That's right, I'm in Florida on business. I flew in yesterday and boy are my arms tired. I had to do that one. Anyways, why didn't I realize that the minute after Bergmann's gem was over, we have been rendered teh suck by injuries. Now granted the pitchers we had weren't exactly going to wow anyone, even AAA teams. But they could give us quality starts none the less. Well its two days later and I'm reading things I just don't want to read. Like Billy Traber still existing, and Micah Bowie making a start. Can we just forfeit 7-0 like my softball league? Perhaps we can go with a 2 man rotation... I for one thing we should run a platoon at pitcher...no one but Simontacchi, Chico, or Bergmann is allowed to pitch more than an inning. That way, one person can't be completely to blame for all the runs. Oh but Chief still doesn't get to pitch to anyone in the 9th and perhaps the 8th either. I'm just bummed that we had a little confidence going and then we have to trot out Jerome Williams, Levale Speigner, and Micah Bowie out on the bump, I'm sad
Hey readers,
Kyle is out of town for the week, so I will be manning the Report for the next couple of games solo.
Tonight's game features Jerome Williams returning from a short stint on the DL with an ankle sprain. Atlanta will be throwing Tim Hudson at our Nats, he of the sub 2.00 ERA. This game will be a good test of the spirit of this team. The Nats are on a 4 game win streak, including a home sweep of the Marlins, and the game 1 (near no-hitter) victory over the Braves. I wouldn't doubt that the Braves' bats will come alive tonight, even though Jerome has had a resurgence of late, and has shown he has some ability. Chipper Jones should be returning after thumb pain caused his late scratch in the last game.
My Prediction: Braves 6, Nats 2.
Guz-diction: 1-3, run.
Update: I am a genius, I needed to put money on this game. Almost got the trifecta with Guz.
I don't know what to say. That game was great to watch, and it was the first one I've seen since I've been home and graduated. This should mean I'll see every Nats game from here on out.
Bergmann was a stud, and until the pitch he gave up the bomb on, he had pitched nearly perfectly. Nothing meaty, was efficient, ball was live and had speed. The bats were still pretty silent, but our boy GUZMANIA2k7 continued his hot streak with 2 hits, including his second consecutive game with a triple.
He does however need some post game interview pointers. Sounds kinda nerdy, and needs work on his metaphors and cliches.
So, great great pitching, just enough hitting, and decent pen work. And we may have hurt a division rival's ace. So, A+ for tonight.
4 straight boys. Don't call it a comeback.
Cause we swept 'em! Did anyone go into this weekend believe we had a chance to sweep the Marl. Cause I sure didn't. I mean everyone knows the Marlins aren't going to win the World Series (although the years they shouldn't are the ones in which they somehow do), but still they're a quality club and we swept them. And the funny thing is that it shows just what we could have here in Washington. Three solid pitching performances, timely hitting, and more importantly hitting with power. The Nats of 2007 really haven't had any problems putting wood on the ball, there's just been no pop. But all the pieces worked together this weekend for a trio of quality wins. And I know you all saw Guz triple...don't lie, you were impressed. Bring on the Braves! I hope Langerhans hits a game winner in this series, beatin' em with their unwanted parts (which is normally what happens to the Nats)!
This Blog is slowly becoming a series of rebus'
Someone serious needs to sponsor the call to the bullpen for the Nats. Cause it's pretty much Manny's favorite thing to do. Every game Manny punches that dial at least 5-6 times. It's clear to me that he puts much more emphasis on which arm you throw with than how good you throw with said arm. I can't find any other explanation for the reason why no one in the bullpen should ever expect to face more than one batter. Bowie will get a K, gets yanked, boom three singles in a row for the loss. I understand that you can keep guys in there for too long, but at least give them a chance. If we keep using every pitcher every game, we really are going to have no one left. Manny's getting on my nerves....
Let us know your thoughts on the re-design...or anything else, we're starved for comments! Also...
I know it doesn't look like it, but here at the Report we really are Nationals fans. We're just not fans who give a team a free pass to suck because the payroll is so low. There have been, and there are teams who have smaller payrolls than ours and are nowhere near this bad. Granted they have farm systems that weren't nuked by the owners but still. So while we spew this venom, know that we do it out of love.
Also, a list of moves made today
Cordero goes on the bereavement list
Winton Abreu and Tony Batista called up from Columbus
Josh Wilson designated for for assignment
JPatt and JWag(Juggs) on the DL
It's just unconscionable. I can't stand watching the Nats on TV because every 9th inning, I know Chief is more likely than not to blow it.
He doesn't throw hard.
He doesn't necessarily through strikes, because he has to be cute, because he has nothing to throw.
This blog will be officially in the "Get Cordero out of the 9th inning" camp forever. Don't care if he reels off 15 saves in a row. The man doesn't have the stuff to get it done. He fooled everyone once, and now the league is on to him. A lot of the fans are on to him.
Put Rauch in the 9th, stick Cordero in the 6th or 7th, where he knows he can't single handedly lose the game for us.
This is being written as Cordero lucked into 2 outs. Regardless of how it turns out, this team will rarely have a lead into the 9th, and when we do, we need to win those games. Cordero is not putting us in a position to do that. Let's give someone else a chance before we permanently crush this team's spirits.
That's the sound of Jason Bergman pitching...
I've never seen so many "fast"balls in a row go over the center of the plate!
Friday: 2:20 (Bergmann v Zambrano- The self described 2007 Cy Young Winner)
Saturday: 1:05 (J Patt v. Rich Hill)
Sunday: 2:20 (Shawn Hill aka Ace v Ted Lilly)
Well folks, since the bats have died in San Diego, this weekend could be bad. The pitching has been extremely solid for the past 3 starts, minus Chico's last outing. But Zambrano, who has the stuff, and Hill and Lilly who have come out on fire, could continue to stifle our bats over the weekend.
Other rainclouds on the horizon, my favorite former Nats, Soriano, has found his stroke and has decided to start earning his paycheck. He's raised his avg. to .320 and has his last 2 HRs in the past few games.
Church has to pick it back up, as his power has disappeared lately. Belliard continues to hit the ball, and will be a great asset off the bench when Guzmania! comes back.
Let's hope the pitching continues, and we start smackin the ball around the friendly confines.
Nats gettin' a little love from the media. Screw Rosenthal!
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10164260
A poem...
I was up late last night
It was half past ten
I was watching baseball tonight
Wouldn't be awake past eleven
When what to my wondering eyes would appear
But Ryan Langerhans, and the worst start of the year
I thought to myself, could this be true
Has Bowden done it again
Or could this just be a ruse
I went to the Nats site, for word of the trade
I came up empty handed
No word had been made
Alas it was true, Snelling now has to pack
As I thought to myself, the Bowden strikes back!
All poetry aside, I believe the deal to be an astute call by Bowden. Our bench has been woeful and while Snelling has played okay, I think he's really getting a pass because we're comparing him to the rest of our team and really just to his replacements. I know some people are going to bring up that Langerhans is 3/48 this season but it was not long ago that Langerhans was one of the hottest young stars in the game. Keep in mind that he's still only 27. I think that its possible that Langerhans re-kindles the flame here in Washington. And if he doesn't, he'll be no worse than Chris Snelling, cause no major league player continues to hit .063 for an entire season.
So I was going to do this earlier, but exam week is a crazy, crazy week.
This article does quite a number on our new ownership group, but as Kyle said, it was based mostly on interviews of former workers. And as we all know, spurned lovers/employees are sometimes less than reputable.
In case you didn't actually READ the link, it tells a tale of woe of an organization that has yet to find its feet, and along the way, has lost quite a few employees for asinine reasons, such as not paying per diems, not letting a worker ship packages via Fedex to FL, not paying Scouts....etc.
The section that seemed the most ridiculous to me was a pull quote stating that for a team who has a claimed commitment to its farm system, its strange that they would not hire the extra conditioning staff they had planned on because it was $30,000. For as much as concessions are, and tickets for a last place team, and the low low low payroll, I think cost cutting has gone about as far as it should. There comes a point where the ownership has to start paying out, and spending for things to start turning around.
If you're all about the Farm system, spend even more than you are now, because we are so far behind, that only the Draft can save us in 5-6 seasons. We don't have enough proven vets to get legitimate prospects at the deadline, so what you see if what you get.
Call me reactionary, but with an 9-18 record, I need some silver lining. This article was just another rain cloud.
Read this article.
I or Kyle will give you some analysis at some point tonight or tomorrow, but this is an eye opening article to say the least.
At bunting and hitting with bases loaded...I actually contemplated punching a hole in the wall next to me tonight when I saw Fick was chosen to PH again and strikes out looking. I'll give Flop and Belliard a pass because they've been hitting well lately, but overall we have the quality and patience of a AA team when the sacks are packed.
Continuing with the theme of an April recap, I'd like to take a look at the pitching staff. Specifically the starting rotation. Obviously the chips have not fallen where Mannyger thought they would at this point of the season. The man whose name was written in sharpie at the top of the rotation is now the only one without a win (Williams is on the DL) and the only one with an ERA over 7 (its sad that 7 is the magic number). Based on this year's performances only, this would be my rotation for May:
1.) Shawn Hill - I believe there's only two situations in which you're allowed to only throw two pitches, when you throw the knuckle or the sinker. That's because you can use either of those as your main pitch, and use the fastball as the change of pace pitch. Traditional breaking balls are harder to get over the plate and thus can't be used as often
2.) Jason Bergmann - The man battles...hard. He along with Hill are the only two that seem to be able to strike out anybody with regularity this season. Now if he could just keep his walk numbers down he'd be right up there with Hill.
3.) Matt Chico - He gets the nod over J Patt simply because he has wins. Chico should win the Juggs pitching machine of the month award. Man gives away homers like no other (except Chief...see previous post).
4.) John Patterson - The guy is not right in the head, thats all I can think of. He's like a modern day Rick Vaughn, he's got the stuff but he can't hit the plate. Perhaps he needs coke bottle glasses and shit shaved into his head. I dunno but somebody get this man a psychiatrist...or Jobu.
Jerome Williams in injured so I won't include him, but he'd be #5 for the simple fact that he is 0-4 and shows no sign of stopping.
Seen a flyball closer. And that's pretty much what chief is. He can't start because he has two pitches. And really they're the same pitch a low 90s fastball. For the second pitch, he just throws it slower and over the plate and calls it a changeup. He needs some time to sit and think about what he's done...cost the nats three games already and its still april. At this rate, he personally will lose us 15 games this year.......I'm pissed
We're 19 games into the season and at points the Nationals have shown flashes of being a decent team. Most often though, they've shown us what its like to be a Royals fan. Today is gonna be all about the numbers, I know it means nothing but its fun to project what final numbers would be if the entire season went like the first month. So if the rest of the season repeats what happened so far here's what you get:
Nationals Wins: 51
Nationals Losses: 111 (Take that Olney!)
D Young Walks: 110
D Young Strikouts: 110
Z-Man Grand Slams: 9 (I'm rounding up)
Wins by Nationals Starters: 17 (I'm not joking)
Wins by Nats Bullpen: 34
Walks issued by Nats pitchers: 810
Strikeouts by Nats pitchers: 998 (honestly I thought this would be way lower)
Errors by Nats fielders: 179
ARod Homers: 119
Nats Homers: 85
ARod RBIs: 306
Nats RBIs: 503 (Take that ARod)
So what do these numbers all mean...the Nats are bad, ARod might be the son of Zeus and nothing all at the same time
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