LONG day yesterday. Up at 5, on the road to Blacksburg at 6. Spent the day there working on some freelance stories (which I will plug at the appropriate times). Drove back. Got home a bit after 11. I used to have days like that regularly.
I listened to most of the game on XM, which of course featured the Colorado broadcast. Jack Corrigan used to work in Richmond. Good guy. They call the game pretty straight. I knew the Nats were making errors but didn't sense any issue beyond that.
(They did make it clear that Willie took one in the pills)
Once home, I turned on the TV just in time to hear Rob Dibble say something along the lines of, "It seems Manny Acta is the only one trying." Later, Ray Knight used the word "stupid" to describe some of the play. Unfortunately, I turned it on just in time to see the botched double play - yeah, I'd call that stupid. Seemed to me Knight was talking about more than that one play.
Sounds like I picked a good game to not watch but the curiousity is killing me. How bad was it? I thought this team had at least moved beyond the laying an egg stage. I guess not.
9 comments:
I didn't see it either, but I believe Dunn got nailed not getting back to third, and Kearns just plain fell over trying to steal 2nd.
Even Nats320 wasn't trying very hard last night, but still this will tell you more than you would ever want to know about that sorry-ass game.
Actually, Gus, Dunn got nailed going back to third on Monday night. Last night he never even made it to third.
Should have just listened to 70s on 7 and not turned on the TV when I got home.
I have caught up on somme reading since I posted and it does indeed sound stupid and ugly. I like that Manny was visibily ticked about Tavarez. Maybe they'll move him along.
Aren't Tavarez and Beimel the only relievers who were with the team at the start of the season?
It was, if one can say it this way, a brilliantly stupid game. The Nats once again blew a 4-1 lead to lose it.
You know about Willie's learn-on-the-job moment about why it's important to wear a cup. And that would have been an error even if it hadn't hit him in the nads.
Guzman decided to play soccer with the baseball instead of baseball, and kicked a grounder into shallow center. Unbelievable.
Beimel threw to the wrong infielder on a double-play come-backer. Should have been two outs, turns out it was none.
But I think my "favorite" moment was Kearns on the basepaths. He had just--wonder of wonders--slapped a decent single in the hold into shallow center.
Then he tries to steal second and gets picked off. But to say he got picked off is the least of it. He literally FELL DOWN halfway between first and second. On the replay it looked like he tried to start a headfirst slide into second about 40-50 FEET early.
The Nats have lost in a lot of different ways this year, but last night's game has to go into the baseball dictionary as the illustration next to the word "stupid."
Sorry, meant to type that Kearns slapped one into the "hole."
I just got so worked up typing that recount. My heart's all a-flutter, so are my fingers.
Epic loss. Even up 4-1 I didn't get the sense that a win was in the cards. The lowlight came when Kearns started his slide into second base when he wasn't even halfway there. After getting tagged out, he shuffled off the field like a mummy. Just pathetic.
And in the midst of all the stupidity the Nats managed to help Alan Embree make some history. He was one who picked off the bumbling Austin Kearns and then got the win when the Rockies scored a run in the bottom of the eighth without getting a hit. The historic part is that Embree did it without throwing a pitch. Only the Nats!
Looks like the real Nats are back!
Still new and inventive ways to lose almost every night!!
How'd they win 5 of 9 from the Yanks, Sox, and Jays? That short spell of respectable baseball is endangering the march to infamy. They might not make the 62 Mets (sigh) afterall, but every time it looks like they might be moving towards respectabiliity, they pull off another "Natsterpeice". Embrace the bad - when its this inventive its perversely fun! PS - In honor of Mr. Kearns, I've been wearing my Syracuse Chiefs hat to every game I attend.
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