I'm so sad I'm going to miss this game. Does anyone know if it will be on TBS so I can have my wife tape it for me?

Love the lineups

For estuartj...game is on sports south, not tbs. Hope you get that station. Can't wait to see Maxwell tonight in his first start in the field.

Thanks, Barry. Go, Justin!

Good luck to Justin Maxwell! Go Terps! I mean Nats!

Good Luck Justin!

Hopefully Justin won't fumble on his first snap....

I have been out all day and just saw the Patterson update. Thanks so much Barry. I really appreciate it.

By the way, his hometown ,Orange, Texas, was hit hard yesterday by Hurricane Humberto. His family lives there and I hope they are alright. You may remember that Orange was badly damaged by Hurricane Rita just 2 years ago.

With Maxell finally getting a start we just need to get Detwiler one.

Maybe in place of Bacsik, just 1 time through the line-up and then let Bacsik or Abreau come in for long relief.

We haven't had any rain here since 6:45 and i'm only 3.5 miles from the park.

They should be starting soon, based on my radar scope...

Well, guess I was about 3 minutes too quick to type there!

Sitting on 1st base line- Flores' HR looked way fair to us. TV viewers?

JennX, it was barely foul according to slo-mo replay.

Why oh WHY is Flippie in this game?!? He's more of a guaranteed out than a pitcher!

Nothing like having your pitcher up in the nine spot and hearing the announcer say something about hoping Chico gets a hit because the FLipping LEADOFF HITTER IS SLUMPING!!!!

DAT'S MY ZIMMIE!!!!

So, is Chico's rough first inning somewhat made up for by five innings of shut out ball and the sac fly that tied the game?

And are Zimmerman's errors in the last series against the Braves forgiven by the two run homer that puts the Nationals ahead?

Chico is the man, he just got lost for a little bit.

So on that lost bat that Austin Kearns attempted to kill WMP with...

Did anyone else notice on the MASN reply how Wily Mo bent down to pick up the bat, then started back up, but stopped and bent over again to pick up the resin too.

WMP fielding:

"Oooohh, lookit-da-BIRDIEEE..."

Cardiac Cordero -

Blown save #9. Fall behind every batter. sigh.

Juan-John:
I'm with you. WMP gets close, then... just waves like a Homecoming Queen in the 4th of July parade.

[RF] Cordero! Throw a strike!

This is WAAAAY too long of a top of 9th. Whew! Let's get 'em! Heart of the order.

Actually, somehow I thought Chief had a lot more blown saves than just nine. Helps salve the (still-slightly-festering) wound of Colorado (or was it Houston?).

Blown save, but at least no melt down. (In spite of not having his good stuff tonight.)

Belly coming through and 3 unable to do anything with it. Batista's K was huge. Jesus with a good at-bat, but couldn't quite drop.

Ok gang. Rain coming down. 10th inning. Let's do it right here.

Maalox, anyone?

Thank God Soriano is out

These guys sure know how to keep our attention...

So as long as I'm sighing about going through this AGAIN, did anyone else hear Bob Carpenter's very strange comments about our soldiers deployed in Iraq?

"They're fighting over there, so that we can, well, play baseball over here."

Okay, what? Who is trying to take away baseball? Who among Al-Qaeda, Saddam, al-Quds Force, Jaysh al-Mehdi, the Taliban, Hamas, Pan-Islamic Terrorism, Transnational Corporations, KAOS, the Anti-Christ, or whoever anyone on earth might think we're fighting is trying to stop Americans from playing baseball?

Does anyone in the majors have more extra-inning games than we do? These killed our bullpen during the pre-callup season, limiting the rest of the series. It's really kinda amazing how many there have been.

I'm guessing we have to have as many, if not more, 1-run games as anyone.

Hey, maybe we ought to have Randy St. Claire work with Zimmerman on throwing strikes.

And to think I only planned on 2 beers for this game....

Is Hanrahan available to pinch hit?

Haha 422... I was just asking the same thing :) who else is left?

If the rain continues like this, and we don't finish this inning, why don't they just finish the game tomorrow, pre-game?

How excited do you think WMP, Zimm, Church are gonna feel with the promotional batting practice at the new stadium tomorrow?

I can't tell if this game is headed towards an incredibly dramatic ending, or an incredibly dramatic ending, ifyouknowwhatImean...

Anyone know if RFK serves breakfast?

Jenn:

Ansolutely! Uncooked Italian sausage and Bud Light.

eyelids getting... so heavy....

never expected this game and the Sox-Yanks going for 4 hours 43 mins in 9 innings. That ump (dunno who) had a tiny strike zone that just made every count 3-2 it seemed. Crazy comeback by the Yanks.

All right, i'm hanging for this half of the inning. All those callups, no one on the bench... I'm with y'all, might as well put Hanrahan in. Or, if pitchers spot comes up in a bunt situation, I could see Bacsik come in.

G'night all!

Speaking of Zzz's, does anyone else think Sutton fell asleep for the 12th? I don't think he said a word. Maybe on another pepsi run?

Fer Gawd's sakes, Manny, BENCH Flippie!!!

Now on my sixth beer...

Oh Dear GAWD, Holey Butt is pitching...

You know, it seems like, even though there aren't a whole lot of people left (I say watching on the highly partisan Atlanta station), they're still making a lot of noise. Way to go, Nats fans. Way to go.

Am I the only one with a totally screwed up MASN2 signal on Cox in Fairfax?

At least I don't have to watch the Baltimore-focused ads.

Any Nats fans left at RFK? JennX...??

Ah well, so much for that non-losing season...

Perchance there's anyone still out there, from the Atlanta crew: "Ryan Church scares me. I do not want him coming up with runners on." Even with the strikeout, it makes the Church fan in me just so happy. The fact that it's not by any means the first time I've heard these guys say really flattering things about Church demonstrates that someone values him. If we don't want him next year (or if he's just going to be riding the bench), maybe the Braves will take him. He and Francoeur can find God together.

Yes Atlanta, I watched the Braves feed also. It is surprising how much respect they show Church isn't it? I've always kind of liked him, but seems he plays in DC with a cloud over his head or something. Well, even though the Nats lost this one, at least it ended before the first frost. Dang Chipper Jones is a one man Nats wrecking crew. Oh well, get em tomorrow, hopefully.

". . . at least it ended before the first frost."

Not that frost is a worry, but it is supposed to get down into the 40s tonight (49 by midnight per AccuWeather). Don't forget to dress warmly -- i.e., layers, as Mom said.

re: dress warmly....Since I moved to South Carolina two years ago, I don't think I've worn anything but shorts more than twice, hopefully thats all I'll need when I come 9/23.

The Reds will pick up Adam Dunn's 13 million option for '08 soley to deal him to the Nats.

The Nats are going to take WMP to arbitration rather than negotiate a extension so thatwhe have the option in '08 to trade, sign either of them or let them go via FA and take draft picks for the '09 draft.

Austin Kearns will start the season in CF, but will likely move back to the corner when Dunn or WMP is moved in July and then Maxwell will be called up from AA Harrisburg.

Projected '08 opening day line-up
Hill
Schneider
Young
Belliard
Zimmerman
Guzman
Dunn
Kearns
Pena

Starting line-up on August 1st
Patterson
Flores
Johnson
Belliard
Zimmerman
Guzman
WMP
Maxwell
Kearns

No Adam Dunn! We have enough corner outfielders already, although I do think Kearns could make a good CFer in the short term.

On the other hand Dunn hit his 39th homer last night and Pena is on pace for 54 since moving to DC. Still, between the two of them they'd total over 300 strikeouts!

Juan-John: Yup... we were there till the bitter end. Kudos to my family visiting from out-of-town for indulging me and sticking it out. Did y'all know they do a second Presidents race in the middle of the 13th? That part was awesome. Lincoln won twice in one night. (Wouldn't it have been hilarious if Teddy snuck in a post-midnight win?)

Yeah, that Larry Wayne is a thorn in our side all right.

The heck of it is that Atlanta is hitting just .239 / .296 / .335 against the Nats at RFK this season. (MLB.com, it should be noted, does not provide splits on firm vs. muddy track, and the Daily Racing Form seems to provide nothing relevant to the present contingency.)

We'll get 'em tonight on dry ground.

I couldn't watch the game from STL last night, how was J-Max's defense and arm?

Dunn's strikeouts I don't mind. (You knew I was going to say that.) He seems willing, even eager, to draw a base on balls, which doubtless contributes to his .384 OBP this season.

WMP is another matter, as I've noted before. He takes a lot fewer walks; not surprisingly, his OBP is 40 points lower.

Ironically, you could probably attribute Dunn's K totals to good plate discipline (if you can get a lot of 3-2 counts, you're going to strike out -- as well as walk -- a lot of the time), whereas Pena's whiffs are patently the result of plate indiscipline (if you swing at everything, guess what's going to happen).

J-Max looked fine in center. He had one chance each in five of the seven innings he played, and fielded them all cleanly, including calling off WMP once to avoid a collision.

His first chance was on a sacrifice fly by AJones to bring in CJones in the first inning. Max tried for the baserunner kill, and the throw home was on line, but Larry Wayne managed to beat it out. (Before I looked back in my scorebook just now, I was thinking that was later in the game. That was a loooong first inning, though; it wasn't clear Chico was going to survive it.)

In viewing last nights game, I suppose it would take a cat 5 hurricane to spoil 9/23...maybe. So, if it looks like rain, make sure to bring a large plastic trash bag and make holes for the arms and head, cause they're gonna play.

I was more or less for signing Dunn until we got WMP, I'm not so crazy about the idea of having both, like I said we have enough corner guys. But I also like the idea of Kearns playing CF more than commiting ourselves to any of the FA CFers for long term contracts at the ridiculous costs it will take to land them, not to mention the lost draft picks (although if your going to do that this is a good year since our top pick will be protected).

With the Lefave pickup, I'm feeling even less urgency about acquiring an outfield FA.

Assuming reasonable freedom from illness and injury, the current outfield crew would be a pretty fair collection to start '08 with. By the '08 trade deadline, we should know what to expect of Lefave and Maxwell and what has to be done to nail down the situation out there.

The Nats would be better off pursuing an on-base machine for now. (Even better would be if they could acquire some magic on-base dust for our current hitters.)

New post.

Also, we would be suitably attired should we decide to head to a crab shack for dinner after the game! :-)

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SC Nats Fan observed: In viewing last nights game, I suppose it would take a cat 5 hurricane to spoil 9/23...maybe. So, if it looks like rain, make sure to bring a large plastic trash bag and make holes for the arms and head, cause they're gonna play.