Don Sutton to leave the Nats?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today that current Washington Nationals broadcaster Don Sutton may leave the ball club and return to Atlanta to preform the Braves radio broadcast.

Don Sutton is still currently under contract with the Nationals but the Braves are trying to arrange a deal to get him to leave the Nations capital. Sutton would join Jim Powell in the radio booth in an attempt to replace broadcasting legends Pete Van Wieren and Skip Caray.

Sutton, a Hall-of-fame pitcher and 300 game winner, spent 17 years in the broadcast booth for Atlanta before joining the Nationals broadcast team. 

While it is surprising that Sutton would leave midway through a contract, it's not surprising that he would want to get out of Washington. The Nationals television audience was shockingly bad last season, so bad that team officials and Major League Baseball questioned if they were even accurate. While its a blow to the confidence of fans (does ANYONE want to be in Washington?) it may be a good thing for the future of the team. 

Ever since the team came to Washington we've been trying to forge an identity. It's understandable, so much about appreciating baseball is built into it's tradition. But everyone should know by now if we want a genuine Washington Nationals culture we cant barrow bits and pieces from others. We can't take legendary broadcasters from other teams, or expect people to go to an incredibly expensive flawless stadium. We as fans want to feel like we are PART of the team, PART of it's history, and PART of its tradition.

Perhaps if we get some fresh young talent in the booth we will be able to associate the growth of our team with the growth of their careers. We will be able to come to appreciate them more and more as we come to appreciate our own ball club. 

What would watching Wizards games be without Steve Buckhantz after all?

Nats heart of the order makes an appearance, Nats win 6-3

Nationals fans I would like to introduce you to something that you may not have seen in a very long time. It is a productive middle of the order. I know you may be thinking,

“But shouldn’t the middle of the order combine to go 0-8 with 5 k’s? Shouldn’t we have the number 8 hitter hit walk off homers as our pitching carries us through the game, only to pray for that clutch hit?”

No! Actually teams that go to the, ‘playoffs,’ have hitters who like to produce in the middle of their line up. I know it may sound crazy, but tonight you got to see how effective it is!

Now that you two are acquainted, you two hopefully will become good friends and longtime partners at baseball games. I know the productive middle of the order is shy, but I hope he can stay around a while and you two can have a long meaningful relationship.

Oh..the Nats won tonight 6-3

The Braves own middle of the order

Chipper Jones and Mark Teixiera did a good deal of the damage against the solid Nationals pitching staff tonight. Chipper went two for five with a solo homer in the top of the 6th and a single in the 1st. Teixiera also helped the Braves get on the board with a double in the top of the second which allowed him to score on a Kotsay single.

The heart of the braves order was also the center of the rally in the top of the 6th that took Tim Redding out of the game.

Tim Redding and the 6th inning

Tim Redding the railroad slows down at the 6th inning, and usually can’t get passed it. It is probably due to a lack of endurance and a little bit of age, but for Redding he usually turns a beautifully pitched 5 innings into an average start with an ugly 6th. Today’s 6th for Redding was relatively tame. He allowed a solo homer to Larry Jones, and then after being ahead 0-2 on Teixeira, walked him on the next four pitches. Acta took him out before he could do anymore damage.

Redding’s last three 6th innings.
Against:
NYM- relatively tame, allowed a single to Carlos Betran and was taken out. The Mets did score 3 runs this inning however

FLA- Two hits, a Home Run and a Double, three earned runs let up.

ATL- Three hits; Single, Double and a Home Run, three earned run’s allowed.

Middle of the Order shows Heart

Zimmerman and Johnson came out swinging today and helped put runs on the board early for the Nats, with back to back jacks in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Zimmerman also came up big in the bottom of the 7th with the bases loaded and 2 outs, driving in two runs with an RBI double. Milledge also helped drive in two more with a double to score Zimmerman and Guzman in the 7th.

Zimmerman’s Line: 3-4, 1 single, 1 double, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Johnson’s Line: 2-4, 1 single, 1 hr, 1 RBI
Milledge’s Line: 1-4, 1 double, 2 RBI

Chad Cordero leaves the game

This was a scary moment, and still is a scary time for Nats fans. After allowing two base runners and only one out Cordero waved to the Nationals trainer for help. It was clear what was wrong, Cordero grabbed his arm and immediately tried to stretch it out…he could be out a while.

Box Score

Braves vs. Nats, a choppy preview

The Washington Nationals (9-17) will again welcome the Atlanta Braves (12-13) to Nats Park for their second two game series in a week. This one will see Tom Glavine return to the mound for the first time since pulling his hamstring against the Nationals in the first inning in his last outing, causing him to have his shortest start of his career and go on the disabled list for the first time.

The Nats will go up against the 40 year old Glavine and the 22 year old Jair Jurrejens, a talented young righty for the Braves. Both these teams are still looking for their identity this season and thus far have depended on their pitching to weather the storm. The Nats will be trying to break out of the cellar, as the Braves will be trying to break into the top of the standings in this NL east battle.

Braves Last Series

In their last series against the Mets the Braves lost two of three in Shea. The Braves had been hot coming into their last series in Washingotn, having won 5 in a row but their spark was extinguished by John Lannan and the bullpen blanking the Braves offense.

The Braves haven’t picked it up since, dropping one out of two to the Marlins and two out of three to the Mets. Both John Smoltz and Tim Hudson earned losses at Shea, proving that the top of the talented Atlanta rotation is not invincible. The Braves will need to pick it up if they want to reclaim the division as their own.

Who’s Hot: Mark Teixeira (Maryland’s Son): 5-12, 4 2B, 3 RBI, 1 BB

Who’s Not: Matt Diaz: 1-7, 2 K, 0 RBI, 0 extra base hits

Probable Starters

Tom Glavine (0-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. Tim Redding (3-2, 3.67 ERA)
Shawn Hill (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Jair Jurrejens (3-2, 3.45 ERA)

What to Look for

Old Fogies Coming off injuries:
Chipper Jones back has been bothering him and has caused him to miss the last two games against the Mets in their last series. Chipper is one of the hottest hitters in the majors right now and his absence unquestionably played a role in the Braves dropping both those games. Chipper is supposed to be in the line up Tuesday so look to see if he looks healthy in his first few at bats…if he’s not it’s good news for Washington.

Tom Glavine is coming off the DL for the first time in his career Tuesday, to face the team he hurt himself playing against. There is no way of knowing how he will respond after a stint on the DL seeing as he has never been there in his 20 year career, however for a pitcher that relies on accuracy and already has poor endurance…he may not exactly dazzle in his first start back.

Jair Jurrjens not only has a cool name, he is impressing many with his maturity and control for a pitcher of such a young age. So far in five starts he has struck out 25 but only walked 13, a virtue the Nats starters need to take on themselves. He also has a solid 3.45 ERA and is coming off three good starts in a row. Not bad for a 22 year old.

No error here, Nats win 6-0

Two things the Nats haven’t had this season is run support and luck. They got a bit of both tonight as the Nats went on to score 4 unearned runs on way to a 6-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves. With the win the Nationals ended a three game skid and finally may have been able to regain a little bit of their pesky swagger they had last season.

After another brilliant start from John Lannan and a solid showing from the bullpen the Nats led 1-0 going into the top of the 9th. With two on and one out, Nieves bounced a ball to the pitcher that should have led to an inning ending double play, instead an arrant throw allowed Milledge to come around and score, starting a 5 run rally which ultimately lead to the Nationals victory.

John Lannan picks up his first “W”

After two great starts, including an 11 strikeout performance against the New York Mets, John Lannan finally picks up his first win of the season. Although ultimately meaningless in terms of the quality of his pitching, it’s got to be a confidence builder for Lannan to see a W besides the one on his cap. While the line up didn’t necessarily clinch it for him, the Nationals at least found one way to get it done for the pitcher quickly turning into the staff ace.

The only things that Lannan needs to improve upon right now are his consistency (obviously) and his control. After tonight, Lannan has 10 walks in 21 innings. A finesse pitcher needs to keep unneeded runners off the base paths. This is because:

1. Pitchers who don’t throw that hard are more likely to miss a spot and give up the accidental hit, and runners put on base by errors or walks will turn into RBI’s.
2. Finesse pitchers need to use the whole count, its just harder in general to pitch with runners on base.

If Lannan can decrease his walk rate it could really help a lot. If you look at the best finesse pitchers of their era, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, both had incredibly low walk rates.

Don’t be fooled

As I mentioned in the intro, 5 of the Nationals 6 runs were unearned. While I’ll take a run anyway I can get one, don’t think the bats are suddenly back(assuming they were ever here). Look at this line for the Nationals tonight: 9 hits, three walks, twelve strikeouts.

While the Nats may have only walked three times and struck out like a JV high school team, you may be excited about the 9 hits. Consider this however, four of those 9 hits came by the way of Willie Harris and Wil Nieves (By the way I am amazed at the different variations of the name William we have on this team; Wil Nieves, Willie Harris, Wily Mo Pena…and not one Will, Bill, or William). These two players are both reserves filling in for injured players (Lo Duca injured hand, Pena injured pride). While their effort is commendable, don’t think that this means the Nats line up as we know it is producing again.

Who’s going to lose playing time to who?

Austin Kearns was Jim Bowden’s joy, his prized pick. A megaprospect who he drafted 7th overall in 1998, Kearns went on went on tear to make it to the majors ahead of schedule in 2002. He produced, in only 370 at bats for the Reds he batting .315 with 13 homers with an OPS of .907. He was the crown jewel of the Reds franchise…then something set in…perhaps it was reality.
Since his fabled rookie season Kearns has batted .255, and averaged 13 homers a year. So far this year he has been equally awful, batting .213 with only 2 homers. While his on base percentage has continued to be solid, his batting average and slugging percentage have plummeted, continuing to decrease his value.
When Dukes gets healthy, and Wily Mo Pena starts to produce the way he has proven in the last several years he can, who loses playing time? We understand Mr. Bowden your affinity for you’re joy, but show some pride.

Box Score
(Photo’s courtesy of Associated Press/Gregory Smith and Alfredo Lee)

"Folks you can all exhale, the losing streak is over"

You said it Don. Finally on Sunday at home, the Nats busted their 9 game losing streak by sneaking one past the Atlanta Braves. It wasn’t pretty though; the Nats got some luck with Glavine leaving after only 17 pitches in the first inning, they nearly blew a 5 run lead and were only a few feet away from loss number 10.


The Game:
The Nats bats, or at least their eyes came out early today. With Glavine’s early control problems and early departure the Nats got on the board quickly. Guzman started the game with a ripped double off the wall, fallowed by a beautiful bunt for a hit by Milledge giving the Nats a first and third situation with no outs. An infield single by Zimmerman scored Guzman and so the least exciting rally in baseballs young season started. Several walked in runs, or runs scored from bases loaded double plays found the Nats up 5-0.
Tim Redding came out dealing today (5IP 6H 3ER). Through the first five innings he was basically unhittable allowing only three hits. His 12-6 curveball at times seemed dominant, he worked the count well and didn’t make any mistakes until the 6th. The 6th inning however was Redding’s undoing, after only 99 pitches he had to come out of the ball game fallowing a single to Escobar, a homer to Chipper and a double off the very top of the wall to Teixeira. The game quickly went from a 5-0 easy win to a 5-4 nail biter.
Ray King(the only lefty in the Nats pen), came on to retire Kotsay to stop the bleeding. A combination of Rivera, Ayala, Cordero and Rauch led to the ultimate victory for the Nats.

Pleasant Returns (Kinda):
Today’s game saw a rough return to Wily Mo Pena in right. Pena struck out three times, made a costly error in right, and the only contribution he gave to the team was grounding into a double play with the bases loaded that happened to drive in a run.
The Chief Chad Cordero returned for a tough save situation in his first day back as well. It was originally proposed that Chad wouldn’t return immediately as the closer but instead would come back in set-up situations until he could complete his rehabilitation. However he was thrown onto the mound at Nats Park to face the 9-1-2 hitters with a one run lead to try and end a 9 game skid. It started well enough, retiring the first two batters but he quickly walked the bases loaded and was replaced by Rauch who came on and got the final out.

Who Let Lastings Out?
Lastings Milledge had himself a day. Three for three with a walk, bunt single, base hit, a double and a stolen base. It’s days like these for the young outfielder that show promise to the future of this franchise. Does every dog have his day? Sure. Does one good day mean anything for the future of any player? No. But the fact that Milledge came out and had himself a big day in a game when his team needed to snap a 9 game losing streak showed for the first time that he could save the day for this city. Here’s to hoping there are many many more instances of Lasting saving the day.

Injuries:
Glavine's Injury is interesting. In his 22 year career Glavine has never gone on the disabled list. He has only twice left the game before recording an out, one was this afternoon, and the other 19 years ago. It will be interesting to see how he bounces back and how quickly he returns.

Paul Lo Duca injured his hand after being hit by a pitch and will be day to day fallowing some tests.

Box Score

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Nationals lose 9th straight, fall to the Braves at home

It’s a sad note that I am starting this blog on the night the Nats set a mark for their worst losing streak since coming to Washington. The season had started so well…a beautiful christening of a new ball park…a three game win streak….and the emergence of Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman as the corner pillars of the 2008 campaign.
Nine games later, and nine losses later, the Nats are looking face to face with the down to earth reality that they are truly the 4th or 5th place team in the N.L East and that the new park alone may not launch them over any hump.

Let’s consider then the founding of NatsPark to be the official turning point in the franchise…YOU CAN BE A PART OF HISTORY!

Let’s take a look at the game today:

After an hour and a half rain delay the game looked to be over before the Nats even got an at-bat. A four run Atlanta inning left the Nats with a big deficit early. When you factor the Nats ability to play behind, and that they were facing one of the best starting pitchers of the last two decades, John Smoltz, it was really an unlikely deficit for the team to overcome. Which it was as the Nats didn’t score a run until the Braves had scored their sixth in the fourth inning. The final score was 10-1, but lets face it the game was over at 6-0.

Pitching woes:

John Lannan took a step back today (4IP 9H 6ER 4BB 2K). It was only his 8th career outing however, and if you consider his age and experience, he has put together a good number of quality starts. Oddly enough for the 24 year old Lannan his best starts have come on the road, away from the pitcher friendly RFK and this was his first game at Nats Park. What can we learn from this? Probably nothing, I would place the blame on the poor performance of Lannan on the rain delay and the fact that most young pitchers with his amount of experience haven’t learned to adjust to a delayed start time like that. Warming up, getting ready to go and then having to sit for 91 minutes can throw you off if you are not prepared. Smoltz on the other hand has just a few more starts under his belt…

Expect the young Lannan to have road bumps like these along the way, he is only 24 after all. The good news is young players don’t stay young for long, and we can truly watch him develop before our very eyes into a solid number 2 or 3 starter down the road.

After Lannan was knocked out, Jason Bergman came on to “relieve” him and had about the same amount of success. In two starts this year Bergman has just been plain awful (10.1 IP 16H 13 ER 2BB 10K), and with today’s outing, giving up four runs and two homers in only two innings, it is evident to say he is not comfortable in the bullpen either. This isn’t to say Bergman lost the Nats the game, it was out of hand by the time he got there, but he certainly didn’t keep the score down.

Hitting woes:

The good news is Zimmerman has seemed to bust out of his slump a little bit. He turned things around today going 2/3 with a double to right center and a Sac-Fly scoring Willie Harris after his triple. Leading into today’s game Zimm was 0 for his last 18 with only 1 walk in that span. The Nats need more productive days like today from their young star to compete in the most competitive division in baseball.

Despite my affinity for Felipe Lopez and all the talent he has packed into that small frame, he has not been much of an improvement over tubby Ronny Belliard at second. The Nats need constant production from everyone in their line up with the lack of a big bopper to rake in tons of runs on his own. The Nats drew six walks which is great but they also left 19 runner stranded. On base percentage, a virtue Manny Acta teaches, is meaningless if no one hits those runners in.

Jeff Francoeur woes:

Jeff Francoeur had a day for the Braves…..eight words that pain me to say. Francoeur “The Natural” went 3/5 with two bombs and raked 7 RBI’s. That’s right he drove in more runs then the Nationals did collectively. Francoeur only had 4 RBI’s total coming into the game…

Will the Nationals win their game tomorrow against the Braves and end this 9 game skid? What does Manny Acta have to do, if anything, to turn this team around? Paul Lo Duca, or Jesus Flores? Leave your comments.

Box Score

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