I've been fairly quick to criticize Rob Dibble here and I feel bad about that because, as I've noted, he seems like a good guy and that's more important than anything else when it comes to the bottom line.
I'm also a fair guy and I've noted several times that when you get past the cheering and clapping and talking over Bob and get down to actual analysis, he's often spot on. And, for all his clapping and cheering, he's not afraid to rip when a rip is merited.
He didn't exactly rip on the postgame last night but he made a very good point without naming names (that I heard). He talked about the "changes" Jim Riggleman made and how they worked and then wondered if the Nats should stick with those "changes" a while longer and let people earn their way back into the lineup.
Hmmmm. Who could he mean here? Changes? How about change? Only one that I noticed. The regular C started. So did the regular 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, CF and RF. What's missing here? Oh yeah, the shortstop!
Everybody loves Ian Desmond. Hard not to love a young player who flashes that much ability and doesn't seem in any way to be dogging it. But even Mrs. Desmond would have to agree things are to the point where the liabilities might be outweighing the assets. Might be? I'm being too nice. ARE outweighing the assets. His penchant for making a spectacular play here and there is nice. His penchant for often blowing the routine play is aggravating and becoming too common. Plus, when was the last time he had a hit?
You aren't going to get better on the bench, that's for sure. You also aren't going to botch the easy double play ball from the bench. I'm not a shrink or even a real manager (just an armchair manager) so I don't have the perfect solution. But I have zero issue with trotting Gonzo out to short daily at least through the All-Star break. Given Desmond some time to clear his head and all that.
Gonzo is not a long-term answer but he's more than acceptable short term. I think the idea of giving up on Desmond is absurd and I'm hopeful he'll develop into at least an adequate fielder. The idea of giving him an extended break is a good one.
Interesting that Gonzo is even still here. Who had that on March 1 when it seemed inevitable he'd be long Gonzo by now?
New poll coming soon. My recent poll drew 70 votes (sniff sniff) and most think Ryan Zimmerman should be the Nats all-star. He got 36 votes. Tyler Clippard was next with nine and I'd guess most of those votes were cast before the weekend. Jee-SUS got eight, Pudge got six, Dunn and Capps got four and Willingham three.
I still think Zimmerman will again be the only one wearing a Nats uniform in Anaheim. There is no obvious Nat, at least not to me. If Dunn is selected instead, it won't be a crime. I don't see any way anyone other than one of those two goes at this point.
Gonzo ain't going but I hope he's going out to short tonight. And tomorrow. And every day for a couple of weeks.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
It's a Funny Game
Me: So, if I'd said yesterday afternoon that the Braves would win 5-0 with Stephen Strasburg pitching and lose 7-2 with Craig Stammen pitching, you would have said??
My Son The Braves Fan: I would have said you're (flipping) nuts.
So what happens?
People who bet on baseball need their heads examined.
My Son The Braves Fan: I would have said you're (flipping) nuts.
So what happens?
People who bet on baseball need their heads examined.
Monday, June 28, 2010
My Annual Allegiance Debate
Had a fine day at Camden Yards yesterday, if you can overlook the actual ballgame. Since I fully expected the result, even that didn't bother me so much.
Camden Yards remains a great ballpark after all these years. I love that concourse out by the beautiful brick warehouse. Easy in, easy out, eight bucks to park. Lots of great food options. Met my buddy Tony Moss there, an Orioles fan by virtue of growing up in Baltimore. I treated him to a 4-3 Nats win in May, he treated me to a 4-3 Orioles win yesterday.
I got a free hat just for showing up and a free Orioles t-shirt for signing up with some car dealer (but no free car). With the free hat I got there last year, I now have a decent start on gear if I decide to make the transition. Which I might - BECAUSE THE NATS ARE KILLING ME.
Too fried to go look it up now but I could swear this team was 20-15 at one point this season, against some better competition than it has faced in recents weeks. My kids tell me all the time I'm losing my mind and this must be a classic case. Wasn't there hope, optimism, joy, all that stuff - THIS season? Must be a mirage.
What I'm seeing now is so 2009 like it is scary. How you blow 6-0, 5-0 and 3-0 leads in successive games is beyond my comprehension even when my brain was working right. To the Orioles no less. What is a real team going to do to the Nats? Oops, I better ease up on that smack talk since I may, you know, be jumping ship.
I suppose it would be wrong of me to be a Nats fan on the days Jee-SUS pitches and an Orioles fan on the other days. I'm just not that kind of guy. So I suppose I'll stay put a while longer.
Is there a simple answer to what ails the Nats? I fear not. I think what we've seen the past 40 games is more realistic than what we saw the first 35.
At least it is a Jee-SUS night so all will be right with the world for one day. I'm willing to bet if he gives up one run again, he gets a victory this time.
Camden Yards remains a great ballpark after all these years. I love that concourse out by the beautiful brick warehouse. Easy in, easy out, eight bucks to park. Lots of great food options. Met my buddy Tony Moss there, an Orioles fan by virtue of growing up in Baltimore. I treated him to a 4-3 Nats win in May, he treated me to a 4-3 Orioles win yesterday.
I got a free hat just for showing up and a free Orioles t-shirt for signing up with some car dealer (but no free car). With the free hat I got there last year, I now have a decent start on gear if I decide to make the transition. Which I might - BECAUSE THE NATS ARE KILLING ME.
Too fried to go look it up now but I could swear this team was 20-15 at one point this season, against some better competition than it has faced in recents weeks. My kids tell me all the time I'm losing my mind and this must be a classic case. Wasn't there hope, optimism, joy, all that stuff - THIS season? Must be a mirage.
What I'm seeing now is so 2009 like it is scary. How you blow 6-0, 5-0 and 3-0 leads in successive games is beyond my comprehension even when my brain was working right. To the Orioles no less. What is a real team going to do to the Nats? Oops, I better ease up on that smack talk since I may, you know, be jumping ship.
I suppose it would be wrong of me to be a Nats fan on the days Jee-SUS pitches and an Orioles fan on the other days. I'm just not that kind of guy. So I suppose I'll stay put a while longer.
Is there a simple answer to what ails the Nats? I fear not. I think what we've seen the past 40 games is more realistic than what we saw the first 35.
At least it is a Jee-SUS night so all will be right with the world for one day. I'm willing to bet if he gives up one run again, he gets a victory this time.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Blame Game
Just a typical Friday night in Harris land. Dogs stretched out in various places around the room. My wife on the sofa, pretending to read but watching the Nats the whole time. Me squeezing the stuffing out of the arms of my chair. I go through about eight a season.
My wife asks good questions. Martin out in the fifth? Why - he's making them hit it on the ground? Good question. I guess Rigs told him to surrender mammoth fly balls instead because he had a center fielder who could run forever and bring them back from over the fence. Ground balls? Your middle infielders can't handle those.
Slaten gets a K and he comes out. In the fifth. Wait a second, my wife says, didn't he just come in? Yep, I explained. Matchups. In the fifth inning?
Over (clap clap) manage *** over (clap clap) manage.
One of my Twitter friends, if that's what they're called, asked where the blame should go on this - Desmond, Guzman, Riggleman. I'm going to go straight with Riggleman here, despite the Little League defense played by the middle infielders.
I'm sure everyone realizes if Guzman had actually completed that double play, the Nats would have gone into extras with one available pitcher? Unless I missed my count, Joel Peralta was the only one left besides the starters (can Jee-SUS relieve?). Suppose the game had gone 16-17 innings? Would Alberto Gonzalez finally get to play - on the mound?
Of course, the one reliever who should have come out quickly stayed in. Tyler Clippard was clearly off his game from the start but what the hell? Let's leave him in to do some more damage. Then we can get Capps to come in and induce a ground ball that can't be converted into a double play.
At one point, another Tweeter noted (Zuckerman, I think, my head hurts and I didn't sleep well), the Nats used four pitchers to record five outs. This is why my head hurts and I don't sleep well. Being a Nats fan is worse for my health than the 200 extra pounds. Of course if this keeps up I'll develop Natsbulemia and maybe that will at least help with the weight.
As for the second base situation, I don't have a perfect answer except this: There has to be a better answer. Can Jee-SUS play second?
I went to Tuesday's game with a group of Michaels: My regular co-attendee the Rib Michael and Michael our former intern (2004) who gave up a newspaper job out west so he could go to law school back east.
Why, Law School Michael asked during the ninth inning, is Guzman at second base?
Welcome home, son.
Adam Kennedy is the obvious first answer but he's been a lead glove himself. Can Mik, uh, Michael Morse play second? I'm serious. I know he has a background as an infielder. Is it time to trot Gonzo out there for a while and see what he can do? OK, we already know. At least he can catch and throw.
Is there anyone in the system close enough to ready to give a look?
Yeah, there's another part of the infield defense that's a serious problem, a part that has almost as many errors as all the Minnesota Twins. That'll have to wait for another day. I need to go find my pills.
My wife asks good questions. Martin out in the fifth? Why - he's making them hit it on the ground? Good question. I guess Rigs told him to surrender mammoth fly balls instead because he had a center fielder who could run forever and bring them back from over the fence. Ground balls? Your middle infielders can't handle those.
Slaten gets a K and he comes out. In the fifth. Wait a second, my wife says, didn't he just come in? Yep, I explained. Matchups. In the fifth inning?
Over (clap clap) manage *** over (clap clap) manage.
One of my Twitter friends, if that's what they're called, asked where the blame should go on this - Desmond, Guzman, Riggleman. I'm going to go straight with Riggleman here, despite the Little League defense played by the middle infielders.
I'm sure everyone realizes if Guzman had actually completed that double play, the Nats would have gone into extras with one available pitcher? Unless I missed my count, Joel Peralta was the only one left besides the starters (can Jee-SUS relieve?). Suppose the game had gone 16-17 innings? Would Alberto Gonzalez finally get to play - on the mound?
Of course, the one reliever who should have come out quickly stayed in. Tyler Clippard was clearly off his game from the start but what the hell? Let's leave him in to do some more damage. Then we can get Capps to come in and induce a ground ball that can't be converted into a double play.
At one point, another Tweeter noted (Zuckerman, I think, my head hurts and I didn't sleep well), the Nats used four pitchers to record five outs. This is why my head hurts and I don't sleep well. Being a Nats fan is worse for my health than the 200 extra pounds. Of course if this keeps up I'll develop Natsbulemia and maybe that will at least help with the weight.
As for the second base situation, I don't have a perfect answer except this: There has to be a better answer. Can Jee-SUS play second?
I went to Tuesday's game with a group of Michaels: My regular co-attendee the Rib Michael and Michael our former intern (2004) who gave up a newspaper job out west so he could go to law school back east.
Why, Law School Michael asked during the ninth inning, is Guzman at second base?
Welcome home, son.
Adam Kennedy is the obvious first answer but he's been a lead glove himself. Can Mik, uh, Michael Morse play second? I'm serious. I know he has a background as an infielder. Is it time to trot Gonzo out there for a while and see what he can do? OK, we already know. At least he can catch and throw.
Is there anyone in the system close enough to ready to give a look?
Yeah, there's another part of the infield defense that's a serious problem, a part that has almost as many errors as all the Minnesota Twins. That'll have to wait for another day. I need to go find my pills.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Nyjer
OK, that catch was ridonkulous. Great catch. I called my wife in from the other room to see it. We rewound and watched it again.
But here's what I like, cribbed straight from Ben Goessling's "Goessling Game" over at the MASN website: He is historically a much better hitter in the second half of the season. In April, May and June, Morgan has hit .275, .236 and .246, respectively. Those career numbers jump to .388, .315 and .323 in July, August and September.
That's a heck of a jump and I'm not enough of a psychologist to understand. Does he just wake up and go, "Dang, it's July. Time to get hot." Should he start spring training in December and be ready to go by April? One year of that kind of split is a fluke. Two is eyebrow raising. Three? That's a trend.
He's three for three tonight and I think he had two hits in the last game I saw.
Would it make a major difference if he gets hot? You think? He made a major difference when he arrived last year on offense and defense. No reason to think it wouldn't happen again.
Now as soon as Dunn hits this one out, I'm going to rewind and watch that catch again.
But here's what I like, cribbed straight from Ben Goessling's "Goessling Game" over at the MASN website: He is historically a much better hitter in the second half of the season. In April, May and June, Morgan has hit .275, .236 and .246, respectively. Those career numbers jump to .388, .315 and .323 in July, August and September.
That's a heck of a jump and I'm not enough of a psychologist to understand. Does he just wake up and go, "Dang, it's July. Time to get hot." Should he start spring training in December and be ready to go by April? One year of that kind of split is a fluke. Two is eyebrow raising. Three? That's a trend.
He's three for three tonight and I think he had two hits in the last game I saw.
Would it make a major difference if he gets hot? You think? He made a major difference when he arrived last year on offense and defense. No reason to think it wouldn't happen again.
Now as soon as Dunn hits this one out, I'm going to rewind and watch that catch again.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Ray vs. Rob
The video is here in case you missed the most action out of anyone associated with the Nationals today not named Stephen Strasburg.
Take a minute to watch it if you haven't already. Or watch it again.
The vote in this house is 3-0, Ray. Unanimous decision. Not really close. He made the better points (see NatsInsider for a link to Mark's CSN story where Jose Guillen basically says what Ray said). He also handled himself with a ton more class. Two tons more class. Maybe three.
Is anyone surprised by that?
I'll admit to my bias. While I have nothing against Rob personally (he's been very gracious the two times we met), I've made it clear his cheerleading over Bob's calls drives me nuts. Plus, there's a certain arrogance to some of his analysis that I can't quite pinpoint but I know it is there. I like listening to Ray a lot more.
At one point, I was sure I saw Rob give a dismissive look while Ray was talking and look at Bob with something close to a smirk. That's when I called in the family to make sure I wasn't seeing that because I wanted to see that. We hit the back button on the DVR and watched again.
Nope. Disrespectful, my wife called it. She thought she saw a bit of an eye-roll in there. I couldn't tell for sure. Smug was another word she used. "He seemed like he thought he was above him," she said, "like he thought he knew more and he couldn't be bothered with what Ray thought. Hence the eye roll."
Hmmm. I ought to let her take over this blog.
You can disagree all you want. A little debate can be a lot of fun. But there's no need to be so dismissive, to basically come off like an ass. We know Rob Dibble played pro ball. You can't get out of the first inning without hearing about it. Ray Knight played a little ball, too, and played it pretty well. Rob often jokes about his lack of hitting ability. He was, after all, a pitcher. Ray knows hitting. I think he knows quite a bit more about what a hitter is thinking up there.
If Ray the hitter in his prime saw Rob the pitcher in his prime give that look or eye roll, hoo-wee. We coulda had us a fist fight.
Bernadina was safe, by the way. Family vote went 3-0 on that, too. I won't quote my wife on her reaction to the call other than to say "blind" was the first word. My ears still hurt from the second. I think everyone agrees on that play, except for the guy who actually counts.
Too bad. Jee-SUS was JEE-SUS once more. I think another thing we can all agree on after four starts - he's pretty good.
Take a minute to watch it if you haven't already. Or watch it again.
The vote in this house is 3-0, Ray. Unanimous decision. Not really close. He made the better points (see NatsInsider for a link to Mark's CSN story where Jose Guillen basically says what Ray said). He also handled himself with a ton more class. Two tons more class. Maybe three.
Is anyone surprised by that?
I'll admit to my bias. While I have nothing against Rob personally (he's been very gracious the two times we met), I've made it clear his cheerleading over Bob's calls drives me nuts. Plus, there's a certain arrogance to some of his analysis that I can't quite pinpoint but I know it is there. I like listening to Ray a lot more.
At one point, I was sure I saw Rob give a dismissive look while Ray was talking and look at Bob with something close to a smirk. That's when I called in the family to make sure I wasn't seeing that because I wanted to see that. We hit the back button on the DVR and watched again.
Nope. Disrespectful, my wife called it. She thought she saw a bit of an eye-roll in there. I couldn't tell for sure. Smug was another word she used. "He seemed like he thought he was above him," she said, "like he thought he knew more and he couldn't be bothered with what Ray thought. Hence the eye roll."
Hmmm. I ought to let her take over this blog.
You can disagree all you want. A little debate can be a lot of fun. But there's no need to be so dismissive, to basically come off like an ass. We know Rob Dibble played pro ball. You can't get out of the first inning without hearing about it. Ray Knight played a little ball, too, and played it pretty well. Rob often jokes about his lack of hitting ability. He was, after all, a pitcher. Ray knows hitting. I think he knows quite a bit more about what a hitter is thinking up there.
If Ray the hitter in his prime saw Rob the pitcher in his prime give that look or eye roll, hoo-wee. We coulda had us a fist fight.
Bernadina was safe, by the way. Family vote went 3-0 on that, too. I won't quote my wife on her reaction to the call other than to say "blind" was the first word. My ears still hurt from the second. I think everyone agrees on that play, except for the guy who actually counts.
Too bad. Jee-SUS was JEE-SUS once more. I think another thing we can all agree on after four starts - he's pretty good.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Just A Quick Question
Mark Zuckerman at NatsInsider has a good post up now that addresses some of the lineup questions - well, one big one: Where's Morse?
I posted a comment there and then decided to share it here. I'm one of those goobers in the Willingham-Bernadina-Morse camp. We're almost halfway through and, yes, Nyjer Morgan is performing a little better than he was recently. He's still making too many head-up-fanny plays, particularly on the bases.
But let's play the part of dutiful fans and accept the judgment of the general manager and manager. Morgan stays in center.
Can we please pretty please extra pretty please not play fun with lineup cards this weekend in Baltimore, the last chance to use the DH this year? Can we please pretty please see Mike, uh, Michael Morse three games in a row? Maybe two at DH and one at first? Just for yuks?
That home run he hit last night about landed in Baltimore. There's a message there. You have an extra slot so your "this is our best outfield" stuff doesn't work up there. Play Morse.
I posted a comment there and then decided to share it here. I'm one of those goobers in the Willingham-Bernadina-Morse camp. We're almost halfway through and, yes, Nyjer Morgan is performing a little better than he was recently. He's still making too many head-up-fanny plays, particularly on the bases.
But let's play the part of dutiful fans and accept the judgment of the general manager and manager. Morgan stays in center.
Can we please pretty please extra pretty please not play fun with lineup cards this weekend in Baltimore, the last chance to use the DH this year? Can we please pretty please see Mike, uh, Michael Morse three games in a row? Maybe two at DH and one at first? Just for yuks?
That home run he hit last night about landed in Baltimore. There's a message there. You have an extra slot so your "this is our best outfield" stuff doesn't work up there. Play Morse.
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