Nats lose 5-3 in first game of the series

The Nats did something tonight they haven’t been doing very well lately, they out hit their opponent. The Nats dropped 11 hits on their beltway neighbors but only one for extra bases as their offensive jump was not enough to beat the Orioles tonight. The 5-3 loss for the Nats tonight is symbolic of all the struggles they’ve had this season. The one night they can hit they can’t pitch, and despite having many runners reach base, all but three were stranded.
The loss tonight not only slowed a Nats hot streak that saw them take three of four from the Mets, it also broke a 4 game winning streak the team had against the orange and black. Turf Wars and pride aside, its important to remember that before we start hitting double and homers we need to be able to hit singles, and the Nats really did focus on just getting the bat on the ball tonight. The only starter without a hit was Wily Mo, and Zimmerman, Milledge and Flores both recorded multi hit games.

Meet Nick Markakis

For those of you who are former Orioles fans who stopped paying attention with Cal’s farewell, let me introduce you to their new prize possession, Nick Markakis. Markakis, like his clubs owner, is Greek and arguably the best Greek player ever (small talent pool). Markakis is a sweet swinging left handed right fielder who’s quiet approach to the game reminds many of the great modest sluggers of the games past.
In 2006 at the age of only 22 Markakis made his debut for the O’s and never looked back. He played 147 games in his rookie season, playing all outfield positions and showed great overall value for a team trying to compete in the most competitive division. He was no lame duck at the plate either, batting .291 with 16 bombs and 62 RBI’s. He also showed great patience for a young hitter reaching base .352 percent of the time. His sophomore campaign was even better. Markakis batted .300, hit 23 homers, 43 doubles, drove in 112 RBI’s and stole 18 bases.
So far this season Markakis having another good year. While his batting average is way down, now at .260, he is getting on base at .390 and has already hit 7 homers. He does not have the plate protection he had last year with Miguel Tejada in the line up, but it’s clear that when he gets some more protection he will be one of the better left handed hitters in the American League. He’s their Ryan Zimmerman, and it looks as if both these stars are locked up long term, there will be two bright stars in the beltway for years to come.

GUZMAN WATCH

Guzman only went 1-5 last night but was able to slap a double with no one on. His batting average continues to drop, but hopefully his trade stock will stay high.

Nats take the O out of Odalis, give him his first win

The Nats traveled north today to try and end a three game skid by facing the New York Mets at Shea. Things finally went well for the red white and blue, as Odalis Perez helped his own cause going 3 for 3 at the plate en route to the Nats topping the Mets 10-4. On a cold and extremely windy night in New York, play for both teams was far from perfect, however the scrappy Nationals team was able to keep focus the longest and make the fewest amount of mistakes.

It was an important win for the club who has cooled down incredibly in May after a hot second half of April. With the win tonight the Nats moved to 5-5 this month, continuing to succeed in the struggle of becoming a .500 team. The Nationals will make their runs and have their cold streaks, but I think a great goal for this club would be to finish at 82-82. The ability to win the gut check games like tonight shows mentally the team is strong enough to hopefully reach that goal.

Odalis Perez does it all

“We might take the O out of Odalis tonight,” Don Sutton.

In his last outing The Nats Blog blasted Odalis Perez for his unfocused play. He had mental lapses in the field, at the bat, and on the mound. Odalis more then made up for it tonight. On a night where an unfocused starter would destroy a teams chances to win, Perez locked in and did everything he could to minimize inevitable mistakes and control the pace of the game. Perez went 6 1/3rd innings and allowed 4 earned runs. He let up 11 hits but only walked two and was able to keep the many Mets base runners from scoring.

Odalis earned his long overdue first win of the year tonight, and he did everything in his power to do so. Perez helped the Nats out by leading the team in hits, going 3-3 with 2 RBI’s, a vast improvement from a guy who struggled getting a sacrifice bunt down in his last start. All I can say is this win was a long time coming, Perez had led the Nats in quality starts this season and couldn’t get any run support. He got plenty tonight.

Jesus loves the majors

When the Nats took Flores from the Mets in the Rule 5 Draft, few expected him to stay in Washington. Flores was a young catcher who didn’t have much experience in the minors, and many believed he wasn’t ready to spend a whole year in the big leagues which he would be required to by Rule 5 Draft regulations. Flores however exceeded expectations in 2006, starting 42 games and playing very solid defense for an oft injured Brian Schneider. After weathering the year in the majors he was officially a member of the Washington Nationals for good, and the Nats planned to stick him in triple A to let the kid develop into a future star.

Things didn’t quite go as planned. After acquiring several new veteran catchers to fill the back up and starting roles on the big league club, they did what 30 year old catchers do, get hurt. Flores was forced to start the season in the majors and excelled. He was playing to stay in the majors, and was playing at a level to deserve it. Sadly as the politics of baseball go, when Lo Duca and Estrada got healthy Flores was demoted to Columbus. While the reason isn’t clear, the catcher who was hitting well over .300 in the majors was only hitting .180 in the minors. Was it an attitude problem? Was it apathy? No one knew.

However with injuries to the Nats old catchers again Flores found himself starting tonight at Shea stadium and started to produce like Major League Jesus and not Triple A Jesus. Tonight he went 1-3 with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s en route to helping the Nats win. He also threw out a stealing Jose Reyes who actually had a great break off of Odalis Perez. Does this mean he needs to stay in the majors? No, its just one game, but it does mean the Nats front office should take a deeper look at his level of development before shipping him back to the Midwest anytime soon.

GUZMAN WATCH

Cristian did not have a good game tonight. He did however smack a meaningless double in the top of the 8th to stop an 0-6 night. This doesn’t really matter for our purposes as most of Guzman’s stats are meaningless. He did however have a good play in the field after Zimmerman speared a line drive into the air, which Guzman fielded and was able to get to first before the runner could reach the bag. Meaningless hits and highlights, the key ingredients to trade bait!!!

Nats drop another one, lose 7-3 to the Marlins

The Nationals pitching is starting to get sloppy at the same time their hitting is starting to get inconsistent again. With the 7-3 loss today behind the poor start of Tim Redding the Nats have now dropped three out of their last four games, and are looking more like the team that lost so many in a row then the team we’ve seen the last two weeks. Today the team combined poor fielding, poor hitting, and just bad pitching in front of a small crowd at Nats Park. It’s nights like these that make it hard to see the bright future we keep telling ourselves this team has.

Containing Hanley-Part 2

As I had mentioned earlier this season the key to beating the Marlins is by containing the best all around player in baseball Hanley Ramirez. Hanley came into the series hitting 333 (4/12)BA, 5 R, 3 RBI, 2HR, with 3 SB against the Nats this season, and he continued to produce tonight as Redding had no answer for this young talent.
Hanley recorded only one hit, but showed what makes him great by producing without simply driving in runs. His first at bat he put the Marlins on top with a sacrifice fly, and in his second at bat he slapped a double to right putting himself an Jeremy Hermida in scoring position, which allowed them both to eventually score. Ramirez would also later walk and score again. Once again a Nats loss came at the hand of a player that may haunt us for years…but then again he does play for Florida.

Florida Marlins…A place for second chances

We spoke earlier this year about Wes Helms getting a second chance in Florida after the Phillies swallowed his salary and traded him to the Marlins for only one dollar. He’s not the only one finding new life in the sunshine state however, as former all star Jorge Cantu has found a rebirth as his career had seemed permanently derailed.

Cantu blasted onto the scene in 2005 for the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays as a 23 year old second basemen who was surprising everyone with his unprecedented development and production. Cantu batted .286 with 28 homers and 117 RBI’s which surprised many as scouts considered him a player not ready for the big leagues. He became a star and a focal point in the development of a young Tampa Bay team, and even a major spokesperson for Major League Baseball in their World Baseball Classic campaign.

Things turned around fast for Cantu however. He didn’t manage to hit even .250 the next year hitting only 14 homers and getting on base only .295% of the time. Tampa Bay wanted to send him down to Tripple A, but Cantu didn’t like the idea. He refused to report to Durham and demanded a trade…he eventually found himself unable to stay on the big league club for the Reds in 2007…and by the end of the season was cut. It looked to most baseball fans that the once bright rising star was already burnt out. The Marlins signed him to a small deal to see if he could fill in at third for the departing Miguel Cabrera. It was one of those “why not,” situations for the Marlins; much as Dimitri Young was for the Nationals. Cantu however has disproved many as he is producing at a high level for a team that has found its way to first place. So far this season Cantu is batting .287 with 5 homers and 16 RBI’s, he went 2-4 tonight with 2 RBI’s as well.
Next second chance Marlins to be covered this series: Luis Gonzalez and Matt Treanor.

GUZMAN WATCH!

This is going to be a new addition to the Nats blog. Guzman is slow, poor in the field, and incredibly overrated. His contract expires at the end of this season and it would just be plain foolish to resign him. So I’m officially starting the rallying cry to ship him out so we can get something for him at the break as opposed to nothing at the end of the season. Some team will want a .300 hitting short stop at the break, even if its an empty .300. So here goes:

Guzman had a solid day at the plate today racking up two more hits and raising his batting average to .310. Guzman also recorded a run and RBI in the Nats losing effort.

Guzman also continued his amazing defensive prowess by missing two line drives that seemed catchable as well as missing a pick on what was not a terrible throw from Wil Nieves (which led to a run).

Box Score