Hey Florida, F**K YOU!

It’s been a while since my last post. No, I haven’t gone anywhere I’ve just been knee-deep in my own baseball season. You see, our playoffs start on Saturday and I maintain the website for the league so my job is crucial as we near the end of the season. Managers want updated stats and standings so they can size up their opponents for playoff positioning.

With all of the rain we’ve had in the Northeast this year, it’s been exceptionally difficult to keep up with the schedule and in a league where you normally play one or two games per week, we have teams cramming five games into seven days. In fact, personally I’m in the middle of four games in three days (we played last night, we’ve a double-header tonight and then our final game tomorrow night before our playoffs start on Saturday). We’re talking 35 years or older and guys who work regular jobs. We’re gonna have some tired arms.

Anyway, last night I caught and hit at the top of the lineup. Tonight I am scheduled to make my first ever in my life start on the mound and then I am scheduled to catch game two. I’ll be quite fatigued but I will persevere and hopefully once we are eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday, I’ll be less “busy” and onto more important things – like this blog.

Anyway, after the last post (The Division Of Suck), the Nats dropped two straight to the AA Pirates but managed to secure a split of the four game series. The new contender for The Division Of Suck comes from Kansas City who now stands a mere 6 ½ games back and they’re falling fast.

In other news, Stephen Strasburg still hasn’t signed yet and Ryan Zimmerman is getting his shoulder examined after being struck by a ball. Austin Kearns has gone on the DL but I think that actually IMPROVES the team.

But the most important news happened last night – WE FINALLY BEAT THE F***ING FISH! WOO-HOO!!! Seriously though we hadn’t beaten them at all this year – including a three game sweep at Washington in which the Nats blew late inning leads in each of the three games (including my son’s first-ever major league baseball game which makes me hate the Marlins more than any other NL East “rival”). So it feels great this morning.

This really could prove to be a turning point for the Nats this year. They finally overcame a team that owned them for nine games this year – but it’s how they did it that makes it so special. The Marlins had their usual late-inning lead and a great pitcher in Josh Johnson on the mound. The score was 4-0 in the eighth and Josh Johnson runs into trouble – with nobody out he allows three straight singles by Willie Harris, Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves to load the bases (these guys are the Nats 6, 7 and 8 hitters!). Then manager Jim Riggleman pinch hits for pitcher Ron Villone and brings up the oft-criticized “Fat” Ronnie Belliard. Belliard rips a two run double to pull the Nats to within two runs. Josh Johnson gets pulled without recording an out in the eighth and is replaced by some joker named Renyel Pinto (I’ve never head of him either).

Nats leadoff hitter, Nyjer Morgan gets an RBI groundout to second and the Nats are only down one.

Pinto gets pulled for Kiko Calero (is it me, or does that sound like the name of a doll you’d buy for your infant daughter?). Calero works a full count to Cristian Guzman and Guzman wins the at-bat with an RBI single. He then gets Josh Willingham to pop-out to first base.

Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez then brings in a lefty by the name of Dan Meyer (not to be confused with Lane Meyer of “Better Off Dead”) to face the Big Donkey. Adam Dunn takes a 3-2 pitch deep and the Nats have now scored SIX RUNS in the eighth to take the lead!

That’s where the score stood in the ninth when Mike MacDougal actually made it stick – although he did allow a walk and a double, but got out of the inning unscathed with a double play grounded into by Jeremy Hermida.

So we finally beat the f***ing Marlins and we beat them the way they beat us most of the year – in a heart-wrenching fashion. Hopefully the boys can keep it up and carry this momentum through to tonight. The Nats will send their “ace” John Lannan to the mound so they’ve got a great shot to ensure a series victory tonight – and in a season to forget, it would sure feel nice to stick it to the Marlins for a change.

Pirates Will Challenge Nationals For "Championship"

Wait, Who Plays 1B, 2B, SS, LF, CF, RF, SP, RP, Bat Boy For The Pirates?

There is an interesting “pennant race” developing that not many people are talking about: The Race For The #1 Pick In 2010. The Nationals looked like they had a stranglehold on this race, but recent events leading up to today’s trade deadline have the Nats in serious jeopardy of losing this race.

Here are the standings as of today:

Team..............................Record.........Games “Behind"

1. Washington Nationals . . . . 32-70 . . . . . . . . --
2. Kansas City Royals . . . . . . 40-61 . . . . . . . . 8.5
3. San Diego Padres . . . . . . . 41-62 . . . . . . . . 9.5
4. Cleveland Indians . . . . . . . 42-60 . . . . . . . 10
T5. Oakland Athletics . . . . . . 43-58 . . . . . . . 11.5
T5. Pittsburgh Pirates . . . . . . 43-58 . . . . . . . 11.5
T7. Baltimore Orioles . . . . . . 44-57 . . . . . . . 12.5
T7. Arizona D’backs . . . . . . . 44-57 . . . . . . . 12.5

While at first glance it looks as though the Nats have this one in the bag, in the last 10 games they actually “lost” ground in the standings by picking up one game on Arizona; two games on each of San Diego and Oakland; and three games on Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The only team they “kept pace” with is Cleveland.

We need to handicap this division and look at our chances here in “The Division of Suck”:

1. Washington Nationals. Current frontrunner and defending champions. The Nats have made losing an art form early this season. However, the lack of moves near the trade deadline gives this handicapper pause. Are the Nats serious about backing up their Strasburg pick with Bryce Harper or not? Seems to me they could be off-loading what little talent they have if they were.

2. Kansas City Royals. Perennial doormat. Always a threat in the Division of Suck and the only reason they are so far back right now was they had a torrid April going 12-10 and ending the month on top of the AL Central. In the end, I think the Royals can’t even LOSE the right way and end up a distant third in this race.

3. San Diego Padres. Pre-season favorites for the Division of Suck with the sale of the franchise up in the air and the pending Jake Peavy trade (that never happened). After a decent start though, Peavy ended up going down with an injury and hasn’t pitched since June. Now comes the rumor that the Padres lone offensive talent, Adrian Gonzalez, is about to be traded to the Red Sox. No Peavy + no Gonzalez = INSTANT CONTENDER.

4. Cleveland Indians. So much hope and so much promise. So little delivered. This team went into the season looking at the MLB playoffs, not the MLB PAYOFFS. The Indians have already traded Ryan Garko and now their ace Cliff Lee. Rumors have Victor Martinez possibly moving before 4:00 p.m. today. Can that be enough to make up 10 games in the Division of Suck standings? I think so.

5. Oakland Athletics. Well, they trade FOR Matt Holliday in the pre-season to avoid being in the Division of Suck. Now they traded AWAY Matt Holliday to win the race. Don’t know if they can make up 11 games though. They do play the Mariners a bunch of times……

6. Pittsburgh Pirates. THE DARKHORSE. Ladies and gentlemen, I challenge you to name all nine starters of Pittsburgh’s opening day roster. Go ahead. I’ll wait…… You only came up with four or five names didn’t you? Well, don’t worry, they don’t play for the Pirates anymore anyway. Any recognizable name that was on the Pirates earlier this year is now gone. Away: Freddie Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Tom Gorzellany, Adam LaRoche, that other guy you could name. Hell, even the Nationals got Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. This team is my sleeper and YES I think they can make up a measly 11.5 games with Lastings Milledge playing LF for them now.

7. Baltimore Orioles. I think the O’s end up in last place in this division; in fact, if the Blue Jays trade Roy Haladay I think the Orioles move into the American League East and the Blue Jays move into the Division of Suck. The Orioles have way too much talent to win this division.

8. Arizona Diamondbacks. With the Rockies coming back to earth, I predict the D’backs move out of this division and into the major leagues again. Too much pitching to be here but the fact that Brandon Webb hasn’t pitched certainly helped them get here.

In the end, I still think the Nats wind up near the top. 8 ½ games clear of the next “best” team is a lot of ground to lose. Of the teams here I think the Pirates have the best shot and the Nats play the Bucs starting tonight. If the Nats can pull of the sweep of the team that apparently would sell their sister into prostitution if they could, I bet the Pirates can pull it off.

So, who do you root for here?

Collin Balester Gets Another Chance

Looks Like A Curveball - And Bally's Got A Good One

Here’s Collin Balester’s chance. He finally got the call-up last week and in his only appearance so far, he was the pitcher of record in the rain-delayed-and-shortened nightmare against the Cardinals last week. Tonight, he will not have to worry about the raindrops at Miller Park in Milwaukee.

Balester has a great shot at putting the Nats up 2-0 in the four game set because the Brewers counter with Carlos Villanueva who hasn’t made a start since last May and has struggled in 81 relief appearances since. Villanueva has pitched well against the Nationals in his career going 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in five appearances but those were all in relief.

Balester should get help from the Nats’ big three in the middle of the order: Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham. Zimmerman is heating up as he’s 8-for-23 (.304) with three homers and five RBI over the last seven days. Read yesterday’s post about how white-hot Dunn has been but add to that a 2-for-3 night last night with a double, a walk and two RBI. Willingham is up to .298 on the season and has played better since being given the starting RF job. However, his last seven games have him on a blistering pace: 10-for-23 (.435), four homers, four doubles and 12 RBI including two grand slams in last night’s game. He’s slugging 1.130 over his past seven games.

It’s no wonder the Nationals have won six-of-eight with all of the offense being put up.

So it’s up to Balester tonight to keep it going. The Nationals are 6-7 since firing Manny Acta and 6-2 since interim manager Jim Riggleman took the team to task after losing five straight out of the gates following the All-Star break.

Hopefully Collin can get the fastball up around 94-95 like he’s been known to do early in his career. I believe the trick to holding the Brewers at bay is to mix the speeds of his pitches well. If his fastball is coming in at 94, it’d be nice to see if the stint in the minors had him working on his changeup. The Brewers have some serious pop in their lineup with the likes of Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun anchoring the middle of order. Braun and (especially) Fielder can be had as long as that changeup is working. And if “Bally’s” curveball is working and he’s throwing it for strikes, the Brewers could find themselves down 2-0 in the series.

Bally’s gonna have to be good because the Nats are going with Garrett Mock tomorrow (and he’s been awful since being called up) and J.D. Martin on Thursday (and he’s making just his second career big league start).

Here’s to you Collin Balester and here’s wishing you success in your start against the Brewers tonight. Make it good and give the Nationals a tough decision to make when Jordan Zimmermann comes back off the D.L.

Adam Dunn Is Good For The Nationals - Yeah, I Said It

How Much More Does This Guy Have To Do?

One thing’s for sure, if you’re looking for someone to pin the blame for the Nationals’ awful season, you really can’t look at Adam Dunn.

Dunn’s numbers this year indicate he is having his finest year as professional baseball player. I lifted the following examples from baseball-reference.com to indicate just how effective Dunn has been:

Starting with the basics, his batting average is the best it’s ever been for a single season. "The Big Donkey" carries a lifetime .249 average and in his best season (2004) he hit .266 for Cincinnati. Right now, he’s hitting .275 and that was after an awful May (.243) and June (.241). He’s on fire this month hitting .325 for the month of July.

His homeruns have dropped off since early in the season. He looked like a sure lock for the All-Star game with 16 homers through May, but he’s hit only 9 since. Still, he’s tied for third in the National League with 25 so far and he’s on pace for 43 homers this year which would be his second best output of his career (behind 2004 when he hit 46).

In the other “triple crown” category – RBI – he sits at 71 through 98 games which puts him on pace for around 108 which would also eclipse his highest total to date (106 in 2007).

His OBP of .402 would also be a career best, his OPS of .952 would be second best in his career (.956 in 2004) and he’s hitting lefties (.261 in 2009) better than he ever has in his career.

Plus, in the 11 games since the All-Star break he’s hitting a blistering .351 with 2 homers, 3 doubles, 6 walks and 9 RBI.

But enough about the offense, let’s focus on what it was that bugged me about Dunn’s signing in the off-season – his poor defensive play in the outfield.

I don’t necessarily agree with the defensive metrics out there, typically. I find it difficult to quantify a player’s defensive abilities with numbers and standards. When judging a player’s defensive abilities, I believe the best way to evaluate them is simply to watch them play.

Admittedly, I hadn’t seen much of Dunn before purchasing the MLB.tv package back in June, but I like what I’ve seen – for the most part – and Dunn, in my opinion, hasn’t been as bad as advertised.

Speaking with fellow Nats fans on WNFF.net, I have heard that Dunn’s defensive play has been less than stellar this season, but recently it has picked up. In one of the games this weekend, Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble (the Nats television broadcast team) made mention of Dunn working hard with Nationals coach Marquis Grissom on his play in the outfield.

Dunn’s nickname isn’t “The Big Donkey” for no reason. He’s still a lumbering oaf in LF, but at least he’s not the train-wreck I thought he’d be. I’ve seen him play fundamentally sound outfield, mostly, and his defense certainly hasn’t cost the Nationals much of anything; plus, his offense certainly more than makes up for any defensive deficiencies he may have.

Lately, there’s been talk of what to do with some of the players since the trade deadline is rapidly approaching. It was mentioned that Dunn may be shopped and that some initial offers have come through; XM-175 reported last week that an inquiry was made by the Tigers for Dunn to become a DH and another quip came across from Nats beat writer Chico Harlan: “The Nationals are said to be demanding excessively high returns for Dunn. One source called the Nationals' asking price ‘painful.’”

I’d be in favor of trading a bunch of guys: Nick Johnson makes sense since he’s a free-agent at the end of the year, Cristian Guzman seems like he’s not interested in Washington any more, Josh Willingham may be able to fetch something decent and Ron Villone and Joe Beimel provide some veteran experience out of a bullpen, plus they’re lefties.

I don’t see how trading Dunn who’s having the best year of his life and is still under contract for another year and is in the prime of his career and is apparently committed to improving his defense is such a great idea. Seems to me the Nationals benefit from having his bat in the lineup and with Nyjer Morgan playing CF next to him, Dunn’s defense won’t be nearly the hindrance we initially thought it would be.

Seems to me that if the Nationals are serious about fielding a major league lineup to score runs for this young staff, a guy like Dunn would be valuable; at least more-so than a handful of marginal prospects. Let Dunn play out this year and see where we are as an organization next year. If we really have turned a corner, perhaps Dunn will stay beyond his two-year contract and the Nats can win with him here.

Hard to believe it, but I used to hate this guy.

Mets Prove Why They Will Always Be New York's "Other" Team

Can Someone Photoshop "ASS-HAT" Onto This Guy's Forehead For Me?

The Nationals may be playing out a lost season, but the New York Mets are a dumpster fire. The Mets just dropped their second straight game to the Nats last night, and in this blogger’s mind, have officially been eliminated from contention.

As bad as we are, teams who drop a series to the Nats should be automatically eliminated from the payoffs. The way the Mets played the last two nights, they deserve as much ridicule as they get. Power Alley (an okay radio show on MLB Homeplate, XM-175) is devoting much of their program to how the Mets can salvage anything in 2009. Right now, the callers who claim to be Mets fans seem to think the organization may need to consider keeping anything of value before the riots begin at Citi Field and the fans start tearing the new park apart.

Earlier this week, Mets Vice President of Player Development Tony Bernazard apparently went to Binghamton, NY where the Mets AA affiliate plays and challenged a bunch of players to a fight and used derogatory terms to call them out. What exactly is he trying to develop? I mean, other than a reputation for being a complete and total ass-hat? This comes on the heels of another accusation that Bernazard challenged Major League closer Francisco Rodriguez to a fight on the team bus after a game in Atlanta. Then there’s the case of the fan who killed his mother after the Mets lost a game to the Nationals a couple of years back.

What exactly is wrong with that organization? At least, so far anyway, we just kinda suck at playing baseball. The Mets appear to have a fanbase and front office that kinda sucks at life. Gain some perspective.

Collin Balester Called Up

Collin Balester Speaks To Fans At "Blogger Night" in September of 2008 - Say... Whose Sexy Elbow Is That In The Background?

The Nationals have recalled one of the fans’ favorite players from Syracuse. Collin Balester, whose candid opinions found on radio stations and on his blog, will toe the rubber tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals in the make-up game of a rain out from May 3rd.

Balester was 7-9 in 19 starts in AAA but he does have some Major League experience.

The move was made after Jordan Zimmermann was placed on the 15-day Disabled List with a tender elbow.

John Lannan is a Warrior

John Lannan Tosses Complete Game Shutout Last Night

It’s so simple, yet so many seem to struggle with it: throw strikes, stay ahead, win each at bat. That’s it. Simple formula for success yet so few pitchers can pull it off.

Last night, John Lannan threw his second complete game victory this year and his first career complete game shutout (at least in the major leagues). Lannan threw 106 pitches last night and a staggering 80 for strikes – that’s nearly a 4:1 strike:ball ratio.

Perhaps the most important thing he did last night was not succumb to fear. He pitched to contact and let his defense make the plays last night – including an absolute gem of a play in CF by Nyjer Morgan keeping the shutout intact in the third inning and a couple of well placed double plays to get out of trouble. In fact, of his 27 outs recorded, only one was by strikeout.

Now, the detractors will say, “well, yeah, but he did beat the Mets who are really beat up by injuries right now.” That doesn’t matter. The Nationals play in the midst of a lame-duck season and have absolutely nothing to play for – including apparently any pride whatsoever because it really looks as though they can’t wait until September is over. More importantly, though, that’s what good pitchers do – they beat the teams they are supposed to beat and they don’t let up just because the opponent is weakened. Lannan saw an opportunity to go for the kill and he took it.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come. Stan Kasten and Mike Rizzo hung their hats on young pitching this year hoping it would pay off in the long run. These kids have to have the mentality to go seven innings at a minimum; and it has to start now. They need to learn to throw strikes, stay ahead and win each at bat above all else. They need to know they aren’t going to get sent to AA just because they get shelled on one night. They need to know that even if they give up a few runs, they need to keep throwing strikes; bull-dog mentality.

The Nationals are playing out what looks to be a lost season. Rather than focus on winning a few more games this year, let’s take advantage of this break we’ve been given and see if all our kids can do what Lannan did last night. He was handed the de facto “ace” tag earlier this year and he just showed you why. After an incredibly morose start, he’s pulled his record to 7-7 with a 3.38 ERA after last night; and playing for this team that may be the most admirable effort of any player in the majors this year (alarming note: John Lannan has won more than ¼ of all of Washington’s wins this year – UGH).

So take note Steve McCatty. Let your kids go out and get knocked around a bit. See what they’re made of. All of the trials and tribulations John Lannan had to overcome in his young career certainly seem to have paid off. Time to see if Jordan Zimmermann, Craig Stammen, Ross Detwiler, Shairon Martis, J.D. Martin, Colin Balester or any other kids you may have can do it. Start pushing them in AA and AAA so they’ll be ready for it when they come to Washington.

Oh, and cross your fingers that we can get a deal done with Stephen Strasburg.