2 things.

New streak begins tonight for Zim.

And you forgot a number for Tejada, B-12.

Ooooh, first post!

I am an active lurker, but I love seeing when people post from overseas. I am in Dehli for a conference, anxiously hoping for a curly W tonight - and, hence, my very rare post.

Barry,
Is it 95/95 there yet?
I remember Houston as the hottest, most humid place in the USA.

I feel that we're almost obligated to know the extent and reasons for why you hate Houston so, Barry. The next time you'll get a chance to expound on it won't be until some time when the Redskins play at the Texans... and who knows if you can contain the bile 'til then.

Let 'er rip, just don't breathe in too hard (word on the street is that running a mile in Houston's air is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes).

Jason Bergmann was just named the International League Pitcher of the Week.

Seriously. Given that the Skins aren't in Houston for the next two years at least, I think it's safe for you to let us know all the details on your way out of town on Thursday.

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

I feel that we're almost obligated to know the extent and reasons for why you hate Houston so, Barry. The next time you'll get a chance to expound on it won't be until some time when the Redskins play at the Texans... and who knows if you can contain the bile 'til then.

Let 'er rip, just don't breathe in too hard (word on the street is that running a mile in Houston's air is equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes).

Posted by: faNATic | May 6, 2008 6:49 PM

You don't have to give us the whole list of reasons why you hate Houston, Barry. Just the top 20 is fine.

Sucks it happens in your final week.

... am an active lurker, but I love seeing when people post from overseas. I am in Dehli for a conference, anxiously hoping for a curly W tonight - and, hence, my very rare post.
============

As long as you're in the Deli I'll have Pastrami on toasted pumpernickel.

Go Jason!! Congrats! I love that you keep battling.

Never been to Houston. Barry - tell me why it's bad.

Hill beats Chacon tonight.

Well the reasons I hate Houston are:
--out of control outrageous sprawl and all the attendant problems that go with that, traffic, etc.
--terrible air pollution
--that stupid ramp in center field
--Barbara F'ing Bush's big ol' head behind home plate every game

Hey am I crazy or is this the lineup we were supposed to have on opening day? No one's hurt, no days off, Hill on the mound...

oh yeah--hot, humid, mosquitos like birds...

Very big series in Tejas this week. I really hate the Astros.

Pena finally got an extra base hit this weekend. I predict he abuses Minute Made's short porch in left.

HEY
HO
WILY MO

Anyone want to take shot at picking the month and player.....the first Nat to hit 10 HR's (not Lance B has that already....must be nice to have MLB ready hitters)

I'll Take Zim and July

I got Nicky J, June 16.

Keep searching Barry, that 5th certificate can't be hidden that well.

Yes, I hate Houston too. But you were specific in saying your least favorite American city, meaning there is a city in this world that you hate more than even Houston.

Which city would that be?

Unrelated note: Anyone remember that bomb that the Weapon hit last year in Houston. The one that went our in like .8 seconds and smacked off of the concrete above the stands... Ah, memories.

WMP doesn't need s short porch anywhere, he does need to 1. Make contact and 2. Hit it in the air.

For a guy of his power to be getting by (or not getting by really) with ground ball with eyes to the opposite field is completely unacceptable.

On a positive note Zimermann's line from tonight's game in Harrisburg;
5.0IP 3H 2R 1ER 1BB 4K 1HR 1.80ERA

Update, J-Zim's final line;

5.2IP 4H 3R 1ER 3BB 4K 1HR 1.59ERA

Texas is rife with places to hate. In fact, I say give to back to the Mexicans. F Dallas. Hail to The Redskins! Lets Go Nationals!

Houston weather is the worst. Food is the only thing that city has going for it. Try the Crazy Cajun's just south of NASA in Clear Lake.

nicky j is halfway to those 10 HRs now.

I agree, last season's Houston/Nats games were about the most boring baseball games I've seen. Even the TV announcers were running out of things to say.

My top reason to hate Houston: Sprawl. Just ridiculous, nothing-in-the-way, who-cares sprawl.

Check out the CF camera... just to the right of home plate, in the stands... is that Barbara Bush??

Well done Barry.

Wigi I am not watching the game right now but I'm sure it is Barbara Bush if you think it might be, as she and 41 have season tickets right there, and they frequently attend. Come to think of it, their regular attendance puts to shame the denizens of our "President" seats.

CiL: yes, it's them... there are some things that are just too distinctive to miss... 41 and "Texas Blue" hair...

PLod couldn't throw out my grandmother...and she's been dead since 1992...

That was Babs Bush there, along with her hubby. And next to him was a nice set of legs in a black dress.

Having lived in Houston, and thankfully moved away, I too am curious as to a listing of reasons to hate Houston.

But it does have the world's largest liquor store, so that does give you an idea as to how Houston lives.

Perhaps we could get a debate between Barry and Bill Simmons about who hates Houston more?

When you strike out on a ball that hits you, you get called FLOP.

You know how parts of downtown DC, like on K Street, are real busy during the day, but there's absolutely nothing going on there after 5:30? That's pretty much ALL of downtown Houston. The most boring city I've ever been to.

Nice shot Guz! Way to get him home Zimmy!

How awful was THAT fake home run call?

Was that a running problem, a good throw, or a bad 3rd base call?

Who's fault was that throw out at home, Tolman of Zimmerman? He had no chance...it should be bases loaded for Kearns righ now.

Wait, Kearns? Nevermind, nice call sending Zim home

Boy I'm glad I'm not watching on TV tonight. On the radio Charlie kept the call exciting, interesting, hopeful, but not overly optimistic. I was actually wondering how the TV guys were handling it.

Fact is, baseball is more beautiful on the radio. Well, either that or baseball has had twice as long of a relationship with radio as with TV so there's been a lot more time to protect it.

Okay, seriously, when are the Nats going to get rid of Tolman? Say what you want, estuartj, but Kearns had a nice hit earlier so I say him up with bases loaded is better than the clearly feeble Tolman getting Zim thrown out on a short single when he so obviously should have been held up. And, if this was an isolated incident it wouldn't be so bad, but Tolman pulls this crap consistently! There is absolutely NO excuse for that!

Defense isn't doing Hill any favors tonight, especially Pena. I think the missed fly ball should have been an error and the second run unearned.

Speaking of Pena, did anyone else notice he's hitting a poor, but marginally respectable .238? Compared to how Zim and Kearns are doing it looks damned good (doubly so with him batting 8th).

IHW, you are right about the radio vs tv. Carpenter though drags things down to a whole new level, "Carpenter Stinks" is on to something. With his call, it was an absolute no-doubter HR. Then he tried to blame his bad call on the wacky layout of the Juice Box and said it would have been a HR in any other normal stadium. Well Bob, isn't that what your paid for? Sounds like Charlie knew what *he* was doing.

Isn't it interesting how the Nats use Charlie's calls for the voiceover of their tv ads, and not Bob's?

Here are some other things about Houston that suck:
Andrea Yates
Roger Clemens
Alberto Gonzalez
Anna Nicole Smith
Tom Delay

Bob thanks for telling us yet again what Wily Mo could do if he "gets a hold of one.". How many times has he gotten a hold of one this season, Bob? Man this guy is a broken record of idiotic comments.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qeTz66uCb6Q

Tom Delay is from Sugarland, not Houston. Any local will tell you the difference is like saying the Naval Academy is in DC.

What do Houston locals know about Annapolis geography?

What do (most) Cap Hill residents know about Texas?

Anyone catch that buttock infection was pitching to anal fissure?

now *THAT* was a home run.

Aaron ----in' BOONE!

Man what a shot. Our backup first baseman is Dmitri who?

I wish I knew a lot less.

Milledge gets a do-over for the throw out at home last time around.

And he does nothing with it...

Steve, you sound like someone who has spent the same "quality" time in Houston that I have. Enough said, I hate political talk on sports blogs (or at games, or at home, or at a bar...)

a throw on the fair side of third base would have got him easily

Maybe it's just me, but this home plate umpire sucks. It's not just the balk call, but the way his strike zone has been all night too.

Is it LoDuca who is calling multiple times for this idiotic Little League play that almost never works and just blew up in our faces, or is it the dugout? I don't remember the Nats trying it several times an inning last season. Pitch the damn ball.

This ballpark and this ump are an offense to real baseball.

If the Nats can manage to win when they play this bad we might be on the verge of something really special.

My old coach used to always say a sure sign of a good team is that they win even when they play bad.

God have we played bad tonight....

Balk dis!!

I take back everything bad I've said about Kearns tonight.

"I'm not going to mince words here. I hate Houston. My least-favorite American city. If I thought you were interested in the reasons why, I'd put them here."
**************
I have a friend who covers the Cubs, and he said the same thing when they were here. Wouldn't go into why, just [AB]ing hates the place. Daddy used to say you could look further and see less there than anyplace.

Be careful MIB. estuartj is a big Andrea Yates fan.

The Nats pitchers all look like they are pitching scared, not sure if it's the ballpark, line-up or what, but they all dance around the strike zone like they have no confidence in their stuff.

shoot...

That's a terrible play by Kearns. Terrible.

PS who drafted that guy, anyway?

Lopez due up first in the 9th - let's see if he can redeem himself for his four Ks tonight...

Nope.

guuzzziieeeee

I like the agressiveness by Kearns, if he catches it the innings over and Rauch comes on for the save. If he let's it drop a run scores anyway and we still need to score in the 9th to win. Still, it would have taken a ESPN top 10 play to make that catch...

lights out they are going to blow this one

*&^@Q#%@! What an ugly game that was...

Wow, missed the whole home stand on vacation. Maybe I need to leave again.

That was a pretty crappy loss. If they play clean they win the game easy.

And the nationals are 0 for their last 1 and have lost 2 of their last 3.

BOOOOOOO!

Arrrgh. That Milledge twirlie-gig in the 8th inning is what did the Nats in, IMO. If he'd caught it, at the very least we'd be tied right now.

no the nationals have won two of their last three.

Or 2 of their last 4. Whatever.

Unacceptable little league crap.

Well, that wasn't much fun was it. Put it to bed and get em tomorrow, take 2 of 3 and come back home. Just to many mistakes and near misses, and with 3 homers to boot. Oh well, fahget about it.

I'll be the first to admit I have no right second guessing Manny Acta. But do it I will. Lance Berkmann is 4 for 4 and comes up for his 5th at bat. WALK HIM. Pariculary since you know that batting next inning is your lead off hitter who has fanned 4x's so far. But nooooooooo, we pitch to Berkman after serving up a few other taters. And lo and behold, we frabbin' lose the game by a frabbin' run. This game was ours, lest for some bad managerial decisions and a stupid fielding attempt by the right fielder. unacceptable -- give up the run to prevent two runs. Dumb, dumb, ugly stinking dumb. Chap my friggin' a$$. we should have won this game.
:(

I like the agressiveness by Kearns, if he catches it the innings over and Rauch comes on for the save. If he let's it drop a run scores anyway and we still need to score in the 9th to win. Still, it would have taken a ESPN top 10 play to make that catch...

Posted by: estuartj | May 6, 2008 11:03 PM
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that's BS. he should have caught it on the short hop and prevented the second run so that the team could prevail in extra innings.

Arrrgh. That Milledge twirlie-gig in the 8th inning is what did the Nats in, IMO. If he'd caught it, at the very least we'd be tied right now.

Posted by: Juan-John | May 6, 2008 11:08 PM
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he looked like a deer in the head lights. however, it was a rocket, and I was a little more sympathetic after wathcing the replay. still he broke the wrong way...

(Actually it was the 7th inning, my bad.)

At the same time, you gotta wonder whether Nook Logan woulda caught that ball (he of that amazing running-up-the-hill catch last season).

Then again, he probably would have struck out four times.

Good: the three home runs (especially the monster shoot by Boone), though they were all solo shots.

Bad: just about everything else, including the city of Houston, the defensive mistakes by all 3 starting outfielders, Shawn Hill's throwing error, the stupid ump, the fact that Paul LoDuca couldn't throw out his own grandmother, the decision to pitch to Berkman (as N@sfan mentioned), and I'm sure there are others...

I'm not sure Kearns could have caught it on the short hop. Based on the angle he was coming he would have to dive to even get it on the short hop.

At the same time, you gotta wonder whether Nook Logan woulda caught that ball (he of that amazing running-up-the-hill catch last season).

Then again, he probably would have struck out four times.

Posted by: Juan-John | May 6, 2008 11:27 PM
****************************************

I think Nook would've at least played it better, even if he didn't catch it. As for the four strikeouts, we had FLop to take care of that tonight.

that was p-a-i-n-f-u-l. there is little that'll spool me up, but the responsibility for this loss can be blamed on execution in the field and supervisory error. unsat.

oh, and how will this play out in the gamer?? The Nats were involved in a seesaw battle in which the Astros ultimately prevailed...? Puh-leez. Barry, show no mercy, please fillet them like them like the easily snared catch that they are.

Dude, N@sfan, shutup. We all suffered through this as much as you did, tone down your wrath a little bit. We've still won 7 of our last 10, which is still good. Good teams lose baseball games. Good teams even lose them because of their own ugly mistakes. As a mediocre team that's been playing like a good team, we don't need to go flog our boys on one off night after 12 good ones.

You want something positive tonight? 48 hours seemed to be just enough time for Zimmerman to travel back in time and swap places with the old him.

N@tsfan, telling you to shutup was kinda mean-spirited and juvenile, since you're just as frustrated as I am. Sorry.

What I meant to say was, it's really hard seeing un-constructive, negative statements when we all feel like we need a little time to regroup. Your a fan, I'm a fan, and we both need a friggin' hug.

We also need a new post from Barry explaining his dislike of Houston, and exhibiting more of his inimitable snark.

Just got home and went through gameday, play by play.
Here's a definite positive. 5th inning we got 2 doubles a walk and another single, all with 2 outs. Sure, Zim was thrown out at home, but staying alive that long with 2 outs did not happen for most of April.

anybody worrying about Manny's handling of the pen? Ayala and Rivera are obviously overworked.

My concern is not being able to throw strikes, driving up the pitch count, which causes the bullpen to be overworked. I'm sick of 2-0 and 3-1 counts. Can somebody consistently throw a first pitch strike ...the best pitch in baseball...please?

"We used to have to broadcast the Colts 45's games from an open booth in their home field. Now, Houston is one of those damp, humid Southern cities near the water, and the bugs were as big as animals! They would suspend play to spray the field between innings!" John Sterling, during "The Swarm" of Joba Chamberlain in Cleveland in last years playoffs

Hitting - League Leaders 2008/05/02
Japan Pacific League

Short, Rick (Golden Eagles) BA.303 HR 2 RBI 10 OBP 0.333

Where is Nook? I can't find him anywhere! Don't know why he'd come to mind this morning. 2007 Stats: got the starting nod in 51 of Washington's 74 contests after the All-Star break...ranked 2nd among Nationals with .284 batting average (61-for-215) after the ASB...only Austin Kearns (.285) was better. Hit .320 (33-for-103) in 28 games in August, ranking 2nd among Nationals behind only Dmitri Young (.373)...batted .305 (40-for-131) against right-handed pitchers.ranked 2nd among Nationals (Felipe Lopez, 24) and matched career high with 23 stolen bags...ranked among NL leaders in infield hits (7th, 25), bunt hits (5th, 9) and batting with RISP and 2 outs (9th, .366)

Funny you should say that. I'm not too worried after reading this:

http://tinyurl.com/5gq6qy
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anybody worrying about Manny's handling of the pen? Ayala and Rivera are obviously overworked.

Posted by: kranny | May 7, 2008 12:49 AM

N@tsfan, telling you to shutup was kinda mean-spirited and juvenile, since you're just as frustrated as I am. Sorry.

What I meant to say was, it's really hard seeing un-constructive, negative statements when we all feel like we need a little time to regroup. Your a fan, I'm a fan, and we both need a friggin' hug.

Posted by: Section 506 (Before moving) | May 7, 2008 12:01 AM
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You know I was supremely chapped because I care waaaay too much. Thanks for talking me down off the ledge. Where's that hug? Who's gonna show me the love today??

Come to the new thread and we'll see what we can do, N@sfan. :)