Love the punny titles and it's always good to keep up on what's going on down on the farm. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out this Nationals article in The Onion. It's a riot. http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nationals_book_it_after_foul_ball

"Although McConnell had no evidence at the time that Zimmerman was responsible for the damages, he was the chief suspect, as he is the only National able to hit the ball farther than 300 feet. Furthermore, Zimmerman dented McConnell's 1998 Buick LeSabre last week when he overthrew first base by 15,000 feet on a routine grounder."

It's funny, because it's true.

Thank you, ABM! Laughter is the best med and I got a much-needed dose from this post!

""And, I was flipping around at one point so I'm not sure I heard correctly, but was Carpenter saying that Tim Tolman would make a fine manager some day?! Please tell me I heard that wrong..."

Perhaps Carpenter has noticed the fine job Tolman has done in carrying out the lineup card to the umps before the games, a task normally reserved to the manager but one Manny has delegated to him. Not once has Tolman carried out the next day's lineup instead of the current day's. That's definitely not AAAA managerial performance there!

Actually, Carpenter and Tolman have a lot in common. Carpenter calls home runs and double plays before the play is complete, Tolman has every runner safe at home before he even reaches third. They're twin sons of different mothers."

Last post was from me, ABM. Thanks again.

Isn't cutting and pasting the PR people's stuff what got the me into trouble with that whole WMD thing?

Just sayin'.

Methinks that was intentional.

-----

So, without further ado,

Do you suppose that Mr. Gluvna smiles quietly to himself each time he writes one of those headlines?

Noooooooooooooooooooooo. Not you too, Barry?
_____________
"So, without further ado"

I suspect that he has a loud smile.

Some great news coming out of the Rangers organization, well great news for us. Hehe... This is from espn's out of the box.

John Patterson, now pitching in the Rangers system, experienced a setback in extended spring training, and has been shut down again with forearm soreness.

Good call JimBo.

Steven, what were the other teams in NL Central doing during those years that JimBo didn't make the playoffs with Cinci?

I know I have been critical of Acta for weeks, but I have to ask, does anyone else see a problem with the lack of fundamentals and focus night after night from players and coaches. Is Acta accountable or not?

How is this good environment to develop young players? Many of the problems are coming from players and coaches who have been in the game for years. Somehow this does not add up to the type of team I thought Acta was bringing to the table. At what point does he get called on the play of his team?

I recall reading a column in the national media last year that predicted that Acta would not be the manager when the team finally was ready to win. The point was that he would be too closely associated with all the loses; that he would be identified with all the poor play and that the team would have to bring in a fresh face in 2011.

He says all the right things and he should not be held responsible completely but at what point is he part of the problem? I do not see the development of the team I would have expected. How much of this problem is Jimbo's making by micro managing the lineups and rosters? If Acta is not standing up to Jimbo then is he the right guy for the future of the team?

The team definitely has a more minor-league, development-over-winning patience to it that I thought (hoped) would be gone, or even unnecessary, this year.

JayB, don't forget also that Acta has nightly meetings with the devil! And that he hates children.

As long as we're speculating, might as well be interesting.

And no, I don't think less than 100% success means that he's not trying.

A great way to put it....thanks NatsNut.

Thanks for sharing the Onion piece - funny! (and attendance was good, too ;))

You know, JB, those are appropriate questions, I think. I know sometimes we get a little knee-jerky around here, but I think a measured evaluation of these issues makes sense.

I don't think Tolman should be fired, or even that his ineptitude as a 3B coach necessarily means he wouldn't make a good manager someday. Tolman is bad at one very small aspect of this game. Unfortunately, it's a crucial aspect, one for which he is responsbile, and he's truly terrible at it.

But when you have a manager who is axiomatic in his desire to not give away outs on the basepath while his team is almost as steadfast in its propensity for baserunning gaffes, you have a conflict.

I'm not saying that this is the central problem the Nats are facing. The offense has sputtered, and Acta can't hit for the team. If the hitting coach is responsible for this, then that's Bowden and Kasten's responsibility.

The blunders we've seen in the last two games have seemed very minor league. But I'm not sure how much of that falls on Acta, either. Milledge takes a bad route. Acta can run that route for him. Lopez strikes out on a pitch that hits him. Acta can't make him hold up on that pitch. Lo Duca throws to the foul side of third base on a steal attempt. Acta can't make that throw for Lo Duca. Hanrahan walks Matsui. You get the idea.

Honestly, though, if we're seeing a minor league or mentoring approach, it's probably because that's exactly what's necessary. There are more than a few players on this team that are being groomed for future roles, and the team is very much in an evaluative phase.

And really, how many of the players on this roster would be on another team's AAA roster, or not on it at all?

But you may have a point on 2011. The Capitals had a tutor-type coach when they were rebuilding. He was fired in October when it was painfully obvious he couldn't lead a team that was ready to compete.

Thanks 506....that is just the type of informed baseball reflection I would expect from you.

Is it news to you the Manager of the team has the most influence on the team? How do you explain what we have seen this year as a step backwards in fundamentals, preparation and hustle?

It could be Jimbo's interference, it could be Acta's lack of preparation in Spring training, I do not think your comment adds much to the discussion.

Just before I stick this flaming knife into my Tim Tollman voodoo doll, can anyone think of any REALLY GOOD stuff he's done?

I mean, being a coach is one of those jobs that is transparent until you make mistakes. Surely there's a few incidents where we can give him credit for making a call that saved a run or an out or something.

I kinda like running hard and taking a risk and forcing the defending team to press because they'll fail a significant percentage of the time, but there are some hits and some arms that you just don't do that against.

How is John Patterson being injured "great news" for Nats fans? He was released by the team and pitching in AAA for another team (the Rangers no less). For quite a few years Patterson was the lone bright spot on an awful starting pitching staff.

Are you seriously rooting for him to be forced to retire?

I know baseball is new here, but show some freaking respect for former players who are trying to salvage their careers (particularly if there's only a slim chance that they will ever play against your team again).

Also the call to release him probably had more to do with the recommendations of the training staff than Bowden himself.

NIK, I think the "great news" is if you interpret this as "we made a very hard decision and hindsight is proving that it was a good decision."

Darn it, IHW, that's a perfectly logical argument, and you waited until after I said Tolman was "truly terrible" at his job to make it.

I can think of more than one occasion where Tolman held a runner up while I was at home waving my arm around to signal the runner to score when, it later turned out, such a decision would have been disasterous.

NIK,

I am rooting for JP, I wish him all the best. But I am viewing this from a Nats perspective, we knew that he was done within our organization and instead of giving him a shot this year, we decided to release him because we didn't want to take the chance of a) him injuring himself more or b) damaging out team and decimating our pitching staff.

It is good news for us because we got rid of him before he could break our hearts for a 3rd straight year.

You know that rule about not saying anything bad about a buddy's ex-girlfriend in case they get back together?

Well, Patterson can ask for his release from the Rangers if he's not on the big club by June 15th.

They should post this on the Nationals' site and then it could be linked to.

@JayB
Week aftte Week. It seems to be you were quiet during the last home stand and rightly so or was some else managing the team when the NATS went 8-3. The Phil made, I believe, 8 errors during our road stand with them. Was Corrales job on the line? Come back and rant when they have gone 5-20.

@NatsNut
A tad optimistic, so far. It may be becasue I spent most of my life in the Cold War, but somehow I believe a Plan takes 5 years.

Sorry to squelch your frustration, John ;) I only asked the question because I can't honestly recall any. There's no spot in my Bob Carpenter Official Washington Nationals Scorebook (I can't believe I just admitted to owning that) to mark +/- for 3rd base coach actions.

I guess my real frustration is that Lopez is not a young player and while Milledge is young he played a great deal of baseball over the past 5 years when he was drafted. We seems to attract flawed players and Acta's approach of all if fine seems to empower them to get worse......

204,
So are you expecting 4 years of stagnant, and then all of a sudden the 5th year we're at the top?

Nothing wrong with me expecting a little better product than last year.

Come, JayB, you know very well that I'm far more of a smartassistant than a baseball wisdom master. When I don't have time to overcome the colossal effort needed to match the much more brilliant posters 'round these parts, I resort to snarky short posts that make a similar point.

But you ask for a more full point, so I'll take some time.

We don't have a lot of evidence of what Acta is or isn't doing with the team. Last year, after May (hey, it's only just May now...) we assumed he was a superman, because we were seeing good results and so we interpreted his vague, optimistic statements as signs of genius.

This year (and last year in April and May) we are seeing bad results and so we assume he is a push-over based on his vague, optimistic statements. But Acta is almost never specific about what he thinks of players or what he says to individuals or plans to do to solve problems. Always vague, optimistic statements.

Is that good? Obviously, it requires the fan base to trust you. Some here do, some don't. I do. You don't. It appears NatsNut doesn't either, but I think Bob L. Head does, and so on. He's got to recognize that as long as that's his style, he's going to suffer the consequences in this way. But I suspect that he sees the benefit as a tighter relationship with the players when he can say anything to them in private, without shaming them in public.

Errors have gone down since just two weeks ago. Is that progress or just fluctuation? Who knows. Things got a lot better last year as the year wore on, will that happen again this year? I think it's significant that the mistake-machine that is Lastings Milledge wasn't on the team last year. Same with Lo Duca.

If the results change next month, but Acta doesn't, would you change your mind?

Nothing wrong with me expecting a little better product than last year.

Posted by: NatsNut | May 8, 2008 12:31 PM

-------------

Indeed not, NatsNut. But on May 8th last year, they were 9-24. Their current 14-20, while not what we had hoped/expected is in fact a little better.

"Just before I stick this flaming knife into my Tim Tollman voodoo doll, can anyone think of any REALLY GOOD stuff he's done?"

What, you mean there's only one person here who's noticed the great job I do carrying out the lineup card, night after frickin' night? Come on, give a guy his props! Look how many times your golden boy Svrluga has been late with the lineups, and you guys all give him a pass on it. Every time. Even JayB lets it slide without comment. Geez. And I'm out there with the card EVERY FRICKIN' NIGHT, DAMMIT!

I was -- fortunately -- out of the country from April 4-17 and thus missed seeing any of Nats games during their nine-game losing streak. After I returned I managed to attend four solid wins during the recent homestand and I was beginning to think that the Nats' early-April play was an anomoly. But after watching the two games from Houston I'm not so sure. Can anyone out there enlighten me as to how the games in Houston over the past two nights compare to those earlier games? Is what I saw from Houston what you saw during those awful two weeks in April? Is it worse? Is it a bit better (even if the results are the same)? Because what I've watched over the past two nights reminds me way too much of my daughter's softball league (i.e., walk the first batter, stolen base, stolen base, error or misplay, run scored, repeat).

Re the Tolman discussion, just a reminder that Licey fired him during (not before, not after, but in the middle of) the Dominican Winter League playoff championship series. I don't know the full story, but whatever they were seeing they didn't like.

NatsNut
It is a little better than last year. Last year, I had seen 5-8 straight losses at RFK (including opening day) as opposed to 2 losses this season. The NATS are 2 above 500 at home. I believe they did not get close to 500 at home until the end of the season (finished 1 under-I just looked it up.) Also, today's May 8 not July 30. Give this season some time.

As long as we are talking about Onion stories involving Congress, this is an all-time classic for anyone who hasn't seen it before: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27828

Perhaps even funnier was when the story subsequently was translated and reported in Beijing's largest daily newspaper as a true story.

Maybe my reaction was flippant, but really shouldn't at the very least you show some regret for a former Nats pitcher who has battled injuries for the last few years having to shut it down again?

IIRC Patterson was released so that he'd be able to sign with another team when it appeared that 1) there was nothing physically wrong with him and 2) He certainly wasn't going to make the 25-man let alone the 40-man roster.

Whether or not he injuries himself more seriously after his release has no affect on the Nationals or the fans. The training staff evaluated him correctly and management made the right decision in releasing him. That's what they are supposed to do.

Although maybe you mean that it's great news that the front office finally was right about something. I'll give you that.

i hate walks-I, too, am the proud owner of a set of Bob Carpenter scorebooks. Besides being one of the best play-by-play announcers in the game, Bob is also a recognized authority on keeping score. For anyone who wants one: http://www.bcscorebook.com/

no, no. I know our record is better this year. That's not what I meant.

The context about my expectations was more about Tolman, and Manny's development-over-winning patience with his, and others', mistakes. The mistakes* are what I thought we'd be over this year, thus not even requiring Manny's "patience" in that regard.

204 implied I'm not on the 5-year plan. Far as I know the 5-year clock started ticking last year, at the very least.

So I thought we'd be over a hump or two this year, maybe starting from where we left off last season instead of going back to last April's mistakes.
________________

*mistakes: for a complete list, please see Barry's last two gamers.

So refresh my memory: is it "Zin-ee-CO-la" or "Zi-NIC-ola"?

I am, in general, a big Acta supporter and I generally find JayB's posting's to be overly inflamatory and repetitive, but to answer his original question: Yes I do see a problem with fundamentals and I do think that Manny Acta has to be held accountable. However, that accountability should have him measured at the end of the year, not in May. The lack of of execution speaks to mental preparedness, knowledge of the fundamentals, repetition and training, and player accountability. When players make a mistake once it the players fault. When they make similar mistakes on a daily basis the manager and coaches have to address it.

Milledge and Pena are talented athletes, but they are not playing very good outfield. In Pena's case, the verdict is in. He either does not have the ability or he does not have the drive to be a good fielder. With Milledge, he may yet develop, but his preparedness and awareness needs to improve. Lopez needs to run out every ball. At a minimum pitchers need to take bunting practice daily.

And, Tim Tolman goes into horrendous slumps more than any third base coach I have ever seen. When he screws up, he screws up in bunches. It looks like the runners are running hard, so I think it is his judgement. Good 3B coaches can win games, bad ones lose them. If runners start hesitating when he sends them you'll know that they have lost trust.

and borrowing from i hate walks, I'm not talking about winning records, I'm talking about GOOD BASEBALL. They're not always the same thing.

Anyway, how'd I get in the weeds about this? I'm not even that upset about the last two nights, really. It just started with a statement about the feeling of the team in general after JayB's post about Manny.

moving on....

Speaking of minors:
The White Sox signed LHP Ray King to a minor league contract and assigned him to Charlotte.

Plus: Columbus paper reporting that the Clippers are likely to drop the Nats and hook up with the Indians after this season.

On opening night, in the bottom of the first, Tim Tolman waived Nick Johnson home from second on an Austin Kearns single to Jeff Francoeur, scoring the run that set the stage for Zimmerman's walk-off.

In the 2-1 win against the Cubs, Tolman waived the winning run home.

I will not waste further time. It's like defending Christians in the colliseum. There are too many here that think it's funny to call for good people to be fired. The small, nasty part of me wishes the same on every one of you, but it wouldn't make you any more compassionate or knowlegable, it would just make you meaner, and you sure don't need that. If Tolman takes a chance and it works out, you are silent. If it doesn't, you call for his job. Same with Bob Carpenter. Guy knows a lot, teaches without being arrogant, calls a sweet game that's a joy to come home to, but not for you. And who do you geniuses want instead of Bob? Jon Miller, like Jon Miller would ever work for Peter Angelos, the owner of MASN, again. Some even want Mel Proctor, who could not disguise his indifference while calling the games. I'm done. Knock yourselves out hatin'.

flynnie, you're mostly right, as long as we don't keep people who are good, but are not right. It's possible that Tolman falls in this latter category, but we're going to need a careful look at him and my guess is that it will be at the end of this season.

sorry, can't buy the argument, flynnie. it's tolman's job to know when to take a chance, how much of a chance it is, the likelihood his runner has enough speed to make it a play, etc. he's definitely allowed to make mistakes, we all should be. i don't expect every runner sent from 3rd to make it home safe.

*BUT*

i do expect the vast majority of runners sent from 3rd to at least have a chance. it seems like, especially the first part of this year, that we've had far too many runners sent who haven't even had a chance at home. where the catcher had the ball and could have met the runner 5 feet up the line with it. those are inexcusable mistakes to make repeatedly. i'm allowed to make mistakes at my job, and i do make them. but i don't make the same blatant mistakes repeatedly, or else i wouldn't continue to have this job. especially mistakes on things that are considered one of my primary responsibilities. if i kept making those over and over... i'd expect to be let go.

the problem I have with Tolman is his decisions to send a runner with two outs when

1) the outfielder is playing relatively shallow,
2) he gets the ball BEFORE the Nats runner has touched third base
3) the next batter up is the best hitter on your ballclub.

More times than not, two of the three occur and the Nats are out of an inning. Sure, he has sent runners home and they score. Guess what, all 3B coaches can say that. However, most good 3B coaches don't send the runner if one of the above happens.

...and e accurately points out why he might not be the right fit for this club in this role, no matter what a good man he is.

e also manages to show his disapproval with Tolman's professional job. You would not object so much to more like this, right flynnie? If I read you correctly, you object to the hating, which is personal and nasty?

"i hate walks-I, too, am the proud owner of a set of Bob Carpenter scorebooks."

Since I don't have one of these scorebooks, can one of you guys tell me something about them? Namely, are the home runs and double plays pre-printed in them, or do you have to enter them in yourself?

http://tinyurl.com/6gkenp

scrolling....scrolling...scrolling....

Whew. Not there. things ARE looking up.

;)

Flynnie, get real. This is a blog. We are fans. We have a right to criticize *on a blog* the people involved with the Nats. They are grown-ups, and they get paid a lot of money for their work that they know puts them in the public eye. I mean seriously, it's not like we're standing outside these guys' houses yelling at them or calling their homes or something!

Carpenter stinks, he makes numerous mistakes every game (oh, but he sounds *so good* making them, right?) and he doesn't know when to just be quiet. And no flynnie he doesn't know a lot about the game, as he makes clear every night. How often does Sutton have to correct him? His broadcasting is a joke, it reflects poorly on the team, and there's no reason why people should pull their punches in criticizing him. Again, he's a grown man, and he knew what he was getting into when he came crawling back to DC.

"What, you mean there's only one person here who's noticed the great job I do carrying out the lineup card..."

It was an odd thing to see, but one weekend day last year they started having ceremonial lineup-card bringer-outers (I think they might still do this on weekends). So it seems that you're getting some (gorgeous ladies) help with that task, Tim.

=====

Thanks for recalling those times that Tolman pushed the envelope and it worked out. I'm not calling for him to be fired, but I'm not ordering a Tolman replica jersey, either. (although I have a very small one for this voodoo doll...)

"Bob Carpenter...Besides being one of the best play-by-play announcers in the game..."

And Flynnie, I like you man, but this is where we part ways. ;) (either that or you're throwing one of those huge, slow Livan Hernandez curves that don't even register on the snark-dar gun)

You're right, it is like defending Christians in the Colosseum. It can suck to be lionized by this crowd. ;)

"How often does Sutton have to correct him"

Not as often as he does!

I usually don't "me too", but 231 took the words right out of my mouth, flynnie. I'm sorry if our criticism of Tolman sounded personal...I certainly don't think it was. I was merely pointing out that these sorts of mistakes are not at all out of the ordinary with him...it's a pattern that has emerged over the last two years at least, as others have also pointed out.

In retrospect, perhaps "put him out to pasture" was a bit too harsh, so I apologize. It was certainly an emotional reaction caused by my sometimes unreasonably strong desire to see our guys do well. But, the fact is that if a member of the Nats staff needs to be released for the good of the team, then so be it.

I am a supervisor and I have had employees who had strengths and weaknesses, but when their mistakes were obvious and resulted in problems for the rest of the staff, it caused all sorts of problems, especially with morale. Fair to ignore Tolman's accomplishments? No, but the fact is the mistakes do more damage and ultimately you have to remove the source of the damage so the team can move forward, just as I've had to let good people go so that the rest of my team could accomplish our goals. Did I enjoy it? Hell no, because, contrary to what you might think, I AM a compassionate person. And, you can bet I did my best to help those folks find a position somewhere else that suited them better. But, in the end the organization was better off and my team flourished.

Again, sorry if you perceived the remarks as unfair, but that's life under the microscope, which is exactly where the Nats live.

I never even noticed there WAS a 3rd base coach until Tolman (figuratively, not literally). Isn't that what makes a good one?

Wow. I'm sorry, but I have to object to the Twins making this list. The team has won the division four times this decade alone, and has won the World series twice.

And the reasons for this are letting Hunter walk and trading Santana? This is not a big market team we're talking about. A bad move would have been to let Santana hit FA without anything to show for it, because they wouldn't be able to afford him in the offseason.

For the record, I thought the Bruins were an odd addition, too. I know they traded Thorton, but exactly how many Cups has he won for San Jose since being traded? And they did go out and spend big money on Chara. I guess they've been tough to watch over the past few years, but they have won two division titles since 2001.

-----

scrolling....scrolling...scrolling....

Whew. Not there. things ARE looking up.

Has anyone mentioned that, amid this third base coach hubbub, Pena was actually safe? Definitely slid under the tag, but garbage baseball etiquette gave the umpire the call beforehand - meaning he probably didn't even focus on the play in front of him.

A round of applause for #3 prospect Collin Balester. Went 6 innings, 7 hits, 1 run (not earned - Dukes error), 2 walks, 3 strike outs to get the win. He is now 3-2 with a 3.41 ERA. Call him up!

theraph: No. I don't think anyone has mentioned that yet. We probably wouldn't even be having this discussion if the call had been different (because us fans tend to have tunnel vision).

But you bring up another interesting and beautiful thing about this sport: The human umpiring element is a wild card. It is often wrong (sorry, blue, but it's true) and those little errors can dramatically change the game. And even when the ump is wrong, the ump is right (except for that one time ... right, Frank Robinson?).

&&

Hey why is there never any poetry in the comments on this blog any more?

"Has anyone mentioned that, amid this third base coach hubbub, Pena was actually safe?"

They showed multiple replays of that play on the MASN broadcast, from several different angles, and on at least one of those replays he sure looked out to me. Other angles were a bit more ambiguous. I was watching in a bar, though, and the sound was off, so I don't know what the announcers were saying about it.

And geez, he was a good ten feet or more away from the plate when a perfect throw got there. For him to be called safe at that point there would have had to have been no doubt at all about the play, like the catcher dropping the ball or Pena making a perfect backdoor slide and sliding the tip of his hand over the plate to avoid the tag like Guzman did a couple of games ago. But there was nothing like that. He shouldn't have been sent in the first place, and he was dead out by rights.

I don't have access now to the replay,
And you're one poster that I don't like to refute,
But last night MASN showed the umpire's final say,
About which there seemed little to dispute

Swanni,

What Columbus paper is reporting that the Clippers will drop the Nationals?

New post, with Lo Duca news.

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