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.