A look at the Nats second and third round picks, Destin Hood and Danny Espinosa

With their second pick in the 2008 draft, the Washington Nationals selected Destin Hood. Hood is a tremendous athlete who prior to the draft had committed to play both football (3 star wide receiver recruit) and baseball at Alabama. His tremendous natural power and athleticism reminds you of a Mike Cameron or a Torri Hunter, but his raw skills make you realize that he will have to work hard to achieve Major League readiness.

Hood played shortstop for his high school, but he will likely be converted to an outfielder by the Nats. He has poor hands and his height and speed really convert perfectly to the outfield. The only thing he will need to do is improve his arm. His power in batting practice is incredible but it has yet to translate to in game success. This isn’t uncommon for pure athletes. Once he better understands the game and how to approach pitch counts, he will start turning on, and driving balls out of the park.

The biggest question is whether or not the Nats will offer enough money to Hood to keep him from going to Alabama and not the Nats minor leagues. Hood Claims to love baseball the most, and a million dollar contract is hard for anyone to turn down. Still, Hood wouldn’t be the first person to turn down a big contract to play in college.

Here’s hood talking about his future after being taken 55th overall in the 2008 draft.

Destin Hood on draft

Destin Hood's football highlights, check out the athleticism.





Danny Espinosa is a good fielding shortstop from the shortstop factory of Long Beach State University. His predecessors; Bobby Crosby, Troy Tulowitzki, and Evan Longoria, have all made the conversion to the Major Leagues very quickly and effectively. While Espinosa does not have the flair from the plate that these hitters had coming out of college, he is more then competent from both sides and his glove is already major league ready.

Espinosa is another college player who is very polished. He has experience of three years in college, as well as participating for Team USA baseball and he became one of the only freshman to compete in the Cape Cod league back in 2006. While he still needs to improve his consistency from the left side, Espinosa’s instincts make him a very solid line drive hitter who can someday be a very solid major league shortstop. His plus arm and smart positioning in the field will make his transition that much easier, as he will only need to focus on improving his bat in the minors.

A look at the Nats first pick, Aaron Crow

Aaron Crow came into his freshman year at Missouri as a scrawny right hander who could barley top out at 88 on the radar gun. The young faced teen would join the back end of a solid Tigers rotation that was headed by Max Scherzer, the 11th overall pick in the 2006 MLB Draft. While Crow had a pitchers build (6-3, 195) and solid form and movement, he was your typical work in progress college pitcher. He would be no Francisco Liriano or Felix Hernandez; Crow would have to work for his success.
His first year at Missouri was disappointing. Crow showed excellent control, allowing only 20 walks in 70 innings pitched. However despite his accuracy, his slower fastball and underdeveloped change allowed Big 12 hitters to hit him around for 94 hits. His ERA suffered and he only recorded a 1-4 record on a very good team.

It became apparent that at his current state, he would never be a top of the rotation starter, and it was most likely the best thing to ever happen to him.
Crow decided to learn how to become a pitcher. His stepped his training up to a Major League level. His fastballs velocity skyrocketed from peaking at 88, to peaking at 98, constantly landing between 94 and 96 on the radar. Crow polished his mechanics, endurance and changed his curveball to a pin-point slider. He learned to stop throwing hard, and to start throwing well. With this philosophy his fastball maintained speed but became less flat, and harder to hit.
His sophomore year went way better than his freshman. He lowered his ERA under 4; he improved his strikeout rate and lowered his hit rate. Crow was starting to get noticed to have MLB potential. His improvement rate was very impressive and his work ethic impressed scouts. He finished his season 9-3 with a 3.59 ERA earning first team all Big-12 honors.
The fallowing summer would be the most important of his life. Aaron Crow participated in the famous Cape Cod summer league which has traditionally been a launching pad for successful Major League careers. Scouts love the Cape Cod league because it brings the top talent in the country together in one place, and forces them to use wood bats on an even playing field. Crow propelled himself to the top pitching prospect in college baseball by absolutely dominating this difficult league. In 8 games Crow put up an unthinkable 0.67 ERA. He had 36 strikeouts to 9 walks, and made top college batters look silly.
Crow somehow again managed to improve coming into his junior year at Mizzou. In 15 starts in 2008 he went 13-0 with 4 complete games. In 107 innings pitched he struck out 127 batters while only walking 38. He was flat out the best pitcher in college baseball and even had a 42 inning shut out streak coming close to the college record of 47 (Held by Todd Helton). With Crow’s improvement and performance, he became one of the top pitchers ranked going into the draft, and was selected 9th by the Washington Nationals.

Analysis.

With Aaron Crow the Nationals have a pitcher that has the potential to be a frontline starter without a mountain of work. He is very polished and has shown that he has the work ethic to improve and take his abilities to the next level. While he may not have quite Cy Young potential, he certainly has fringe ace ability and certainly could develop into a top number 2 starter. Most importantly for the Nats however, Crow is almost Major League ready as is. It would not be outlandish to see him making starts in Washington in 2009. To put it simply, the Nats may have drafted the pitching version of Ryan Zimmerman. A great college player ready to help the big league club after just a little bit of development.

HallELIJAH!

Sometimes even on a night when only one player has it going, the team can come out on top. On a night where the teams leading hitter, Cristian Guzman, went 0-7, and the teams number 3 hitter, Lastings Milledge, went 0-5, it was the man in the two slot who put his team on his shoulders and carried them to victory. That man, Elijah Dukes, had himself a career night going 5-6. He stole two bases, scored two runs, hit the game tying homer in the 8th, and the game winning single in the 14th.

Dukes of Hazard

Dukes has come alive, and is showing Nats fans the potential that Bowden and Acta see In him. His season started so abysmally. Dukes hit below the .100 mark for most of the month of May, it wasn’t just frustrating, it was down right embarrassing. The month of June has been much, much kinder to Dukes however. In this month he is batting .347 with a .437 OBP. He has recorded eight extra base hits and swiped five bags.

Austin Kearns, remember him? Dukes took over for him officially after Kearns went on the DL with ‘loose bodies’ in his elbow on May 22nd. On May 21st Dukes’ batting average was a lowly .067, he finished the last week of May with a more then doubled .160 batting average. Coincidence? You tell me. The bottom line though is that since Kearns has gone to the DL, Elijah Dukes has played at an All-Star level.

The bullpen, thank god for the bullpen

The Nats bullpen got destroyed in Minnesota, to the tune of an above 12 ERA. The Rangers are one of the best hitting teams in baseball, so the prospect of a game in which the bullpen had to pitch 8 innings would in most cases look disastrous for the Nats. The pitching staff stepped up however, pitching 12 shutout innings after allowing 3 runs in the second. This is a good and bad thing. Good, because it was an excellent performance all around. Bad, because the Nats now have a tired bullpen and two more games this series.

Game Notes:

Jesus Flores busted out of a mini slump going 3-6 tonight with 2 RBI. He has continued to show good 2 strike, and 2 out hitting. If he can improve his plate patience there is a very real chance that he could be a .300 hitter in the major leagues, smacking 20 homers a year and driving in close to 100 runs.

Josh Hamilton and the Rangers are comming to town

This makes me down right giddy. I will say it right now, Josh Hamilton is by far my favorite player in the Major Leagues. What makes sports so special is the stories. The ability of men to overcome adversity despite all odds. Capitalizing on second chances that regular people might not get in actual life, and the overall chance of redemption. Josh Hamilton epitomizes all these values as he has not only incredibly made it to the Majors despite EVERY odd, he is now arguably the best player in all of baseball.

Everyone should not only make the attempt to go to a game this weekend, they should give him a standing ovation when he comes to the plate.

Here is a story I wrote for ‘The Transcript,’ about his incredible journey.


A year ago this month(March) Josh Hamilton arrived in Florida for spring training to a feeling he hadn’t experienced since he was 17; he was wanted. Now 26, Hamilton had seen nothing but confused and disappointed stares for nearly the last decade, and even now at the glance of his 26 tattoo’s he still gets this look from many a fan. He had learned over time to look passed the glares and that the only eyes he had to be able to look into were his own at the mirror. Hamilton knew where he had come from, where he had been, and what he had the power to do.

Five years earlier Hamilton had woken up in the back of a Box Car. He had hoped he wouldn’t. He had been tripping on drugs for the last week and thought he had gone to sleep for the last time. He pulled himself off the steel floor and looked into his reflection in a broken mirror on the other side of the car. What he saw was a once chiseled frame worn down into skin and bones. He saw one of the top baseball prospects in history turned into an anonymous drifter. He saw tattoos he couldn’t remember getting. He couldn’t look into his own eyes in the mirror, he couldn’t even see himself.

Now in Florida he had inexplicably made it back from the darkness. He hadn’t played in a real baseball game since being suspended by the sport years before for drug abuse. He was making up for missed time now. 26 is old for any prospect, much less one who hasn’t played Double or Triple A, and even older for a player who hadn’t swung a bat in five years.The comeback started after the last person in Hamilton’s world had given up on him. Long after he had gone through several failed rehab stints, long after his fortune was squandered, and long after his wife had left him; his grandmother took in her grandson that she didn’t recognize. After a couple of weeks of convincing his grandmother he was clean when he wasn’t, he saw the familiar disappointed look in her eyes. She knew he was using, she was crushed.

Hamilton decided that the only way to get better was to get back to what he loved, baseball. He didn’t do it to make a comeback professionally, but to get his life back together. He began working at a baseball camp, not as a counselor, but as a janitor. He cleaned the bathrooms and the cafeteria and after his work was done he was allowed to work out with the camps equipment. In his time at this Texas purgatory he found God, he found reason, love and baseball.

With only limited preparation and years away from the game, no one could believe that after the third week of spring training he was leading the Reds in batting with an average well over .500. People started to believe in the unbelievable, the infamous Josh Hamilton who’s only shot to play baseball again was to make the Major League club, could possibly actually do it..

He did, and one year later he is now on the Texas Rangers and battling for a starting position. His smile is back, and with it his game. His struggle personifies the never give up attitude of sports, which gives us sports fans the right to hope against odds. While spring is a universal symbol of rebirth, for Josh Hamilton, spring training represents the ultimate second chance story in baseball.

Fast forward to the end of June, Hamilton not only won his starting position but is currently leading the American League in homers and Rbi’s. He has finally fulfilled his potential despite the most unthinkable route to get there. He is currently batting .321 with 19 homers and 74 RBI’s. His play evokes thoughts of Micky Mantle, and his heart thoughts of all the other all time greats. Do your best to make it to the park, and pay adage to the greatest story in recent baseball memory.

After sweeping Seattle, the Nats get swept by the Twins

One thing you can say about Interleague play is it’s unpredictable, as is the Nats 2008 season. Injuries have truly derailed what was a solid streak for the Nationals in May and mid early June. The pitching staff has disintegrated and the leadership, bat, and swagger in the field Ryan Zimmerman provides has left a hole in this young team. Let’s take a look at who’s playing well, who’s playing worse, and who is making no progress what so ever.

Over the last 6 games

Jesus Flores-COLD- Flores has only gone 5/22 in the last two series which comes out to a .227 batting average. One worry with Flores’ early success was that it was just a fluke in a small sample size, and with his struggles recently this may be coming true. Other explanations for his lack of success recently could be as simple as him just being a young hitter who doesn’t know why he is in a slump. He may also be having trouble facing pitchers he’s never seen before in the American League. It’s a little too early to panic, but Flores bat is a key to the Nats success.

Ronnie Belliard-cool-Belliard has produced better then his pre disabled list self, however in the last six games he has stalled a bit. He is only 5/20 (.250) in the last two series, however he does have three extra base hits. His return to adequacy is good news for the Nats as it ads depth and options to an otherwise depleted line up.

Cristian Guzman-HOT!- Good news, Guzman is playing his best baseball as the trading season approaches. In the last six games Guzman is 10/27 (.370) with yes, ONE WALK. Disregarding the poor defense and relatively empty batting average, Guzman is looking real good right now for a team like the Red Sox, Rays(who have prospects up the Wazoo), or Angels.

Elijah Dukes-Hot- In the last two series he is 9/25(.360) with four runs scored. It was not long ago when Dukes was batting below .100, and he has battled his batting average to be back at .241 with an OBP of .353, one of the best on the team. He is really coming into his own, and if he keeps his attitude straight, may soon be a star in the District.

Shawn Hill-COLDEST, or maybe just inured- He just flat out should not be pitching. In his last two starts he has let up 22 hits, 10 earned runs, and four walks. This is our, “Ace.” What are the Nationals thinking? His arm is not fully healed, and at this point in the season, 12.5 games back, after several managers have already been fired, its pretty much time to start packing it in for the season. Hill should rest.

Nats lose series to Pirates despite good individual play

With a rough stretch over the last few weeks, the Nats more then welcome interleague play. The Nationals spend the last three games in Pittsburgh not doing really anything very well. The first game was an anomaly, the Nats somehow managed to slug five home runs. The team won only 7-6 however as Tim Redding’s poor start and Luis Ayala’s poor relief appearance put the team’s chances in jeopardy. The next two games didn’t go nearly as well.
Box Score

The Nats wasted a good start from John Lannan again in the second game of the series. Six strong innings with only two earned runs somehow found him with his seventh loss. The Nats had the base runners in this game but no one could convert with runners in scoring position. The team left 20 runners on base combined and only Elijah Dukes recorded an RBI. The Nats fell 3-1 despite great pitching and a team effort on hitting.
Box Score

The third game of the series saw Jason Bergmann record his second consecutive poor start. He only pitched 4.2 innings allowing 8 hits and 6 runs. This is disappointing as in his four previous starts he had pitched 28 innings allowing only 4 runs and 30 K’s. Despite good hitting from the top of the order the Nats didn’t have the bats or the gloves to overtake the Pirates and fell 7-5.
Box Score

While I was away...

I apologize for my hiatus, but I have been in Ohio for the weekend without any connection to internet, baseball games, or most importantly, air conditioning. I have made my triumphant return to the district however, and The Nats Blog will return to full operation immediately.

The Nats have taken a turn for the worse in my absence. They have lost 8 of their last 9, they are hitting even worse then before, and the once stellar pitching has become banged up and inefficient.

Here is the write up that was not able to be published for the day night double header by lucky jarmes:

Cardinals Pitchers must have fathered an Elijah Dukes baby:

As he beat the hell out of them. Elijah Dukes, following an impressive day over all at the plate, managed to secure a split of yesterday's doubleheader with St. Louis by blasting a two run homer in the tenth inning of the nightcap.

The Nats bats were active most of the day, though in the day game, runs simply were unable to be knocked in. The Nationals had men on base constantly, and managed to strand 11 runners on base. Things turned around as the sun went down, however.

The Nationals got off to a hot start on a muggy evening last night, scoreing at least 2 runs in each of the first three innings, and one more in the fourth. Though the entire lineup produced, securing 16 hits to knock in 10 runs, Dukes was the stand out last night. Elijah had been pushed up to hte second spot in the order for yesterday's two games, in the hope that he would see more pitches to hit. He did, and proceeded to punish Cardinals pitching all evening. Often early in the count, Dukes went 4-6 on the night, with 4 RBIs. He even recorded a solid non-hit, with a drive to centerfield, which was dropped, opening the door to a three run inning.

Pitching yesterday, however, left little to be desired. After being handed a 7 run lead, Tim Redding went on to allow 5 RBIs to Cardinals pitchers Mike Parisi(2), and Mark Worrell(3). The lead was held at 8-6 through the ninth, setting up a save situation for Jon Rauch. Rauch, after securing the first two outs, allowed a double, triple and single to allow the Cards to tie it up. In the tenth, Brian Sanches allowed a two out home run, to give the Cards the lead.

Guzman answered the lead with a single, followed by Elijah's first homer as a National. The Nats will go on to face the Giants over the weekend. Wave your phones for Elijah, everybody.

2008 MLB Draft

The 2008 Major League Baseball draft will be held tomorrow and with the decisions made in it the future of the league will be molded. The Washington Nationals thus far have been very successful in the draft in their young history. Two of their cornerstones, Ryan Zimmerman and Chad Cordero, were a result of smart drafting that allowed them to pick Major League ready players that still had room to grow. The Nats will pick 9th overall in the first round tomorrow, which puts them in good but confusing position.

The Nationals will need to take a look at their strengths and determine their needs. They already have a franchise player at third base, and have two strong veterans at the other corner in Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young. They have a great young pitching staff with 4 or 5 pitchers with serious major league ability coming up in the minors, so it would seem drafting another pitcher wouldn’t be wise. They are blessed to have an extremely young talented catcher in Jesus Flores, so wasting a pick on a catcher isn’t going to happen here, and we all know they have more young outfielders then they know what to do with. To me it seems clear the Nationals need to find a middle infield prospect who can be major league ready in two or three years when this team is ready to compete. Felipe Lopez is still young, and if this team is serious about competing in the future they will not resign Cristian Guman at the end of this season. So it would seem the need is obvious, the Nats need a future shortstop.

It seems though that the Nats late surge last year was a curse in disguise. While it improved their record and showed that Many Acta could rally a inexperienced team to victory it also left them with the 9th overall pick as opposed to a lower one. In this particular draft there are two great shortstop prospects projected to go in the top 10 of the draft; Tim Beckham (Griffen HS), and Gordan Beckham (Georgia University). No, they’re not related, except that they’re from the family of shortstops with future major league ability. Unfortunately for the Nats however both are expected to be picked in the top 5, making them likely off the board when Washington picks at the 9 spot.

So where does this leave the Nationals? Many are projecting now that they will select the best power hitting prospect in the minors, first baseman Eric Hosmer (Heritage HS). Hosmer has number 1 overall pick talent, but Scott Boras as an agent, which often scares teams away. According to Baseball Prospectus Hosmer projects to have an 80/80 power rating and could very likely be one of the top power hitters in baseball in a few years. BP lists his best case scenario as, “A monster left handed bat in the majors.”
This pick confuses me though. The Nats are currently clogged at first at the major league level and their number one prospect, Chris Marrero, is a first basemen as well. The Major nack on Hosmer is his lack of real athleticism, it’s rare to have a first basemen drafted out of high school but its really the only position he can play (other then his 90 mph fast ball). It will be exciting if they pick this player who may be the next Ryan Howard…but it will be even more interesting to see how the Nationals mold their player development to accommodate to it.

Other Options:
-Casey Kelly, SS/RHP, Sarasota HS
-Yonder Alonso, 1B, Miami
-Brett Lawrie, IF, Brookswood

Note: Nationals did sign a 16 year old SS prospect, Esmailyn Gonzalez, out of the Dominican over a year ago. However he is still very young and isn’t even in the Nats minor league system yet in a full season format. He does however project at this point to be a very promising player, but a long ways away.

Nuts about the Nats

You would think with a nickname like the Nats, the Nationals would stay as far away as any other euphemism for the male anatomy as possible. But no, not our team, not only did we create a slogan called, “Nuts for the Nats,” we put it to song!

Not only is this song just lame, it’s also a blatant rip off of the division rival New York Mets’tune, “Meet the Mets.” According to the Nationals website, the lyrics were written by former Washington Senators public address announcer, Charlie Brotman, and the music was composed by Kalehoff productions.

"The lyrics for the song are meant to capture the fans' excitement, the rush of emotion and the fun and good times they are experiencing," said Charlie Brotman, the writer of the song.

Excitement? Rush of emotion? Sorry Charlie, but I think it falls a bit short. Baseball fans love their hokie tunes more then most sports fans. This is demonstrated with stadiums nation wide playing “take me out to the ball game,” “YMCA,” “Sweet Caroline,” and yes, “Who let the Dogs Out.” But this is just bad, no one can fall in love with this tune for its merits or tradition. This is just another example of the Nationals trying to pump false tradition into a new franchise, as opposed to building it.

Zimmerman bites the dust, gets put on DL

The Nationals finally bit the bullet today and put Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-day disabled list after he had missed the last seven games with a “sore shoulder.” Zimmerman says he hurt the shoulder on a head first slide in the Orioles series, and says it has been sore ever since.

An MRI Monday revealed that Zimmerman in fact had a small tear in his non throwing arm, which was the cause of his discomfort. This is not an uncommon injury for infielders and can sometimes be played through. Zimmerman, however, has made it clear that is not something he is comfortable doing, so for now he will rest and Nats fans will wait.

A player with a similar career and similar talent set, Scott Rolen, suffered the same injury in 2002 and again in 2003. He attempted to play through it two separate times and eventually had to get season ending shoulder surgery, he has never been the same since. Rolens injury however was much more violent. In the 2002 playoffs he collided with the Diamondbacks’ Alex Cintron on a ground ball, and immediately felt a tear. Because it was the playoffs, Rolen stayed in the game and may have severely done further damage.

So basically, this could be bad, but it also could not be. Because it is not in his throwing shoulder his future at the hot corner is secure but if the Nationals are not careful he could go the route of Scott Rolen and never fully regain his hitting ability. The left shoulder is rather important for a right handed hitter. It pulls the guide hand (left hand) through the zone and its mobility is critical for bat control. With a stiff, sore, or weak left shoulder, a batter is more likely to swing and miss, get worse contact, and lose significant power to the left side of the field.

In response the Nats called up Kory Casto. Casto only a year ago was one of the Nats top prospects but he struggled throughout all of 2007 at every level. The now 26 year old will get his second chance to try make an impression in the majors as many scouts have already given up on him. This season in Columbus Casto has bounced back, batting .315/.390/.461 (BA/OBP/SLUG), but has played right field all season. It’s not clear how Acta will use him, but my guess is he will be an emergency third basemen behind Aaron Boone, and will probably see some time in the outfield.

Nats shut out again, lose 5-0

The Arizona Diamondbacks showed in this series why they are a serious force to be reckoned with come playoff time. The D-Backs very easily have the best starting pitching rotation in all of baseball. With back to back shut outs in the tail end of the Nats visit to the desert, they saw this first hand.

Dan Haren punished the Nationals Sunday night. He used good accuracy one his fastball and smart put away pitches to keep Washington hitters off balance all night. Through seven solid innings he only allowed four hits, three walks, and fanned five Nats. With a little help from the bullpen the D-Backs shut the door on another shut out, making it over 18 innings since the last Nationals run.

Shawn Hill may need to go on the DL. This isn’t from any suggestion from the ball club, merely my own opinion. Since his return he hasn’t looked healthy, hasn’t played as if her were healthy, and has said that he is in fact, not healthy. The only thing the Nats are doing by letting him play is risking the future of his career. He isn’t throwing strikes (only 44 on 70 pitches Sunday) and now he isn’t making outs. The only question is who do the Nats replace him with?

Aside from the poor performance of Shawn Hill and the Nats line up, the rest of the game went relatively well. The Nats recorded no errors, and the new guys Brian Sanches and Charlie Manning threw four shut out innings after Hill left the game. It was all for nothing however, as the Nats lost 5-0.

Stat Standout

Arizona scored 13 runs in three games against Washington this series. 10 of these runs came at the hands of home runs.

Webb blanks the Nationals, 4-0

Last night Brandon Webb showed the Nationals exactly what makes him arguably the best pitcher in the National League; he’s nearly impossible to hit. Webb went the distance and finished a complete game shut out of the Washington Nationals, completely slowing any offensive firepower they may have showed days before.

The Nats Banged up line up again featured many players not in the opening day batting order. They weren’t quite as successful this time. While the team is slightly banged up, it’s not clear why Manny Acta went with an alternate line up two nights in a row. The order tonight saw both Wily Mo Pena and Elijah Dukes out of the order, which leaves it with just about no potential pop. With no runs scored, and only six hits, the Nats fell to Arizona 4-0.

This game was just odd

Abnormalities Saturday in the desert:
-Zero substitutions the entire game. Not a pitcher or a position player was take out for any reason whatsoever, only 18 men stepped on the field.

-Two complete games pitched on the same night, both threw under 115 pitches.

-Four of Bergmann’s seven hits allowed were solo home runs. This means he allowed more home runs then any other sort of hit, and he still managed to pitch a complete game.

-Zero walks the entire game for both teams

-A UVA alumni third basemen was the best player in a Nats game, and it wasn’t Ryan Zimmerman. It was Mark Reynolds

Injuries frustrate the Nats

Saturday night saw Ryan Zimmerman out with a sore shoulder, and Jesus Flores out with dizziness. The Nats obviously need these two to get healthy, Zimmerman is the backbone of the young franchise and Flores has the hottest bat. Both are listed as day to day which is certainly troubling for the immediate plans of Manny Acta. Not knowing who will be slotted where until they get to the ball park can be stressful to everyone on the team. Players can’t prepare mentally for their role on a given day if they don’t know who will be healthy or not. The Nats need to get better quick because the seasons only gong to get longer and harder.

Notes:

Jason Bergmann’s scoreless streak ended, but aside from the 4 solo homers (which really means he made 4 mistakes the whole game), he pitched very well en route to the complete game finish. His eight innings of work also allowed a tired bullpen to get some rest. Most importantly he showed a lot of heart going head to head with one of the games best pitchers.

Lastings had himself a day. He went 2-3 against one of the best pitchers in baseball and snagged two bases. In his last 10 games Milledge is batting .300 with two homers and six RBI. He has also stolen seven bases in that time.