i cannot stand to watch masn any longer. don sutton's continued lower extremity kissing of the braves has pushed me over the edge. he is such a horrible person i hope he gets fired mid season.

come on. It's not like he's clint....

To keep the olive branch extended, I repost from the preceding thread:

jpsfanandproudofit, thanks for staying on board. You'll find we're not such a Nasty bunch after all.

(Except we love JP aka Nasty. We do. Truly.)

Barry,

... did you do the right thing and buy flowers? And did you do the righter thing - three years ago - and marry a baseball fan?

... and now back to the game. Langer doing a credible job in lead-off. Mikey B acquitting himself well on the knoll it would seem. This game - now 2-1 in the fifth, thanx to SaltyPretzels - is still within our grasp.

Well, doggonit anyhow, Bass. Andruw gotcha.

Andruw Jones, he of the current Mendosa quality slump, hits a big dinger. 5 - 1.

Note to Self:

... hey big mouth. Keep your damned comments to yourself until the game's over, fer Gawd's sake.

BTW, Barry, happy anniversary and many, many happy returns.

506 asks, in the previous thread: "Happy Anniversary Barry and Mrs. Nationals Journal. Did she keep her name or does she love you enough to explain how to pronounce it every two seconds?"

What's the problem, 506? "Journal" is easy to pronounce and spell. %^D

Now that I have been made aware of a Mrs. Svrluga, I have a response for my wife who, after having heard me refer to yet another of Barry's insightful points during the game, exclaims, "Oh, why don't you go marry Barry Svrluga?"

(To be accurate, she really says "Barry Surfluga.")

Now I can say, "I'm three years late for that one."

And seriously, are we really losing to a guy named Buddy?

John in Mpls inquires: "And seriously, are we really losing to a guy named Buddy?"

Naw, we're losing to a guy named Andruw. Talk about your spelling issues. ("Andruw" is Dutch, by the way, so he gets a pass.)

I thought we were giving Langerhans the "pass" tonight.

It would be just as valid to say we're losing to a guy named Saltalamacchia (and speaking of spelling issues, I had to copy and paste that from the Braves website).

Saltalamacchia has the hardest name to spell since Giuliani. (Which I just had to type twice now. And I, too, cut-and-pasted Salt's name.)

Yay Churchy! Way not to give up!

Now there's some respect: Cox is calling for Wickman.

Well, shucks. At least we made 'em bring out their big gun to beat us.

Why Jimenez? This late in the game, let Watson take a chance at being the hero. And I don't care about match-ups, any other batter had to have had a better average...

On the subject of home runs, is that 9 of their 10 in the series scored off the long ball? Can we blame that on RFK's fences?

Barry, to settle the point brought up by jpsfanandproudofit, I suggest this:

Ask Patty to look over the previous thread. Gauge his reaction, from which we may take our cue:

- Snort = negative
- Eye roll = neutral
- Chuckle = positive

I suspect he might register all three reactions, which proves nothing.

This is a loose (in the best sense) team, folks. When there's nothing else to celebrate, we have that.

My guess is that Jiminez was the last batter to see if he did anything to remain on the roster or gets the cut to activate Fick.

And happy anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Journal!

I guessed wrong - Brandon Watson down!

Yep, Watson just got sent back down. And Batista is still with us. This makes no sense to me.

Are we sure Watson down??? Dang, why is this club so attached to Nook Logan?

It's a position decision. Outfielders we have. Infielders we don't. With Guzman down, Jimenez gives Manny someone who can spell Belliard, Lopez, or Zimmerman.

Still, I probably wouldn't have been surprised to see Logan get the demotion instead of Watson. Six of one, half-dozen of the other? Maybe Logan would have a 44-game hit streak in the minors?

Barry pointed out that Batista staying up is tied to Guzman's injury. With Belliard playing every day, they needed a right-handed bat off the bench. Enter Batista.

I guess Logan could be that right-handed batter if Watson stayed up and Nook moved to the bench. Still, having Watson and Logan up in the bigs at the same time seems redundant. It really looked like Logan or Watson, and Watson had an option. They were afraid Nook would be claimed off waivers.

And yeah, Barry just made me redundant by updated the Journal. Color me Watson.

Perhaps because Watson has options they want to save him for another year? Or is this JimBo's crazy head throwing another wild pitch amidst his nasty stuff (see, Junior Spivey, et al.)?

Who heard Fick's comment that Dmitri and Ray King bring "a lot of lightness to the clubhouse. And a lot of heaviness, too"?

Updating. Caught that one too late to hit Stop.

Time for bed. What will I do all day at work tomorrow if I post here tonight?

Logan is useless. He has speed and nothing else, and his head is not in the game. Options or no, it should have been him that was sent down instead of Watson. So what if some other team claimed him? No big loss there. Not that Watson is any great shakes himself, but he's better than Logan.

Fick should go for a career in the booth instead of on the field. I heard him on the radio tonight with Charlie and Dave, and he's refreshingly able to speak his mind without pulling any punches. I guess he must have made that comment about Dmitri and Ray King on TV, not radio, because I didn't hear it. But on the radio he was talking about Terry Pendleton working to get Andruw Jones back on track, and pointed out that Pendleton is a great coach (Fick was on the Braves for a while, so he knows from experience), but "Andruw can be stubborn at times." Obviously he was holding nothing back, just telling it like it is and not sucking up to anyone (unlike certain other broadcasters we listen to every now and then...)

I respectfully leave the decent poetry to Hendo, so I will only give you the lowest form of verse for what seems a superbly commoner decision by the powers-that-be:

One week bereavement leave our utility man took
So they brought red-hot Watson up for a look
But when Robert came back
Someone had to be sacked
And to our great disdain we end up with Nook

As "they" say, sometimes our greatest strength is also the source of our blind spots. For example, folks who pay great attention to Don Sutton's every word, yet seem blind (not to mention deaf) in understanding the Nats' next-day pitcher is sitting in the clubhouse charting pitches while listening (attentively or subliminally) to Don's advice on how to get specific batters out. Now those folks are great listeners, but have to concentrate real hard to hear what's being said. Just a chatty country pitcher, that Don (and that wily Stan, too).

So, I wonder whether we're seeing a glimmer of J. Bow's blind spot. Clearly, identifying undervalued talent is a great strength (cf D. Meat, R. Belly, M. Bowie, J. Simontacchi....). Perhaps the corresponding blind spot is seeing latent talent, but a reluctance to recognize a deficit of {focus; discipline; perserverance; adaptability...} that is likely to at least prolong - if not prevent - a great talent from breaking through. Is J. Bow's blind spot that he believes so strongly in the underlying talent that he's afraid to risk losing a player who, in spite of many opportunities, can't seem to find or tap into his talent? I'm thinking about Nook, who seems to have great inherent talent - it just seems so lost that one has to wonder whether it will ever be found. On the other hand (that pesky upper extremity), the same belief in inherent talent brought Levale back to the organization - which seems completely reasonable to me.

The point is, is there reason to think that J. Bow has difficulty making decisions to move talented, but nonperforming, players that he originally identified? Is it unfair to say there hasn't seemed to be like difficulty with players who weren't "found" on J. Bow's watch (cf R. Church, B. Watson)?

Q: "The point is, is there reason to think that J. Bow has difficulty making decisions to move talented, but nonperforming, players that he originally identified? Is it unfair to say there hasn't seemed to be like difficulty with players who weren't "found" on J. Bow's watch (cf R. Church, B. Watson)?"

A: Y-E-S.

Also, this 25 man roster is full of non-major league position players. Logan, Watson, Batista, Fick, Jiminez, Flores - all should be in the minor leagues.

Demote Watson or demote Logan - who cares? Both are not a part of the Nationals' future.

I think the Nats have made a big mistake in giving up so quickly on Brandon Watson. Again.

Last year, Watson had a great spring and batted over .300. He covered a lot of ground in center field and was the type of player who, when he got on, really put a lot of pressure on the defense and made things happen. By the end of the spring, there was no question that he had earned a starting job. Then he had just a few bad games and after a mere nine games the Nationals completely gave up on him. Nine games. It was ridiculous. Such impatience.

Now here we go again. Out of five games played, Watson was the dominant player in two. Not just getting hits, but running the bases well, driving in runs and providing a spark for the whole team. Then he has one 0-4 game and he's back in the minors.

I understand he has options, and I suppose that's their rationale. But this is a guy who has the potential to be a top-flight leadoff hitter and a major asset for the team. He just broke the league record by hitting in 43 straight games. Ok, in AAA. But surely breaking the all-time record means something. The guy can hit, or there's every reason to believe he can. Yes, he's "only" a slap hitter, but when you've got his speed, that's often all you need.

One of the TV commentators compared Watson to Juan Pierre. It seems a good comparison. No doubt if Pierre were in the Nationals organization, he'd be stuck in the minors, too. Or maybe they'd call him up for a few games, so long as he didn't go a single game without a hit.

I don't get it.

I maintain: Watson came up for the wrong reason and he went down for the wrong reason. Neither of which I profess to understand.

Coming up: He was brought up because of his IL-record hitting streak. Fine. Celebration-worthy. But there are still better, more patient and more powerful hitters biding their time in Columbus.

Going down: If the reason is options, then he's a victim of the vagaries of the option rules. If the reason is handedness, that dulls the case against bringing him up in the first place, not to mention blowing an option. If the reason is that he needs a chance to play every day, he could have had that here, or at least every other day or so in a platoon with Langerhans (who we haven't seen break out yet but I bet we will).

And if the reason is really something else, I'd really like to know what it is.

... we might not notice it too much, what with our home games played in a park the size of a small country, and what with SaltyPretzels and Andruw last night, but there is a report out which says the number of HR's is lower this year than any year since 1993.

... Dmitri says that's because pitching is better. I'm not convinced; what do you say?

Natscan ponders, re fewer HRs MLB-wide: "Dmitri says that's because pitching is better. I'm not convinced; what do you say?"

I don't think pitching is better and it might be getting worse shortly. (That, I think, will be temporary, and due to generational change: out with the Clemenses, Glavines, Schillings et al., in with the whomevers.)

A big factor IMO is that the ball and the players are less enhanced than formerly. We are coming to the end of the long national farce that Bud and the Lords, enabled by pliant media outlets, perpetrated on fans in the 90s.

No one will be called to account for it save messengers such as Giambi. Plus ca change, vraiment!

"Demote Watson or demote Logan - who cares? Both are not a part of the Nationals' future."

Question: Who is? Five years from now, will anyone in the current organization be representing the Nats on the field?

Of course, Lerner and Kasten will be there in 2012, pitching their schtick, which will come down to "We're getting better. 'The Plan' is working."

... unfortunate game last night. But today's another day, and it's only Smoltz, so we have reason to hope.

... we might not have noticed it, since our home games are played in a park the size of a small country, or because of a couple of guys named SaltyPretzels and AndrUw. But a report this a.m. says the number of HR's is lower this year than it has been since 1993.

... responding to that news, Dmitri says 'it's because the pitching is better'. I'm not convinced. What do you say?

... sorry about the double entry. (Damned computers!).

... if you feel the need to respond re the number of HR's [as Hendo did], choose one and go with it.

I was also interested to hear Fick's radio stint. It did occur to me that, given the sad occasion of his leave, it might have been better to have him on the pregame. That way, you'd avoid the awkward, abrupt, and rather tone-deaf (to me at least) changes of subject occasioned by the play-by-play narrative (e.g., from Fick speaking of his mother's having been blessed to die at home surrounded by loved ones to Slowes' "Church goes down looking"). But it's good to have Robert back and I wish him all the best.

Natsfan1a notes, re the Fick interview: "given the sad occasion of his leave, it might have been better to have him on the pregame."

I missed it altogether, drat. However, I suspect that the timing of Fick's return from California was the culprit. If the pregame interviews are audiotaped ahead of time, as I would imagine they are, he might still have been in the air.

Indeed, welcome back, Rob. (Did we ever ask you if you can play shortstop BTW?)

On the subject of Watson, treating him as they have is a perfect way to cause a player to become an attitude case. Especially when the player they have kept in his stead (Logan) is so totally useless. I usually support Bowden's moves but in this case I feel he is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Boz has a good column about Guzman's "Hot Hand, Bum Thumb."

Do you think he's writing a "Hot Arm, Bum Bum" column for tomorrow?

Fick was good in the booth. Reminded me of when Capitals defenseman Joe Reekie, while injured, took some time to sit in on the radio broadcast. He's now on the Caps show on Comcast. Still, Fick's not as bad on the field as Reekie was on the ice.

And yeah, that's four Caps references. Time to pull it back.

John in Mpls: Reekie's better than Craig Laughlin.

OK, I swear I will take the rest of this to El-Bashir's blog. But I just couldn't resist.

And Laughlin's better than Sutton. And Ron Darling.

See? I brought it back around.

And I just read we traded Jermaine Van Buren. That means we won't be able to start a fan club called The Van Buren Boys. Bummer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Van_Buren_Boys

Given his name and the ailment that put him down, I wonder who will be the first to show up bearing the Colome Stigmata? And would this be a career hindrance or a career help, anyway?

Oh, God. John in Mpls, irrespective of what Mrs. John may say, you have too much time on your hands.

War chanting songs and the tomahawk chopping,
Our guys thrown out while the bases they're hopping,
AJ busts out and Mike's pitches grow wings,
These are a few of my favorite things -- NOT!

Hendo I ain't but I just needed to get that off my chest. And now back to your regularly scheduled blogging....

p.s. It would seem that I also may have a wee bit too much time on my hands. Back to the grindstone...

Can any of you kind season tix holders tell me what Da Meat Hook's song is when he goes to bat? Office bet....and thanks in advance....

I think the lower HRs this year since 1993 says 2 things:

1. Pre-roids for most of the league. They really busted out mid-90s.

2. The weather around the US was AWFUL in April, which created a down month for power numbers everywhere (except where A-Rod was). I think I notice in many of the monthly stat comparisons for many players(e.g., Meat Hook - but he's been on fire).

I think the delay after spring training hurt a lot of guys' timing, and it wasn't until May that some guys got in the groove. We're seeing some bust-out performances now (a few busts too - AndruwJ).

Weather report for the rest of the season says hot, hot, and pitching is down. I'm expecting to see some power numbers come up to overcome point 2 above. Then it'll be clearer the impact of PED's.

My 2 cents.
----
... but there is a report out which says the number of HR's is lower this year than any year since 1993.

... Dmitri says that's because pitching is better. I'm not convinced; what do you say?

I think the lower HRs this year since 1993 says 2 things:

1. Pre-roids for most of the league. They really busted out mid-90s.

2. The weather around the US was AWFUL in April, which created a down month for power numbers everywhere (except where A-Rod was). I think I notice in many of the monthly stat comparisons for many players(e.g., Meat Hook - but he's been on fire).

I think the delay after spring training hurt a lot of guys' timing, and it wasn't until May that some guys got in the groove. We're seeing some bust-out performances now (a few busts too - AndruwJ).

Weather report for the rest of the season says hot, hot, and pitching is down. I'm expecting to see some power numbers come up to overcome point 2 above. Then it'll be clearer the impact of PED's.

My 2 cents.
----
... but there is a report out which says the number of HR's is lower this year than any year since 1993.

... Dmitri says that's because pitching is better. I'm not convinced; what do you say?

I'm sure my employer would agree with you.