Who to bat where, challenging conventional thought - Leading off

I think Nats fans have come to accept the idea that the first five spots of the Nationals lineup for 2009 are set in stone. Manager Manny Acta hasn't commented on any possible change from last season other than of course the addition of Adam Dunn, and the lineup in place at the end of the season seemed to work pretty well. 

But what if Acta is wrong? Conventional thought, after all, did lead the Nats to a 102 loss season last year. Sure, Guzman has great speed and contact, but he gets on base at a very poor rate. Milledge gets good wood on the ball but will his power develop in the two spot? Who is really a better number three hitter, Zimmerman or Dunn? What about Elijah Dukes?

Lets start today by looking at the leadoff spot:

Cristian Guzman

Guzman was the Nats leadoff hitter for 40 games in 2008. While hitting in that spot he batted .337 while getting on base at .363, which are very solid numbers for any hitter. His slugging percentage (.448) however, was low enough to logically eliminate him from batting anywhere higher than two in the line up. His on base percentage at this spot, while good for most positions in the line up, is basically just average for a Major League leadoff  hitter. 

Guzman batted number two in the line up for the Nats in 83 games in 2008. He hit .310 while getting on base at only .340. He slugged about the same as he did in the one spot. Here we can see that in 2008 Guzman was more successful in the leadoff spot for the Nats as far as hitting is concerned. Ironically however, while Guzman got on base more often in the lead off spot, he scored more runs in the second spot. 1 run every 7 plate appearances in the #2 spot, and 1 run every 9.4 plate appearances at the leadoff spot. 

2008 is a relatively small sample size however. 

In Guzman's career while batting first he has hit .291/.326/.441. This is where he has earned his rap as a bad leadoff hitter. He's your typical swing at everything, high hits/high outs player. Players like these include: Juan Pierre, a younger Jose Reyes, and Luis Castillo. 

In his career while batting second Guzman's batted .270/.303/.387, which is really pretty bad for anywhere in the line up. It seems for Guzman that while he has the hitters approach to bat second(lots of contact, low strikeouts), he performs far far better in the leadoff spot. Sadly for the Nats however, historically his performance as a leadoff hitter has been not good enough. 

So why the success in 2008 while leading off for Guzman? You could argue it was simply the result of a small sample size within the shortstops career year. This is certainly possible. Another explanation however, could be that the Nats shortstop has matured and at the age of 30 has finally learned how to hit, how to take pitches, and how to get on base. This is possible, but lets not forget that in a full season last year Guzman only drew 23 walks in (Dunn drew 144 last year). 

Lastings Milledge- 

 Milledge is the most athletic player on the Nationals roster. With this he probably one day will have the ability to bat at any spot in the order, which is why we saw him pretty much split evenly playing time at the number two, three, four, and five spot on all be it a weak team. Milledge is unique in that while he has the speed to be a leadoff hitter, but he also has the potential power to be a three, four or five.

Milledge has never hit in the lead off spot in his career, but this doesn't mean he shouldn't be considered. The young outfielder led the Nationals in steals in 2008, and while he only compiled one more walk than Guzman (in a good deal less plate appearances) his first and second half splits are promising for a young player. Overall Milledge put up a line of .268/.330/.402, but in the second half of 2008 in 58 games he had a line of .299/.355/.448. So we can see that Milledge certainly has the athleticism, and is growing the patience to be a potential leadoff. But is his mindset in the right place?

Let's not forget that he did spend time in the Mets organization under the tutelage of the best leadoff hitter of all time, Rickey Henderson. While whether or not spending time with Rickey will do anything positive for your overall mindset is debatable, but the guy knows how to hit in leadoff situations. This lead me to notice an odd trend with Lastings Milledge, he is one of the only players you will find who will hit better with no runners on base. In 287 at bats with no runners on Milledge batted a very solid .286/.337/.446. It's fascinating, he not only gets on base at a higher rate but hits for power better too. With no one on and no outs, a true leadoff situation, Milledge went .298/.346/.504, not bad for a 23 year old.

Adam Dunn

Chill out...just read it:

When Adam Dunn was in his second year for Cincinatti, then Reds manager Bob Bo

one (yes our Bob Boone) tossed out the idea of the 6 foot 6 super slugger leading off. He got a lot of flack for it, and while he gave it an attempt every now and then there was great pressure from the media and the fans to plug that big donkey back in the heart of the order. But Boone may have been on to something...

Dunn, especially in his younger days, was an extremely underrated baserunner. You wouldn't expect someone of his size to be a base stealing threat, but in the minors and his first full season in the majors he was stealing 20 bags a year. While today that may be a lot to expect from the 29 year old 275 pounder, he can still run around the bases like the former Texas University football recruit he was. 

Fleet feet aside, the experiment to hit Dunn at leadoff had many progressive baseball fans excited. There were several basic principles behind the idea. First, hitters (except Milledge) hit better with runners on base, and Dunn gets on base better than just about anyone in baseball. Second,  power hitters like Dunn hit for better power with the bases empty, because pitchers are more confident in trying to pitch to them. And lastly, if your team can score first you have a higher percentage of winning the ball game, and while batting your big bopper may make it more likely to score only one or two runs in the first as opposed to a big inning, it still gives you that early lead. 

Dunn has only batted leadoff in 17 games and 56 at bats in his career. At that spot he only batted .217, but got on base at .371 and slugged .569 for a very impressive OPS of .961. While this is a small sample size, the most impressive stat for his leadoff experience is that out of his 12 hits, 7 of them were home runs. However no matter where he has batted in the line up, Dunn has gotten on base, which really is the most important thing for leadoff hitters. People point to Dunn's low batting average in 2008, but he actually got on base 38 more times than Guzman did in the same year.

Anderson Hernandez

Hernandez was a career back up infielder for the Mets who got by on the fact that he had a slick glove and nothing else. Early on the Mets hoped he would develop into a career long double play partner with franchise cornerstone Jose Reyes, however his inconsistency at the plate caused them to give up and acquire the veteran Luis Castillo. The Nats acquired 

Hernandz late in 2008 and during his short time in Washington produced incredibly well, almost all but securing himself the second base job in D.C for 2009. 

During his 28 game stint Hernandez put up a line of .333/.407/.383, proving Hernandez as a true slap hitting second basemen. In 11 of those games he batted leadoff for the Nats and excelled even more, to the tune of .360/.429/.420. He was a natural! If small sample sizes tell us anything, and of course they do, Hernandez is on his way to be the best leadoff hitter in history. Sadly, some Nats fans would have you to believe this.

So what should we think about Hernandez? The guy came over after not getting much chance to perform for a division rival and flat out excelled. Hernandez then went on to absolutely dominate the Dominican Winter league in 2008/2009, almost leading the league in batting and showing some serious power. So yes, it's possible that this 26 year old just needed a change of scenery and is finally coming into his own. We have seen this before, a player was a career disappointment for one organization and a star for another. 

But a look at Hernandez's minor league stats may suggest otherwise. In 2005 Hernandez totaled between high A and double A for a line of .315/.357/.421, however the very next year he couldn't produce the same type of numbers, batting an abysmal .246/.282/.291 in trippe A (this is when the Mets acquired Castillo). In 2007 it looked like Hernandez may have finally figured it out, batting .301/.339/.397, but again the very next year he couldn't hit himself out of the minors batting .203/.262/.307 before his inevitable trade to Washington. 

Boys and girls, it seems like what we have here is your typical streak hitter. Great one year, awful the next, totally a matter of luck. I could be wrong, I hope Hernandez comes out and bats .280 and stays a Major Leaguer, but history points to probably not. 

Analysis

Sadly, as we have proven here today, while Cristian Guzman is by no means a desired leadoff hitter he is probably the best option for the Nationals. Milledge could possibly out perform him but we of course want Milledge to develop into a power hitting 30/30 outfielder, so we can't compromise that by moving him up to the number one slot. Dunn would certainly be an exciting change of pace, and probably be more productive as a leadoff hitter than Guzman but we desperately need his bat in the middle. Someone on this team needs to be able to give protection to Zimmerman and Dukes and with limited options it has to be him. And Anderson Hernandez appears to be an apparition, and at 5-9 170 he may not have the wheels to bat leadoff. 

So what do you think? Who bats leadoff in 2009?

Nats line-up posed to breakout -BP says

The numbers have been entered into PECOTA, Baseball Prospectus's projection system, and BP writer Jay Jaffe has listed his 'Breakout Bunch: Hitters.' 

"What follows are a handful of players - curiously concentrated among a small number of teams - whom PECOTA sees as excellent breakout candidates at the major league level this year, with Breakout Rates of at least 33 percent. Each is forecast for at least 400 plate appearances, a .275 Equivalent Average, and a 2.5 WARP(Wins above replacement player). "

On the list of seven players were three Nationals.

Elijah Dukes- Projected .278/.386/.486, 4 WARP, 54% Breakout Rate

Lastings Milledge- Projected .281/.352/ .442, 3.3 WARP, 43% Breakout Rate

Ryan Zimmerman - Projected .289/.358/.471, 4.2 WARP, 40% Breakout Rate

This is pretty exciting. Baseball Prospectus is the most reliable people in the business in terms of evaluating talent and projecting success/failure. PECOTA has earned the right to be called the best after years of backing it up. 

Most comforting is that the most reliable source on baseball talent is reassuring Nats fans that we aren't alone in our beliefs in the talent of these players. In the past I've seen many fans of this area of a variety of sports get high on young players that really didn't have much of a future. We get excited, whether it be the Redskins, the Wizards, or even the Orioles, but too often are too biased to see the truth about their abilities. 

This is the first nationally published, positive forecast for the Washington Nationals I may have ever seen. While it isn't calling for much, it is promising to know that this line up could develop into something, and one day be the heart of a competitive team. 

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

Wil Nieves comes up huge, Nats win second in a row

Lastings Milledge showed up late to the game last night and lost his starting spot to Willie Harris. He took responsibility, at first verbally yesterday, and now tonight with his bat. Going 2 for 2 from the plate with two walks, Thrilledge more then made up for his absence the night before, however he was not the hero of the night.
Coming to the plate with one on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Wil don’t call me Will Nieves delivered a much needed walk off homer, clinching the win for the Nats. Big hits were something the team had been missing this season, but the last two nights they have come and the Nats have their first winning streak since the first three games of the season.

Odalis Perez- The best winless pitcher in baseball?

Ok well maybe that’s John Lannan…But still, the bottom line is the Nationals Starting pitching has been excellent. Constantly you can expect six strong innings with no more then three runs, which gives any line up, even the Nats, a chance to win the ball game. Perez is more then earning his pay check so far this year, and for the Nat sake, hopefully him, Tim Redding, and John Lannan keep their early successes going.

Mike O’Connor’s misuse

With the bases loaded in the top of the 8th, in arguably the most important situation of the game, the best managers will not be afraid to bring in their best pitcher from the bullpen. In today’s game the good managers know that closers aren’t only for the 9th, they know that the best pitcher in the pen needs to pitch in the most critical point. Call it closer by committee, call it smart, call it whatever.

Tonight when the Nats had a one run lead and the bases loaded in the 8th, Manny Acta was faced with a decision on who to bring into the game. Jesus Colume was available; he has been lights out all year. John Rauch the make shift closer was available too. No Manny doesn’t use either of them, Manny decides to bring in the pitcher who has been in the majors for all of two days, Mike O’Connor. I’m sure Acta thought…O’Connor’s a lefty, “Murtons a lefty…clearly this is a good idea.”

Reasons this was not a good idea:

1. Mike O’Connor has been a starter in the minor leagues for the last 2 years; he was called up to the big leagues only yesterday and pitched yesterday. O’Connor hasn’t pitched out of the bullpen since 2004 in class A ball which means he clearly isn’t used to pitching on back to back nights yet.

2. Mike O’Connor hasn’t been proven in tough situations yet, especially not in front of a huge crowed with the bases loaded.

3. Relief pitchers and starting pitchers have a different warm up and mentality, starting a game and coming in with the bases loaded are two completely different situations to adjust to.

Reasons to be Happy

1. we won
2. 2 game win streak
3. a win streak in general
4. Heart of the Order has woken up
5. Aside from the newbie, the Nats bullpen did a great job against a good team
6. 2nd walk off homer in Nats Park history.

Box Score

Photos Courtesy of AP/Pablo Martinez

The Godfather....

Dmitri Young has had to battle his demons.

In 2006 while playing for the Tigers he disappeared; evading police on assault charges. No one knew where Dmitri was; not the Tigers, the police, or even most of his family.

Dmitri was in rehab, at the Betty Ford clinic. Whether or not he was there by his choice is up in the air. What is known is that when he found himself with his hands around his wife’s throat, Young had hit rock bottom. After his stint in rehab the Tigers released him. Dmitri had lost his family, his dignity, and now baseball. Some don’t make the choice to collect everything and rebuild after hitting the low of lows, But Dmitri did.

In 2007, with clean blood and a clean head, Young signed a minimum contract with the only team that would take him, the Washington Nationals. While physically he wasn’t his old self, mentally he was stronger then ever before.

As Yogi Berra once said, “90 percent of this game is half mental.”

Young exploded after earning a starting spot with the Nationals. He led the National League in batting for much of the first half and earned an all star spot in San Francisco. It was the perfect situation fro the Nationals. They signed a player as a gamble for next to nothing only to have his value sky rocket. Young could now be traded to a team he could actually help get to the playoffs and in return the Nationals could get something they could actually use, prospects.

As with Soriano the year before, the trade deadline came and went and found Jim Bowden sitting at his desk, deal-less. Once again a brilliant, or perhaps lucky, move on Bowden’s part turned useless as he was unable to pull the trigger on a deal to further the future of his young franchise.

Young of course stayed on the Nationals, completed an excellent season and won the National League Comeback Player of the Year award. In the off-season he resigned with Washington, and will likely finish out his career there.

While Dmitri will likely never help the Nationals make a playoff push, his value can now be measure in a new way. Stan Caston has asked Dmitri to show two other troubled young ball players through the darkness of troubled times, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge.

So far it appears his wisdom has paid off as neither player has yet to cause any distractions. Milledge has been the best all around player for the Nationals and Dukes hopes to provide a spark when he comes back from his strained hamstring. While Young has yet to play this season, as he is in a tough battle with diabetes, his impact on this franchise may be greater then anyone could ever have thought. The Big Teddy bear may end up being the godfather for the next generation of Nationals baseball.

Young Mike Pelfrey helps blank the Nats

The Mets have been waiting since they drafted Pelfrey 9th overall in 2005 to come around and be a consistent starter in the Majors. It seems as if their wait may be over as the 25 year old blanked the Nats on 5 hits through 7 innings tonight. Washington could not get anything going offensively as a combination of bad baseball decisions and untimely hitting left them scoreless in Shea.
While the loss itself is disheartening, there is one good thing can be taken from this game. The players that beat the Nats weren’t the result of the 100 million dollar payroll of the Mets, in fact the prime producers in this game for New York were Wright, Reyes, and Pelfrey…all home grown talent. Why should this make the Nats feel good? Because it proves that it can work, it proves that the Nats efforts in solidifying their farm system over the last 3 years can finally pay off after some patience. It may not be this year or the next, but the promise is there.


Stupid Baseball:

Milledge answered the booing crowd in his return to Shea with a double to left. With one out he attempted to steal third on Schneider, who has one of the best arms in baseball. The result wasn’t exactly positive; he was gunned down at third. While that is a bad thing in its own right, what really is confusing is why he would steal while already in scoring position and the number three and four hitters due up. There was only one out, a base hit from either Zimmerman or Johnson would have scored him, getting thrown out at third gives him a 0% chance to score.

In the top of the third there was a chance for redemption. Lastings Milledge walked with one out to load the bases for the heart of the Nats order. Zimmerman came to the plate and on the first pitch popped the ball up to the infield allowing no runners to advance. When the bases are loaded with only one out the only really negative things you can do is either strike out or pop out. The basic rule is that with runners in scoring position you only swing at the first pitch if it is one you know you can handle; and by handle I mean…do anything but pop up to the infield. If Zimmerman had drove the ball to the outfield Guzman could have tagged up, even a hard ground ball could have scored the runner with the infield in double play position. Johnson struck out the next at bat, leaving the bases stranded.

The Nats stranded 18 baserunners tonight.

The Batting Order:

No one except Milledge or Guzman are really hitting very well right now. With that said Acta’s use of Guzman in the leadoff spot is confusing me. Acta is a fan of Moneyball, he knows how to get the most out of his low market team and understand the importance of things like when to stay away from small ball, on base percentage, and the importance of good defense. Guzman however while hitting a great .333 on the season is only getting on base .335 percent of the time. That’s not just a poor on base percentage but also an alarmingly low walk rate for any player much less a leadoff. Why not switch Lastings and Christian in the order? Lastings is getting on base 20 points higher then Christian, and Christians ability to put the ball in play makes him the ideal number 2 hitter to smack in Milledge.

Wright and Reyes:


Well I wrote in the preview that a lot of the Mets success would lie in the legs of Jose Reyes. He proved he was healthy, going 4 for 5, only a homer shy of the cycle. Wright had himself a day too, 3 for 4 with two doubles and a bomb, 5 RBI’s. This just shows the example of the types of premium players the Nats will need to become an elite team in the league. Can Milledge and Zimmerman fill those shoes? It’s possible, but keep in mind they’re only a year younger then the dynamic duo from NYC.


Side Note:

Paul Lo Duca did not get the start tonight, probably a result of the injured hand from Sunday. For whatever the reason he did not get a chance to face the hostile crowd in Shea. In his stead started Johnny Estrada who mets announcers Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez had a field day with while making fun of his weight.

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Mets vs. Nats, an intertwined series preview

The Nationals will travel up north to take on the strong New York Mets club after finally stopping their losing skid at home on Sunday. The Mets (5-6) and the Nats (4-9) are two teams struggling to find their identies early in the season. Both teams suffered injuries at the end of Spring Training, and both teams are now just finally getting healthy. What will make this series interesting is two things; first both teams are coming off of disappointing starts to the season and desperate to beat up on the other team to make up for lost ground, and second is the amount of personnel that have belonged to both teams in the last several years.

Mixed Loyalties or Deep Grudges?

Former Mets on the Nationals:
-Manny Acta as third base coach
-Paul Lo Duca
-Johnny Estrada (Kinda)
-Lastings Milledge

Former Nationals on the Mets
-Brian Schneider
-Marlon Anderson
-Ryan Church
-Endy Chavez
Reach: Pedro Martinez and Mousis Alou used to be Expos

Relationships:
-Omar Minaya was a terrible general manager for the Expoes before he became an ok general manager for the Mets.
-Ryan Zimmerman and David Wright played on the same summer team together in Highschool

Series History:
The Mets lead the series as the Nationals are 23-32 against their neighbors to the north since coming to Washington. The Nats however have won three in a row against the Mets including a crushing series sweep over them last September which contributed to the Mets losing the division and missing out of the playoffs. While Washington themselves has not been much of a power in the NL East since moving to D.C, their contributions to disrupting the powers at be has earned them the nickname through much of the league as, “Those Pesky Nats.”

Probable Starters:
Game 1: Odalis Perez (0-2, 4.91 ERA) vs. Mike Pelfrey (1-0, 3.60 ERA)
Game 2: Matt Chico (0-2, 3.72ERA) vs. John Maine (0-1, 4.50 ERA)
Game 3: John Lannan (0-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Nelson Figeuroa (1-0, 4.50 ERA)

What to look for:
Jose Reyes, arguably the Mets best all around player and starting shortstop, has been sidelined the last several games due to a hamstring injury. Reyes is a player who relies on his speed and explosiveness to make great plays in the field and on the base path. Much of the success of the Mets against the Nats this week will determine on the health of his left hammy.

Lastings Milledge will be going up against the New York City crowd for the first time as an enemy and not the future of the franchise. In general while Mets fans liked Milledge, his lack of ability to fit in and become the phenom for the blue and orange that so many wanted has left them bitter. On top of this the young Milledge has not made it better for himself by actively speaking out about his time in the Big Apple. They way Lastings is able to handle this crowd will not only show if he has gained a level of maturity since the trade, but also his ability to play against a hostile crowd.

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"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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