We covered this the other day but for all of you who have uncooperative computers/systems at your offices - CBS Sportsline does a very good in-game gameday if you can't access the one through MLB.

Enjoy.

PS - Over/Under the times FLop has to crow-hop just to hit the cutoff

I know that Manny and JimBow express confidence in FLop, but I want to see how he adapts to having to run for balls hit his way coming out of the sky of a multi-deck stadium. I don't doubt that he has the athleticism, but this may turn out to be a not-so-excellent adventure.

as the old baseball saying goes, when a manager is trying to hide a fielder the baseball inevitably finds him.

I love Lopez attitude, genuine or not he's saying all the right things.

I firmly belive this move is all about getting FLop at-bats to keep his spirits up until they can get the right deal worked out to move Belliard, thus getting FLop at his natural position (2B) and bring up Orr to be the backup IFer.

What do you think JimBow would consider fair value or Ronnie Belliard?

That's kind of what I was thinking, leetee.

I mean, one of the things said about Lopez is he has a hard time keeping his head in the game. How is that going to work with him out in left, where he may not see a ball for innings at a time?

Can't get my eyes on this one, but my ears will be glued to my headphones.

Me, too (don't use Super Glue, though).

---

Can't get my eyes on this one, but my ears will be glued to my headphones.

One of the benefits of the TV version that some of my compatriots here will appreciate... Debbi Taylor just interviewed Felipe Lopez at his locker with his shirt off. Mmmmrrrrooowrrr!

:( I'm C&D only today.

"Debbi Taylor just interviewed Felipe Lopez at his locker with his shirt off."

Was it FLop, or his cardboard cutout?

...and don't forget not only does the baseball inevitably find out-of-position fielders, but it usually happens at the worst possible time.

Go, F-Lope!

Good one, Twinbrook. This time it was the real thing, though if such a cardboard cutout exists, can someone send it to me? Thx.

By the way, before this lovely undefeated spell is broken, I'd just like to say that my $5 bet on the Nats to win the World Series is looking pretty brilliant right now. ;)

leadoff double for Guzman...

...and an early 1-0 lead thanks to an error

CBS is behind

Which two Mets batting 7-8 combined for 5 RBIs last night?

seeing eye grounder up the middle for boone. 2-0. job well done.

And Aaron Boone delivers an RBI single - I guess Manny knows what he's doing :)

I really hope the Lopez experiment works. I'm more worried about him at the plate. They always say that when you're struggling or worrying about your defense it affects your offense. Go Nats

2-0!!!! Aaron Friggin Boone!!!

And Belliard with a 2-run double!

BELLIARD!!

4-0 NATS!!

Belly with a double scoring two, 4-0 Nats.

"Which two Mets batting 7-8 combined for 5 RBIs last night?"

A: Church and Schneider.

Way to go guys!

Jesus!!!!

and there's Flores with another 2-out double. Did the Nats get Lo Duca to get them better 'roids or something. I don't believe I'm watching the same team as last year.

This one's getting ugly for the Phillies - can't be too much longer before their fans start booing...Flores now with an RBI double to make it 5-0

"Debbi Taylor just interviewed Felipe Lopez at his locker with his shirt off."

Call me when she takes *her* shirt off.

And isn't he covered with tats anyway>

Check your Dodgers stationary!

9-men first inning. Who asked the question about when Jamie Moyer was done? Answer: Now.

Now, THAT is an explosion

JennX, natsfan1a,
Although I want to get into the spirit of the wild living first place fan base I am keeping my shirt on while I post. Eat your hearts out (or more likely celebrate) ladies.
Let's play two!

This from that other paper:

"The Boston Red Sox have decided to give Pena a World Series ring and share of the players' prize pool and have invited the outfielder to attend Tuesday's ceremony honoring the championship club. The Nationals will give Pena, who was traded from Boston to Washington on Aug. 17, permission to attend."

A five run 1st sure takes the heat off off Lopez in LF.

If they pull Moyer I think Manny should sub Mackowskiendbfkjsbe (sp?) Or Harris and move Lopez to 2B (or SS) and give Belli a break, and get Lopez a full gaves worth of At-Bats.

Man, I get hit with the triple-whammy....My Cox Cable craps out last night and I can't get the game, I'm landlocked in a building with no radio reception, my internet has tons of security firewalls on it making it impossible to get MLB Audio. Live gameday is where it's at for me.

JESUS SAVES!

5-0!! As with this game, there is a long way with this season. However, there is reason to hope ofr 81-81 or even a fews games above .500. I have always thought that one could tell after 25-30 games, with the odd exception, how a team was going to do for the season. LETS GO NATS(CAPS)!

Nah. Let's pour it on for a while first. Remember how productive the Phillies are once they find their groove. I would say that until we get a 8-9 run lead, we better keep the starters in.

"More news. Chad Cordero played catch in left field under the watch of Acta, pitching coach Randy St. Claire and head athletic trainer Lee Kuntz."

OK, Lopez I can sorta see, but if they start running the Chief out there, too ...

Apropos of some of the posts above, NatsInquisition had this to say today about Lopez in left:

"It's sort of like letting Lopez do a pole dance on the left field foul pole and having all the other team's GMs out there cooing and marveling like mid-aged women waiting to put dollar bills in his jock.

Go gett'em, stud."

yes. guzman.

I love this.

I'm guessing the Boone over Hook call was the right one thus far.

If this team starts 4-0, will there be a groundswell of attention then?

Haha!! There is already action in the bullpen!

Though the thought of Felipe Lopez in left scares me to death, this is the right time to see how it (the experiement) works. I like the fact that the 3-0 start (and the Nationals are leading 5-0 in Thursday's game) hasn't changed the team's thought process that we are still building for the future. That said, I'd have much preferred to see Justin Maxwell play in left until Wily Mo and Elijah return from the DL. I really think this kid has real potential.

And Guzman just hit his 2nd double of the game. Wow.

and the 2nd inning is starting like the 1st: runners on the corners, noboday out, and Zimmerman up...

Duly noted, SlowPitch! ;)

---

JennX, natsfan1a,
Although I want to get into the spirit of the wild living first place fan base I am keeping my shirt on while I post. Eat your hearts out (or more likely celebrate) ladies.
Let's play two!

Hi folks. I'm not using PEDs anymore. Can you tell?

Wow, boo birds are out in force.

i hate you masn, but thank you for the shots of the pained phillyphans

Holy crap, it's like they switched uniforms before the game!

FYI, your beloved Justin Maxwell and myself (along with others) used to smoke MARIJUANA all the time while we were at UMD.

Puff Puff Give Justin.

Come on, Boooooooooone!

Hey, Former MD Terp, it's 2008, not 1958.

That double play burns...

You can tell Former Terp is NOT O's Exec. Either that or s/he's hired a secretary to spellcheck the posts.

And Ryan Howard gives us an easy out to start the bottom of the 2nd...

Whatever just happened, CBS Sportsline is on the fritz because of it. I saw double-play, then no outs, then triple-play, now Kearns is back up to bat.

Just chiming in from Philly. Went to the game last night. It was dollar dog night (i.e. college night) which led to a pretty rowdy crowd. But they went home quiet. Listening to the game on Phillies radio right now, and their announcers are apoplectic (though we really should have put a couple on the board in the 2nd and just completely buried them). Oh well. Its always sunny in Philadelphia when the local teams are losing.

Yay, Felipe!

Slowes says Lopez handled that "as if he made that play a thousand times."

Lopez, youre a natural!

Felipe's fine running catch in left makes me think we need a new mascot: a crow, wearing a bib napkin -- the Eating Crow.

Man, I love this job. What? I don't work for Nats marketing? Hey, who does?

That's nice, but shouldn't you be getting ready to pitch, Jason? Oh wait, wrong Jason. :)

---

Lopez, youre a natural!

Well whaddayaknow -- Flippie actually CAUGHT a fly ball in left field... :-)

Lopez with a putout on a hooking ball. So far so good, for the "Philadelphia Experiment". Feel free to broow the line, Barry.

We could work in Heckle & Jekyl cartoons

Jesus doubles!

I don't want to jinx it, but Guzman has been great this year

Flores gets his second double. Dang, that boy REALLY wants to stay up here!

I wonder if any of the improvement we're seeing is the result of the Nats having a second spring training under Acta as opposed to just natural development plus better players in a few spots. I'd like to believe that adapting more fully to Acta's system might be helping but there really isn't evidence at this point.

Huuuuuge by Jesus so that Bergmann isn't leading off the next

HUGE

FLop still can't hit. And I'm pretty sure that my mom could've caught that fly ball...

I'd forgotten how much fun being unproductive while listening to a day game could be... :-)

no mom would have talked the ball into getting it self out to stop the pain

Nats, through order twice.
Philly, through once.

I remember those days.

Of course I would have caught that ball.

We could work in Heckle & Jekyl cartoons

Posted by: CE again | April 3, 2008 01:47 PM

-----

Heckle & Jibe?

Meh, what's *a* home run?

Meh. So long as Bergmann can keep them to 3 or less in 5-6 innings, we should be satisfied. Considering the talent base that we have to work with, that kind of production from our starters would be great.

Evidently I am going to need to find a new job since my gameday audio refuses to work on this machine. How is a person suppose to get any work done if they have to watch the Sportline in addition to refreshing NJ all the time? Go Nats!

Utley's career average vs. Bergmann?

That would be .133 after flying out to Lopez.

We're already starting to see some good press:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=3321651

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=280402122

The opening line from the AP story:

"A new stadium may not be the only change for the Washington Nationals. They've got a new attitude -- a winning one."

Bergmann is still throwing a decent game, 1 run through 3 innings is alright, just so long as he can pitch 6 full and hold them to under 3 runs, we'll be fine.

lowcountry, am I looking in a mirror?

How old is Bergmann?

I would think that Felipe would appeal to women of all ages, but what do I know? :)

---

"It's sort of like letting Lopez do a pole dance on the left field foul pole and having all the other team's GMs out there cooing and marveling like mid-aged women waiting to put dollar bills in his jock.

lowcountry, am I looking in a mirror?
____________________________

Well if you are I sure hope that you have your shirt on!

CE, I like the Eating Crow idea. Maybe we could suggest that one be added to build-a-bear.

Bergmann would be 27 if my math is correct (after looking at the roster page).

"I would think that Felipe would appeal to women of all ages, but what do I know? :)"

This is confirmed, my red-headed Cubs-fan girlfriend was raving about him on opening day with one of her friends. They're both 25. That's not middle-aged, even though I tell her that to lower her self-esteem enough so that she'll keep dating me.

Man I can't wait to see how you all handle this when the Nationals start to tank and end up fighting with the Marlins for 5th place.

Will you all still be doing the "play-by-play" than?

Perhaps you could give us a few pointers based on your wide experience with tanking, O's Exec.

Bergy's 26 (will be 27 in Sept.)

Kearns, great RBI double! Man, that pick off hurts... now, oh well, its all good.

Was Guz actually picked off of 2nd or were we trying a double steal?

Boy, that hurts. Bases loaded nobody out in the 2nd and we don't score. 1st and 2nd nobody out in the 4th and we might not score.

I hope this doesn't come back to bite us in the arse.

By then, we'll be doing play-by-play for Baltimore games. If the Nats are doing that poorly, we could use a laugh.

Way to go Kearnsy...I feel better now that we pushed the run across.

Is it too early to buy a broom?

dont think thats a double, he gets second on the throw home

I thought Manny didn't like stealing in the first five innings. What the heck was Guzzie thinking? Instead of a two-run double and chasing the Phillies pitcher off the field, Kearns only gets a one-run double.

Then again, this ain't a bad problem to have when we're up by five runs... :-)

Double steal, Diz. They were going on first movement, and Moyer caught it.

They were trying a double steal. They both went on first move, and Moyer guessed right.

Nice to come right back and get that run back. I like the double steal call - even if it did go bust. Manny's keeping the pressure on.

"Man I can't wait to see how you all handle this when the Nationals start to tank and end up fighting with the Marlins for 5th place."

"Tank" as in place to keep crabs for delicious crab-cakes?

Gameday says Ryan Howard just fouled off a pitch trying to bunt. Is that true?

Thanks John/Mark. I am stuck in the office and can only get the action off of MLB.com. It gives you the "what" happened, but not the "why" or "how" it happened.

Did Howard really just try to bunt?

yes...

Howard did try to bunt. I guess the nats use the huge shift on him, regardless, him trying to bunt is doing us a favor.

Jason Bergmann is a stud.

So I missed the first inning of the game because of class...but is this really happening? I just listened to Bergmann strike out the side...this is fun!

Bergmann... strikes out the side, I love it.

"Man I can't wait to see how you all handle this when the Nationals start to tank and end up fighting with the Marlins for 5th place."

Are you nuts? We've been "handling" that for the past few years now. We're used to it. How are you Os fans going to handle never being out of last place all year?

Am I imagining things or did Jason Bergmann just strike out the side? Any 4-6 in their batting order no less...

Not only did he just strike out the side, but it was the heart of the order, meaning he now has an opportunity to cruise through the sixth against the 7-8-9 batters. Bring it, Bergy! We need those first two outs so that they're not tempted to pinch-hit for Durbin.

Ooops...Tim Kurkjian just pooped all over your alls hopes and dreams for the season.

He said the Nationals will finish 4th.

Enjoy this little run while it lasts guys.

Yay, a hit for Felipe!

How's he doing in left?

He's successfully handled two chances, 506. BTW, Barry has a new post.

Oh well, he missed on fielding that one.

I'm glad Tim Kurkjian told us that. Now I don't have to watch anymore. Thank god for experts.

5-4-3 DP coming up.

I forgot to say that the O's will continue their tradition of futility all year.

J-Max is a Sherwood Warrior too!

This Orioles Promotion Just Announced:

"The first 40,000 fans in August (and into September) will receive an Orioles Beach Towel, courtesy of the Ocean City Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Towels will be orange and black, and have the slogan, 'Wouldn't You Rather Be At The Beach?' screened on the front.

"While supplies last..."

Yes! Rollins flies out to Lopez. Music to my, um, fingers?

what happened to Bergmann!