I would have thought a smoking jacket for Barry. Great that we'll have a double-dose of scribes down the stretch.

Thanks, Dave, for the line-up. Question: is the second baseman for the Indians the first Asdrubal to appear in post-season play? Inquiring minds want to know.

He is as they say the best Asdrubal in baseball.

Love that dancing ball of Tim Wakefield's. Just love it.

Why do you hate Paul Byrd so much? Ok, he's not an ace by any stretch, but this guy wins 15 games, gives his team about 200 innings just about every year, and gives you a WHIP of 1.39, not stellar by any means, but almost exactly the same as Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir, and Tom Gorzelanny, three of the better young pitchers in the game. His 4.59 ERA, pitching in the AL Central, is not shabby at all. Put him in a Nats uniform, and he'd start on Opening Day. Who's going to give us 200 innings of 4.50 ERA ball next year? What's his sin? He doesn't strike anyone out. OK but guess what? He really, really doesn't walk anyone either. 28 BBs in 192+ innings. A guy like that can pitch for me anytime.

oh, and he's got wicked good experience.

I agree he would be great for the Nats. He would give 200 solid innings and be great for the rest of the guys on the team, especially the soft-tossers, he also is a team leader that keeps everyone loose. I kind of see him as a poor man's Glavine other than being a righty. The Nats could defininitly do worse than Byrd.

ok one more thing...

Here's another list of guys whose WHIPs weren't as good as Byrd's this year:
Jake Westbrook
Andy Pettitte
Jamie Moyer
Josh Fogg
Doug Davis
Livan Hernandez

Seems like a few of these guys have held their own in the playoffs this year.

And his ERA is better than Wakefield's.

Me too! Thanks Swanni!
----
For those who may have missed it earlier this is very cool! Thanks swanni!!!

My DVR is set!

======================

TV Alert:

Build It Bigger
The high-def cameras observe the building of the new baseball stadium in Washington, D.C.
Discovery HD Theater, Wednesday (Oct. 17), 8 p.m.

Posted by: swanni | October 16, 2007 08:31 AM

Steven on Capitol Hill is Paul Byrd's mom.

NatsNut beat me to it on the obligatory Mom comment (well deserved in this case).

How great is Kenny Lofton.

Easy for me to say now, but when he stole second and scored to make it 7-0, I thought to myself, I bet that run makes a difference in this game, even if it's only when it's 7-5 in the ninth and the tying run comes to the plate for the Sawwx.

For the record, it's 7-3 now, so we shall see.

Would Lofton look good in a Nats uniform next year?

Are you Kenny's mom?

"Barry, you're [our] density ..."

Density? Should I be offended or was that a freudian slip?

C'mon, Nats Nut, I just made a vague prediction and asked a question. "Mom" comments should be reserved for blind unfettered misplaced advocacy.

NNut, the density post was mine, a "Back to the Future" reference that had nothing to do with your post.

Fair enough, Mr. Head.

BTW, what's the opposite of someone's mom? As in, when someone has nothing but gripes about a player?

I know. It was a joke referring to what sounded like NJ Posters being dense.

That would be a player's stepmother, I submit.

Ahah. Snark rating on me: Swing and a miss.

Old Style: Mother-in-Law
New Style: Ex (spouse)
----------------
BTW, what's the opposite of someone's mom? As in, when someone has nothing but gripes about a player?
Posted by: NatsNut | October 16, 2007 10:51 PM

Good one, cevans.
I'm Chad Cordero's ex-wife.

Good calls by Boz and Dave on Manny being Manny. The first thing that I said to natsfan1c after the game ended, even before I told him that Cleveland won (he hadn't watched it), was Manny Ramirez is an [RF]. What's with that guy? Seriously. (I'm not his mom, clearly)

My favorite sentence about October baseball (Boz):

"The game establishes parameters for our expectations over a six-month season; then, in a fraction of that time, it smashes our assumptions to pieces with glee."

On the other hand, Boz spelled Byrd's name, "Bird" several times. Ugh.

Steven and NRC, I like Byrd, too. Loved watching his windup and the double pump.

Maybe it was a case of a rogue spellchecker...

---

On the other hand, Boz spelled Byrd's name, "Bird" several times. Ugh.

Fave line from Shaughnessy's Globe gamer:

Establishing that he is classless as well as clueless, Ramírez raised his hands at home plate and admired his shot even though the Sox trailed, 7-3.

The Plain Dealer has a nice piece on Byrd.

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/bill_livingston/index.ssf?/base/sports/1192609963273970.xml&coll=2

Simontacchi gone, Bowie and Escobar to Columbus. Think we're gonna bring back the King?!

I know, I know... I'm not some blind Byrd obsessed fan, I just was reacting to what I thought was really unfair dogging by Sheinen. Then the more stats I found more evidence than I expected to back up my inkling that he was being disrespected unfairly.

Bottom line--he's a solid 4 on a team that's 1 game from going to the Series. Not an all-star, not an ace, just a solid 4 on a really good team. So give him the respect he deserves.

Sheinen is talking about him as if he's not even a legit MLB pitcher, Cleveland's Mike Bascik, the #1 horrible embarrassment in all the playoff rotations. That distinction goes to Josh Fogg.

No matter how low your expectations of Manny Ramirez' behavior, he has a way of dashing even those.

Fans and observers can at least take comfort that the classless flamboyance of the Ramirezes of the sport does not extend to the rest of the Red Sox or of baseball. Take Dustin Pedroia, whose worst public vice (at least in my optimistic reading of Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe) may be cribbage:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2007/10/13/foulke_planning_comeback/

Let Manny be Manny. As Sheinin aptly writes this morning, he lives in his own little world. His impact on ours can inspire indignation, even occasional admiration, but all leavened (at least for me) with a liberal dose of pity for the man-child.

"Let Manny be Manny. As Sheinin aptly writes this morning, he lives in his own little world. His impact on ours can inspire indignation, even occasional admiration, but all leavened (at least for me) with a liberal dose of pity for the man-child."

Oh, please. The guy's got an ego bigger than Yankee Stadium. I love how Sawx fans excuse their own for sins such as these.

Anyway, I'm loving this series. Can't wait for the inevitable tomorrow night. If my evil empire didn't make it to the WS, the Dread Sox's certainly won't. Boo-freakin'-hoo.

Ladson says Bob Carpenter has been offered a one-year contract to return to the Nats broadcast booth next season.

I agree with Hendo on Manny's man-child-ness. Remember when he helped the catcher find the ball on a wild pitch? And how many times has he obliviously left a bat right in the base path when a team mate came sprinting home? It's not enough to hate the guy for, just to shake your head and tut.

Mr. Head--thank you. Glad to hear the news about Carpenter. While not my favorite play-by-play person, he did an okay job in my view. But please don't get me started on Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Great news about Bob, Bob. Sometimes good guys do get their due.

Hold those horses, fans, this is a Bob Ladsen report...

Re: Manny, see this from Bill Simmons' running diary last night:

11:18: Mark from Philly offers an inspiring defense for Manny's home run preening: "When Manny went deep, my first thought was, 'Quit posing, Manny, we're still down 7-3.' Then it dawned on me that Manny probably had no idea what the score was. In fact, he probably isn't aware that baseball games are determined by which team scores more runs. Manny's only point of differentiation comes when, after hitting a home run, he sees his teammates waiting for him at home plate -- it's at that point he knows it's time to go to the strip club."

And reportedly for a 1 year deal to which he has yet to agree to. Bottom line, if he does accept, we're probably right back here at the end of '08.

===================

Hold those horses, fans, this is a Bob Ladsen report...

Posted by: Section 506 (Before moving) | October 17, 2007 11:16 AM

Slightly OT, but just finished watching the documentary "Touching the Game: The Story of the Cape Cod Baseball League." Great film, especially since Justin Maxwell was one of the prospects featured in it.

I'm mailing it back to NetFlix today, so it should be available by tomorrow for anyone who wants to put it on their list. :-)

Bill not Bob Ladson.....At least he is covering the Team....unlike the Post! Post does not have a clue what is happening with the pitchers, coaches or injuries, Fall league, Instructional league, Nick Johnson, Lopez's head you name it....to busy reporting out of town teams......Did not Barry say he was going to address this issue? God forbid Boz writes something about the Nats before March......

Thanks, Juan-John, for the NetFlix heads up. I've found them to be a wonderful resource for baseball movies.

Oh and as many have commented and as Barry's comments prove....we are going to have to look at the same picture of Young all winter...Post reporters do not even visit the Nationals home page on the Wpost.com site....

What's not to like?

Chill out, JayB. Even I, who am supremely critical of the Post's coverage of the Nationals, do not begrudge them devoting their reportorial and columnistic resources toward covering other teams who are actually playing games at the moment. You complain about no news on a number of fronts. Well, as they say, no news is good news. And when it's not, it's usually no news. So no contract announcements yet on coaches? That means no coaches have been fired. Status quo. Injury reports? Dude, it's the off-season. Maybe a month out from spring training it would be good to have an update, but not now. And as for Boz, after reading his column this morning it might be just as well if he never wrote again about the Nats. It's becoming pretty obvious that for years Boz must have been working with his own personal editor, a guy who could make sense out of his knucklehead prose the way Wakefield's personal catcher Doug Mirabelli can handle the knuckleball. But his personal editor must have quit or retired or taken the buyout, because I've given up trying to parse my way through his many run-on sentences to try and figure out WTF he's trying to say. Let him write about the Redskins now for all I care.

N.B. (attn: JayB) Ladsen has a terrible propensity for getting people's first names wrong.

Let's see Manny be Manny when he gets one in the earhole from the Indians sometime down the road. This guy is a joke and is everything that is wrong with pro sports.

I'm reminded for some reason of a bit Buck and McCarver did on PTI yesterday. They were asked about the post-season scheduling, and the fact that the World Series could end on November 1.

Buck immediately blamed Fox for all of the scheduling woes, and additionally confessed that his network was responsible for global warming.

What 419 said. Anyway, I'm finding it interesting to follow fall and winter league progress, starting at the Farm Authority and continuing through the winter league pages of MLB.com and lvbp.com (Venezuelan League).

If nothing else, the latter site gives me a chance to work on my Spanish, which God knows needs the work.

To expect much on winter leagues from any U.S. general-interest paper during football season would be unreasonable, even more so in Redskins Land.

"The picture of Dmitri is warm and cheering - like [a] yule log."

[Flynnie in an earlier post.]

It's a virtual hot stove...

---

"The picture of Dmitri is warm and cheering - like [a] yule log."

[Flynnie in an earlier post.]

Last year when we thought no news was Good news we got a nasty surprise in Nick Johnson being way over weight and unab le to even walk the day he got to Spring Training........that is not reporting that is just waiting for a story to bit you in the .... I agree on Boz but that is all they give us.

Hendo's comments cause me to wonder whether anyone here has been able to tune in and listen to Manny Acta's commentary on Fox.

---

If nothing else, the latter site gives me a chance to work on my Spanish, which God knows needs the work.

JayB, look a little more carefully on the Nationals page of the Post. Barry published a notebook this very day.

Hmm, put a cap and a red suit on da Meat and he'd be a fit subject for one of those old Coca-Cola(tm) Christmas trays.

Wonder what CafePress could do with that? Or a Post or Nats marketing gnome?

Hey does anyone have a link to the final stats of our prospects? I'm thinkin specifically of the Vermont Boys, Double-N (my new nickname for Zimmermann to distinguish. Maybe Double-Zim?), et al.

506, these are the sites I usually visit for prospect stats:

baseball-reference.com
milb.com
thebaseballcube.com

Each of them slices and dices the data just a little differently; any of them may well have all you're looking for.

506, go here, the affiliates are in the right hand column.

http://www.farmauthority.dcsportsnet.com/

Actually, for 2007 stats, this site is better:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp

From nationals.com:

WASHINGTON -- The Nationals and Bonneville International Corporation announced the continuation of their media partnership, signing a three-year deal that gives broadcast rights to Bonneville's Talk Radio 3WT.

All regular-season games, plus 10 Spring Training games, will be heard on the station, which transmits on 107.7 FM and 1500 AM throughout the entire Washington region, as well as on 820 AM in Frederick, Md.

"We are very pleased to be able to extend our three-year relationship with Bonneville," Nationals president Stan Kasten said in a statement. "Through our partnership with 3WT, our fans can be tuned into Nationals games, news and interviews virtually year round."

There was no mention of radio play-by-play broadcasters Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler. Kasten did not return an e-mail asking about the status of the duo. Last September, Slowes and Jageler were told by the team that they were wanted for 2008 and beyond. There is no word if they received contract offers.

Bill Ladson

Steven from CH - I think you are pretty close to dead-on about Byrd. 200 innings of around league average starting should not be disparaged too much. 4.59 ERA is close to a quality start on average. Same could be said for Jake Westbrook for most of the past 3 years (except the 1st half before his DL stint this year), and really Wakefield as well. However, if the Indians end up playing games 3, 4, and 5 in Colorado, I wonder if a guy who pitches to contact and gives up fly balls will be in for trouble at Coors.

Anyone have any idea why DC United articles are posted in the "More Headlines" section of the Nationals page online? They have their own section!

Oh, and about Westbrook, Matsuzaka and Wakefield - if you are going to pick a bad half and time to get injured, probably better to pick the first half than the 2d.

Hendo - gracias por la Venezuelan league web site. Do we have anyone playing there now?

More Arizona Fall League fodder for those in Nats withdrawal:

1. The Peoria Javelinas -- whose roster contains Nats prospects Kory Casto, Devin Ivany and Justin Maxwell -- visit Phoenix this afternoon at 3:35 EDT, with Gameday feed and everything. Navigate from http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/?league=afl.

2. Even if you don't give a rip about Casto, Ivany and Maxwell (in which case shame on you, but anyhow), here's how you can have some fun on the AFL page.

From the AFL main page, pull down "Teams" and select any team site. A roster will appear on your screen.

Now look at that last column: "40-man MLB." When the entry in that column is "No," as it usually will be, that player can be picked up in the Rule 5 draft. Of the three Nats playing for the Javelinas, note that Ivany is exposed, but Casto and J-Max (whew!) are not.

Itchy hot-stove GMs can proceed to one of the "Leaders" pages on the "Stats" pulldown and peruse the numbers. If your stat favorite (CAUTION: small sample size as of this early date) isn't on a 40-man, you may just have found a guy to hound Bowden to write a check for.

Happy shopping!

What more could you expect from that crack staff at WPost.Com.....remember when they did not know the difference between Guzman and Belliard?
Today's notebook gives us nothing that was not in the press releases other than Jimbo promoted a friend from his college days. Who is going to be our pitchers next year...not Bowie, Jason S., Mike B, Winston A....these guys put in a great deal of innings....who are the Nats planning to replace them with.....even cheaper guys? What is the thinking here, we know Stan has no plan to spend FA money so what next? That is what I would have Barry to written about...not a rewording of the press release.....

LCNF, de nada.

Jesús Flores is catching for Navegantes del Magallanes ("Magellan's Navigators" -- they actually play in Valencia), while Jonathan Albaladejo is pitching relief for Tiburones de La Guaira.

The Farm Authority blog usually has a pretty good wrap on the previous day's goings-on in fall and winter ball.

And this is the second day in a row I've failed to note that Adam Carr, Garrett Mock and Zech Zinicola are pitching for the Javelinas. I blush in shame. (None of them is on the Nats' 40-man, FWIW.)

"who are the Nats planning to replace them with.....even cheaper guys? What is the thinking here, we know Stan has no plan to spend FA money so what next? That is what I would have Barry to written about...not a rewording of the press release....."

Where have you been, JayB? Don't you know that Stan doesn't talk to Barry any more, or if he does he doesn't use the kind of words you can print in a family newspaper?

JayB, you're moving the goal posts.

You said the Post does "not have a clue what is happening with the pitchers, coaches or injuries, Fall league, Instructional league, Nick Johnson, Lopez's head you name it."

But they do. And they have even published information related to roster moves. In the print edition, which is more than some of that playoff coverage can say.

I agree that it's "nothing that was not in the press releases other than Jimbo promoted a friend from his college days", but that's not what you asked for (or complained about) in your first post.

My thought is that a lot of those questions aren't answerable yet. I know MLB asks teams not to make big announcements (dusty Baker and the Reds?) until after the Fall Classic. So all the trades and purchases won't be made known until November at the earliest and what's the point of speculating on personnel until after we get some better intelligence?

Speculating in print, I mean, I'm having a ball with Hendo's shopping tip and my latest copy of the [not quite] 40-man.

Rule 5 clarification: Players are exempt from the Rule 5 draft for four years (five years if signed before age 19) after being drafted or signed by their current organization. Makes that shopping list a tad shorter, doggonit...

New post.