Guzman defines suckitude. But as I mentioned earlier, he was only one of the hitters who couldn't manage a hit at all last night. In fact, anyone hitting lower than fourth in the lineup didn't hit.

So Wilson and Schneider haven't looked too great the past few games. It's safe to say that Preston Wilson is underperforming by the standard of his last season, but only an idiot would expect him to be performing at that level right now. Schneider's average still hovers in the .270s.

And then there's Vinny Castilla, who is hitless in his last 19 at-bats.

Incidentally, this guy is making $3 million this year. "Veteran presence," blah, blah, blah.

Yeah, another game.

2005-07-28T12:05:00.000-04:00

The Nats are trotting out Ryan Drese to salvage this series. Given how shaky he's been the past couple of weeks, well, I shouldn't say anything.

The Braves are bringing Jorge Sosa, who has allowed a total of two earned runs in his past three starts. He has, however, walked quite a few the past couple of games. Like most of the Nats will actually take pitches. Yeah, right.

The game starts at 1. We'll see how this goes...

More Guzman

2005-07-28T11:59:00.000-04:00

Listed Weight: 195 Pounds.
Current Batting Average: .181
OBP/SLG/OPS: .221/.268/.489

Please, somebody, make the pain stop.

Productive anger

2005-07-28T10:01:00.000-04:00

Chris over at Capitol Punishment is angry, and working out some of that anger with SAT-style analogies.

Cristian Guzman is to the Nationals as ____ is to _____

My favorites so far:

Cristian Guzman is to the Nationals as Gallagher is to watermelons.
Cristian Guzman is to the Nationals as Sammy Hagar is to Van Halen.

I added my own: Cristian Guzman is to the Nationals as a windshield is to a fly on the freeway.

Guzman now has one hit in his last 35 at-bats (dating back to June 30), with 3 walks and 7 strikeouts over that period. He now has 49 strikeouts on the season, nearly matching his total of 52 hits.

Blah.

2005-07-28T09:54:00.000-04:00

I was ready, after the top of the 8th inning last night, to grant that maybe the Nats could actually seal the comeback and win one, finally, and I'd have something great to write about, and so on. Things were looking good. The score was tied, with men on first and second with no outs.

Instead, Wilson struck out, Castilla and Schneider flied out, and that was that. Okay, okay, so they just need to hold them...

But no, Guzman bungled a perfect throw to second to catch Chipper Jones, and the brilliant decision was made to intentionally walk Adam LaRoche, who's hitting .263, and face Jeff Francoeur, who already has 3 home runs in his first 30 major league at-bats.

Predictably, Francoeur, previously 2-for-3 on the night, blooped a double into the outfield, and the winning run scored. Baerga, Church and Wilkerson all went down easily, and another comeback fizzled.

Another one-run loss. Another hitless performance by Guzman (0-for-3 with a strikeout; now hitting .181). For that matter, nobody hitting lower than fourth managed a hit at all; they combined to go 0-for-19 with a walk and 6 Ks. At least Wilkerson, Vidro, Guillen and Johnson came through, combining to go 7-for-14 with three walks and no strikeouts. But they definitely can't do it by themselves, and once again, it wasn't enough. Another series lost, the sixth straight.

Record since July 4: 5-15
Record in one-run games since July 4: 2-9

Tonight's game

2005-07-27T17:30:00.000-04:00

So yeah, there's another game tonight. Tim Hudson goes up against Esteban Loaiza. Superficially, these guys have nearly identical stats. The difference will probably just come down to whichever team can actually scrape out some hits.

The game is actually on Fox Sports South where I live. Given that I lack cable TV, I'm off to the bar at 7.

Nats on Fox

2005-07-27T16:54:00.000-04:00

Given that any hopes of seeing the Nats on cable television are tied up in the courts, I'm glad to see that Fox (ugh) will at least be showing a few Nationals games, if only to certain regions. Three games are planned, with concurrent games to give a feel for where the Nats might be seen:

July 30, 1 PM:
Washington Nationals at Florida Marlins
Chicago White Sox at Baltimore Orioles
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at New York Yankees

August 27, 1 PM:
St. Louis Cardinals at Washington Nationals
Minnesota Twins at Texas Rangers

September 10, 1 PM:
Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees
Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals

Seeing how I plan to be out of town this weekend (for the last time for quite a while...), I won't be seeing the Nats on Fox for a while. But I should get both of the remaining games.

Livan: eighth-best-hitting player when Guzman starts?

2005-07-27T13:25:00.000-04:00

Da kine's recent post over at Nationalz made me think a bit. And so I present, for comparison to the stats in the earlier Guzman post, Livan Hernandez's hitting stats for this year:

Batting average: .176
On-base percentage: .192
Slugging percentage: .255
OPS: .447

Incidentally, last year his OPS was a blistering (by Guzman standards) .626.

As da kine asks, should Guzman be batting ninth when Livan pitches? Given that Livan has hit in his past two starts, and Guzman has, you know, one hit all month...

Lame Johnson

2005-07-27T10:31:00.000-04:00

Meanwhile, Nick Johnson is starting, despite that by all accounts, the guy can't run at all. After going 0-for-4 with a strikeout last night, he's now 0-for-9 with a walk and two Ks since starting his rehab assignment July 23. Why oh why can't somebody just call up Rick Short until Johnson is actually ready to play?

Bench Guzman!

2005-07-27T10:05:00.000-04:00

I don't care how much the Nats have paid for this guy. I don't care how good of a fielder he is. Guzman is an incredible offensive liability, and somebody--Larkin, a minor leaguer, anybody--needs to be starting at short. Just to recap:

Batting average: .183
On-base percentage: .223
Slugging percentage: .271
OPS: .494

In 280 ABs, he's chalked up four fewer Ks (48) than hits (52). He's only managed to score 20 runs and scrape up 13 RBIs, not to mention that he's only walked 15 times.

I can't say that I've ever seen a stat line worse than his for anybody holding out the slimmest hope of starting for a major league team, let alone a minor league one. Just...wow.

Another nasty loss.

2005-07-27T09:48:00.000-04:00

Ugly, ugly, ugly. Another loss in extra innings, this one by one run, bringing the Nats' record in one-run games since July 4 to 2-8. Nasty.

Well, let's start with the good. Livan pitched a beauty: 8 innings, 5 hits, 5 Ks, 1 walk, one run on a home run by Adam LaRoche. Last night, he was better than Smoltz, who allowed two runs in eight innings. The lone bright spots in the offense were Brad Wilkerson (3-for-5 with an RBI: he needed this) and Jose Guillen (2-for-4 with an RBI).

The bad: The bullpen collapsed. First, Chief blew a save, giving up a double, a single, and a sac fly. Then, Stanton came in to give up a single, intentionally walk Furcal, and get two outs. This set up up Ayala, who hit a batter and walked in the winning run. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

The ugly: The bullpen was in a position to blow this one because everyone other than Wilkerson and Guillen was outhit by Livan Hernandez, who went 1-for-3 and scored a run. Hitters four through six (Johnson, Castilla, and Church) combined to go 0-for-10 with two walks and four strikeouts. Guzman went 0-for-4, giving him one hit in his last 32 at-bats, and lowering his batting average still further, to .183.

All streaks must come to an end

2005-07-26T15:28:00.000-04:00

Okay, so the Nats haven't been hitting at all since the All-Star break. But then, neither have tonight's opponents, the Braves.

For example, I offer this chart. In short, the Braves are hitting only slightly better than the Nats. Their pitching, too, has been more or less indistinguishable from that of the Nats since the break.

Sure, sure, tonight's starter for the Braves, John Smoltz, has pitched eight straight starts without a loss, and his last two starts have been superb (7 and 8 IP, with the one ER allowed in each a HR). But he's scheduled to face Livan, who has presumably postponed surgery for another night. If Hernandez can avoid setting new records for hit batsmen, and some Nat can actually figure out how to obtain an RBI, this could be a game.

Trader Jim's ego strikes again

2005-07-26T15:19:00.000-04:00

An article in today's New York Times contains some quotes from Jim Bowden which look suspiciously like those found in an MLB.com Q&A posted yesterday. Leiv & Eric over at The Nationals Interest have a pretty good response to that, which pretty much says what I would have said.

In short, Bowden was quick to claim credit for this team's success, which by all accounts relied on some factors that could easily be termed "luck." And now that things aren't looking so rosy, he's in no mood to admit that this team needs help; instead, he's just sticking to his talking points: the team he put together can hit better than this; they're just slumping; as soon as they go back to living up to their potential, they'll win again.

Yeah, right. Need I remind anyone of this guy?

Or as Harper of OMG offers:

Shut up, you petulant little brat. This is your own damn fault.

Larkin: announcement today?

2005-07-26T13:14:00.000-04:00

Rumor has it that Barry Larkin is announcing today whether or not he'll be joining the team. On that note, one of my favorite sports writers, King Kaufman of Salon, wrote a bit about Barry Larkin in today's column. My favorite parts:

You know things are going badly for a baseball team when the general manager starts trolling the front office looking for guys who can suit up. That's what's happening in Washington, where Nationals G.M. Jim Bowden has asked his special advisor to take off his tie and go play shortstop. ...

Even at 41, he should be an upgrade over Cristian Guzman, who is putting up offensive numbers that would be acceptable only if he were a pitcher. A good pitcher.

Guzman is hitting .186, with an on-base percentage of .226 and a slugging percentage of .275 for an OPS of .501. You pretty much get an OPS of .500 for putting your uniform on. It's like how you get 400 on your SAT for writing your name.

In his worst year, 2002, Larkin put up numbers that looked about like a typical Guzman season in Minnesota, where he spent six years playing in a hitter's park before signing with the Nationals this winter.

Larkin rebounded and had a couple of nice seasons in 2003 and '04. Not Barry Larkin perennial All-Star seasons, but decent. Better than anything Guzman's ever done.

Don't get me wrong. The Nationals would be getting a guy with diminished skills who's been working in the front office for half a season. But a 41-year-old Barry Larkin would be an upgrade from Cristian Guzman, even if Guzman, who has about an average glove, is a little better in the field than Larkin would figure to be at this point.

Shoot, a 41-year-old Lenny Kravitz would be an upgrade from Cristian Guzman, and 71-year-old Luis Aparicio might be a wash.

The Nats signing Guzman to a four-year, $16 million contract before this season has to rank among the worst fiscal decisions made in Washington since the heyday of the $7,600 coffee pot. It's the kind of personnel move made by teams that don't go on to spend most of the season in first place.

Nick Johnson, Cont'd

2005-07-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

Nick Johnson extended his hitless streak in New Orleans last night, going 0-for-3 which, if my reading of some previous box score weirdness is correct, puts him at 0-for-5 with a walk and a strikeout in AAA. Hm.

Running the Numbers

2005-07-26T11:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I thought things were bad before the break. But really, they got worse.

So things looked bad starting back on July 4th, when the Nats began their first losing series in what became quite a streak of losing series by losing 5-2 to the Mets. Continuing up to the All-Star break, the Nats went 2-5 (won 29%), hit .237, scored 3.14 runs a game while allowing opponents to hit .251 and score 4 runs per game.

Not great, but not all that bad, in retrospect, outside of the won-loss record. Since the break, the Nats have played 11 games, and it's safe to say that things got worse. The offense slumped further (hitting .219, scoring 2.82 runs per game), and the pitching got signficantly worse, too (opponents hit .272 and scored 4.27 runs per game). The record over that period? 3-8, good for a winning percentage of 27%.

Any way you slice it, this isn't pretty:

	Batting Avg. Deficit	Runs Scored Deficit	Win %
Jul 4-10	.014	0.86	28.6%
Jul 14-24	.053	1.45	27.3%
Jul 4-24	.037	1.23	27.8%

The future's so bright

2005-07-25T15:26:00.000-04:00

The Nats officially placed Wil Cordero on waivers today. He was 6-for-51 on the year, bringing his batting average to .118 with two RBIs. He never managed a hit either as a pinch-hitter (0-for-14) or with runners in scoring position (0-for-18).

In other news, Nick Johnson (remember him?), he of the unmatched-by-any-other-Nat .320 batting average, started a rehab assignment with the AAA Zephyrs on Saturday. In unspectacular fashion, he went 0-for-1 with a strikeout and a walk on Saturday; a pinch-runner was brought in for him. Last night, he appears to have gone 0-for-1 (with some serious box score weirdness going on). At any rate, he is hitless so far in his rehab at-bats. Hitting like a true Nat, eh?

Just before you draw your terminal breath...

2005-07-25T09:58:00.000-04:00

Hey, after all this, the Nats are still tied for the NL East division lead with the Braves. Crazy.

Another series loss

2005-07-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

Well, okay, so the Clemens game went even worse than I expected: 14-1, Astros. Drese gave up six, five earned, in six and a third innings, while Sunny Kim managed to pile on eight more earned runs in an inning and two thirds.

Then there was Saturday's game, which turned on a bizarre misplay by Astros center fielder Willy Taveras on a fly to center by Baerga, turning it into a three-run double. TA2 pitched solidly enough for that to hold up, and Cordero allowed two hits but still managed the save. 4-2, Nats.

And just when I thought maybe the Nats could avoid losing another series, they did it in heartbreaking fashion, going fourteen innings but succumbing, 4-1. Patterson went eight innings and gave up only one run, scattering six hits and striking out ten. Cordero, Ayala, Stanton, and Majewski combined for four more scoreless innings, but Carrasco gave up a three-one home run, and the Nats failed to answer, and there's another lost series in the books.

As the yahoo recap points out, Patterson remains "the master of the no-decision": 4-2 in 18 starts, with an ERA of 2.58.

And this offense is just dead, hitting .170 since the All-Star break. More about that later.

Tonight, tonight, whoa-ohhhh.

2005-07-22T16:03:00.000-04:00

There's another game tonight, and it's not looking pretty. The Astros are trotting out some guy named Roger Clemens, who has an absurd ERA of 1.47. But hey, he still managed to lose his last start, though that was on the basis of bad fielding (1 ER, 3 R allowed) and lack of offensive performance by the Astros (final score: 3-0, Cardinals). So, sure, he's beatable.

To counteract that, the Nats are bringing out Ryan Drese, who didn't look too great in his last start (3 IP, 3 ER) or the one before that (5 IP, 4 ER). This guy is doing his best to define inconsistency for the team, and up against somebody who isn't known for inconsistency...

Yeah, like I said, I don't have a good feeling about this.

Reading the news today, oh boy.

2005-07-22T15:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, so there's the whole Larkin thing, which gets another writeup in today's Post:

Barry Larkin, the former shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds who is contemplating a comeback with the Washington Nationals, said yesterday that it will be "at least two weeks" before he makes a decision on whether he would play with the team this season.

"I've got to try to get myself in shape," Larkin said by phone last evening. "I'm not worried about my wind, but as far as being in baseball shape, I'd have to get my timing, my hands, to the level I'd need them to be."

And then there's the controversy over the true size of RFK. Barry Srvugula went out to measure it himself, and while he got kicked off the field, he succeeded in getting the team to hire a real surveyor to check the distances. Lo and behold, they were wrong--by a significant amount. My favorite from the ensuing article is this quote from Trader Jim, which really clears everything up:

"We thought that's how it would be," General Manager Jim Bowden said. "But we didn't know it would be like this."

And then there's Livan.

2005-07-22T09:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, so we're all still confused about Livan's comments on Wednesday night, but not quite as confused as we were yesterday. But according to today's AP report, he didn't mean it, really.

Once he calmed down, Livan Hernandez wanted to make a few things clear Thursday: He won't have knee surgery until after the season, he will keep taking the mound every five days, even in pain, and he would never quit on his club.

A day after saying during a rambling postgame interview session that he was thinking about having an operation, the Washington Nationals' ace unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at reporters in the RFK Stadium home clubhouse before Thursday night's game against Houston.

The gist of his several-minute outburst Thursday was that his comments about being "99.9 percent" sure he might have season-ending surgery and "I'm done, I think" after Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the NL-worst Colorado Rockies came in the heat of the moment and weren't reported accurately.

The Post offers us that profanity-laced tirade, post-censoring:

"I never [expletive] quit," he shouted. "Never. For eight years, I pitch every [expletive] day. And everybody know. Every day, hurt. They say, 'Livan is a quitter. Livan is going to quit.' [Expletive.] I go pitch. I'm good. I go pitch."

For what it's worth, I'm with Harper at OMG--it's certainly a relief to have that behind us, but I'm by no means relieved; the Nats' best pitcher still stated his desire to have season-ending surgery that he really didn't need to anyone who would listen. This is not reassuring.

Another day, another one-run loss...

2005-07-22T09:21:00.000-04:00

Loaiza pitched well, and relievers Eischen and Carrasco pitched even better, but Baerga's error allowed when proved to be the crucial run.

Another one-run loss. Needless to say, the lack of a decent third baseman continues to haunt this team. On the other hand, Jamey Carroll wasn't too bad, getting a hit in his third straight gaem (since he became the starting shortstop), and he had a pretty nifty play in the eighth inning, too.

Guzman was roundly booed when he pinch-hit in the eighth. He promptly responded by grounding out.

Oh, and Preston Wilson continues to hit better than I had anticipated, going 2-for-4 with a two-run HR in the ninth, which would have been nicer if it had at least tied the game...

Record in past 15 games: 4-11
Record in one-run games over that stretch: 2-7

Life goes on, eh?

2005-07-21T17:37:00.000-04:00

And hey, there was a little bit of good news buried under all that mess: W "Doesn't Stand For Winner" Cordero is gone, replaced by outfielder Kenny Kelly. The Post article is full of quotes from Coach and Trader Jim about how difficult it was to drop a guy who hit a blistering .118. Why can't anybody admit the obvious? This is not a guy who should have been starting for a Major League team.

Anyway, there's a game tonight. Projected starters: Loaiza for the Nats, up against Oswalt and the Astros, who just completed a four-game sweep of the Pirates.

I don't have a very good feeling about this game.

Taking Stock

2005-07-21T14:54:00.000-04:00

Seeing how nobody has a freaking clue about all of the Livan weirdness, this is as good a time as any to take stock.

Okay. So things are looking bad. I've been over the recent records in various posts this week, and they aren't pretty. But mainly, I don't think the Natosphere would be anywhere near this upset if the team just turned mediocre overnight.

No, no, this is far, far worse. They shot over mediocre straight to craptastic, and then Livan sought to outdo even that. Sure, they're finding ways to lose one-run games, but what's worse is that that includes, I don't know, matching the major league record for hit batters in the process.

I think we can be forgiven for being despondent at this point. Screw taking stock--it's just making me feel worse.

Oh, yeah, there was that, too.

2005-07-21T12:13:00.000-04:00

I almost forgot--that whole mess was preceded by a nasty one-run loss to the pitiful Rockies. Fourth straight series loss. And now, a few numbers:

Record over the past 14 games: 4-10
Record in one-run games over that stretch: 2-6

Whoa.

2005-07-21T12:02:00.000-04:00

I was busy watching the Durham Bulls, AAA farm team to the Devil Rays, get walloped by the Braves' farm team, the, uhhh, Braves, so I totally missed whatever the heck happened last night, but it doesn't sound pretty.

Perhaps Livan Hernandez was frustrated by giving away a lead in a loss to the NL-worst Colorado Rockies. Or by tying a modern major league record by hitting four batters. Or maybe he was upset he was taken out after seven innings.

The Washington Nationals' All-Star pitcher wouldn't say exactly what was bothering him or fully explain why he suddenly announced after Wednesday night's 3-2 loss to the Rockies that he's contemplating having right knee surgery that could end his season.

"I'm not happy for three years. After the season, I'm going to tell you" why, said Hernandez, 12-4 with a 3.44 ERA and the unquestioned staff ace.

"It's 99.9 percent I'm not going to pitch no more" this season, he said. "I'm done, I think, so let's see what happens. ... I'll go to sleep and I'm going to make a decision tonight."

I have no response that should be printed in a family publication such as this. Okay, I agree with Frank:

"I have no idea what's going on."

Huzzah!

2005-07-20T11:15:00.000-04:00

That was much more like it.

Incidentally, I was planning yesterday to write about two players who have really been stinking it up recently, Guzman and Castilla (who at least has the excuse of tendinitis in his left knee). Coach didn't disappoint us, offering up some typically meaningless comments on Guzman:

"I just felt this is the time to give him two or three, four days off and just let him work on his offensive mechanics to see if he can get going, because we need him offensively," Robinson said.

Translation: tired bat. Guzman, for his part, suggests that maybe it has something to do with the schedule of game times:

"Nobody knows how to be happy when you don't play. You don't come here to see all your friends play and you just sit on the bench. Nobody likes that," said Guzman, who joined the Nationals from the Twins with a $16.8 million, four-year contract.

"When we're taking batting practice, I feel great. As soon as the games started, I don't know what happened."

To which I repeat: $4.2 million a year? For Guzman?

At any rate, Coach shook up the lineup. Jamey Carroll handled leadoff duties quite nicely, going 2-for-4 (a feat Guzman hadn't managed since June 29) with an RBI. Baerga at least looked better than Castilla, going 1-for-3 before being pulled for a pinch runner--Guzman, who had just enough time to ground out to first, leaving a runner on base.

Cordero pitched out of a two-on, no-out mess exacerbated by Mike Stanton, who allowed a single by the only batter he faced, and the Nats finished off their first shutout pitching performance since June 24. Sure, it came at home against the team with the worst road record in the majors, but you have to start somewhere.

More Rockies

2005-07-19T17:11:00.000-04:00

I don't even know where to start with analyzing this team right now. For now, I'll move on to tonight's game. It's a new day, after all.

John Patterson is the projected starter for the Nats. He's had a series of great outings, allowing two or fewer runs in his last four starts (all of them no-decisions for him). Going back to late May, he's only allowed more than two runs in two of nine starts.

Shawn Chacon is projected to start for the Rockies, boasting a season ERA of 4.30. I have no idea what his season has been like, except that I can assume he's been on the DL for part of it. There had been some recent rumors that had Chacon heading to the Yankees for a minor leaguer, but that may have fallen through/never had any basis in fact to begin with.

I'm cautisously optimistic about tonight's game. The Rockies are definitely beatable, and the Nats can realistically take this series and start taking steps to keep things afloat.

What team is this?

2005-07-19T12:35:00.000-04:00

I'm trying not to cry.

The Washington Nationals overcame all sorts of injuries and offensive woes to lead the NL East. What they always could count on was solid defense, home-field advantage and an uncanny knack for winning close games.

All of that deserted them Monday night in a 5-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies, owners of the league's worst record and the majors' worst road mark.

Another one run loss, pushing the record over the past 12 games to 3-9, 2-5 in one run games.

More analysis later...

Look what happens when I stop posting eight times a day!

2005-07-18T14:06:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry, I really am. I'll do my best to return to my previous oft-posting ways, so that the Nats might return to the prior form and go back to leading the East by more than, you know, a game and a half.

But this isn't pretty. They've lost their last three series to teams hovering around the .500 mark, taking only one game each from the Mets (in four), the Phillies (in three), and the Brewers (in four).

Over those 11 games, there have been six decided by one run. The Nats have rather uncharacteristically only won two of those. Let's break this down:

Record in one run games: 2-4
In two run games: 1-3
In three run games: 0-1

Ouch again. They've only outscored their opponents three times in eleven games, and they've only managed to outscore anybody once by two runs, and never by any more.

I think it's time to put this stretch behind us. I'll post more, the Nats will win more, and everything will be pretty from here on out. I can feel it.

Did I miss anything?

2005-07-15T14:03:00.000-04:00

Yes, yes, I haven't updated in two days. I've missed plenty, I'm sure. Like, say, the second-straight ugly performance by Gary Majewski for the loss last night to the Brewers. Yeah, there's that.

But going back a bit further, there are a few, uhhhh, minor transactions. Sticking with just what happened on July 13th:

Signed free agent Mike Stanton
Recalled Ryan Church from his rehab stint in AAA
Sent Matt Cepicky back to AAA
Transferred Henry Mateo to the 60-day DL
And, oh, traded Zach Day and J.J. Davis to the Rockies for Preston Wilson

Yeah, other than that, nothing happened.

Wrong, as usual. But mostly: bored.

2005-07-13T15:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, so Livan actually came in at 9:40. He didn't do too well, of course. But hey, at least Cordero managed not to give up a run, striking out the only batter he faced.

But I'm with Dan Wetzel, who wrote over at yahoo! that this was one boring All-Star game.

You just never know with All-Star games. Some are compelling. Some are surprising. Some are historic.

And some are snoozers.

The Late Late Show

2005-07-12T15:40:00.000-04:00

In the absence of any full-blown trade rumors (which I can only take to be a good thing, given the trades that have been rumored recently), there isn't much pressing other than, you know, that game tonight. I may as well take this opportunity to complain, since this game starts so absurdly late for us East-coasters, that a Nats player almost certainly won't enter the game until after 11 PM EDT, and more likely after midnight. Ugh.

The bright side: less chance for injury of Nats? Like there's anyone left to get injured, anyway.

Double Drat.

2005-07-11T10:47:00.000-04:00

Okay, sure, a one-run loss isn't much. But two in a row? I'm just not used to this.

This was a tough loss. I guess Coach heard my complaints about leaving Carrasco in for the previous game, but once Cordero had pitched his allotted inning, he had nowhere to turn but Sunny Kim, who took the opportunity to chalk up his second straight loss.

I repeat my pleas for someone, anyone to replace Wil "The Bad" Cordero, who, as BallWonk reports, sucked the life out of two rallies near the end of this game. Come on. Even after four-for-ten over a three game stretch a week or so ago, he's still hitting .122, which makes guys like Baerga and, I don't know, Tony Blanco look great. This is not good.

Okay, so at least W. "Doesn't stand for Winner" Cordero didn't start. But still, there were better choices on the bench when Coach went to him in the tenth. Sure, Cordero went in at first, but Blanco was sent in to pinch-run at the same time, and from all accounts, he can play first, too. I don't know, is there something wrong with, say, Max Cepicky? I'm just sayin'.

Sure, so nobody wanted to head into the break 5-5 in the last ten games, but at least the rest of the division hasn't done any better. Well, except for Atlanta, and the positive there is that they lost their last two, leaving them two and a half games back. For now.

Drat.

2005-07-09T20:53:00.000-04:00

So I was going to post something about how great it was to come away with the one-run win yesterday over the Phillies, even after Drese was only mediocre (5 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 4 K), and the relief was at first pretty awful (Eischen faced two batters, threw a WP, and allowed a triple and a double; Ayala allowed a single, a double and a sacrifice fly, and walked a batter). It was pretty nasty, but it was a when.

But then they went and lost a one-run game today. Only four players even managed a hit (though hey, Baerga had three). Patterson looked great (as did the opposing starter, Cory Lidle). The main difference was that when they brought in their closer, the Nats left Carrasco in. Sure, the bullpen was overworked, and if the game were still tied after the ninth, who could come back in? But still. Ugh.

In could-be-bad-or-could-be-nothing news, Junior Spivey could be out for the rest of the season, after, uhhh, injuring himself while taking BP off of a tee. Right. He was mainly a stopgap measure until Vidro came back, and he was only hitting .232...

Question for Harper at OMG: Does this mean Rick Short is back? I certainly hope so. I'm sure Harper will be the first with the news if Short is called back up.

Eric Milton? Seriously?

2005-07-08T17:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I must have missed something in my extended absence here, but I am pained to see that serious rumors are flying about Bowden going after Eric Milton, or as Reds fans might refer to him, Mr. Seven-Run Start. I mean, come on, look at this guy's season to date: he's had five starts in which he allowed seven or more earned runs, and twelve in which he allowed at least four. And in his eighteen starts, he's allowed an MLB-leading 28 home runs to go with his league-leading (okay, I'm using that term incorrectly here) ERA of 7.20.

But sure enough, a Cox News Service article mentions that Bowden sent Bob Boone to scout out Milton:

And he turned in a favorable report after Milton held the Giants to three runs and six hits over 6 1/3 innings, his second straight quality start.

Right, that's quite an impressive start. But hey, he only allowed one home run that night (in eight of his eighteen starts, he's given up at least two HRs). And the previous start, he only allowed two runs! Stop the presses!

Oh, right. In the two starts before that, he allowed seven and nine runs, in a grand total of ten and two-thirds innings.

Yeah, Trader Jim? Please don't trade for this one. He's not worth anything close to the $5.3 million he's raking in this year, and he sure as heck isn't worth anybody decent in a trade. I'm tired of hearing rumors of what can only be described as a truly, truly awful idea.

Taking stock, briefly

2005-07-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

Okay, sure, we could focus on what I missed: the five-game winning streak, the loss of a series to the Mets, the robot throwing out the first pitch last night...

But come on. I come back, and these guys haven't slowed down. Sure, they lost three of four to the Mets, but they're still 51-34, three games up on Atlanta. This series at Philadelphia heading into the break could prove to be very important, but on the bright side: Vidro's back!

But still, I missed managing to post something before today's loss, so I may as well hold off on blabbing about the Philly series until tomorrow. But really, I'm back.

What I missed

2005-07-05T08:54:00.000-04:00

Oh, what a time to be on vacation. Sure, Boston is lovely, the weather is fantastic, and so on...

But I've been missing the Nats making yet another run. Six wins in a row, three of those a sweep of the Cubs! I certainly hadn't expected that. Moving five and a half games ahead of the Braves! These have been good times, ever since I left home.

And sure, they lost one last night, their first loss in seven games, but they're still an astounding 50-32, four and a half games up on the Braves. Not a bad place to be.

But this truly insightful post willl have to do for now. Boston calls.

Skipping out

2005-07-01T13:03:00.000-04:00

Like pretty much everyone else in the much-vaunted Natosphere, I'm taking off for the weekend and part of next week, heading northward, in my traditional summer trek to a land where real cities exist.

I'll be passing through DC, but (shock of shocks!) not actually stopping for a Nats game. Alas.

I imagine that the Nats can hold down the fort while I'm gone, show the Cubbies who's boss, etc.

News grab bag!

2005-07-01T11:48:00.000-04:00

Definitely a mixed bag of news today.

Good: Fantastic June. Record: 20-6.
Even Better: Nobody else in the NL East had a great June. Braves: 15-13. Marlins: 13-14. Mets: 15-13. Phillies: 15-12.
Bad: June has ended.

Good: Joey Eischen is back from the DL, and the team finally has a left-handed pitcher back on its roster.
Bad: Travis Hughes, who had been pitching pretty well, is back in the minors.

Bad(?): Cristian Guzman strained his left hamstring, and won't play at least a couple of games.
Good: Rick Short was called up, and may actually play.

Bad: Ryan Church has been moved to the DL.
Maybe Worse: Wil Cordero is still on the roster, and likely still starting.

Good: Vidro is rehabbing with the Potomac Nationals, and may be back soon.
Bad: When he returns, Rick Short is almost certainly headed back to AAA, while Wil Cordero stays.

Where's that confounded broom?

2005-06-30T22:44:00.000-04:00

In the course of my current move, I misplaced my broom, and I've been unable to, you know, sweep for a while. This is unpleasant. I suspect that it's somehow made its way to Washington, though, where the Nats put it to good use, sweeping the hapless Pirates with two one-run games and the SUPER HIGH-SCORING FINALE that ended 7-5.

Wil Cordero went 1-for-3, practically doubling his batting average to an astounding .057. But it looks like he'll be continuing to light up the basepaths, since Ryan Church has been placed on the DL, retroactive to June 23. But then, the Nats have called up none other than Rick Short to fill the hole, so maybe Cordero won't be starting, after all...

I'm not holding my breath.

Late scores

2005-06-30T08:04:00.000-04:00

The late scores are in, and they look good. First, the Nats won another one-run game, this one 3-2. Patterson looked pretty good until the two-hour rain delay (okay, one hour of that was apparently spent repairing the field, since the grounds crew couldn't figure out how to cover all the important parts with the tarp), then came back to allow a two-run home run on his first pitch. He stayed on two pitch five innings, and while the bullpen had to cover the other four, it could have been much worse.

Two other notes from that game: Junior Spivey extended his hitting streak to ten games (everyone saw that coming!), and Guillen got his 500th career RBI. How'd he get it? Well, with a bases-loaded walk. Yeah.

In a marathon 13-inning game in Florida, the Braves went down, 6-5, after two comebacks from the Marlins. That extends the division lead to 3.5 games, but that game makes me wonder: is 39-year-old Al Leiter done for? He's been hovering in Eric Milton territory all year.

Plugging on, into the night...

2005-06-29T23:09:00.000-04:00

Both important NL East games are still going, Atlanta's because it's tied at 4 in the 12th, Washington's because of rain.

Oh, surprise, surprise, W. "My First Initial Should be L." Cordero just struck out swinging in the fifth; now he's 0-for-3 on the night, hitting a truly painful .032. Oh dear God, when will it stop?

Surprise #2: if I had to guess who would be 2-for-2 at this point in the game, I would probably not guess Guzman, who hadn't had a hit in over a week, letting his batting average drop below .200. But hey, not only does he have two hits, but one was a triple, and he added a stolen base after his single, too. Not bad--especially, you know, for him.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on the guy. But, oh, he just lined out to left. Shocking.

The Atlanta-Florida game is showing no signs of doing much of anything any time soon. And I was letting my hopes rise back in the fifth inning, when it looked like Kyle Davies was ready to melt down. But then, the Marlins only managed a run, somehow not scoring beyond that, even though they had men on first and third with no outs.

And here we are, with a couple of tie games, and I'm off to discover the scores when I awake tomorrow.

More of the same

2005-06-29T19:19:00.000-04:00

Again, the Pirates. Again, Castilla batting cleanup (ugh). Again, Wil Cordero (Laugh line from last night: "[Cordero] knew what the situation called for. ... He had a plan -- to hit a fly ball," said Frank Robinson. Right.) starting at first. Blah, blah.

Tonight's pitcher: Patterson (due for a solid start?), going up against Dave Williams, who hasn't looked too bad this year, himself.

As much as I hate watching this team when its batting order is so atrocious, I just can't look away...

The Joes Strike Back

2005-06-28T22:14:00.000-04:00

I just flipped on the TV, only to be reminded of that pesky Presidential address at 8, which bumped Average Joes: The Joes Strike Back (yes, that's apparently the actual title) to ten o' clock, pre-empting the Law & Order: SVU scheduled for that slot. So much for television tonight, I say.

It seems that something similar happened in tonight's game. The heroes? Ryan Drese, he of the 6.14 season ERA, coming off a three-inning, five-run drubbing by the very same team he faced tonight. He struck back, you might say, with an eight-inning, no-walk, five-hit, one-run performance tonight. Not bad.

And then there's Cordero. Not Mr. C, the mighty Chief, but our friend Mr. W. He didn't strike in such grand fashion, to be sure--he didn't even manage his second hit of the season--but he did get his first RBI of the season at a relatively opportune time, knocking in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly. Fir him, I suppose that will have to do for fireworks.

Another solid performance by the Chief himself--and no appearances for the other members of the overworked bullpen, thankfully--wrapped up the game.

Meanwhile, the Evil Empire of the South leads the Marlins 8-1 in the ninth.

When Injuries Attack

2005-06-28T14:55:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I managed to blab about the injury-ridden Braves without mentioning the Nats' own fresh injuries. While everyone knew about Nick Johnson, few had anticipated that he'd be out three to seven days with a "bone bruise" in his heel. The good news: no breaks or tears, according to an MRI yesterday.

And then there's Guillen, whose shoulder is apparently extremely sore; he's listed as day-to-day.

Chris Needham at Capitol Punishment explores the possible lineup moves. In the event that Church is ready to play, it seems simple enough: Wilkerson plays first, and Church and Byrd both start in the outfield, with...um. Who else can play outfield? Blanco? Ugh.

Even worse would be another option: Nats bloggers' favorite player, Wil Cordero, could bring his towering .038 batting average to bear. Opposing pitchers cower in fear. Nats win. Nats win!

If Church is back, the rest could be worked out, but without Church, things get even stickier. My latest brilliant proposal would be to call up the newly signed Kevin Orie, who started at first base last night for the Zephyrs, and is hitting .357 on the year in AAA. Which is, after all, Shortian territory, perhaps further solidifying the impossibility of him ever being called up.

That Post article mentions that for Cordero, starting this series "could be his final opportunity to prove he should stay with the Nationals." Which makes me wonder: what has he shown to the contrary up to this point? His one hit in 26 at bats? His 6 strikeouts with no walks? Oh, right, I almost forgot: he's a veteran presence. If there's anything this team desperately needs, it's veterans sitting on the bench, reminding the young'uns what it means to be having a truly awful season. It provides perspective, you know.

Watch out...

2005-06-28T14:05:00.000-04:00

Over their last ten games, the Nats are 6-4, putting more distance between themselves and the Marlins (5-5), Phillies (3-7), and Mets (5-5).

But then there's the team that's gone 8-2 over that same stretch, moving up to only two and a half games behind as of today, the Braves.

This Braves team is shaping up to look like, well, a lot of recent Braves teams. They don't hit for average (.259 as a team, 12th in the NL; team leader: Giles, hitting .287), but they do hit for power (83 HRs, fifth in the NL; leader: Andruw Jones, 24 HRs) and score runs (260 so far, third in the NL). And yes, the starters are killing the competition these days. 38-year-old John Smoltz is still plugging away, with a nice line to show for it this season: 8-5 with a 2.74 ERA (5th in the NL), 89 Ks (9th), WHIP of 1.19 (12th). Tim Hudson wasn't having too bad of a year, either (6-5, 3.78 ERA), but then he headed to the DL.

About that DL: who's on it? Only every Brave who's anybody these days. Chipper Jones, sure--as of June 6. But then there are the three starters: Mike Hampton (June 5), Tim Hudson (June 14), and John Thompson (May 17).

I can't claim to have any clue when those guys are coming back, but the Braves have been doing just fine recently with them on the bench. As John Donovan of SI.com points out, "Since Chipper Jones officially went on the disabled list, Andruw has hit .382 with 12 homers and 23 RBIs." A. Jones is a notoriously streaky hitter (note that he's hit half of this season's HRs in the past three weeks), so that could end at any point...but that definitely goes pretty far to explain how they're still in the race.

And as for someone else producing unexpectedly, there's always Julio Franco. Sure, he's set to turn 47 this season, but he is come on as of late, "hitting .458 with four home runs and 11 RBIs, and...making plenty of entries on those oldest-to-do-whatever lists."

The bullpen has been merely passable (4.79 ERA, 10th in the NL), but even with so many guys on the bench, Braves starters have still racked up a 3.48 ERA, good for second in the NL.

Okay, I'll admit to being scared by these guys. At this point, they're rather inexplicably playing well, but there are plenty of obvious reasons why they might play better in, say, a month or two...

I bring you...my first scoop!

2005-06-27T12:42:00.000-04:00

In full-on Completely Wild Prognostication Mode, I posed the question on Friday of whether Bowden would pick up Kevin Orie, recently released by the Brewers. At 32 years old, he's actually several months older than career minor leaguer Rick Short.

As it turns out, the Nats signed him over the weekend and assigned him to the Zephyrs. Incidentally, Jeff Cirillo, whose play was keeping Orie on the Brewers' bench, broke his left hand a week after Orie was released. It seems strange that Orie would sign with the Nats, given their overabundance of infielders, but maybe it all makes more sense to someone else.

But then again, maybe both Orie and Short will continue to sit in AAA, bumped out of the way by Tony Blanco on whom Bowden seems unnaturally fixated, and whom the Nats are training to play first and third. Sigh.

TA2, blurry and diluted

2005-06-27T08:23:00.000-04:00

Well, now the Nats have another pesky streak out of the way. No more worries! Except perhaps that the loss came via another shaky performance by TA2...

The offense continued to produce at a reasonable level--even Spivey, with a home run, and Castilla, 2-for-4 with two RBIs, weren't awful--but just not enough, given how hard TA2 was hit. Granted, the first run was unearned, scored on an error by Bennett when faced with a soft toss from Armas. And Hector Carrasco wasn't so great in the fifth, relieving TA2 with two on and two outs. He hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, then threw a wild pitch to allow in a run charged to TA2. And after the Nats tied it up, the two-run innings from Ayala and Sunny Kim were pretty painful: as Coach Robinson said, "To tie it at 5-5 and go right back out there and give it up, that's tough."

Possibly Very Bad News: Nick Johnson left the game with a bruised right heel in the seventh after scoring the tying run. Precautionary X-rays were taken (apparently no word yet), and he's to be reevaluated today.

Oh, and what was wrong with TA2. Here I turn to Robinson again.

"He just lost focus and concentration," Robinson said when asked why Armas unraveled so quickly.

Well, then. That settles it.

Back to home form

2005-06-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

And like that, the Nats have racked up two more home wins. In those two, they've allowed two runs and scored eight. Not bad.

This afternoon, TA2 finally gets the start. Look for him to continue his hot home streak, up against Gustavo Chacin, whose stat line is nothing to sneeze at. Chacin hasn't looked so great in his last several starts, though.

Random RFK news: the AP reports that security will be heightened after a string of break-ins of players' and employees' cars. Apparently, Marlon Byrd's SUV was also stolen from a gated lot. And after that, he went out and hit 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a stolen base.

If Armas is feeling it today, things are looking good.

And so it was Loaiza.

2005-06-24T21:19:00.000-04:00

Loaiza turned out to be the anointed starter, and he put together a characteristic home start, scattering six hits over six innings without allowing a run. Taking the responsibility for run support into his own hands, he also doubled in two runs in the second inning, scoring my two favorite batters, Spivey and Castilla.

Oh, and he struck out five. He came out after 94 pitches.

Home and Away...

2005-06-24T19:25:00.000-04:00

While I'm comparing home and away stats, I may as well look at the team as a whole. One problem is that the Nats have played 33 games at RFK (record: 24-9) and 39 games away from RFK (record: 18-21). So, I'll try to normalize the road stats by number of games (ignoring the number of innings, which I don't think is very different). I can use that to get both a normalized percent increase in stats on the road over those at home, and a normalized increase per game in each stat. So first, some basic batting stats:

	R	H	HR	2B	3B	RBI
Home	137	264	22	56	11	132
Road	160	369	34	77	7	155
Normalized Road	135.38	312.23	28.77	65.15	5.92	131.15
Normalized % Increase	-1	18	31	16	-46	-1
Normalized Increase/Game	-0.05	1.46	0.21	0.28	-0.15	-0.03

There's also batting average, OBP, and slugging percentage:

	AVG	OBP	SLG
Home	.259	.339	.400
Road	.269	.329	.410

And then there are the pitching stats:

	ERA	H	BB	K	SV	WHIP
Home	2.87	267	113	190	17	1.28
Road	5.06	383	135	194	8	1.52
Normalized Road		324.08	114.23	164.15	6.77
Normalized % Increase	76	21	1	-14	-60	19
Normalized Increase/Game		1.73	0.04	-0.78	-0.31

So, in the end, the Nats aren't scoring any more runs per game when away from RFK, but they're allowing 76 percent more earned runs. That's going to make it much harder to win those road games.

Tonight: Mystery Starter

2005-06-24T18:08:00.000-04:00

And after writing all that, I remembered an important point: according to the Post "Tired Bat" article, Esteban Loaiza is returning tonight, bumping TA2 to Sunday, with Hernandez scheduled to start tomorrow. I've searched a bit, and MLB.com has a blurb verifying this, but noting that he could be a game-time scratch.

So, right, we'll see. Incidentally, to repeat the earlier exercise, Loaiza is 1-1 at home in six starts this year with an ERA of 2.36; opposing batters have hit .212 with two home runs against him in RFK. On the other hand, in eight starts away from RFK, he's 1-4 with a 5.24 ERA; opposing hitters have hit an amazing .314 with 5 home runs in those games.

It's good to be back home.

Somebody trap that man in RFK!

2005-06-24T17:21:00.000-04:00

After several solid starts, Tony Armas Jr. (I'm told the cool kids call him TA2) was slammed last Thursday, but he's looking to rebound tonight, starting against Josh Towers. While Towers sports an ERA under 5 (unlike TA2), he has allowed more HRs than Armas.

Plus, this game will be at home. Let me take this opportunity to point out that in four home starts this season, TA2 is 3-0, having allowed 5 earned runs and 20 hits (opposing players' batting average: .222) in 24 innings, for a nice 1.88 ERA. On the other hand, his away record stands at 0-4, with an ERA of...8.74. Ouch. Opposing batters have hit .284 with seven home runs in his away starts.

Need I say this again: he's at home tonight. And of course, the home record still stands at an impressive 24-9.

Yahoo! preview here, with nothing much to offer except to wonder aloud if Guillen continues his torrid pace. Given that he's never played for Toronto, perhaps not. As Ryan has pointed out over at Distinguished Senators, against teams for which he has never played, he's a nobody. Against the Angels, Diamondbacks, Reds, A's, and Pirates, well, he's Guillen the Barbarian.

Vidro's return

2005-06-24T08:13:00.000-04:00

Today's Post includes an expansive article on Jose Vidro's seemingly imminent return. He continues to take batting practice, run the bases, and generally work to get in shape.

Vidro had been slumping a bit before his injury (4-for-28 with no RBIs in his last eight games), but he was still hitting .290/.365/.510. That's a bat the Nats could definitely use. He almost certainly won't be back batting third, though, where he left off:

Vidro will return to a lineup that is significantly different than the one he left. In his 28 starts, Vidro hit third 27 times. Now, Jose Guillen -- who is swinging the bat as well as he has all year -- appears entrenched in the third spot, and Nick Johnson is having an all-star-caliber season batting cleanup. So Vidro, a versatile clutch hitter, will likely hit second, a position in which seven Nationals have played -- including four on the just-completed nine-game road trip.

My neck, my back...

2005-06-23T17:20:00.000-04:00

Despite whatever soreness he may have had in his back, Patterson ended up starting yesterday. He certainly didn't pitch well at first, suggesting that the back wasn't in great shape. He stayed the course and was bailed out in the seventh by Hector Carrasco, who deserved the win.

And then there's Loaiza, who's been complaining of neck stiffness for a while now. He thinks he'll be ready to start tomorrow night's game against Toronto, reports the Post. Also in that article is Robinson's stated reason for benching Castilla yesterday: "Tired bat."

I don't think that bat's tired--I think it's unconscious out cold for the past month, as DM demonstrated graphically over at the Nats Blog. But plenty has already been said about this today--I direct you to Basil for more on Tired Bat Syndrome (TBS).

There's been some speculation over who's heading to the minors when Vidro is taken off the DL, which could happen as soon as tomorrow. If it's anyone but Wil Cordero, something is very, very wrong. Of course, Harper over at OMG seems to think that two guys should be heading to AAA, one to make room for the red-hot Rick Short.

Dental work, Nats games, and Cordero's dramatic flair

2005-06-23T09:34:00.000-04:00

I'll admit: in some small way, I kind of wish that Tuesday's game had happened yesterday, for purely aesthetic reasons.

See, I spent most of the game at the dentist, getting fillings...and I figured that I had a fantastic way to describe a difficult Nats game, planning as I lay there to refer to how we were in similar situations yesterday afternoon, etc.

Luckily, it didn't turn out that way--and it felt more like a real Nats win, to boot. This series felt a lot like the Angels series--get wallopped in a game, win one reasonably comfortably, and win the other game by a run, with Cordero doing his best to make it interesting. Perhaps BallWonk had a point when he wrote this last week:

See, it's not accident or failure when the Chief puts men on base. It's art. He means to do it. It's not pitching out of trouble, it's shattering the opposing team's confidence, and their fans' too, if the Nationals are on the road.

Cordero's performance Wednesday was one of the most beautiful dramas BallWonk has ever seen staged. M. Night Shyamalan could not have directed a more suspenseful, and ultimately, satisfying, inning for Nationals fans.

And Cordero (or the Chief, as was apparently his college nickname) saw no way to top that performance but by spotting the opposing batter just about the closest thing to a home run he could get. He of course knew it would fall short, but he had to make it interesting.

Guillen had a great game, finishing at 8-for-14 in the series with four homers and six RBIs. Nats win. Series record: 5-4, bringing them to three games under .500 on the road this season. Not bad for government work.

Meanwhile, everyone else in the division beat up on each other; Philadelphia and Atlanta beat New York and Florida. That leaves the Nats holding steady, three games in front of Philly and 3.5 ahead of Atlanta.

Eeek.

2005-06-22T10:34:00.000-04:00

As the Post reports today, Robinson didn't get much sleep last night. Why?

Because Patterson now has a sore back, and Loaiza's neck is as sore as it was the last time he was scratched...leaving just about nobody but Sunny Kim, who threw 87 pitches just three days ago, then had to leave with a forearm cramp.

I'm getting less and less confident about the Nats taking this series.

Evening up the series

2005-06-21T23:13:00.000-04:00

Well, the sweep isn't going to happen. After a few less-than-impressive pitching performances (in the same game, even), the series is tied. But then again, a win tomorrow puts the Nats at 5-4 on the road trip. Not bad.

But keep in mind, this is the Pirates--the same team that had scored 17 runs in their last seven games--that scored eleven runs tonight. Drese gave up five, Ayala two, and Majewski four.

The offense was decent, hitting 10-for-34 with five walks, but that obviously wasn't enough. Matt Lawton pretty much had his way for the Pirates, going 3-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBIs. Perez wasn't outstanding, but was on a pretty short leash, pulled after five innings and 100 pitches; Pirates relievers allowed only one run over the next four innings.

Strangely enough, according to the AP, a Pirates win tomorrow would give them their sixth consecutive series win at home. Also: Patterson is iffy for the start tomorrow night with back stiffness. More on that tomorrow.

Ouch.

2005-06-21T21:18:00.000-04:00

So much for Drese turning things around completely. He's come out with a pretty nasty line: 3 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 ER. But he pitched a scoreless inning!

This is Nats baseball: setting things up to come back late.

Pittsburgh preview

2005-06-21T14:44:00.000-04:00

There had been suggestions that Robinson would be starting right-handed hitters Byrd and Barrett in place of Church and Schneider when up against the Pirates' lefties, Redman and Perez. Well, last night Church was sitting (until his pinch-hit hit in the ninth off of Torres), but Schneider started. We'll see how it's played tonight. For what it's worth, the yahoo! preview notes that left-handed hitters are sporting a .319 average against Perez this year. Ouch.

The Nats come in having won 17 of their last 21; the Pirates have lost 7 of 8. But then, both pitchers are looking pretty unpredictable at this point--the normally good Perez got hit hard in his last start, while the normally bad Drese looked great in his last start. So, absent any useful trends here, I don't have much of a prediction here.

Okay, I'll still go out on a limb and predict a Nats win. Here's hoping for a repeat performance by Drese. And how about a hit or two from Castilla? That would make my night.

Stats, holes, and possible trades

2005-06-21T14:05:00.000-04:00

Okay, so looking at the June stats, we're seeing very good production from Schneider (his backup Barrett also hit well), Church, Johnson and Guzman. Wilkerson is continuing to fall pretty far below the level of his March/April production, but that's not unexpected. Meanwhile, Guillen has been picking things up recently (.302, 3 HR, 8 RBI over the last ten games), which is a very good sign, and Byrd has been doing about as well as expected, though he's playing more than most would like.

And then there's Spivey and Castilla. Luckily, it looks like Vidro will be back soon to replace Spivey, leaving Castilla at the bottom. I'm thinking this would be a good place for a deal to be made. I'm looking at Shea Hillenbrand, who's having another great year. The Blue Jays are stuck at .500 and may be looking to make a deal in the not-too-distant future, and Hillenbrand does happen to be their third-highest-paid player...but what do the Nats have to give in return? Sure, there's Castilla, but he's 37 and overpaid (at $3 million) to boot.

I'll be looking at pitching tomorrow, but right now, it seems like a rough order of priority here would be:

1) solid starter
2) third baseman
3) insurance-policy reliever
4) power-hitting outfielder

And speaking of 4), CBS Sportsline has the rumor that the Reds are shopping Austin Kearns around, and:

[A]ccording to the Dayton Daily News, former teammate Adam Dunn believes Kearns will end up with either Atlanta, Washington or the Cubs.

What deals do people want to see?

The month so far, stats-wise

2005-06-21T12:14:00.000-04:00

Let's take this opportunity to look at offensive stats for the month of June for those playing reasonably regularly, in order of descending batting average:

Player	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI
Brian Schneider	38	.395	.478	.605	2	7
Ryan Church	52	.365	.414	.731	4	12
Nick Johnson	56	.321	.449	.518	1	10
Cristian Guzman	56	.304	.316	.536	2	7
Brad Wilkerson	49	.265	.419	.388	0	7
Jose Guillen	65	.246	.290	.385	3	8
Marlon Byrd	39	.231	.282	.295	0	4
Junior Spivey	32	.188	.297	.313	1	4
Vinny Castilla	63	.175	.212	.270	1	7

Commentary to come.

News in Review

2005-06-21T08:49:00.000-04:00

Well, let's see:

Robinson served his one-game suspension last night, after his appeal was heard and denied on Monday. He had received the same penalty ($1,000 fine and one-game suspension) as Scioscia, who served his suspension last Friday. (See also this Post article for a bit more information)

And then there's this in another article from the Post:
The Washington Nationals are on pace to earn a pre-tax profit of $20 million this season, reversing the fortunes of one of baseball's biggest economic underperformers during the past decade and increasing the potential value of the franchise as Major League Baseball attempts to sell it, according to Nationals officials and people involved in the sale.

The projected profits are fueled by robust attendance, strong sponsorship and television deals, and one of the lowest player payrolls in baseball. The Nationals have swung from a $10 million loss last year as the Montreal Expos into the top half of teams, ranked on the basis of revenue and profits, according to people who closely follow baseball economics.

The article goes on to note that this could push up the sale price of the team. And more importantly:
MLB has told [Nationals President] Tavares that the financial turnaround could justify the Nationals -- who have been atop the NL East in the standings the last two weeks -- using some of the profits to buy better, more expensive players, for a playoff run. "Always in the past, when we needed to add players, baseball rightfully said that because of the financial losses we were experiencing, we could not add payroll," Tavares said. "This year, they are saying that because we are doing so well financially, we can strategically add to our payroll numbers."

More Post: Jose Vidro took batting practice and ran a bit in Pittsburgh Monday night. Vidro has promised not to rush his return, though he is hoping to be activated in time for the next homestand, which begins Friday.

There's also the usual complement of fawning fluff pieces, in places like CNN, the Staunton News Leader, and the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.

Looking backward, looking forward

2005-06-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

Okay, so despite my jinxing the situation, the Nats pulled it out. And allowing a few more runs in the seventh allowed Cordero to add another save (the most useless statistic around), and he now leads the league with 22.

And don't look now, but Guzman is on a six-game hitting streak, which for him is pretty darn impressive. He went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and two runs scored tonight. Not a bad night.

And with that, the Nats move to 4-3 on the road trip. A sweep would bring them to 6-3.

Tomorrow night: Ryan Drese goes up against Oliver Perez. Drese is still the great unknown--can he replicate his last performance? most would guess no--but Perez has been extremely inconsistent, too. He started off June with two solid starts, then got hammered by the Yankees for 6 ER in 5 innings in his last start. There's no telling which Drese and Perez will show up.

Okay, I jinxed it.

2005-06-20T21:00:00.000-04:00

Two singles and a Castilla error later, the bases are loaded with no outs. Yes, I know, it's all my fault.

Game Update

2005-06-20T20:56:00.000-04:00

Going into the seventh inning, Hernandez is definitely winning the battle of the staff aces, allowing only one run so far. Mark Mulder, on the other hand, is having a pretty uncharacteristic outing, with 6 ER so far. He had only allowed more than 3 ER in a start once this season until tonight. He came in with a 2.80 ERA; it's obviously risen tonight.

And the offense! Guillen, 2-for-3, Spivey 2-for-3, Schneider 3-for-3, and Guzman with a double and 2 RBI--the people who haven't been producing have suddenly awakened, against Mulder of all pitchers.

It would take a meltdown of Gravesian proportions to lose at this point--but that's jinxing it, isn't it?

Shocking trends

2005-06-20T20:01:00.000-04:00

Two things are popping out at me right now, and must be mentioned even though I never got around to previewing the Pirates series.

First of all, for the second straight game, the Nats have scored first and (so far) maintained a lead. This is, as some have put it, not Nats baseball--at least as it's usually played.

Secondly, what the heck is up with Cristian Guzman? A week ago, he was hitting .190, and since then, he's gone 8-for-17 (as of right now, since he's 1-for-1 with a double tonight)--a cool .471--with 2 HR and 5 RBIs. This is not the Guzman we've all come to hate, but I know we could definitely come to love this version. Rock on, Guzman!

Weekend in review

2005-06-20T06:02:00.000-04:00

Well, the blog weathered its first weekend, albeit with no posts at all. So, what did I miss?

In the first game of the series, the Nats managed 12 baserunners but only one run against Kenny Rogers. The Rangers offense was characteristically prolific--hitting Patterson for four runs in five innings and T.J. Tucker (since placed on the DL) for three in one and a third innings--and the Rangers won, 8-1.

In the second game, the Rangers slammed Tony Armas Jr. for seven runs in the first two innings, all scored with home runs. He ended up pitching for five innings, allowing 7 ER. The Nats managed four runs on three home runs of their own, but it wasn't enough. Another loss, 7-4.

Yesterday's game looked a lot more like Nats baseball. Loaiza was scratched from the start, reportedly because of a stiff neck. reportedly because of a stiff neck. Sun-woo Kim started in his place, but had to leave after four and a third innings with a cramp in his arm. This set up the unlikely win for Travis Hughes who, in typical scrappy Nats style, picked up his first major league win against the team that drafted him in 1997 and released him this spring, after which he was picked up by the Nats. The offense produced--every Nats starter had a hit, and Wilkerson and Carroll each went 3-for-5--and the relief pitchers held things together for the win, 8-2.

Not a bad series, though I obviously would have preferred for the Nats to have won it. But still, taking one out of three from the Rangers is nothing to sneeze at. Next up: three games at Pittsburgh. More on those later.

PineTarGate: The Fallout

2005-06-17T18:04:00.000-04:00

The AP reports that Donnelly has been suspended for ten games for having pine tar on his glove. I think we all saw this coming. He broke the rules, plain and simple, and the consequences for applying foreign substance's to one's glove are clear. But then there's this, which I didn't even realize was coming, though perhaps I just wasn't paying attention:

Angels manager Mike Scioscia and Nationals manager Frank Robinson were suspended for one game apiece and fined an undisclosed amount for screaming at each other after Robinson had umpires inspect Donnelly's glove for a foreign substance in the top of the seventh inning during the Nationals' 6-3 victory Tuesday.

Okay, so I wonder how much "an undisclosed amount" would be. But more importantly: is this precedented? Were the suspensions only ordered because the benches subsequently cleared? I have more questions now than before.

The AP offers a bit more information, though not answering any of my questions:

Donnelly appealed the suspension and will play until his case is heard. Robinson has also appealed his suspension and his case will be heard on Monday.

Scioscia was scheduled to serve his suspension Friday night when the Angels hosted the Florida Marlins.

Next up: the Rangers

2005-06-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

After taking two of three from the Angels, the Nats now head to the team that trails them by a game and a half in the AL West, the Rangers. Ryne Sanberg, writing for Yahoo!, predicts that the Nats take two out of three. I can live with that prediction. And hey, I learned something: Orel Hershiser is the Rangers' pitching coach. Interesting.

And while he rightly points out the solid performance this year by ace Hernandez, this reminds me of something Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories pointed out earlier in the week: Over their past several starts, John Patterson and Tony Armas have been excellent, even better than Hernandez over the course of the last 17 games. In particular, Patterson, who went a month and a half without a decision before getting a win last week in his third straight one-run-allowed start, has been superb since returning from the DL: 18 IP, 14 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 15 K, 0 HR.

That's the kind of line you might expect from someone like Kenny Rogers, whom Patterson is expected to face tonight. Before he got hit hard for 5 ER in 5.2 innings by the Marlins in his last start, Rogers's ERA was a ridiculous 1.62. He still leads the AL with 2.02.

Speaking a bit more generally, the Rangers have won three of four after losing five straight. As the Yahoo! preview notes, Soriano, Young, and Teixeira have all been hot as of late, and this is not an offense that generally has trouble scoring runs. But then, the same holds true for the Angels, and everyone's still scratching their heads over how they were shut down by Drese and Cordero.

Projected starters for the rest of the series:
Saturday night, Armas vs. Rodriguez.
Sunday afternoon, Loaiza vs. Young.

Yeah, yeah, the "big story" here is that the Rangers used to be the Senators, and now they're meeting. I guess the same "story" will come up when the Nats first play the Twins, too. But then, these guys didn't have any tie to Washington until this year. Really, who cares?

The importance of socks

2005-06-16T13:33:00.000-04:00

King Kaufman, in his latest column at Salon, says that he's partially pulling for Nebraska in the College World Series because of their socks. And I must agree--those are some great socks, though, as he mentions, they could be improved by making them stirrup socks.

But really, the Nats could use some red, white, and blue striped socks. I'm just sayin'.

Yeah, not much else happened...

2005-06-16T13:17:00.000-04:00

The local paper here (Greensboro, NC), preoccupied with the U.S. Open taking place not far away in Pinehurst, relegated MLB games to a half page or so. The Nats-Angels game got the shortest summary of all:

Brian Schneider homered in the sixth.

A trip around the Nats blogs

2005-06-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

Explaining Drese's performance:

Jeff at District of Baseball:"[T]he Ryan Drese who pitched for the Nats last night looked like the Ryan Drese of 2004, not the pitcher let go by the Rangers last week."

The Fanatic over at NatFanatics: "It must all be part of Jim Bowden's master plan. Find a player essentially unwanted by his current team. Pick up that player for nothing, or at worst an even trade. See that new player perform at such an incredible level that you wonder what his former team must have been smoking. ... Who was that masked man? Eight shutout innings? Two hits? We're guessing someone's going to be instituting random drug testing in the Ranger's front office."

Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories thinks maybe the performance wasn't that impressive, after all: "Ryan Drese had these stats: 98 pitches a mere 55 strikes, 4 walks against only 3 Ks, 16 balls hit on the ground. That does not a shutout make. Maybe he was so dominating all these hits were nice and weak. I didn’t get to see it. I’m guessing it’s the magic powder or pixie dust or maybe Jo-Buu. Whatever it is this team has on it’s side."

And over at Nasty Nats is the suggestion that maybe we should leave open the possibility that Bowden is a genius, after all: "There's still a long way to go. But if Drese can keep pitching to his ability, and Spivey keeps making great plays at second, we may have to reconsider our opinions of Jim Bowden as well."

And then there's Cordero.

BallWonk suggests that he was just toying with the Angels, trying to get the most challenging situation possible:
What is the ultimate challenge for a closer? Start with a one-run lead. Then put three men on base with no outs. Any normal fly ball, or a wild pitch, or a walk, or a hit batsman, or a balk, scores the run and blows the lead. Any hit scores two and loses the game.

With bases loaded and no out with a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, it's not enough to be very good. It's not even enough to be great. You've gotta be perfect. And he was.

Chris notes over at Capitol Punishment:
The average team will, when the bases are loaded and no one is out, score over 2.5 runs in that inning.

Somehow, we got out of it.

Chad Cordero is going to have one of the all-time weirdest stat lines if he keeps up this pace. He has runners on constantly, yet none of them ever seem to score. When they're up by multiple runs, he'll give up the longball, but that's about the only way anyone has scored on him this year -- other than via Guzman error!

Unexpectedly good pitching, just enough hitting, an up-to-the-edge-but-no-farther performance save by Cordero--this game was by no means atypical for these Nats. Nobody claims this team is boring.

A bit of context

2005-06-16T08:42:00.000-04:00

The Phillies, Braves, and Mets all lost last night. The Marlins won. The Nats, meanwhile, are up to 39-27 on the year. And even better, they're approaching .500 on the road--currently 15-18. They've won five series in a row, and 15 out of their last 17 games. This team is still on a roll.

Next they head to Texas, where they'll face the Rangers tomorrow night, with an offense that has scored 349 runs so far this year (Nats: 267 runs).

Damn the statistics; the Nats are just going to keep winning.

Wow.

2005-06-16T08:36:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I love being proven wrong, and last night was a case in point. Ryan Drese looked great, and combined with Chad Cordero (who pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam of his own fault in the ninth for the save) to best Colon even as he pitched a pretty nice one-run complete game. They held the Angels to only four hits all game.

And, of course, an unlikely game-winner, this time from Brian Schneider, whose fourth home run of the season came when it counted.

Guillen was thoroughly booed at every plate appearance, but went 2-for-4. Also of note: Guzman went 2-for-3 to raise his average to the unheard-of heights of .199. And speaking of Guzman, dexys_midnight over at the Nats Blog crunched Guzman's hitting statistics yesterday, and they're not pretty.

But as several commenters noted yesterday, this team has been defying statistics for quite some time--why stop now? Last night, though, they were actually (okay, somewhat to my surprise) the better team. I should have more faith here.

Another night in Anaheim/LA/whatever

2005-06-15T16:56:00.000-04:00

A win tonight would clinch the Nats' fifth straight series win. Not bad.

But then, as I mentioned before, the Nats have Ryan Drese going up against Bartolo Colon. The former: 18 hits and 10 earned runs allowed in his past two starts (totaling 9 innings). Colon has been off his past few starts (11 ERs, 29 H allowed in his last three, totaling 19.2 IP), with his last really solid start a one-run, three-hit seven-inning no-decision on May 24. Of course, if you look at it the way the Yahoo! game preview does, "Colon is 4-0 with a 3.40 ERA over his last six outings and has not lost since May 7." And regardless, Colon's ERA is still less than half of Drese's.

And then there's the offense. After going 7 for 32 last night (with 6 walks!), the Nats are now 12 for 64 (.188) for the series, while the Angels are 31 for 79 (.392). There's not much of a comparison.

Here's hoping, though, that Bowden saw something in Drese that pretty much nobody else saw, and either Guillen shows up angry and ready to hit a few more home runs, or his teammates start hitting. Colon certainly isn't invincible.

Jim Bowden: better than...

2005-06-15T10:40:00.000-04:00

Sporting News columnist Ken Rosenthal writes that the Reds need a new owner, not to mention a new general manager. But he gets to something of interest to Nats fans:

Righthanded pitcher Ryan Drese, cut loose by the Rangers last week, would have been a worthwhile risk, given the state of the Reds' pitching and weakness of their farm system. Instead, former Reds G.M. Jim Bowden claimed Drese for the Nationals.

Ah, the madcap Bowden. He hardly was perfect with the Reds, failing to develop pitching and embarrassing the club with some inappropriate conduct. But the team sure misses his energy. After the Nationals were swept in Cincinnati, Bowden made nine transactions in one day. The Nationals have climbed into first place, and though that might not last, Bowden will shake things up until the bitter end.

So, we know Bowden is active. But is that a good thing? Certainly in comparison to the Reds' apathetic plight...

But speaking of Drese, he's scheduled to start tonight—and what did the Nats get in that move? A pitcher with a career ERA of 5.36, and a 6.46 ERA so far this season. Some might say this guy really does belong on the Reds. I'll try to remain optimistic, though.

Unfortunately for him, he's debuting for the Nats against Bartolo Colon and what is sure to be a bunch of annoyed batters. Will this be a long night for the bullpen?

More about last night

2005-06-15T10:39:00.000-04:00

Barry Svrluga writes in today's Post that Robinson got the idea to have Donnelly's glove inspected by watching game tapes, not (as some had charged) from Guillen.

The immediate assumption was that Guillen, who was a teammate of Donnelly's last season, provided Robinson with the information that Donnelly uses pine tar. Robinson said that was untrue, and Guillen concurred.

"Don't go there," Guillen said. "I don't know anything. That's not my business. I don't really care."

Robinson said he and the coaching staff were tipped off to Donnelly's use of pine tar by studying videotape.

Why televised games would be nice

2005-06-15T08:30:00.000-04:00

Last night's game ended in raucous fashion, but was I able to see it? Uh, no. Managers taunted each other, benches cleared, Guillen had to be restrained--but I saw none of it. Alas.

I'm kind of wondering: what made Frank ask the umpires to check Donnelly's glove? Could he see something on it from the dugout?

Regardless of his motives, though (and whether he angered Angels partisans), he was actually right--the glove did contain a foreign substance. And thankfully, Guillen was restrained, he managed not to get in trouble, and he was able to stay in and hit the home run that tied the game at 3. So all we have to do from here on out is make sure to have his teammates restrain him when he gets angry, and hold out long enough for him to make a big play in retaliation.

Not the greatest performance from Livan Hernandez (5.2IP, 9H, 3BB, 4K, 3ER), but excellent jobs by relievers Majewski, Ayala, and Cordero, who didn't allow a run among them. This is the Nats' kind of win.

The Phillies lost to the Mariners last night (3-1 in Seattle), leaving the Nats 2 games up once again. Florida lost (14-0 at the Cubs, ouch), the Mets lost (5-0 at the A's), and the Braves won (7-2 at Texas). They all play the same teams again today.

Damn the Mendoza line!

2005-06-14T23:01:00.000-04:00

I was watching the GameTracker and about to make a remark about Guzman being the only Nat with a hit now that they've batted around (note: the top three batters in the lineup all struck out), and something to the effect of how it proved Bowden's point and all, but then he was caught stealing. So, umm, never mind. But I may as well mention the great Bowden line again, anyway:

Bowden: We have a shortstop — Cristian Guzman — that has been at the Mendoza line all year, but he keeps making great plays after great plays. And like his last three years with the Twins, he has this team in first place.

I suppose I could insert some laughter here, but is that really necessary?

Another observation: looking at the starting lineup tonight, only two of the batters are over .285. Only four over .270. Ouch. Our current middle infield is Spivey (current avg.:.229) and Guzman (.193). Double ouch.

And on my second day, I've gotten a couple of mentions from veteran Nats bloggers. Oh, the warm fuzzies. They seem to think I've posted a lot. Perhaps they're right.

And, satisfied that there will almost certainly not be a repeat of last night's drubbing tonight, I do believe I'm really done for the day.

NL East overview

2005-06-14T16:53:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've been a posting machine today, but one more link: Tony DeMarco has an overview of the NL East up on MSNBC.com. As he mentions, this division is completely up in the air at this point:

Fortunes are changing so quickly that in the first nine days of June, the Marlins have held every spot in the standings — one through five — for at least one day, the Philadelphia Phillies have held four of the five, and the other three teams have been in three different positions.

He continues with a decent summary of the current state of things. This is shaping up to be a great race.

Winning, optimism, and Bowden's flexibility called into question

2005-06-14T16:45:00.000-04:00

Thomas Boswell, in his latest Washington Post column, puts an optimistic spin on the rest of the season, asking:

Just to get your attention, with 98 games left, how many games do the Nats have left against teams with better records than theirs?

Answer: five, including two more against the Angels, who only passed the Nats last night (albeit in convincing fashion).
He continues:

The Nats have tons of games left against teams over .500, including six this week. But that "5" underlines one central fact. Aside from St. Louis and (conceivably) the White Sox, baseball doesn't have any powerhouses. The sport has many contending teams capable of winning more games than they lose -- but not a lot more. And Washington, after its 12-1 homestand, is clearly one of them.
...
In the first 24 games after Vidro's projected return, the Nats play 14 games at home and 14 games against teams with losing records -- perhaps their friendliest stretch of the season. That takes us to just one week before the trading deadline. If others fade, but the Nats don't, the team certainly has budget room to deal for a key role player or free agent "rent-a-star" or a one-last-dance Hall of Famer. It happens every July 31st. And big names move.

If the Nats want to stay out of the heat of the frying pan this fall, they better cry "Uncle" soon. Because Jim Bowden is dying for an excuse to pull the trigger, spend the cash he's horded and show the Nats' eventual owner why he should be kept.

And on that note, Oleanders and Morning Glories tears into Jim Bowden, after yesterday's MLB.com "interview" of Bowden.

If you see Bowden in a splint, it’s because he’s sprained both his arms patting himself on the back. Seriously, I haven’t read someone so in love with themselves since the last time Distinguished Senators took on “The Juice”. Let’s take a look behind the craziness shall we?

The Nationals Belong to Us All—or, no, not really.

2005-06-14T16:15:00.000-04:00

I somehow forgot to mention the lawsuit that MLB's retailing arm has filed against Bygone Sports LLC ("a corporation that specializes in historic trademarks, historic sports apparel, and intellectual property licensing"), which registered the trademark for the use of "Washington Nationals" on clothing. In so doing, Nationals Inquirer beat me to the punch. And while I haven't studied IP much more than Basil has, there does seem to be a major point that isn't mentioned in the AP article (which seems to be the only one available)--did Bygone Sports actually produce any clothing with "Washington Nationals" printed on it? If not, this case should be cut and dry, and BS is clearly trying to do nothing more than extort money from MLB and the Nationals.

It should be noted that a trademark doesn't even have to be registered--by being the first to use a qualifying mark in commerce, one owns the right to that mark. Registering the mark simply makes it easier to defend one's ownership, generally shifting the burden of proof to the other party (to simplify perhaps a bit too much). However! You can't register a mark without bothering to use it actively in actual commerce, or without clear intent to do so. The trademark application was filed in September 2002 stating intent to use it, and its status hasn't been changed officially since, suggesting that maybe BS never bothered to print up any shirts. [Incidentally, they couldn't use the official mark (the "W", since the team/MLB was obviously the first to print these up--the shirts, shorts, etc. would merely say "Washington Nationals"]

Okay, so, if they actually bothered to make (and sell) shirts, there could be a problem. I doubt that they actually did, though, in which case, while IANAL, BS is almost certainly left without a case. So they settled, and got a pretty decent settlement for so little work. But then they apparently wanted more, which led to the lawsuit:

After extensive negotiations, an agreement was reached to transfer all rights in exchange for $130,000 in cash, a $10,000 credit at mlb.com store and four tickets to Opening Day 2005 for the new Washington team, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Bygone changed its demands to more than $1 million, including a base amount of $495,000 plus a variety of World Series and All-Star game tickets.

So, it certainly seems here like BS gave up the easy settlement to demand more cash and better tickets. Maybe they should have asked for more Nationals tickets while their value was still low.

TSN.ca's Nats fantasy recommendations

2005-06-14T13:16:00.000-04:00

TSN.ca's fantasy recommendations include a few observations of note to Nats fans.

In particular, they cite Nick Johnson as an obvious candidate for selling high:

Johnson has always had the talent to produce like this, but with stints on the DL each of the last five seasons he hasn't stayed healthy long enough to show he can sustain his production over an entire season. Thus, Johnson owners may want to test the market to see what they can get for him while his value is still high - and while he's still on the field.

Then there's Esteban Loaiza, whom they recommend picking up if he's available:

Loaiza has been strong since joining the Nationals and looks to have rebounded from his disastrous 2004 season (5.70 ERA, 1.57 WHIP with the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees). In 13 starts Loaiza has a 3.48 ERA and 1.27 WHIP while averaging 6.86 K/9 IP. He has been even better at Washington's RFK Stadium, with a 2.36 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and .212 BAA. However, because his record is just 2-4 Loaiza has remained largely ignored by fantasy owners. The Nationals' offense has picked up the pace by scoring 5.0 runs per game in June, so wins should follow if Loaiza continues his current pace. Forget Loaiza's 2004 performance, because his pitching this year is sure to help any fantasy rotation.

And finally, they suggest dropping Vinny Castilla, a guy most people avoided adding in the first place if they were able to--but then he had a hot April. He has, of course, dropped off quite a bit since then:

Castilla entered the season as an afterthought to fantasy owners, since the numbers he posted in 2004 (.271, 35 HRs, 131 RBI) were with the Colorado Rockies and aided by Coors Field. After batting .347 in April with 16 RBI, Castilla quickly found his way back into fantasy lineups. Since then, Castilla has gone into a deep funk, batting .236 since May 1. Plus, after hitting three homers in his first 10 games, Castilla has gone deep only twice since. It may be time for fantasy owners to pull the plug on Castilla.

Puny broadcast networks

2005-06-14T12:27:00.000-04:00

Jeff over at the District of Baseball points out an Examiner column containing praise for the Nationals' radio team of Charlie Slowes and Dave Shea, but notes that the poor radio coverage has kept most people from hearing them.

I dug up the actual Nationals radio network, and yes, it's pitiful. Flagship FM and AM stations and four more AM stations, in Leesburg, Charlottesville, Martinsburg, WV, and Brunswick, MD.

Contrast this with, say, the Braves Radio Network (ignoring for a moment that the Braves actually bother to post theirs on their team web site): a long list of stations stretching over nine states and the Virgin Islands. Impressive.

I would be satisfied if they gained some more VA affiliates, and at least got a couple of stations that could be heard in NC. I'd much rather listen to Nats games than Braves games. But then, this probably doesn't stand a chance of happening until the new owner appears.