Archive: May 11, 2008 - May 17, 2008
Apologies and excuses
Apologies, first, for failing to post during last night's game. In my attempt to provide this forum with as much superfluous nonsense as possible, I thought I'd spotted the perfect blog post subject last night: Tom Boswell's shoes. Boswell showed...
By Chico Harlan | May 17, 2008; 11:49 AM ET | Comments (213)
Lineups
Greetings from the Yards. Of note: Austin Kearns gets a night off. Tom Boswell and Dave Sheinin get nights on. Here's what Manny said about placing Kearns in the spot where .192 batters generally end up: "Right now, he's getting...
By Chico Harlan | May 16, 2008; 6:52 PM ET | Comments (99)
Exit notes from New York
Fifth starter discovered, first baseman lost. (That's the gamer and notebook in six words.) A few other tid-bits that I'll include here to kill some time while heading back to DC/Balt on the Acela train. * Losing to the Nationals...
By Chico Harlan | May 16, 2008; 10:47 AM ET | Comments (167)
Does a blog mention curese a no-hitter?
We'll find out, I suppose. Mike Pelfrey hasn't allowed a hit through six innings. He's faced only three batters more than the minimum. Mind you, this is a guy who's allowed 46 hits in 33-1/3 innings this year. Thankfully for...
By Chico Harlan | May 15, 2008; 2:33 PM ET | Comments (212)
Lineups from Shea
Series finale. Nats go for three out of four. Washington Lopez - 4 Guzman - 6 Zimmerman - 5 Boone - 3 Milledge - 8 Kearns - 9 Mackowiak - 7 Flores - 2 Bergmann - 1 New York Reyes...
By Chico Harlan | May 15, 2008; 12:31 PM ET | Comments (80)
Johnson out 4-6 weeks
That's the latest. Nationals are putting their first baseman on the 15-day DL. An MRI this morning revealed a tear of the tendon sheath in his right wrist. The injury problems for Johnson continue. Dmitri Young will rejoin the club...
By Chico Harlan | May 15, 2008; 11:41 AM ET | Comments (34)
The only real solution is a Mac
Mega computer problems last night. About nine minutes before 11:30 deadline, my laptop pulled a Palmeiro-in-Congress and lost all memory of its past. When I rebooted, the story I'd been writing entirely vanished. Wasn't on the desktop. Wasn't in some...
By Chico Harlan | May 15, 2008; 8:50 AM ET | Comments (52)
Johnson status update
Injury update on Nick Johnson. He's heading back to DC this evening for a wrist examination that will determine the extent of an injury he sustained in his final at bat yesterday. The team is still saying he's day-to-day, but...
By Chico Harlan | May 14, 2008; 6:33 PM ET | Comments (114)
Unabridged minor league report
The heavy reading, for those interested. (This comes courtesy of Nats PR man Bill Gluvna.) I'll paste it below. --- NATIONALS MINOR LEAGUE REPORT VINCENT VANALLEN: LHP Cory VanAllen is a combined 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA (3 ER/ 40.0...
By Chico Harlan | May 14, 2008; 3:39 PM ET | Comments (70)
Chat reminder
One thing I managed neither to fit into the game story nor the notebook was the incident that opened last night's game. Because it involved a hit batsman one night after tensions ran high over the cheerleading episode, many --...
By Chico Harlan | May 14, 2008; 9:38 AM ET | Comments (116)
Thoughts from Manny, and a lineup
Manny Acta's (brief) take on the Figueroa/cheering/clapping circus. Q: Do you have a reaction to what happened yesterday regarding Nelson Figueroa? A: I don't. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and we live in a world nowadays where everything...
By Chico Harlan | May 13, 2008; 6:32 PM ET | Comments (124)
Life on the back pages
Until yesterday, I'm guessing, Nelson Figueroa was largely irrelevant -- and perhaps entirely unknown -- to the casual New Yorker. But last night's Figueroa-led controversy at Shea proves that a little smack-talk, at least in this town, is still the...
By Chico Harlan | May 13, 2008; 3:23 PM ET | Comments (69)
Any idea requires just six words
There's a theory drifting out there that any decent idea can be summarized in six words, which, by the way, I said directly above in six succinct words. A cursory Google search of "six words," in fact, reveals that Hemingway...
By Chico Harlan | May 13, 2008; 9:34 AM ET | Comments (221)
Nick Johnson: a modest appreciation
Quick note here after watching Nick Johnson draw a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. Johnson's .223 average is unsightly, sure, but he entered the game with a .413 OBP, just outside of the league's top-10. Here's a large reason...
By Chico Harlan | May 12, 2008; 8:17 PM ET | Comments (72)
They wait all of one inning at Shea to play this...
Meet the Mets! Meet the Mets! Please, don't interpret the link as a suggestion to click. Meanwhile, a Mackowiak sac fly to center drives in Nick Johnson, who'd reach on an error. One-one game, and the strongest side on the...
By Chico Harlan | May 12, 2008; 7:34 PM ET | Comments (11)
Lineups from Shea
When Svrluga and I walked into Shea today, we passed about four or five security guards near the entrance. Not a single person bothered to seek our credentials. We just walked right in. I'm guessing that by now, most people...
By Chico Harlan | May 12, 2008; 6:10 PM ET | Comments (25)
An introduction
Substantive or not, I found it unavoidably ominous, and just a tad funny, that on the day I moved to Washington, D.C., to prepare for a new life covering baseball, a Washington Post headline in the bottom corner of the...
By Chico Harlan | May 12, 2008; 10:18 AM ET | Comments (135)
A dozen things I'll miss about this job
Some wrap-up thoughts following a miserable sweep by the Marlins. Manny Acta - Every day is a good day for the Nationals manager. That, of course, makes the life of a beat writer better. This is a job in which...
By Barry Svrluga | May 11, 2008; 3:44 PM ET | Comments (95)
Sunday lineups: Marlins finale
Still recovering from the Drive-By Truckers last night. Turns out I coulda covered that fiasco and still made the show, given that they didn't hit the stage till 11:05 or so. Manny Acta tinkers with the lineup today against Scott...
By Barry Svrluga | May 11, 2008; 12:04 PM ET | Comments (56)
