Say hey Willie, Nats win 7-4

Despite an off night for Tim Redding the Nats used their bats to take out one of the best teams in baseball. The Diamondbacks Micah Owings had no answer for the Nats line up as they sprayed nine hits and converted seven runs. The Nats bats topped off by Willie Harris’s three run homer was the deciding factor, as Washington won 7-4.

Put me in coach

The Nationals had five players in their starting line up Friday night that were not in the opening day starting nine. Maybe Barack Obama is right, change is good. The Nats reserves who started last night batted only 5/21 on the night, they scored four of the Nationals seven runs and recorded the only two extra base hits of the night. Willie Harris became the latest Washington National to bust out of a season long slum. Harris took over for Felipe Lopez at second base and hit the all important three run homer that decided the game in the seventh.

Last night was the first time Harris had played second base since 2006 when he played two innings there for the Red Sox. Harris’s versatility has been incredibly valuable for the Nats this season despite his poor hitting. He has already played second base, shortstop, and third base, as well as left and center field in 2008.

Elijah Dukes turns a 180

On May 23rd, the Nationals put right fielder Austin Kearns on the disabled list with Loose Bodies in his right arm. Since that time young Elijah Dukes has been given the starting position and with it has received a bid of confidence from manager Manny Acta. In the last eight games following the Kearns Injury Dukes is batting .333 (6/18), with an on base percentage of .500 (12/24) with five runs scored.

Last night Dukes produced in one of the hardest roles in baseball, as a pinch hitter and then a sub. In two plate appearances he reached base both times recording a walk and a single. Dukes reaching base allowed Willie Harris to hit the three run homer that put the Nats on top.

GUZMAN WATCH

Christian Guzmans box score looks pretty good, which is something we like seeing here at The Nats Blog. He went 3/5 with one run scored, drove in none and saw probably nine pitches. He has only one walk in his last 22 plate appearances.

Game Day: Arizona Diamondbacks 30-24 vs. Washington Nationals 23-32

Gam Cast

Line ups

Washington
-Willie Harris
-Cristian Guzman
-Aaron Boone
-Dmitri Young
-Lastings Milledge
-Ryan Langerhans
-Jesus Flores
-Rob Mackowiak
-Tim Redding

Arizona
-Chris Young
-Stephen Drew
-Orlando Hudson
-Conor Jackson
-Chad Tracy
-Justin Upton
-Jeff Zalazar
-Chris Snyder
-Micah Owings

The Story:

The Nats try to rebound against one of the best teams in baseball, The Arizona Diamondbacks, after losing two of three to one of the worst, The Padres. Tim Redding will pitch against his former club and try to keep up his reputation as the readers of The Nats Blog have named him the Nationals Player of the Month.

Stat of the night:
Last season Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings hit .333 with 12 extra base hits.

LETS GO NATS!

Maxwell out with a wrist injury

Nats hitting prospect Justin Maxwell suffered another set back today. The 24 year old Harrisburg outfielder will be out for at least a month following yet another wrist injury. He had missed the previous week as a precaution, but after playing again yesterday it was clear the problem is still there. The Nationals feel there may be some ligament damage.

Injuries have been the story throughout Maxwell’s young professional career. In his last year of collegiate ball at the University of Maryland, Maxwell broke his arm causing him to miss most of the season. This kept him out of the first round of the Draft despite his tremendous talent. In his first year with the Nationals farm system he was out with a toe injury. Nearly a year later Maxwell would again lose significant time with an oblique injury caused by sneezing.

There are some players who are just damned with injuries, hopefully for the Nats Maxwell's problem is it’s just a string of bad luck. However if you look at some players like Nomar Garciaparra, Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Escobar, or Mark Prior, some just aren’t meant to stay healthy for a long period of time. This would be a shame if Maxwell was one of these players. His talent set is incredible and he has the ability to be the kind of franchise outfielder the Nats truly need.

What to read today

An interesting Baseball Prospectus article on pitcher's hitting

Phill Wood discusses rumors that Manny Acta may replace Willie Randoph as the Mets manager

Washington Examiner looks at how the Nats unexpected poor attendance will effect D.C's payments

The Nationals dicuss Cristian Guzmans future with the club

By the bat of Jesus, Nats win 6-4

After a visit to the dentist Odalis Perez was ready to wash and rinse the Nationals of their short losing streak. Perez had stayed up all night Tuesday with a painful toothache, on no sleep he was taken to a local dentist who preformed a four hour root canal Wednesday morning. Seven hours later, woozy and a little doped up, Perez was on the mound in PETCO Park.

Six and a third innings later Perez was pitching on the better end of a 6-2 lead. Manny Acta let his soldier come off the mound, he had battled, and he had given his team a chance to win. A win is something that has been hard to come by for Odalis this season, despite pitching well through most of the year, but this one was certainly well earned. After an ugly relief appearance by Sanches and three solid innings from Ayala and Rauch, the Nats came out on top 6-4.

Jesus Flores is young and talented; Paul Lo Duca is old and scrappy

Jesus Flores again showed Washington Nationals fans why he is a center block in the building of this young team. With the bases loaded last night in the fourth inning, Flores did something that his team has had trouble doing all year, converted with runners in scoring position. With one swing of the bat he put his team up 4 and recorded his first career grand slam.

It was an excellent overall game for Flores, he tossed out the Padres Tadahito Iguchi on the base paths, displaying an arm that scouts have been a fan of for some time. He finished 2-4 with a single to go with his grand slam. What makes Flores so exciting is that he is refining his tools so much faster then anybody imagined he could, and he’s doing it in the majors no less. He is already more patient then most of the Nationals batters, he’s already better defensively at his position then most of the Nationals, and he is currently using his bats better then anyone on the Nationals.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the sample size of Flores’ success this year is still small…but it keeps growing…

PETCO Park, home run friendly?

No….no it’s not. It’s actually one of the worst home run ball parks in the nation; to the point in fact that it has deterred many power hitters from going to southern California in free agency. It just is home to an RFK like outfield, some argue even bigger. However, over this series there have already been six home runs through the first two games.

This is good for the Nationals line up, who couldn’t score a run to save their life merely a few weeks ago. Lastings Milledge has been killing the ball, Aaron Boone has shown to be a good source of power, and those doubles from Flores may soon be turning into home runs. This however is a bad thing for the Nationals pitching staff. The bullpen has been allowing many home runs over the course of the last several weeks, which is a sign of mistakes. Mistakes are a sign of over use, and over use is the sign of Matt Chico…

Box Score

Photos Courtesy of AP/Lenny Ignelzi

What to read today

Washington Post's George Solomon on the retirement of Bret and the Boone Family

Chico Harlon on Zimmermans arm injury

Baseball Prospectus on why Reds manager Dusty Baker is bad for young pitchers (think Mark Prior, Kerry Wood...and now Edison Volquez?)

Baseball Prospectus looks at the first 12 picks in the upcomming draft

Nats General Manager Jim Bowden on the upcomming draft

An off topic salute to the Kid

There’s something special about the player who was considered the best in the world when you first become a fan of the game. Forever when you think of baseball you associate in some part your feelings towards the game with that player. He’s an icon of what the game was when you came to understand it, and the personification of the beauty of the game and the greatness that can be achieved in it.

For me, that was Ken Griffey Jr, and what a player to have that forever relationship with. Griffey was a true five tool player, who despite his slender physique was one of the most feared power hitters of all time. His grace running through the outfield and robbing home runs seemed almost as effortless as his unmatchable swing. He hit balls harder and further then anyone could expect, and he did it all with fashion and respect for the game.

As a child watching, “The Kid,” you couldn’t help but dream to become a major leaguer some day. He looked as if he enjoyed the game more then anyone on the field, as he often flashed that million dollar smile. He often seemed to amaze himself with his growing abilities, much like a player first learning the game, which reminded kids my age of ourselves and our fathers of their own childhood.

But even Griffey’s famous charisma was overshadowed by his own greatness. Not since Willie Mays or Micky Mantle had the majors seen a player with such raw power and such smooth mechanics. From the minute he came into the league he started setting home run records, and was often chasing the elusive 61 home run mark set by Roger Maris. By the time he was 29 people were already expecting him to break Hank Aarons home run mark, as he was the youngest player to 200, 300, and 400 home runs at the time.

However before his 30^th birthday he decided he wanted to play in his home state, and was shipped to Cincinnati to embark on the second half of his career. Things didn’t go so well. Griffey became subject to injury after injury and could never repeat the success he had in Seattle. It was a sad sight to see greatness derailed by nagging injuries, his smile faded and so did our memory of The Kid.

It’s not fair that one of the greatest power hitters of all time got overshadowed by players who took drugs to extend their careers. Griffey just couldn’t recover from injuries, while power hitters all around him were mysteriously rejuvenated; putting up power numbers no one had seen before. The player who stood for everything good about the game was eclipsed in his prime by things that represented everything awful in baseball; greed, cheating, and dishonesty.

It is sad that even today, after steroids have been persecuted and rejected from our game, Griffey’s accomplishments are still being ignored due to them. He is currently at 598 home runs, fast approaching the major milestone of 600. It seems however that fans just cant get on board with Griffey’s chase. Perhaps fans are tired of home runs, perhaps we feel they symbolize the steroid scandal that almost tore this game apart. Regardless of the reason, it seems everyone wants to just push this accomplishment under the rug.

I won’t. We owe a salute to one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and his outstanding accomplishment. Griffey is one of the true legends we can take from our generation, and he should be cherished, not swept to the back of our mind.

Congratulations Griffey on 600 homers, whenever it comes. You’re one of the greatest of all time.

Back to back jacks bury the Nats

It must have been a difficult situation for Nationals manager Manny Acta. He knew as well as anyone that his bullpen had been overworked this season, but he also knew that his starting pitcher, Shawn Hill, was coming off an arm injury that kept him out of his last start. Surely he wanted to monitor Hill’s pitch count, but at the same time he wanted a starter to eat up some innings to relieve his worn-out pen. He ended up with the worst of both worlds, running up Hills pitch count while only seeing him get to the 5th. With the score at 2-2, the game was in the bullpens hands.

After one inning of scoreless Jesus Colume pitching, the Nats were still in the clear, tied through six with a chance to steal the win from the good pitching Padres. Manny Acta decided to go against experience and brought in the 29 year old rookie, lefty Charlie Manning, to pitch against the heart of the order. It looked to be a smart move after he retired the weak hitting Iguchi and the left handed Brian Giles, but all was lost when the rookie showed his rawness. In a high pressure situation Manning made a mistake, he left a big meaty pitch over the center of the plate to the Padres best power hitter. The next thing we knew Adrian Gonzalez was trotting the bases with his 15th homer of the year. Relievers in the show cant afford to make mistakes, especially in the seventh inning of tied games. After a call to the bullpen, the very next pitch saw a Kevin Kouzmanoff homer to make the score 4-2. The Nats couldn’t recover.

The troublesome Shawn Hill

Occasionally last night Shawn Hill showed the stuff that made him the presumed ace of the staff this spring. He had good movement on his fastball and his curveball was breaking both for strikes and for deception. It was obvious though that he wasn’t 100%. He fell behind on hitters, and later in the game he had trouble locating his breaking pitches. Through 5 innings he recorded 5 K’s only allowed 5 hits with 2 runs earned, however he also walked five batters.

Acta let him throw 112 pitches which is really troubling. Most managers will limit their starting pitchers to a select pitch count when they come off an arm injury, especially when that injury involves soreness or tightness. It had to be a warning sign for Acta that out of his 112 pitches; just more then half (58) were strikes. I wasn’t aware we had Dusty Baker managing our pitching staff…We need to be more careful and find ourselves a solid long relief pitcher, and not throw our pitchers arms off.

Kouzmanoff and Gonzalez

Only two players accounted for the Padres four runs last night. Kyle Kouzmanoff and Adrian Gonzalez both scored on a Michael Barrett single in the third, and both had back to back solo bombs to take the lead in the seventh. On a poor team like the Padres its very important to not let their two or three best hitters beat you. Even last year when the Padres were a playoff team they had a week line up, it’s only gotten worse this year.

If the Nats pitchers have to pitch around Gonzalez and Kouzmanoff so be it. I’m not afraid of Michael Barrett, Khalil Greene, or Paul McAnulty. Let’s be smart and efficient with our game plan, because right now we don’t have a line up that can produce after mistakes.

Notes:

When Joel Hanrahan came into the game last night, he threw a first pitch fastball which was launched into the stands for the second home run in as many pitches. The Nats Blog has called for it before but it seems the Nats still aren’t getting it. Hitters facing the Nats have come to expect first pitch fastballs when people come out of the pen. It hurt us against the Brewers last series and hurt us again last night.

Elijah Dukes got on base TWICE last night. I really think the absence of Kearns has given him an extra confidence boost, if he can actually reach close to the potential we were promised we’re going to have a good player on our hands.

Guzman Watch
Guzman had himself a solid game, going 2-4 while scoring a run. Both of hits were doubles which will raise his slugging percentage, something surly interested teams will look at. He hasn’t messed up in the field for a while either, but I still hope he is traded at the break. Guzman has one walk in his last 44 at bats.

Box Score
Photos Courtesy of AP/Lenny Ignelzi

Game: Nationals 22-30 vs. Padres 19-33

Game Cast

Line ups
Washington
Felipe Lopez
Cristian Guzman
Aaron Boone
Dmitri Young
Lastings Milledge
Jesus Flores
Wily Mo Pena
Elijah Dukes
Shawn Hill

San Diego
Jody Gerut
Tadahito Iguchi
Brian Gilez
Adrian Gonzalez
Kyle Kouzmanoff
Khalil Greene
Michael Barrett
Paul McAnulty
Randy Wolf

Pitchers:

Shawn Hill (0-1, 4.08 ERA) vs. Randy Wolf (3-4 ,4.76 ERA)

The story:

The Nats will be fatigued coming into this game but hope to stay on top in a battle of two last place teams. Ryan Zimmerman will be out of the line up for the second straight night with a sore shoulder, sadly the team’s offense usually is generated around his presence. It could be an ugly night for the Nats when you consider these factors as well as the fact that Shawn Hill may or may not still be hurting after missing his last start.

Stat of the Night:

In 14 career at bats, Aaron Boone is 3/14 with 3 K’s and only 1 BB. He is batting third in the Nationals line up tonight.

LETS GO NATS

Cordero Has a Catch

Chad Cordero took his first steps towards returning to the Nats bullpen as he played catch for the first time since going on the dl:



Throwing a baseball for the first time since he tore the latissimus dorsi - a triangular flat muscle in the lumbar region - Cordero said he was a little nervous about what might happen. But he felt no pain in his shoulder throwing from 45 to 60 feet.
"I didn't have any soreness or anything like that," Cordero said. "Once I got used to throwing again, I could do everything. Not throwing for four weeks, I was kind of anxious to see what would happen, but it went well."
Cordero will throw every other day for the next two weeks, increasing the distance by 15 feet each time. He can then resume throwing from a mound, but his return is still a ways off. However minor the progress was yesterday, it was at least a move forward. -Ben Goessling, Washington Times



With the struggles of some of the previously reliable relievers this season, Cordero's return could relieve a huge burden on their oft-used shoulders.

Nats vs. Padres series preview

There are three teams in the National League with a worse record then the Washington Nationals (22-30), all of which play in the NL West. The San Diego Padres(19-33) are in dead last of them, and are set to host the Nats for a three game series. The Padres have quietly self-destructed at an alarming rate this year, fallowing what was statistically a worse collapse last season then the Mets suffered. They have preformed awfully, taking a playoff caliber team to have the second worst record in baseball in just one season. The Padres are currently in panic mode, and need to turn their season around.

The Nats on the other hand are playing .500 baseball since their terrible nine game losing streak earlier in the year. While their line up is banged up, and their bullpen is slumping, the once depressingly bad line up is starting to show signs of life. Lastings Milledge is hitting the ball, Ryan Zimmerman is batting .300 this month, and Elijah Dukes is actually making contact! The Nats will need this improved hitting against a solid pitching club in the Padres.

Padres Last Series

The Padres are coming off a series that held an 18 inning thriller in the finale. The Padres had lost two of the first three games against Cincinnati at home, but it took a three run walk off homer from Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the 18th to be able to split the series with the Reds. It was a much needed victory for San Diego as they had seen more then their fare share of struggles in the last week.

The Padres saw two of their players go on the DL at the hand of Albert Pujols. A line drive of his bat connected directly with Chris Young’s face forcing him to go on the DL, and in the same inning Fat Albert took out the Padres catcher Josh Bard putting him on the DL as well. These injuries put a serious strain on San Diego as they had a long, personnel consuming series with the Reds.

Who’s hot:

Adrian Gonzalez- 7/19, 3 2B , 2 HR, 6 RBI
Kevin Kouzmanoff- 7/18, 5 R, 3 HR, 4 RBI

Who’s not:

Khalil Greene-4/20, 10 K, 0 BB, 2 HR

Probable Starters

Shawn Hill (0-1, 4.08 ERA) vs. Randy Wolf (3-4, 4.76 ERA)
Odalis Perez (1-4, 4.13 ERA) vs. Shawn Estes (1-0, 2.33 ERA)
John Lannan (4-5, 3.57 ERA) vs. Wilfredo Ledezma (0-2, 4.65 ERA)

Meet Adrian Gonzalez

Adrian Gonzalez was the first overall pick in the 2000 draft by the Florida Marlins out of high school. With his draft status he became the first infielder to be drafted number one overall since Alex Rodriguez in 1994, and was hoped by many to be the face of a new rebuilding Marlins franchise. However a wrist injury in 2003 led the Marlins to trade him to the Texas Rangers for the now in jail Ugueth Urbina.
Gonzalez played part time for Texas in 2004-2005 until he was traded in one of the more lopsided trades of the decade. The Rangers shipped off All-Star caliber Gonzalez and Cy- Young caliber Chris Young to the Padres for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka. This put Gonzalez in a situation where he could play behind a solid veteran Ryan Klesko, however a shoulder injury to the former All-Star trusted Gonzalez in the starting position. The Padres have never looked back…
In his first full season as Padre, at the age of 24, Gonzalez batted a cool .304 with 24 homers, 38 doubles and 82 RBI. While his batting average dropped to .282 in 2007, his power again improved with 30 homers, 46 doubles, and 100 RBIs. His combination of youth and success at the major league level has impressed many who believe he can be a cornerstone of this franchise for years to come. His gold glove caliber first base and his smooth swing brings excitement to baseball in Southern California, which has needed it for years.
What makes Gonzalez home run count even more impressive is that he has averaged 27 homers a year in extremely pitcher friendly PETCO Park. His high double count also excites scouts who believe that those gapers will turn to homers as he matures. With this he reminds me a lot of former slugger Rafael Palmeiro. Palmeiro too had struggles with his first team (the Cubs) but found his niche when he got the starting job in Texas at the age of 24. Also like Gonzalez, Palmeiro started to show solid power between the ages of 25-26, but still had more doubles power until he matured. If the Padres have a Palmeiro in the making, we may see a future hall of famer in the works who will annually bat .300 with 35 home runs.

Gonzalez at age:
24- .304, 24 HR, 38 2B, 82 RBI
25- .282, 30 HR, 46 2b, 100 RBI
26- .282, 14 HR, 13 2b, 43 RBI (on pace for 43 HR, 40 2B,133 RBI)
27- ?????

Palmeiro at age:
24- .319, 14 HR, 35 2B, 89 RBI
25- .322, 26 HR, 49 2B, 88 RBI
26- .268, 22 HR, 27 2B, 85 RBI
27- .295, 37 HR, 40 2B, 105 RBI

What to look for

The Nats are coming off of a four game series with Milwuakee, and has only had one day off since May 5th. They are traveling 3000 miles to San Diego for a 3 game series without a day of rest. I’d be very surprised of the Nats (especially the older ones) will be ready to play tonight after such a long road trip. Expect the Nats to be a little tired, and a little jet lagged for their first start. The good news is Shawn Hill took his last start off so he should be as fresh as anyone.

Elijah Dukes is, “Hot,” batting 3/10 in his last three games. The Nats Blog predicted that he may perform better with higher Job security now that Kearns is out. Hopefully this trend continues, if the young Dukes and Milledge could start playing to some potential, it could really energize the Nats into a summer run. Talented youth is always a feel good bonus for a team that is struggling, and even if it doesn’t produce more wins, it will give Nats fans comfort that the team is moving in the right direction.

The Nats are only 3-10 at PETCO Park in their short history. The Nats are only 9-15 on the road this year and are traveling 3000 miles for this game. Shawn Hill is 0-1 on the road this year with a 6.46 ERA and a .358 batting average against.

Minor League-day after memorial day monday

Columbus Clippers

Things are starting to come around for Tyler Clippard in Columbus. The 23 year old righty pitching prospect had struggled early this season despite high expectations, however in his last two starts he has returned to the form that excited so many scouts earlier in his career. His last two starts has seen him allow only one earned run in 11.1 innings pitched. He’s allowed only six hits and four walks. Despite his struggles early in the year, his strikeout rate has been high throughout, recording 53 K’s in 52 innings pitched. Clippard clearly isn’t ready yet as we can see with his inconsistency, however if he continues to pitch well we may see a midseason call up and a spot start.

Harrisburg Senators

In all the discussion about who to bring up for injured Austin Kearns, many have overlooked the 23 year old speedster in Harrisburg, Roger Bernadina. Bernadina is a major league level prospect who combines great athleticism with good plate patience and solid power. Currently through 45 games in Double A, Bernadina is batting .324 with a .381 OBP. He has 17 extra base hits, with 27 RBI’s and has walked 15 times. These numbers are solid enough to warrant a call up to Columbus, especially when you consider in his last 10 games he’s even hotter, batting .389. "He's got a very good collection of offensive and defensive tools, and now he's playing within those tools," said the scout, who's been following Bernadina for years. "He has good bat speed, his bunting is a weapon, he's a good aggressive base runner and a plus defender”- Baseball Prospectus

Hagerstown Suns-
Michael Burgess is quickly making a name for himself as one of the top power prospects in baseball for his age group. At only 19, Burgess is tearing up low A ball Hagerstown, to the tune of 11 homers and a .516 slugging percentage. While Burgess had gotten off to a good start in the power categories, he had struggled making consistent contact, batting below .250 for most of the season. In the last 10 games he has started to show more plate discipline batting .364 in that stretch. Burgess is still unpolished, and the lefty slugger has a way to go before he makes it to Nats Park… but the ceiling is starting to look good, real good.

Nats lose 4-3, Split series 2-2

The Nats lost a heartbreaker today. Despite the great efforts of the reformed Jason Bergmann, and despite come from behind heroics by the big teddy bear Dmitri Young the Nats couldn’t come out on top. In the end it was a few stupid plays that led to the Nats coming out on the tieing the 4 game series, and out on top.

Some Thoughts:

Bergmann pitched great despite the Nats loss. He went five and two thirds without allowing an earned run and only let up four hits. He also recorded eight strikeouts with only one walk. This outing extended his scoreless streak to 19.2 innings without an earned run allowed, all of which have been recorded since his call up from Columbus. A similar situation to Bergmann’s can be seen in Cincinnati with arguably the best pitcher in the National League this season Edinson Volquez. Volquez struggled greatly in 2006 and 2007 as a talented pitcher who couldn’t seem to put it together. He however attributes his new found focus that has made him a true ace (7-2, 1.31 ERA) to his end of the season demotion to triple last year.

Jesus Flores is making a serious argument for himself to be the full time Nationals Catcher, despite his youth and inexperience. After going 2-4 today with yet another double, Flores is batting .340 with a .463 OBP and a .561 Slugging percentage. These numbers would impress a lot of scouts for a 23 year old catcher in even triple A, much less the majors. His power is developing faster then most would have expected with such little minor league experience and his plate patience is the best on the Nats active roster. 14 of his 33 outs this season have come from strikeouts. At first glance this is troubling that his strikeout rate is so high, but when you counter it with how well he is getting on base you realize a different potential. To put it simply, when Flores puts the ball in play, almost half the time it’s a hit. He is currently batting .460 on balls put in play (BaBIP). It’s a small sample size still, but it’s getting more and more promising.

This is the second game in a row that the first pitch from Saul Rivera has turned into a devastating RBI. I figured out why after the first one, I’m kind of surprised the Nats didn’t pick it up themselves. Saul is a fastball pitcher; he gets ahead in the count, changes locations, and often gets batters out. However when he throws first pitch fastballs to fastball hitters, such as Mike Cameron and Gape Kapler, its no mystery that they’re going to jump all over it. Saul needs to change it up, or he will keep getting burned in clutch situations.

Box Score

Photos courtesy of AP/Lawrence Jackson

Nats split middle two games against Brewers

Sometimes you can’t win even when everything falls your way. The Nats had their big game pitcher John Lannan on the mound Saturday night as they were looking for their second win in a row. Facing a slumping Brewers club, things looked promising as it appeared that Lannan’s stuff was on with several early strikeouts on nasty breaking pitches. Then the hits came.

The Nats couldn’t overtake the Brewers despite many chances to score. Lastings Milledge had a rare homer and Elijah Dukes even had a multi hit game. The Nats had runners in scoring position many times but just couldn’t get them around. The Brewers gave them errors, botched double plays and miscommunicated on groundballs. The Nats just couldn’t convert these breaks to runs and lost 2-5.

This afternoon the Nats managed to win despite themselves. The red white and blue blew a 6 run lead in one inning in front of a packed house, in one inning. They had miscommunication on a pop up, they walked lead off hitters, and they couldn’t get a 1-2-3 inning from their bullpen.
With lucky bounces away from the Brewers catcher the Nats were able to score their first and winning runs this afternoon. Despite the ugly play, it was great to see the Nats win on a beautiful memorial day Sunday in front of a packed Nats Park.

The Good:

Elijah Dukes is starting to look like he likes baseball a little bit. On Saturday he recorded a multi hit game, doubling his season total of hits. Today he drew two walks including the one that allowed him to score the game winning run in the bottom of the 9th. As we predicted here on The Nats Blog a few days ago, the injury to Kearns would give Dukes more security in the line up, it appears to be coming true.

Lastings Milledge is killing the ball. So far this series he is 3 for 7 with a homer, a double, and two RBI’s. All his outs have been screamers and in his at bat today before his double h hit about 5 shots in foul territory. He even swiped a bag today.

The Bad:

Both starting pitchers, John Lannan and Tim Redding, allowed great starts to turn into poor ones by not pitching effectively in late innings. Lannan allowed the long ball and a high pitch count to kick him out in the 5th, and Redding has his usual 6th inning woes. Despite pitching 5 shut out innings, Redding allowed for a 6 run 6th for the Brewers.

The Ugly:

The once renowned bullpen of the Nats has been pitching terribly over the last several days. Soul Rivera got knocked around today, allowing for 3 runs to score, only one of which was attributed to him. Yesterday Hanrahan got rocked in his second inning of work and Jesus Colume allowed his usual homer. With every other part of the team starting to come around, it disappointing to see the bullpen fall behind.

Instant replay anyone?

In the past four days there have been three blown home run calls across the majors. As usual this random sorting of blown calls has sparked the media into a frenzy. ESPN panelists, radio talk shows, they all want a piece of the action, a good rant against the establishment of Major League Baseball. It seems that this time the MLB is listening, as they have proposed instituting instant replay on homerun calls in the Arizona Fall League this season, and possibly the World Baseball Classic next year.

How this supposed system would work isn’t yet clear. Either a field umpire will look at a monitor in one of the dugouts, or like in the NFL there may be an official in the press box who reviews the call from up in the sky. The bottom line is no matter the schematics, instant replay will be more accurate. A frame by frame view of the ball, zoomed in, will make the judgment on fair or foul, in or out, much easier then the naked eye. While I’ll be the first to admit some of those replays are non conclusive, the logical decision in terms of making sure the calls on the field are the most accurate, is to institute the system.

The question isn’t however if it will make it more accurate, many baseball purists think it will ruin the game. A lot of sports fans scoff at this, they take a look at what it has done for their football, hockey, and even basketball and they look at baseball fans like their stubborn grandparents. It’s the wave of the future, and many believe baseball is holding themselves out on what could be great. I think however that many of those crying for the change forget what made baseball great, and what keeps it great today.

Baseball more then any sport is symbolic of life. There are 162 games, and with it half a year of ups and downs, and successes and failures. Almost every team will win at least 60 games and lose at least 60 games, all that matters is the 40 in between. The baseball season, like life, is an in and out struggle that is never perfect. This is why we love baseball, why through the struggles of the 20’s and 30’s America was drawn to this game, and why it still holds our attention a century since its inception. Like life baseball will screw fans over sometimes; there will be strikes, bad decisions, let downs, and yes a bad call. But like life we learn to roll with the punches, we learn that our time will come and that even if it takes years, decades, and for the Cubs, centuries, everybody will have their day in the sun.

I was an Orioles fan in 1996, I was 9 years old. They were in the ALCS facing the mighty New York Yankees, but many thought the Orioles had what it took to make it to the World Series. In the eighth inning of game one with the O’s up 4-3, Derek Jeter hit what should have been a fly ball out to right field. Instead 13 year old Jeffery Maier reached out and grabbed the ball away from over the fence from Tony Torasco. The call was blown, it was a home run, and the rest was history. I was crushed, the replay clearly showed it was fan interference. The Orioles should have won.

Looking back 12 years later however, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Did the call kick my ass? Yes it did. But it taught me an invaluable lesson about fairness in life and baseball. Now its history, baseball lore, engrained in the tradition of the sport I love. Failure and heartbreak is part of this game, as much as the glory of victory.

In football, one mistake is so much more devastating. There are only 16 games, only 4 downs, every inch and every call counts so much more. In the NBA and the NHL the only reviewable plays are on buzzer beaters and pucks past the goal line. In both instances the human senses are just too poor to accurately make a call.

So it is my hope as a baseball fan that instant replay is not introduced into our game. I don’t think it will slow the game down, I don’t think it will hurt the umpires integrity either. But I also don’t think that it is necessary enough to take away an integral part of the experience of baseball. We love our famous stories of heroics in baseball, but what tradition would we have without the infamy?

Stat Standout

The Nats have 25 million dollars on the disabled list right now, and I dont think they are any worse off because of it. Their total payroll is 54 million for this season.

Coming to a stadium near you

Clayton Kershaw, get used to hearing the name. The 20 year old left handed starter will likely make his major league debut this Sunday earning his first career outing against St. Louis. As far as pitching prospects go, he is simply the best. He combines a 97 MPH with a 84 MPH change up, both of which he can throw for strikes on command. Oh yeah, and he also has what scouts call the best curveball in the world (no seriously…in the world).


While pitching prospects are never a sure thing, it should be fun to watch this kid develop, even if he isn’t in a Nationals uniform.

Nats take first game of the series, win 5-1

Write up by lucky jarmes:

And So it bounced the Nats way:

That's right. Most of what we(I) have been griping about came around tonight. Two pitchers hunkered down in what started to look like a nearly every game occurrence, a pitchers duel we come out on the bottom of. But it happened. An event that shook my very house with family members jumping for joy. Wily Mo Pena hit a home run. I'm probably making too big of a deal of this, but as I've had two girlfriends since his last, it was pretty big news here.

Things progressed as a tight 1-0 game, with excellent pitching from the Brewers Suppan, and the Nationals persistent Odalis Perez, until the Brew Crew tied it up in hte 5th on a Suppan single off of a poorly placed pitch. Tie game again. Damn.

The next inning was one of rare interest. In the sixth, Nationals fans saw something that they rarely see. A rally of sorts. Breaks. Hits. Baseball being played. Following a F.Lop walk, Guzman hit into a tailor made double play. Or it should have been. J.J Harding simply did not field the ball. Upon scooping it up and gunning to first, Guzman was safe. That's two runners on, in a situation the Nats are often on the losing end of. An interesting thing happened next. The runners where hit it. Zimmerman proceeded to double to the gap in right, scoring F.Lop. It continued as our own lovable lump of meat, Dimitri Young was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Thrilledge, Lastings, productively grounded out scoring Guzman, and bringing up the Nationals stud catcher Jesus Flores, who proceeded to clear the bases with a double. The four runs were all that the Nats would need to lock this up.

CALLED UP:

That was all that was needed thanks in great part to the bull pen pitching phenomenally. A fresh from the minors Brian Sanches came in the top of the sixth to face the meat of the Brewers line up. He not only pitched well, he dominated. He struck out both Cameron and Braun on beautifully placed splitters and a sweet breaking ball, he let up a crushed hit to Prince Fielder, who managed to stay at first (the weight totaly at first base this point of the game was astronomical,)from which he recovered with another strike out to Corey Hart. It was a beautiful performance for Sanches.
We saw two of the three call ups today. As mentioned above Sanches preformed very well. Langerhans, however, showed true last season form. It was pretty ugly.

GUZMAN WATCH:

Guzman dropped to the .300 point today, after going 0-4. He did play fairly well, however. His ground ball in the 6th paired with a great effort on his part led to the break out inning. Guzman actually hustled.

Box Score

Photos Courtesy of AP/Pablo Martinez

Roster Shake Up

Ryan Langerhans will replace Austin Kearns as he goes on the 15 day DL. Langerhans batted .306 in Columbus and has always been a terrific defensive outfielder. He was miserable last year with the bat for the Nats but Washington is hoping he turns it around. He can’t do much worse then anyone they have been playing there.

Charlie Manning will replace Matt Chico (thank god) on the club, Chico will be demoted to triple A Columbus. At 29, Manning isn’t a prospect, but he has been excellent throwing 34 K’s in 27 2/3rds innings in Columbus with a 1.95 ERA.

Brian Sanches will replace Chris Schroder who was for the third time demoted to Columbus. Sanchez, also 29, has never had success in the majors (5.75 ERA) but has been very good this season in the minors. This move leaves the Nats without a lefty arm in the bullpen however.

Nats vs. Brewers Series Preview

Last season the Milwaukee Brewers (22-25) recorded their best start in years putting many Brew Crew Fans into an early frenzy. The young team faltered down the line and missed the playoffs, leaving many hopeful that this season with some added maturity they could make a run at the post season. Things haven’t gone as planned, the Brewers have hit but not pitched, and the owner has put manager Ted Yost on the hot seat.

The Washington Nationals (20-28) are coming into this series after a disappointing stint against the Phillies where they lost two of three. The Nats had looked to continue playing .500 baseball since their early 9 game losing streak but got pounded back into place by the Philadelphia line up Tuesday night getting obliterated 12-2. The Nats need to take the better end of this four game series to save their season, they can’t fall 10 games below .500 if they want any amount of respect or to be attractive to free agents.

Brewers Last Series

Milwaukee pitched well this week en route to taking two out of three from their division rival Pittsburgh. Manny Para and Ben Sheets both recorded good starts for the Brewers, while sub Mendoza Line Rickie Weeks woke up in the leadoff spot and helped the team produce runs. Even in their loss last night the Brewers previously slumping hitters got involved as Bill Hall and Prince Fielder woke up. The Brewers have a scary line up if they ever start to work on all cylinders together with a more then able pitching staff, they could do good things.

Who’s Hot?
Rickie Weeks- 5/12, 2 HR, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB
Bill Hall- 5/8, 2 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K, 1 SB

Who’s Not?
No one…

Probable Starters
Jeff Suppan (2-3, 4.78 ERA) vs. Odalis Perez (1-4, 4.34 ERA)
Seth Mclung (1-1, 3.54 ERA) vs. John Lannan (4-4, 3.40 ERA)
Manny Parra (2-2, 4.40 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (6-3, 3.16 ERA)
Ben Sheets (5-1, 2.92 ERA) vs. Jason Bergmann (1-1, 5.47 ERA)

Get Out to the Ball Park

Everyone should make an effort to get to the ball park this long weekend. The Brewers are an exciting young team and should be a lot of fun to watch, I know I’m always intrigued by young all stars and always want a chance to get to see them play. They’re obviously fronted by last years rookie of the year Ryan Braun, the 24 year old hit .324 last year with 34 homers and is fallowing it up with a solid sophomore year. They also boast the Cecil Fielder upgrade, Prince Fielder. Prince has been struggling this season but last year earned some MVP votes batting .268 with 50 homers and 119 RBI’s.

A notch below the Brewers boast Corey Hart, is a 6-6 right fielder with speed and potential power. He’s batting a solid .305 this season. The Brewers also have the fast and dynamic Bill Hall, Mike Cameron, and Rickie Weeks.

While these players will be fun to watch it will also be essential the Nats pitchers find ways to neutralize them. The hitting for Washington has been way too poor to get into a slugfest with this team and the Brewers are too deep to pitch around just one batter.

(The Milwaukee sausages may make the trip to Washington to race the presidents!)

What to look for:
With Kearns out for a while, Elijah Dukes will get the permanent nod in right. It’s possible that with that bit of confidence that he may perform better, which wouldn’t be hard to do. Elijah however has never had great success at the major league level, batting only .190 last season in 50 plus games for Tampa, and less then .100 this season, which may mean he’s just not ready.

Odalis Perez has been struggling recently. He can’t make mistakes and hope to beat this Brewers line up tonight, they’re too solid all the way through and like to get out early. If he masters the focus and control he had at the start of the season he will be able to pull out the victory tonight.

Kearns out 3-4 Weeks

Austin Kearns was officially placed on the 15 day DL today due to “loose bodies,” in his elbow. Kearns is expected to get surgery and miss 3-4 weeks. As funny as it sounds, it’s actually a relatively harmless problem. Basically a small piece of cartilage or a bone chip has broken off his elbow and is floating around in there. It is supposed to cause pain but I can’t see any pain in your elbow significantly effecting your hitting. He’s going to get arthroscopic surgery and should be “good as new,” in several weeks, assuming new was ever good for Austin Kearns.

I think Kearns taking a break from the line up will be a good thing for everyone involved. Some of this awful hitting has to be mental, and a few weeks away from the stress to collect himself along with some rehab may fix that. This may also ease the pressure off Elijah Dukes and Wily Mo Pena who won’t have to compete for the starting corner spot.

I’m officially suggesting the Nats bring up Escobar.

Nats get blown out by the Phillies, 12-2

Well that just happened.

We let Matt Chico pitch again and it came back to bite us in the butt, big time. As soon as Victorino ripped that double down the line passed a diving Zimmerman I put my dinner away and prepared myself to be sick. At no point in the game did Chico look especially effective, he let up line drives to a slumping line up and bombs to people who have no right hitting them (Victorino, not Howard). The outs he recorded were for the most part loud outs, and the hits were even louder. It’s starting to feel like JV baseball all over again when I see Chico start, he’s like the kid no one has the heart to tell he can’t pitch, on a staff that doesn’t have the recourses to bench him.

Bad things about Matt Chico:
-His fastball is fatter then Dmitri Young
-He doesn’t locate his fastball
-He doesn’t locate his off speed pitches
-His name is one letter off from meaning “Girl”
-He doesn’t get righties out
-He doesn’t get lefties out

Jesus Colume that 6th inning sucked! When you’re already down 4-0 an eight run inning won’t just take you out of the game, it will embarrass anyone wearing the curly w on their heads. I don’t think it’s possible for Colume to have pitched any worse then he did Wednesday night. He allowed 5 hits, walked a 45 year old starting pitcher, didn’t back up home plate, and was responsible to 6 runs, EARNED. The inning was of course capped off by Ryan Howards second homer of the game.

All by themselves

The Nats line up actually did a pretty solid job today, they just stranded their many base runners. Lastings Milledge went 2-4 even with a two strike hit after The Nats Blog attacked his two strike approach, but he stranded 4 runners tonight. This was the theme for the whole team sadly, the Nats had 12 hits and only scored 2 runs. It was a rare night to see all of our starting line up succeed, even Wily Mo and Dukes had a hit, we just couldn’t get it done when it counted. Sadly though this isn’t as much of a matter of bad luck as some may think, situational hitting is a skill you learn. The knowledge of which pitches to look for in what counts in different situations is instilled in great teams by their hitting coach. We really need a new one of those.

Keeping the big 3 quiet.

Howard, Utley, and Rollins combined for:

7/15, 3 2B’s, 2 Hr’s, 6 RBI’s, 4 R.

So no…the Nats didn’t keep them quiet tonight. It’s a shame the Nationals had to go out and give up such a big night to all three of these guys, they had done such a great job in the first part of the series of keeping all the Phillies off balance. We can look at this as an anomaly, Ryan Howard was more then due, Rollins was in a two game slump, and lets face it these hitters are just damn good.

Bad News:

This is the second series in a row the Nationals have lost two out of three. This isn’t a trend we can continue. Next up: The brew crew.

Game: Phillies 25-22 vs. Nationals 20-27

Game Cast

Line Ups
Washington
Lopez
Guzman
Zimmerman
Young
Milledge
Flores
Pena
Dukes

Philadelphia
Rollins
Victorino
Utley
Howard
Burrell
Werth
Feliz
Coste



Pitchers:

Matt Chico (0-5, 6.18 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (3-3, 4.89 ERA)

The Story:

These two teams have combined for only 5 runs in the first two games of this series, however we may be in for a higher scoring night with a 45 year old pitcher on the mound for the Phil’s and a 0-5 Matt Chico. Chico is making his return to the rotation in place of injured Shawn Hill and will look to try and regain some dignity after an absolutely embarrassing start to the season. Moyer on the other hand has had very little success life time against almost all of the Nationals, and is likely to not have his best stuff due to the weather.

Stat of the night:

Ryan Zimmerman is 1 for 11 in his career against Moyer with no runs, RBI’s or walks.

LETS GO NATS

Nats catch bad end of a pitchers duel

Cole Hamels work on the mound is at thing of beauty. The long, lean, lefty meticulously does his dealing on the mound with the brains of an aged veteran and the vitality of a 24 year old. He throws all of his pitches for strikes when appropriate, and can place all of his pitches just out of the zone when appropriate too. He is everything you want from a young home grown talent, and he showed the Nationals tonight why he may be giving them trouble for many years to come. Hamels pitched seven shut out innings tonight keeping all the Nats hitters unbalanced and their bats off of the baseball. He struck out 11 and allowed only four hits before giving it up to his bullpen.

On the other side of the hill however Jason Bergmann would not be outdone. It seems that since his return from Columbus he has been on a mission to disprove all naysayers that suggest he isn’t a major league starter. For the second straight start now, Bergmann has pitched seven shut out innings and has allowed five or fewer hits in each start. It was a pitchers duel tonight from beginning to end, with the only allowed run scoring off a bloop single by Greg Bleeping Dobbs.

This was the first time in a while we have seen John Rauch struggle. Coming into tonight, Rauch had not allowed an earned run in 12 straight appearances but tonight he just didn’t seem to have it. He allowed a lead off double to Pedro Feliz to much surprise of the MASN broadcasters (“We haven’t seen anyone turn on Rauch like that in a while!”). He only allowed one run by the grace of Jesus (Flores), who made a great play to block the plate.

The Good:
The Nats pitching staff has only allowed 2 runs in the last 3 games. Starting pitching has been dominant and the bullpen has been very solid. What was even more rewarding was seeing so many Nats fans still in their seats after a long game on a cold night at Nats Park.

The Bad:
The Nats didn’t score a run and had only 5 hits. To be fair Cole Hamels was disgusting on the mound, but 11 K’s is bad no matter the pitcher. I really think Elijah Dukes needs to return to Columbus and work on a few things, including his confidence. It’s tough when you have multiple players in a 1 for 20 plus slump, but you have to play somebody so its not like you can just give them a day of rest and hope they snap out of it.
The Ugly:
Lastings Milledge two strike hitting is terrible. Milledge is batting only .123 with two strikes on him, and it’s not surprising if you look at his swing down in the count. He doesn’t choke up on the bat but he appears to shorten his stride tremendously. He just looks like he’s slapping at it, but not in true slap hitter form. Harris really needs to take him aside to work on this, it’s not that he’s striking out but he has no chance of getting a base hit the way he approaches it now.

Box Score
Photos courtesy of AP/Lawrence Jackson

Game: Phillies 24-22 vs. Nationals 20-26

Game Time: 7:15
Game Cast

Line ups
Washington
Felipe Lopez
Cristian Guzman
Ryan Zimmerman
Dmitri Young
Lastings Milledge
Jesus Flores
Wily Mo Pena

Philadelphia
Jimmy Rollins
Shane Victorino
Chase Utley
Ryan Howard
Pat Burrell
Geoff Jenkins
Pedro Feliz
Carlos Ruiz

Pitchers: Cole Hamels (5-3, 2.89 ERA) vs. Jason Bergmann (1-1, 7.45 ERA)

Story:
The Nats go for three in a row as they take on the fighting Phil’s. Bergmann is coming off his best start of the season (7IP 3 H 9K) and looking to prove that it was no fluke and that his time in the minors straightened him out. He will face a proven star in Cole Hamels who will do his job as the Phillies ace and stop a three game losing skid.

Stat of the night:
Bergmann’s last start against Philadelphia was back on April 3rd, he allowed 5 earned runs in 5 innings of work.

LETS GO NATS

Statistical Analysis of the Nationals Performance

Baseball Prospectus (BP) is quickly becoming the ultimate authority on in depth baseball analysis. They churn out new and genius stats every year that help us better understand what we see on the baseball field. Let’s take an in depth look with BP at how the Nationals are performing individually and as a team this season.

As you can see the Nats are last in runs scored and second to last in runs allowed per game (RS/G, RA/G). In fact we can see they are the only team in the NL East with a negative differential of runs allowed and runs scored, it actually not even very close. PYTH O/U calculates if a team is over or under their projected record. In baseball teams potential records are calculated by the baseball Pythagorean therum, no not the one you learned in school. This theory, created by Bill James, should effectively calculate a teams winning percentage by dividing runs scored squared by runs scored squared plus runs allowed squared. Sounds complicated I know...it’s simpler written out.

As we can see with the Nats PYTH O/U they are not in the red, which means they are actually over their projected ability. Is this a good thing? Well it means that while the team is struggling we’re getting away with wins we probably shouldn’t be, which is good. This of course also means that we’re in last place and should really be doing even worse…which isn’t good. The good news is that the Nats hitting cant get any worse, so when it picks up these numbers will start to look better.

Let’s look at individual success. BP uses VORP to measure the value of players. VORP (Value over replacement player) simply measures the amount of runs a player will produce over a “replacement player.” A replacement player is the most marginal player you can put at a position without them having a positive or a negative impact. So essentially, VORP measures how much better or worse a player is then the next guy.

NATS leaders in VORP
To put this in comparison, Hanley Ramirez has a VORP of 23.4, Albert Pujols has a VORP of 32.8 and a more down to earth player, Aramis Ramirez has a VORP of 13.7. The worst VORP on the Nationals belongs to Austin Kearns wit a -9.6. That’s right, Austin Kearns is playing so terribly, that he is having a rather large negative impact on the team when he plays.
Click here to see the full team audit of theNationals on BaseballProspectus.com
Click here for a glossary of BP terms

All photos and stats are courtesy of baseball prospectus.

Congratulations Jon Lester

The Nats Blog would like to extend a congratulations to starting pitcher Jon Lester for completing the 18th no hitter in Boston Red Sox history. What makes Lester’s story even more incredible is that he is a cancer survivor, who this time two years ago was facing death, not Kansas City Royals, in the face. I can’t help but be reminded, as a former O’s fan, of seeing Eric Davis returning from cancer and witnessing the pain and great will power it took to do so. It’s great to see courageous young players like this in baseball, congratulations again, Jon.

Nats shut out Phillies, 4-0

The Redding Railroad did not make a stop in DC today as it ran over the Phillies line up. Tim Redding held the Phillies to seven hits in six and a third innings of work with no runs and only two walks. The Nats pitching staff took Redding’s cue and closed out the night with a shut out over the powerful Philadelphia line up.

The Nationals line up produced well too. It’s almost as if we have a real batting coach who took his hitters aside and told them to focus on hitting line drives and that the extra base this would fallow suit….but we don’t. The Nats did just that though, they combined for six doubles tonight from Zimmerman, Flores, Lopez, Guzman and two for Milledge.

This was only the second time the Phillies had been shut out this season, both times at the hand of the Nationals Tim Redding.

Game Notes:
Keeping the big 3 quiet
Jimmy Rollins came into this game red hot but was immediately cooled down tonight as he went 0-3 with a strikeout. It’s not a bad sign when your pitching staff can give a hitter who is batting .500 over the last week a donut in the hit column. Ryan Howard joined him with a bagel of his own. Utley however poked a few singles, although they were ultimately meaningless. The Nats did a great job of muting not only the Phillies big three but the whole line up.

Lastings Milledge broke out of his slump today hitting two doubles and driving in half the Nats runs.

GUZMAN WATCH: Guzman went 3 for 4 today with 3 runs! TRADE HIM TONIGHT!

Box Score

Bang for our buck?

Looking at the Nationals salaries this year it really is rather depressing. For a team that doesn’t shell out big contracts, we don’t even get much bang for our buck. A look at the top 5 highest paid players this season shows us that only one of them is even healthy, Dmitri Young, and he has played only 5 games this year. Kearns and Lo Duca are batting at the Mendoza line, and Cordero had trouble throwing 80 MPH.

To see the entire Nationals pay roll, click here.

Phillies vs. Nats series preview

The Philadelphia Phillies (24-21) will travel down to Washington for a three game series to try and kick start their season. The Phillies took advantage of a late collapse by the New York Mets last year to win the NL East division, and had high expectations to repeat as division champs this season. Things haven’t gone as planned for the Fighting Phil’s however as an early injury to reigning National League MVP Jimmie Rollins, and a tremendous slump of another MVP Ryan Howard, has left them underachieving.

The Washington Nationals (19-26) on the other hand are struggling for consistency. However it looks that after a rough first two weeks of the season, which included a 9 game losing streak, the Nats have played around .500 baseball going 16-17. If The Nats can jump start their slumping (or maybe just bad) bats, they could find themselves back at .500 for the whole season. They will need to get through an extremely talented Phillies team to get there first.

Phillies last series

The Phillies are coming off of a three game interleague series with the Blue Jays where they dropped two of three. Poor pitching allowed the Phil’s to give up 15 runs in 3 games and rain delays forced the team to wear out their bullpen. In the game last night a rain delay forced starters Kyle Kendrick and Shawn Marcum out after the first inning, which means the bullpen was on the hook for 8 innings of work.

The first and second games of the series for the Phillies only found their starters pitching 5 innings a piece. Leaving the bullpen on the hook for even more work early in the series.

Who’s Hot:

Jimmy Rollins- 8/14, 4 2B, 2 SB, 2 RBI (11/25 in his last 5 games)

Who’s Not:
Chase Utley-2/12, 1 2B, 3 K’s, 0 BB

Probable Starters:
Brett Myers (2-4, 5.91 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (5-3, 3.55 ERA)
Cole Hamels (5-3, 2.89 ERA) vs. Jason Bergman (1-1, 7.45 ERA)
Jamie Moyer (3-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Shawn Hill (0-1, 4.08 ERA) *maybe

Keep the big 3 quiet

The Phillies may have a better collection of three elite batters then any other team in major league baseball. The combination of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Jimmy Rollins give them a battery of three potential MVP winners who can all hit for power and average. While they have other solid position players, these three sluggers are the lifeblood of the team and with their success goes the Phillies season.
Utley is in the midst of a career season. Through 45 games this year he is batting .306, has 14 homers, 31 RBI’s and has an OPS of 1.024. The presidents favorite player is having his best power season yet despite his batting average being down from .332 the year before. Utley, who only hit 22 homers last season is currently on pace to hit 50 this year. This is all more impressive with the poor plate protection from the slumping Ryan Howard.
Howard was the NL MVP in 2006 after putting up Ruthian numbers. He batted .313 with 58 homers and 149 RBI’s, recording a 1.084 OPS. Howard has slipped since then, hitting only .268 last season while still putting up impressive power numbers, and this year hitting under the Mendoza line. If he can turn it around the Phillies will again have the most dangerous line up in the National League.
Jimmy Rollins never felt he got the respect he deserved until last season. He was always a very good, border line all star shortstop for the Phil’s. Last season he reached the next level though, showing that in the division of great shortstops he would come out with the greatest accolades. Batting .292 with 30 homers and 41 stolen bases, Rollins carried his team to the playoffs and earned his first MVP. Rollins also recorded 38 doubles and 20 triples to bring his extra base total to 88.
The Nats will need to keep these three quiet in order to win this series. They are the catalysts of the offense and can change the course of a game with one swing. The Nats need to focus on making Jason Werth and Pat Burrel beat them.

What to look for:
Cole Hamels is quickly becoming one of the top aces in the game. The 24 year old lefty has nasty stuff and great control to get batters out at a high rate. Last season he recorded a 15-5 record with a 3.39 ERA. In 183.1 innings Hamels struck out 177 batters while only walking 43 batters. This season he has continued improvement with a 5-3 record so far and a 2.89 ERA. Through 65.1 innings this season he has 54 K’s and only 19 walks. We may get a chance to see one of the great pitchers of the future in his youth here at Nats Park this weekend.

Phillies Nation