No sign of Mendoza!

From the Nats Journal Blog:

* In their previous 16 games, the Nationals have had averages (compiled just from that given game) of .121, .156, .195, .107, .143, .138, and .194.

Frightening.

Padres Series

I MAY, It's only still May....., just bring my blogging as per series until our boys show more life than the nightly drudgery of the same old LOB, weak bullpen and serious lack of punch in the middle. I thought this team had some heart. They have a .500 record or better in them, but they have little or no desire to fight like hell! Maybe they simply suck, and the injuries have taken them below that fragile line that MLB has between winning and losing ALL THE TIME> Still Love Them NATS!

CASE IN POINT:

Manning: Twice in the last three days, Nationals manager Manny Acta handed the 29-year-old left-hander the ball in the latter stages of a tie game and saw him serve up crushing home runs to left-handed hitters. Adrian Gonzalez got him Tuesday night to lead the San Diego Padres to victory, and Jody Gerut duplicated the feat yesterday, belting a three-run homer in the eighth inning to hand Washington a debilitating 5-2 loss at PETCO Park.

TELL ME THAT IF WE DIDN'T HAVE BAD LUCK, WE'D HAVE NO LUCK.......

brew'in the crew

- Just watched our boys turn a beautiful 4-6-3 double play to get Perez out of the top half of the 4th and preserve the 1-0 lead. All I can think is....WHY CAN'T WE FREAK'IN HIT THE BALL THIS YEAR! Doesn't Perez and WE FANS deserve a few runs to secure some nice pitching and some sweet double plays?!!!!!!

- Austin Kearns on the shelf for a month after arthroscopic surgery on his elbow. It was obvious that he was fighting this injury for a long time. I for one want to extend my apology for berating Austin Kearns' hitting while he battled to play thru pain.

- Teddy beats all those Sausages going away.....

Our New Chico or ...

- The same old guy? As it turns out early, Matt Chico seems to have lost a few pounds (could be the haricut), but he still seems to get the ball up in the strikezone. His hook looks fine, but that fastball is straight and up. he may be the kinda pitcher who will always need a bunch of runs to win.

Play'in the Sillies

- Can we find an outfielder to hit above .240 ????

- Da Meat Hook to the rescue ??? Perhaps if we could just find a place for both he and Nick in the lineup. D. Young still needs to shed about ten. But that's a far cry from Spring Training when he needed to shed 30!

- Did anybody think Nick was gonna last the season?

- The need to score runs in bunches is perhaps the biggest problem this year facing the team. The inability to knock in runs with less than two outs and runners on
3rd, 2nd and 3rd or the bases loaded has lead to our demise this year. I don't have the stats to back up this observation, but suffice it to say that we end up usually with one run when we should be getting 2 or even 3 or more.

We'll be printing those playoff tickets when we can deliver those additional runs. It will require a very good 5 hole hitter and perhaps somebody much better than Nick or Da Meat Hook in the 4 spot. Also, the outfield is in dire need of free agency!

Lannan to the rescue!

_ A much needed WIN from a part of the future. I remember the time when the Braves brought up a triple threat of Smoltz, Avery and Glavine. Let's hope Lannan is the first of such a triple threat!

- Austin Kearns. I drop the OUTstin today only because of the revelation of his elbow injury. If this injury, unrevealed until now, has be the bane of his hitting existence, .187, 3 hr and 11 rbis, then somebody in this organization needed to alert! If this is a recent phenomenom, then we are in need of something more than Kearns (.187), Dukes (.075) and Wily Mo ????

THE DEFINITION OF BAD: May 17, 2008

Game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the second. Boone on Third with One Out. First pitch. Milledge, hitting .245, grounds out to the Pitcher on a bad pitch. OUTstin Kearns, hitting .192 and 2 for his last 26, takes a strike right down the middle for strike three. That is why we are in last place. It is an issue of talent, attitude and the ability to win. PATHETIC!

BergMANN!

- 1-0 and 7 strong for a guy who has always had it in him and actually in my mind got a quick hook from Manny when he got sent down. He had to pitch his arse off because the runs are still hard to come by on this "iron" deprieved unit.

- Here's to Lannan, Redding, Perez, Hill and Bergmann...healthy and with more runs!

- Guzie slipped under .300 for the first time in a while, and OUTsin is .192 and well below MENDOZA. Haven't we seen enough here to turn the page and send some type of a message to the youth and the aged on this team that there will be a move to future winning mixture for the Nats. Hell, let Dukes try it everyday in Right. If by August he is hitting a buck and a half, then ship his atse out too!

Nats-Mets and Redding

- Redding looks SHARP!....one long pitch to FREAK'IN SCHNEIDER!!!!!!

- Scrouging for hits: 2 through 5! finishing strong with 5 runs so far thru 8!

- Interesting to see Manny use Rauch early and to have him hit thru the ninth to pitch the bottom.

- Always liked Marlon Anderson, and would have loved to have seen him rejoin Nats. But Belliard had great numbers from last year...and who knew he'd start off so poorly. Lopez looking good, and tonight as well.

Glad the Mets came along!

- 10 RUNS every night and it would be like having Soriano & Jose around again! OOPS!

- Milledge luvs his old mates...but do they luv him???? NOT! NATS!

- Glad O. Perez got the run support.

- Zim took a little shalak up on the arm.

- Nick Johnson is a BB machine with the TERMINAL Outs behind him.

Hill shines in the rain....

BUT THE BULLPEN STILL SUCKS!!!!!! WAY TO GO AYALA

- This charade called the Nats Bullpen could not have been worse this year from last.

- Two shots at winning this mess...or I'll see you tomorrow

Swim'in with um

- Milledge ROBBED early!

- Nick Johnson a league leader in walks due to absolutley NO ONE WORTH A DAMN hitting behind him....That means OUTsin Kearns

- O'Connor has something seriously wrong with his pitching motion. He threw one 42 feet! then gave up a run with a wild pitch. He had a brain fart on a play in Houston a few nights back. I'm wondering about his future. Getting the ball up all night is not good....he will be throwing one very long, very soon! Manny hooked him in disgust....I say he should be headed to Harrisburg shortly.

Nats-Stros

- Willie Harris pull'n out the splinters and slamm'in one out! Takes a pro to do that.

- I'm not going to discuss our pitcher because it usually starts something bad immediately.

- Looks like Nieves has a destiny...LoDuc and Estrada headed to DL

- It's safe to say that Kearns is hitting his weight...213, and banging in TWO!

Shoot'in the Moon

With Zim! He's lov'in this band box. Zim hits 40 in Houston playing 3rd base.

- 3-3 much like last night into the bottom of the 8th. Our pen is flirting with too many LOBs (what else is new?), and let's just hope the Astros and Berkman don't decide to get hot again like last night. Hanrahan getting some work, and his slider is slip'in nicely tonight. Manny's rid'in him. So be it.

- If LoDuc didn't have bad luck.... Let's hope he's not back on the DL. Nieves bouncing around again. This kid has a destiny to be in the lineup I truly believe.

- How about O'Connor acting like a pitcher, and throwing to NOBODY! at 1st! Pitchers. @@

- Nice to see the drunken cueball getting tossed for giving LoDuc sh-t after he got banged up. If they tried this in the NBA, you'd see a lot less fan involvement...i.e. Spike Lee, Cuban, The Pacers' fiasco, and anything that goes on in LA nightly.

- Bush 41 is a stiff. Second night he's behind the plate, and he's in a suit...with a tie! Hey, it ain't 1930. Lighten up. Not too much so you turn into 43~

Keeping it going!

- Hill very sharp after 5 innings

- Back to back doubles gets us a lead that hopefully Hill can get us through the bottom of the 5th and let the bullpen carry the rest of the way....DO YOU HEAR ME MANNY!...5 INNINGS FOR HILL TONIGHT!!!!!

- I like Manny moving Milledge, Wily Mo and even Guzie up and down the lineup to give the batting order some pop.

- As much as I dislike Kearns, he made a tough chance in the 8th, but he gave it a damn good one.

Boswell Buffoon

Boswell put on his Angelos today and made the Oriolian Argument to overspend on free agents at the cost of building your minor leagues. All of this, at the time of the 9 of 11 or 8 out of 10 winning run by the Nats. Sorry Tom, even your crack about Lopez proves you haven't been watching the Nats.

No mention of the Braves, Marlins, D-backs, Rockies, Twins, the reinventing A's, late 80's Mets' minor league built pitching staff, or resurging Brewers could dissuade Boz from torching the Nats about showing nothing. All those teams were built from the minors with a "Kasten-esque" view and a "Trader Jim" Free Agent grab when needed. Nor could Boz be stopped when comparing the sparse crowds of April/May before school let's out, New Nat's Park with RFK. Give it a break.

Boz, you want deals? Get Pete to sign Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa.

It's May. The Nats are 4 games out. Mock, Detwiler, Zimmerman The Pitcher, Balester and the rest of the phenoms are but a straight changeup away from the big club. Save your advice for the OOOOOOOOO do they stink!

Buc'in It

NICE WIN.

- Kearns Finally....A few more and He's a Mendoza Candidate...It'll take much more for praise here

- I like Manny bunting and playing for one in the seventh. Bautista has a whole in his chest and Boonie runs like his Dad, but the moves are very sound. Felipe got very unlucky.

- Perez gives up 3 hits thru 7....and two reeeeaaallll long ones. He's still pitch'in a gem so far. 2-2

- Perez, Lannan, Hill and Redding...all healthy and we can make this thing go. Perhaps Mock, Detwiler or maybe Clippard and O'Connor for a spot start...and folks we got something now and for the future.

- Following the strike zone and how pitchers pitch Nick Johnson, they use the entire strike zone and give Nick absolutely nothing to hit. It's in and out, and up and down with a lot of change of speed. With Mr. .190 behind him, it's little doubt Nick sees virtually nothing to hit!

- You just can't get rid of this kid Nieves! He's earning the spot. Nice rbis early tonight. 2-0 Nats...luv'in it

No so Brave!

DAMN FINE WIN MAKES YOU LOVE TO WATCH THE NATS!!!!!!!

- Add Hill to the Healthy and Lannan! With Redding...That's a decent step forward for a starting rotation. I say bring in the youngsters ALL!

- Lopez showing no signs of letting Belliard get his old job back.

- Nieves doing the job to be a big league catcher...better yet...a big league ball player with that bunt!

- No question, without the top and bottom of the order this year, we are on pace with the 1962 Mets! Zim, Nick and .182 Kearns back to ZEROS last night....