FINALLY! Ya can't tell the players without a lineup.

chico, you gotta lotta splainin to do!

I hope he's working with somebody NOT Lenny Harris.

Is Mr. Angelos's Sports Network showing the frickin' ORIOLES feed of the game? Shoot me! Shoot me, NOW!

Hill pitching and Young DHing.... I hope I don't pee my pants!

My20 TV is not showing HD?????

Am I getting FIOS'ed Again?

Have you ever thought about looking on channel 20?? Shoot me!

"Right now, he's getting his hands back a little too late," Acta said. "His trigger is a little late..."

Right now? We knew this a month ago, he's been doing this all year...

I did, I DID turn on Channel 20! At least Carpenter's critics may get a night off. I'm going to listen to Dave and Charlie.

nats up 2-0! ain't the beer cold?

Let the games begin.

Chico, I really hope you will pick up on the "what is Lenny Harris doing?/Lenny Harris sucks as a hitting coach" topic that Barry had started. I'm by no means an expert, yet I and others were talking about Kearns's hands a month ago. I'm sure the Nats noticed it too, yet Kearns has made no adjustments since then; it takes this long for him to get benched to work on it, and Manny suggests to the media that this is something new? Management here plays favorites like crazy, and it works against the team. Kearns can do no wrong, yet Church could never get a break. Why is that? Here is what I posted last month, as just one example:

"I would be interested to hear what Lenny Harris has to say about all of this and what he is doing to work with these guys. I don't have any confidence in Kearns turning it around. His approach at the plate is awful, he is not attacking the ball and his hands are weak. He is always behind, partly because he makes a circle with his hands as he goes into his swing and his swing is too long. I haven't seen anything that Harris is doing anything to help these guys either."

Posted by: Coverage is lacking | April 16, 2008 8:26 AM

Gary Thorne's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Palmer is about twice as worse of a know-it-all than Don Sutton. Oh, nevermind, Sutton is in there, making it a 3 person crew.

Ugh.

I'm off to the bar where I can watch it without sound.

this broadcast must be peter the grate's revenge for screech's visit yesterday to the inner harbor.

Way to go MASN. You got the two flagship teams of your network playing each other, you got broadcasters out the wazoo covering the game tonight, and you can't even put out a true HD signal. Grrrr.

And no, I'm not being FIOSed. I'm watching My20 on the HD channel on Cox in Fairfax. Nice HD for the four-game series against the Mets. What happened? You get mugged up in Queens and your cameras get stolen?

Good at least it is not FIOS this time......MASN IS THE VERY WORST excuse for a sports network I have very seen (stats to follow on request)

Two things get my hear a-racing in this blog -- when you fellas have arguments based on your playing experience (be still my heart--computer jocks that play sports!), and when someone quotes himself.

I just can't handle it, boys.

If CIL tells me that he played with Robert Fick's next door neighbor in gym class when they were in junior high school, I'm all his.

I didn't disappear. My parental leave ended, so now I have, like, you know, a job.

But allow me to catch up:

Willie's catch is one of the best outfield defensive plays I've ever seen. Period. Maybe the best play in the Nats' short history since coming to DC, Zimmerman included.

Three of four from the Mets is sweet.

And Bowden inherited Bergmann. Just sayin'.

wonder what carpenter sucks is doing this evening?

Nope, sorry Ms. Lerner, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

It's an O's home game so I'm not at all shocked. It'll be the Nats feed in June.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Is Mr. Angelos's Sports Network showing the frickin' ORIOLES feed of the game? Shoot me! Shoot me, NOW!

Posted by: leetee1955 | May 16, 2008 7:07 PM

mkevin,

masn did split feeds of all six games last year.

Is there room for both Palmer and Sutton's egos in one broadcast booth?

Who cares about the talking heads.....I WANT MY HD......is anyone getting it?

this must be the peter angelos good neighbor policy.

natsscribe, I thought so too. Still not surprised. This MASN deal stinks more all the time. Nothing like having your geographic rival controlling your TV coverage. Bleech!

BTW... the Nats feed is on MASN2.

carpenter stinks, you're up. heeeeeeeeere's bobby!

Listening to Charlie and Dave tonight, natsscribe. I can only imagine what Carpy is saying right now with Wily Mo up with the bases loaded.

the baltimorons must be lovin' this broadcast.

"BTW... the Nats feed is on MASN2."

Not in areas where it's on My20 it's not. And there's only one feed tonight anyway, with both teams' announcers pooled and the O's guys taking the lead role. And no HD. Do you think MASN realizes that they're not broadcasting in HD, even though they continue to say MASN HD in the lower right corner of the screen? Or do they think they're pulling the wool over our eyes? 'Cause they're not fooling anyone.

the left field turf might need to be dl'ed after wmp's drop and roll catch.

There is an HD feed on MASN HD. Its not on WDCA HD.

This No HD on FIOS is got to get resolved. FIOS does not had MASN HD as you know but in the past at least DC 20 DH has had the HD feed....not anymore.....Any chance the Post would look into this? Any chance Chico would ask Stan about his an report back to the NJ? Oh hell ofcourse not....

nats fans take heart. we don't have the only local baseball stadium with empty seats.

Which is the more horrendously embarrassing number:

30-3

0-21

Discuss among yourselves.

I have to give MASN some credit. They do respond fairly quickly when you report a technical issue. However, this was their e-mail response:

"Thank you for your interest in MASN. WDCA does MASN's HD feed. Because Verizon does not air MASN's HD feed, we are unsure if they carry WDCA when they air HD games. Please contact your provider regarding this issue for additional assistance."

This is because I stated that I'm a Verizon subscriber and the issue I was reporting is "WDCA Telecast". I told them that some Cox subscribers are having the same issue, so we'll see how they respond now.

Cox has carried MASN HD on My20 in the past, but not tonight. I blame Channel 20.

FIOS subscribers can find the my20 HD broadcast on 805. I'm in Leesburg and watching it right now.

Does WMP have any options left?

I'm not saying that kearns doesn't need to sit, but the trio of wmp, milledge, and dukes might be the ugliest defensive outfield I've seen in a while. Even a smallish park like opacy can't cover up those difficiencies. I hope jimbos enjoys watching all those "tools" at work.

I think if you put Dukes in center that would make a big difference. Milledge just isn't a major league CF at this point.

Congratulations are in order. Mr. Harlan had his first completely grammatically correct day today.

"Willie's catch is one of the best outfield defensive plays I've ever seen. Period. Maybe the best play in the Nats' short history since coming to DC, Zimmerman included."

second best in the nats' short history. it was an amazing catch, but the one zimmerman made running down the 3rd base line into the outfield, diving down the line and catching the ball over his shoulder while laid out is one of the best defensive plays i've ever seen.

that's not putting down harris' catch, which was amazing, just saying that the zimmerman catch (the one ESPN said was the best ever by the nats (and i think even the expos)) was better.

I am watching of 805 Fios in Fairfax County and NO HD on the HD WDCA 20 Feed.

Any chance CHICO could ask Acta, Milledge and Dukes, what happend? Nope....that's what I thought....

I'm watching My20 in Fairfax right now on FIOS Channel 805 and it is NOT in HD.

OPACY is smallish? Short to RF foul pole maybe (318) maybe but 410 to CF and 333 to the LF foul pole and 364 and 373 to the power alleys isn't exactly a band box.

Verizon FIOS lied to me twice about their HD packages. In December when I agreed to switch to FIOS I was assured they would be upgrading their network by Spring 2008 to carry more HD channels. Then when MASN finally announced their pitiful HD coverage FIOS assured me that they would carry all HD broadcasts of MASN. Finally in April I called them again and they said that it would be December 2008 before they improved their network for additional HD channels.

Verizon also said they would offer MLB Extra Innings. But of course that was a lie too.

They lie far too often and far too easily. DirecTV here I come.

Ayala's now on pace for 100 appearances this season.

Here are the all-time single-season records for most games:

1. Mike Marshall 106 (1974)
2. Kent Tekulve 94 (1979)
Salomon Torres 94 (2006)
4. Mike Marshall 92 (1973)
5. Kent Tekulve 91 (1978)

JayB, somehow I think maybe Chico isn't checking out this blog at this particular time, so he probably would have no way of knowing about your question, the one that you also just asked 15 minutes ago. You clearly have some center of attention issues, along with the twist of know it allism that makes me wish this blog had an ENUF filter.

can't we all just get along?

Yeah, and considering that it's harder to go back on a ball than it is to come in, degree of difficulty was probably greater on other plays, but I can't remember ever seeing a guy lay out and snare a ball out of the air like that, like Daniel-San's catching flies with chopsticks. And the distance he had to go... Willie just blew my mind.

like i said, i'm not putting down harris' catch at all, it was amazing. and should be on baseball tonight's top plays of the year, too.

blueson,

hitting and fielding apparently aren't included in their toolkits.

Are we all ready now to say that Bowden totally blew it with the LoDuca and Estrada signings?

Flores sure seems ready to me.

Here are some RP guys who would have helped us more for the money we spent to bury a better, younger catcher (I assume no one's going to argue we're better off with Hanrahan back there): Scott Linebrink, Kerry Wood, Masa "Harina" Kobayashi, Troy Percival, David Riske, or Ron Mahay.

Don't get me wrong, the Lerners could have afforded these guys anyway, and I generally don't love overpaying for middle relief, but I assume Bowden had some kind of budget, and any of these guys would have helped at least some, as opposed to burying Flores behind 2 bad, fading, hurt vets.

That's an easy game to play, even though I agree that those were unfortunate signings.

Who knew Percival would be so effective? Other than you, of course.

I read Boz's response to the question about his and the Post O's coverage. First, gotta give them props for taking the question. However -- and I say this with all due respect to Boz, b/c he is both a fabulous writer and knows his b.b. -- but regarding the O's he has much more of a vested interest than we as fans do.

Boswell made his living and his name covering the Baltimore team. As much as I love his baseball coverage and respect his knowledge of the game, I do know that well before I moved to this area in 1992, there was one reason why DC has not enjoyed its due place as a baseball city: the Orioles and their owner (o.k., perhaps Mr. Selig as well, but I really don't want to go digress into rants about undercoating, unnecessary warranties, odometer rollbacks, etc.). And although for a while the Orioles were a temporary salve, ultimately it became ridiculous to continue the charade of supporting the very people who were intent on hurting DC baseball fans.

In reporting on Charm City's team, Boswell is both doing the job his WP editors have paid him for, but he is also following through on what is a deservedly a well regarded career. But now that we are in 2008 with an actual home team, I just can't fathom the Wash Post having sometimes 50 percent more coverage for the Orioles than the Nationals...and on most days about equal coverage. As far as I'm concerned this is not an American League city, and from here on out will never be.

Over the last three + years there has been many a morning when I felt like cursing Angelos and the WP sports editors as I read my .35 edition on the metro, and pledged to cancel my home delivery subscription. But the fact is I love reading the newspaper on the ride into downtown DC. However I'm getting to the point where I know I can just pick up a freebie, and then read what I dam$ well choose online, without feeling as though I am rewarding the same people who kept us without a team for so many years, and now keep us chained to a crappy, inequitable t.v. rights deal.

First it was spotty radio coverage, when t.v. coverage was nil. Now it's t.v. coverage that gives us plenty of Orioles commercials, but no HD. And some nights you need a treasure map to find it on the dial. I didn't have to pay, at least indirectly, for that crappy service. It won't be long before I'm not paying for the WP hard copies, either.

I didn't know Percival would be so effective, but it's not my job to know. It's Bowden's job to know who's smart to sign and who's not.

nats lose. cue the troll.

I think I speak for every Orioles fan when I say, "win or lose, I don't care. Just thank god it wasn't 30-3."

Nothing worse than losing to a bunch of bums from boilermore.

Are we going to be forced to listen to the O's broadcasters throughout this series? The only advantage the O's have is Amber over Debbi.

am i the only person who is both annoyed and embarrassed by those my20 "under one roof" promos? talk about lowest-common denominator alleged comedy.

Sorry. But no, I do not think it was wrong to sign a pair of veteran catchers. LoDuca was healthy when they signed him. Estrada was low pay/low risk. Flores is doing great right now, but this is a little early to declare him ready for a permanent gig. The market for catcher's was very limited and Bowden would be the same guy who signed Nieves.

I have never been a big LoDuca fan, but if he was healthy and hitting .270 right now, he would be legitimate trade bait for a player or two from the Yankees.

Well I admire your loyalty.

We have all (myself included) been lamenting Kearns productivity, but I think it might be WMP that is going to have to go first. Right now, Machowiak would be a better every day play than WMP. At least he can field. Plus he could lead off on occasion.

SOCH, back and as tooly as ever. I always assumed he was 14 or something.

The point, St. Steven Smartest Baseball Mind Not Only on Capitol Hill but In The World, is that all of these moves involve risks. Tampa Bay took a chance that Percival might be good. Actually, they took a chance last year, and Percival appreciated it, so he re-signed. I doubt they even thought he'd be this good, otherwise they wouldn't have kept Al Reyes.

No one, other than you, knew that the Nats new veteran catchers would get hurt. Relief pitcher, catchers, whatever position, it's damn easy to look at what moves didn't work out and say, well, this would have been better. You could probably list 100 moves that the Nats could have made that would have turned out better. But, knowing you, you just come up with something quick, and then later nag Barry/Chico for not doing the research.

I don't like Bowden either. But your attacks are so lame and repetitive that I have to respond.

Natscribe,

The tool kits are definitely a little light side. More like tool belts.

Missed the game, but Zimm went 3 for 5, with 2 RBI, no? Are we not excited?

Well, despite what JimBo may have thought, our outfield is not an offensive upgrade over what we had last year. Dukes looked lost at the plate, and he's 1 for 21 overall now. WMP isn't hitting and neither is Kearns. Milledge had 2 hits tonight, but that's only because they were infield grounders hit so weakly that the O's didn't have time to field them and throw him out. I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't mind seeing Church and Nook Logan back in Nats uniforms. Lenny Harris has to go - while he may have been a good hitter, he's a lousy coach.

Also, Nationals Park is not the only park with scoreboard issues. The new board at OPACY had some trouble tonight. For the first half inning, Washington's lineup was displayed with the Red Sox "B" logo - someone forgot to change the template from the last series. When they did their in-between innings "crab shuffle" later in the game, the video was so screwed up and most of it was cut off and you had no idea what was going on. It's nice to see we're not the only ones...

Just getting in and reading tonight's posts. Doesn't Belliard's flip get any defensive-play love??

Geez you did I get called a douche? Yikes. Here I am just chatting about baseball.

Anyway, ignoring the name-calling...

The point on the catchers is that either Flores was ready or he wasn't. Bowden said he NEEDED a year in the minors, and hence we NEEDED to go get a FA catcher. If Bowden was wrong and Flores is ready, then LoDuca and Estrada are bad signings, period.

Now, Flores is showing (again) that he is not only ready to compete in the bigs, but he's so far been an upgrade over the vets. So there was no reason to banish him to the minors, and the money spent on PLod and Estrada could have been spent elsewhere, either on a reliable vet whom you can count on for 180-200+ innings like Silva or Lohse or an RP or 2 who would have saved us from having to watch Hanrahan spray fastballs all over and Burger King waddle around. Or hell, do both. We could have afforded that, and then Manny wouldn't be killing Ayala now and we wouldn't be on the verge of rushing un-ready SPs like Ballester and Detwiler.

As for the injuries, Estrada's shoulder was hurt all last year and into this year--this isn't controversial--he was known to be damaged goods, and that's why he came so cheap and was non-tendered by the Mets. And since LoDuca had knee surgery in Feb., just 2 months after he was signed, and he missed time each of the last 2 years with knee issues, and you know, what 30-year-old catcher doesn't have knee issues, I'm assuming there was at least some indication that he had knee problems that were going to need to be addressed. Maybe I'm wrong, but whatever. That's not really the point.

The point is that it seems pretty clear now that Bowden passed over better/cheaper/younger for worse/older/more expensive. That's not what you should be rooting for.

Belliard's flip was fun, savvy, and great, no doubt, but that Harris play (and the Zimmerman play) were just incredible feats of athleticism. Not to gush too much, but really, it's the best thing I've seen from the Nats in a long time, so I'm excited.

It's like a Globetrotters trick shot compared to MJ's double-clutch, hanging-in-the-air, fake-with-the-right, switch-to-the-left drive vs. the Lakers in 1991. Both great in their own way, but one is just in another league.

It's not a good sign when two of the three outfielders don't publicly want to speak after their shortcomings fogured so prominently in last night's loss. Do Pena and Dukes think they're with the Mets?

Thank you Chico,

You did indeed push the questions on Outfield defense and the result was very insightful. Milledge after blaming coaches for the positioning reflected some.....a good sign?

You did indeed push Acta on the Defense in CF but the results were different. Acta again is in denial, not a good sign

Milledge is our center fielder," Acta said. "And when he's going to play, he's going to play in center field. I think we made that clear before."

Really, Acta is just the guy holding the Jimbo Back here and if the Mike O'Connor situation teaches us anything it teaches that Acta really has no say in the roster or lineups. What I see from reading between the lines on that Acta statement is him admitting that Jimbo has told him that Milledge will start in CF all year. What I think we will see is Jimbo getting frustrated by June 1 and Milledge going to AAA. What Acta thinks or says really has no barring on the Milledge mess.

Again thanks Chico for the follow through......I was wrong about you, how about asking Stan some HD and MASN questions for a NJ posting? PLEASE!

Did anyone else notice that Hill's "sinker" seemed to only have lateral movement but not much downward movement? This was not at all the same pitch that I am used to seeing from Hill, which resulted in way too many outfield plays for my taste. Perhaps Acta put in this travesty of a defensive outfield thinking that there would be a lot more ground balls hit. I am coming around to the notion that if your outfielders are hitting around .200 and allow an extra 2 runs a game scored would it not be better to have the better defensive players in the field, especially if your starting pitching is usually good? If I were a starting pitcher I would wince on every play where MIlledge or Pena had a fielding chance, and then hustle to back up third base.

Steven, that's a false dichotomy. "Either he's ready or he's not" assumes that there's an on or off switch for major league ability. Really it's more like cooking a stew. Sometimes you can eat it, but it's better to leave it simmering another hour so it tastes that much better. Flores can play in the majors, no one ever said he couldn't, but it would be better for him to season a little more. Or so conventional wisdom says.

The outfield won't always hit .200, that's just silly. All four of these guys won't always be in the outfield either, we'll probably only have two of them next year. As annoying as it is, you can't say we're not learning anything valuable about them.

I'm not a scout or GM but I've learned enough about Willy Mo in the OF and Milledge in CF....how much more do you need to know?

With Milledge or Dukes in center, it is imparative that Kearns play every day in right. The defense last night is embarassing. Milledge looks more and more like Nook Logan -- he breaks the wrong way on balls, etc. Dukes is passable, but that's about it. WMP can't field, I really think Dmitri Young would do a better job in left field.

What about an outfield of Mackoviak, Harris and Kearns? They may not hit, but at least they'd catch routine fly balls (something Pena and Milledge seem incapable of doing consistently.)

Also I was hanging out around the Nats dugout last night and its hard to describe but one gets that something is wrong with the team's attitude. They seem down and unhappy -- and this was a team that just won three of four games with the Mets in NY. Even though I was never a proponent of "Ground Ball" Brian Schneider, one does begin to wonder if they miss his upbeat attitude and clubhouse leadership.

Flores = stew.

I like it. Yummy.

WARNING NO STATS TO FOLLOW......

I think you make a good observation about team chemestry and moral. They have looked dead most all year.

My view is that many of them know "those players those who do play the game the right way" and those who do note. The Pena, Milledge, Lopez types are getting all the playing time regardless of how poor they play. That would bring down any clubhouse. Just think of coming to work each day knowing that Jimbo's favorites will be in the lineup and your supperivor, Acta can do nothing about it. "Milledge is our CF" no matter how bad he is......not really a good moral boost is it.....

Yesterday in Boswell's chat I asked whether JimBow's hubris is having a detrimental effect on Manny's lineups and the development of the team. It seems too many of "JimBow's guys" are getting a pass while underperforming both in the field and at the plate. Manny keeps saying that Lastings (of the lost) is the center fielder when he's subpar defensively and Manny keeps playing a man of his statue in left there are two subpar defenders in the outfield at the beginning of every game. This team's defense looks like the Reds under Bowden's stewardship where the team had to essentially outscore its opponents every night to win. The Nats offense isn't nearly that good.

I am for bringing up Escobar. He looks like he might have the magic he had two years ago in Washington. If healthy {which he is now} he can hit and field center field. Someone has to go down and i guess it is Milledge or Pena. I know Dukes is not hitting but this guy looks like he can be an impact player. He needs to be given the same chance as Kearns. Both Dukes and Pena are trying too hard to impress. Acta needs to calm them down. He needs to give them some confidence. His quotes in the paper are not helping matters.

It makes you wonder how much longer Stan will allow Jimbo to be the GM....ops forget, Little Lerner thinks he is "super cool"....Are we really stuck with this All body no instincts type players......It might be time to look for a new team to watch until Lerner gets over his man crush. I can not watch balls drop in the OF every night, yet Acta says that is going to help the team somehow.......

Attendance at last night's game was fancifully announced at 29,266.

Another bad side-effect of the horrible ourfield defense is that when Manny starts the Wasteland of Minimal Production in left,he has to burn a bench player, usually Willie Harris, for defense in the late innings. And now with DMH at first base, Boone will have to be his late-inning caddy further depleting the bench. So, if the Nats carry 12 pitchers, two catchers, six infielders and five outfielders that only , in effect, leaves a viable three-man bench. Not a good situation.

They must have all been in line at Boog's or huddled in the warehouse for warmth, becasue they sure weren't on tv, as Johnny Holiday (God bless him!) mentioned for a full minute on the post-game show. Another reason to be grateful for having a broadcaster of Johnny's stature who can say what he likes on Mr. Angelos' network.

Steven on Capitol Hill - I wish you a happy return to work, and joy of the baby(ies?) for whom you took family leave. And thanks for the mention of Kent Tekulve - what a closer, and what a creature of what has become the rust belt, with the pencil moustache, the tinted glasses, and the submarine delivery. He looked like an aluminum siding salesman who was called into the game by mistake while passing by the bullpen.

My observation is that Nats have not put together a 25 man roster this year with the goal of winning but rather as a year-long Spring Training.

This approach has killed moral on the team and betrayed a very forgiving fan base in my view. Does anyone think this approach is helping us learn something the Mets did not know about Milledge?

Anyone read Boz's piece today? Didn't spare anything on the hitting. did repeat his mantra that these guys can't be as bad they look. He also pointed out (SoCH, JayB) that the one thing that seems to be going right is the starting pitching. It looks like they did pretty well (so far) in picking out two veterans (Perez and Redding), promoting one internal candidate (Lannan), and probably getting one of last year's lame (JP, Shawn) healthy enough to give them some innings. The verdict is out on all of these guys, but it is hard to see how two more journeymen would have been a more sensible investment than the two catchers they did sign.

As for Bergmann, he was the guy that a lot of people were most optimistic about in the off season (not just because of the occasional post). Boz thinks McCatty has figured out what was getting Jason in trouble early in the year. Maybe it is too soon to judge, but I think his upside (age, mid-rotation stuff) justifies letting him pitch at the major league level and seeing what we have. At 26, he's not rushed. The 5th spot will most likely be a try out spot for a building team. That's not cheap, that's a plan.

None of this is contrary to what you have said about the bullpen, although buying bullpen talent is a crap shoot (look at the Os in 2007). Perhaps there were telltales (overuse, peripherals) last year that the Nats bullpen was due for a fall. A lot of people predicted some reversion (Chris Needham, Baseball Prospectus, Barry), and there were many who said last July was a sell-high moment Chad in particular. On this board, people have raised whether we should have a 7 man bullpen, whether the right guys are on the roster, etc... But I think (in a boring and repetitive manner, full of self importance and entitlement) the bullpen overuse / misuse / mistructure has different root than the failure to sign two more veteran innings eating pitchers with above-average ERAs and peripherals in the offseason.

The Thing about Milledge is this, and anyone who has paid even the slightest bit of attention this season would see this:

he started off well, and has gradually slipped into a slump. I'm not going to quote the splits again, but his slump concurs exactly with his being moved down to the middle of the order.

Kearns had been hailed as a "surefire breakout superstar" and he's been playing like crap from day one, with no fluctuation at all.

all of you who say "I see nothing from Milledge that makes me think he'll improve" have clearly not been paying attention to him this season, except for the past 2 weeks.

earlier in the season when Milledge was at the top of the order, only Nick Johnson had better at-bats consistently than Milledge. eventually that is going to translate into hits.

this is just something that Milledge is going to have to work through, and he's only 23 and in his first full season, so he's got time to do just that.

Kearns is supposed to be producing. He's not a young rookie with potential anymore. He is out of excuses. He's not hitting, and he's playing like crap in the field too, so the Kearns Defense Excuse is no longer working, as far as I am concerned.

and lmfao at the same people who were ripping and begging for Kearns to be benched, now begging for him to start after one game. The same people who just 3 weeks ago were ripping both Mackowiak and Harris and calling them worthless and wondering why they had jobs, now hailing them as the Saviors of our Outfield.

and on another note, Wily Mo Pena is out of excuses too. He's been in the Majors since he was 20. He should have done all of his adjusting and growing by now.

and as for Milledge's fielding:

Milledge is CAPABLE of playing Centerfield, he's got the physical tools to do it. But he needs to LEARN how to play CF. that is better done in the minors, but unfortunately for us, the Team is forcing him to learn on the job, so to speak. He needs to develop those instincts that he doesn't have yet. and playing him on the Corners isn't going to make him a better CFer. To learn to play CF, he needs to play CF. either in the Minors, or here. The Nats have chosen to throw him to the wolves here, so it just has to be dealt with and fought through.

I think eventually Milledge will be a fixture at the top of the order, and a competent CFer. but it is going to require a lot of patience. patience that a lot of us don't have.

yikes....that last post was me.

WMP is out of options many years ago. Dukes has options this year and next but has not completed a season without a suspension in the minors (at least not in the last 3 years). Milledge, I don't know.

I do like the idea of playing Escobar until he is hurt, perhaps in a platoon with Willie in CF.

A little prediction about WMP. He is 25. Once every single team in the majors says "we can't find a spot for him on our roster," he will get waived down to the minors. By 28 - 29, he will have finally spent enough time in the minors to figuer things out and will make some GM look like a genius for signing him for as a minor league free agent.

soch, is that you on sportstalk 980 blasting the nats?

WARNING: STATS TO FOLLOW...........

What I want most to know about Wily Mo is whether he is the guy we saw last year, the guy we see this year or some guy in the middle.

Career with Washington:
2007: .293/.352/.504, 8 HR, 133 AB
2008: .200/.261/.225, 0 HR, 80 AB

What I dream of in Wily Mo is someone who can belt 30 home runs a year and hit .250 - .260. He's 26 and has only hit over 20 home runs in a season once in seven seasons, but he's also only had over 300 AB in a season twice (cf. the perpetually injured Nick Johnson, topped 300 AB 4 of 8 seasons).

Wily Mo is long out of options, or else I would advocate sending him down. We are, unfortunately, a team that can have a AAA left-field this year where we can give this kid time to play a regular baseball season. He was so cheap, there's no reason we shouldn't have tried. And with only 80 AB this year (I always forget this) there's still plenty of time before we should write him off.

All the same, I'm not sure my dream for WMP will come true.

As for Lastings? He's not a center fielder, though he could become tolerable out there. The comparison to Nook was weak, because, if you'll recall, Nook would get to the ball, even when he "broke the wrong way." Either he or Dukes needs to be in AAA, they both should be playing every day. And, yes, I think the Mets might be the worst team in baseball, not statistically (wink), but in terms of teams. Talk about dysfunctional. I feel like we've become Lastings foster-house.

This is where we are as a team. It's not pretty, but I think we'll appreciate what we've learned next year.

Harris and Mackowiak are *not* the answer to anything.

at last!

At this point the hitting and OF (lack) of Defense is overshadowing any discussion of Livo and Lohse types. Recall Chico Starts, O'Connor Starts and Likelihood of Hill's next sharp pain and I still would like to have Vet pitching but you are correct it does not matter if you can not catch the ball or hit the ball.

Pena, Yes he will never play OF on a winning team....at best a DH....any competent GM would know that. Thanks Jimbo

Milledge, he will hit fine that is not the issue. The thing that is killing team is Milledge in CF....no way....even Barry who never said a bad word about a player when he was the Beat Writer is now emphatically saying on TV....NO WAY CF...as is BOZ who has seen a bit of baseball in his time.....don't trust the WPost baseball sense you say..... then just open your eyes, really folks, either you have instincts or you don't.....you do not "learn" them.