97 replies to this topic

[JimRiceHOFer]

A quick look at the current roster and lineup for the 2010 Nationals:

Current Roster
C - Ivan Rodriguez
1B - Adam Dunn
2B - Danny Espinosa
SS - Ian Desmond
3B - Ryan Zimmerman
LF - Roger Bernadina
CF - Nyjer Morgan
RF - Mike Morse

Bench - Adam Kennedy, Alberto Gonzalez, Willie Harris, Justin Maxwell, Wilson Ramos, Wil Nieves, Kevin Mench

SP - John Lannan
SP - Scott Olsen
SP - Jason Marquis
SP - Jordan Zimmerman
SP - Livan Hernandez
Closer - Drew Storen

Bullpen - Miguel Batista, Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard, Doug Slaten, Joel Peralta, Craig Stammen, Collin Ballester, Yuniesky Maya

AAA Shuttle/Backups:
SP - Stephen Strasburg (DL-15), Luis Atilano (DL-60), Ross Detwiler (DL-15), J.D. Martin (DL-60), Shairon Martis, Matt Chico, Chien-Ming Wang (DL-60), Garrett Mock (DL-60), Aaron Thompson, Orlando Hernandez

RP - Juan Jaime, Jesse English, Tyler Walker (DL-60), Ryan Matteus, Atahualpa Severino

OF - Bryce Harper, Jerry Owens, Josh Willingham (DL-15), Jason Botts

IF - Chris Duncan, Pete Orr, Jesus Flores (DL-60), Chris Marrero

C - Jesus Flores (DL-60) Carlos Maldonado, Jamie Burke


Fearless Prediction: 74-88 (4th place, NL East). They beat out the Mets and rise up out of last place.

Edited: 9/7 - to reflect recent roster moves

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 07 September 2010 - 11:48 AM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Capps holds lead; Nats top Phillies, 6-5

http://www.washingto...0040805146.html

Relievers Sean Burnett and Tyler Clippard could not maintain the lead in the top of the sixth inning, but Clippard pitched effectively after a shaky start to give way to Bruney and Capps. None of the three relievers allowed a run in the game's final three innings. "Good defense, hitting, pitching, it was a good team win," said Stammen, who allowed nine hits and four runs in five innings, the longest a Nationals starting pitcher lasted during the series.


*The overhauled bullpen came through tonight, preserving the only lead they have been given this season, and ending the Nats winless streak at 2 games to begin the season.
*If they can play .333 vs. the Phillies all season, and go .500 against the rest of the NL East, they will be improve greatly over last year.
*They struggled the most against their own division last season:
NL East: 25-47
NL Central: 16-27
NL West: 11-18
Interleague: 7-11

[JimRiceHOFer]

Cristian Guzman continues position shuffle

http://voices.washin...inues_posi.html

Riggleman wants Guzman to play shortstop this season, but he needs to find days such as Thursday for Guzman to play his natural position. Desmond is expected to start at least the next four games, Riggleman said. The manager added that Guzman would receive time at second base and right field in the upcoming three-game series against the New York Mets.


*This should be interesting, Guzman in the outfield...

[JimRiceHOFer]

Nationals are a .500 ballclub (for at least, today...)

http://www.washingto...0041102557.html

Livan Hernández's seven shutout innings and Josh Willingham's five RBI, including four on a first-inning grand slam, lifted the Nationals to a 5-2 victory over Johan Santana and the New York Mets. Their first consecutive wins this season sent the Nationals' record to 3-3. The last time the Nationals finished a day .500 or better? April 5, 2008. In a year like this, when fourth place means progress, the mundane becomes a milestone.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Live Blog of Strasburg's Pro Debut

http://voices.washin..._this_time.html

2:55: How absurd is a 90-mph change-up? Consider the fact Tom Milone, Strasburg's Senators teammate, shut out the Curve over six innings the day before without throwing a single pitch harder than 89.



*ALSO, an in-person SOSH report below from lurker, "Sox in PA"

I just watched Stephen Strasburg's pro debut at Blair County Ballpark here against the Altoona Curve. Pretty impressive!

Strasburg's 1st inning was a little rough. Got the first two outs pretty quick, but the heart of Altoona's order hit him strung a few hits together, including a double to deep right field that landed at the base of the wall. He ended up throwing 24 pitches in inning 1.

Innings 2-4 were a different story. Strasburg found his groove and was sitting at 97mph on the BCB radar gun (which is consistently ~2mph slow), occasionally touching 98. He mixed in a VERY strong slider at about 91mph and a curve that registered at ~81mph. He had some trouble locating these for strikes in the 1st, but once he found the spot in his middle innings, the Curve hitters were COMPLETELY overmatched. They started the game by laying off any and all breaking stuff, and were able to get around on the heat a couple of times, but once he started throwing the curve and slider for strikes, it was all over.

Inning 5 saw a bit of a break down. Some weak fielding led to Strasburg being touched up for a couple of runs, but overall it was a pretty convincing debut. He even helped his own cause by hitting an opposite field double over the right fielder's head and later scoring.

A LOT of Nationals fans in the ballpark (I guess this was more exciting than anything they have going in NATSTOWN). Rumor had it that Boras was in attendance as well, sitting next to Strasburg's wife.

Anyway, I figured a firsthand account of Strasburg's debut might make for good reading on the main board. Not anything scientific but it was impressive to the naked eye, even if the stat line might be a little deceiving.

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 12 April 2010 - 10:48 AM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Hernandez, Bernadina join ML roster, Mock to Minors, Morse to DL

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

The Nationals placed outfielder Mike Morse on the 15-day disabled list because of left calf strain and recalled outfielder Roger Bernadina from Triple-A Syracuse.

With Morse out, the Willie Harris/Willy Taveras platoon in right field is back in full swing. Taveras Bernadina will get occasional starts against right-handed pitching.


The Nationals selected the contract of right-hander Livan Hernandez and optioned right-hander Garrett Mock to Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday. With Mock gone, the Nationals will promote left-hander Scott Olsen in time for Thursday's game against the Phillies.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Zimmerman's pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in 8th powers Nats past Phils

http://scores.espn.g...elphia-phillies

Zimmerman hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Danys Baez in the eighth inning and the Washington Nationals rallied for a 7-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

Adam Dunn also connected for the Nationals, who stopped Philadelphia's five-game winning streak.


*Nats are now 4-5 overall, AND 3-3 on the Road. Six of their 1st 9 games were against the Phillies.
If they can just achieve a .400 winning percentage on the road this year, they would improve 6 games over last year's dismal away winning % of .320 (26-55)

[JimRiceHOFer]

Bergmann designated for assignment

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

The Nationals recalled left-hander Scott Olsen from Triple-A Syracuse and designated right-hander Jason Bergmann for assignment Thursday afternoon.

The Nationals were planning to send left-hander Jesse English to the Minor Leagues to make room for Olsen, but after English didn't allow a run in 2 2/3 innings and Bergmann gave up a home run to Shane Victorino in Wednesday night's 14-7 loss, the team changed its mind and decided to take Bergmann off the roster.

[axx]

Winning record! First time since staring 3-0 in 2008.

[JimRiceHOFer]

The Nationals at .500 right now (6-6) sit in a tie for 7TH Place in the NL, and have won two out of their 4 series on the season so far.

The other two were both against the Phillies and have shown that they can be more competitive with the best team in the NL so far.


*I'd say that pedestrian .500 baseball all season would be perfectly welcome in Natstown this season...

[JimRiceHOFer]

Strasburg live-blog: Morning edition

http://voices.washin...morning_ed.html

His pitching line for the day goes 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K.

For the season: 12 1/3 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 17 K. And his ERA is 0.73.
I'm thinking one or two more starts here, and it's on to Syracuse.

*Funniest line from the blog "(Poor Tuffy Gosewisch. The Phillies' catcher has seen six pitches so far in two plate appearances, both of them strikeouts. The first time, Strasburg buckled his knees with a curveball, and this time he froze him with a 98-mph fastball. I think Strasburg just set the kid's development back by a full year.)"

[JimRiceHOFer]

Jason Marquis placed on 15 day Disabled List

http://voices.washin...ationalsjournal

Marquis woke up with stiffness in right elbow Wednesday morning. He alerted team officials and underwent an MRI exam and an arthrogram that afternoon. The test revealed "floating bodies" in his right elbow, General Manager Mike Rizzo said. Marquis will receive a second opinion Thursday from Cincinnati-based physician Tim Kremcheck.

Marquis had been scheduled to start Friday. His replacement, Rizzo said, will come from Class AAA Syracuse will be "on schedule." If he remains in regular rotation, Luis Atilano, 24, would be called up to make the start in his major league debut. Atilano is 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA for Syracuse this season.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Gallery of Nationals' Elvises

http://voices.washin...ls_elvises.html

Somehow, this doesn't seem to have become the media sensation that Clinton Portis's costumes once were. Maybe they need nicknames to go along with the wig.

*Team moral building joke having to appear before the media wearing this wig. They seem to be having fun with it. See the rest of the pics in the gallery...

[JimRiceHOFer]

Ron Villone resigns with Nationals

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

A little more than a month after getting his unconditional release, it was learned left-hander Ron Villone re-signed with the Nationals.

Villone, who is currently on the disabled list because of a leg injury, is in extended spring training in Viera, Fla. There is no timetable as to when he will get back on the mound.

[JimRiceHOFer]

WEIRD Nats stat of the week:

The Nats have been outhit (or equaled in hits) by their opponentns in all but 3 of their games so far this season.

They have won 5 games in which the other team has had more (or equal) hits compared to the Nats.

They have been outhit 150 -129 for the season, and hold a -18 run differential for the year (93 - 75).

*Yet, he they stand at 8-7, .533 so far this season. And other than Livan Hernadez (who would've thought) and Craig Stammen, they haven't really had a good outing from their starting pitchers.

The bullpen has been carrying a lot of the load...And will need a few quality starts out of the rotation soon before they begin to wear out pitching 4+ innings each night.

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 22 April 2010 - 10:30 AM.

[TheYaz67]

Matt Capps is an amazing 7 for 7 in save opportunities. Its more amazing when you realize that it took 4 different pitchers for the Nats last year to record 7 saves, the 7th coming on May 21st....

The bullpen was just a huge disaster last year in the first half, so while not the best in the league or anything in 2010, it is nice to see significantly more competent pitching from the pen so far this year. Now if the real Jason Marquis would show up, we would be all set....

[JimRiceHOFer]

To steal a quote from Bob Uecker in Major League:

"In case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Nationals have managed to win a few here and there, and are threatening to climb out of the cellar."

*The Nationals are in a three-way tie for 2nd place in the NL East right now, and have a better record than all but 4 teams in the NL, and 4 in the AL.

*WEIRD Nats Stat of the day - at -16 run differential, the Nats are the only team, in either league, with a winning record that has more than a -5 run differential.

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 26 April 2010 - 01:12 PM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

A Washington post "Closer inspection" of the Nats' presidents race

http://www.washingto...ction/20100418/




*You can also see all the Racing Presidents' Recaps and Highlights here: http://blog.letteddywin.com/

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 27 April 2010 - 10:36 AM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Racing Presidents: I Was George Washington
What does it take to be one of the Racing Presidents? Just try running with one of those big heads.

http://www.washingto...ople/15255.html

The Nats may not have the best record in baseball, but their fourth-inning tradition—a race among 12-foot-tall foam mascots of the four Mount Rushmore Presidents—never fails to excite the crowd.

[canderson]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but this is worth posting imo.

I've now seen Strasburg pitch three times - took the trip to Reading tonight. Kid's dominant but he's not stretched out at all. He through five no-hit innings (64 pitches) tonight then was pulled. Funny thing is he had the game's only RBI in a 1-0 Harrisburg win. He didn't walk anyone either, but had a runner advance to first on a passed ball.

For the year, he is now 3-0 with a 0.52 ERA. He has 23 k's and 3 BBs in 17.1 IP. Oh, he's also 2-6 with 2 RBIs.

[canderson]

duplicate post

Edited by canderson, 27 April 2010 - 09:00 PM.

[DukeSox]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but this is worth posting imo.

I've now seen Strasburg pitch three times - took the trip to Reading tonight. Kid's dominant but he's not stretched out at all. He through five no-hit innings (64 pitches) tonight then was pulled. Funny thing is he had the game's only RBI in a 1-0 Harrisburg win. He didn't walk anyone either, but had a runner advance to first on a passed ball.

For the year, he is now 3-0 with a 0.52 ERA. He has 23 k's and 3 BBs in 17.1 IP. Oh, he's also 2-6 with 2 RBIs.

http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=5141237

can't wait to see this kid in the majors. that said, given the distribution and variance of starting pitching, he won't be insanely good, just really good.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Bernadina, Maxwell to split right-field duties
http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

The Nationals have a new platoon system in right field. Manager Jim Riggleman announced Wednesday that Roger Bernadina and Justin Maxwell will split the duties, while Willie Harris and Willy Taveras will go back on the bench.



Bernadina, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday night, arrived from Toledo at 7 a.m. ET. He saw Riggleman in the lobby of the team hotel, and Bernadina was informed by his boss that he would be starting against the Cubs on Wednesday.

Bernadina was able to get an hour of sleep and then headed to Wrigley Field. Bernadina has hit safely in 12 of the 13 games he's played this season at the Triple-A level, including all seven games during the past week. Five of his past six games were multihit efforts, giving him a league-best 13 hits to go along with a .464 average for the week.

*RP Jesse English was sent to AAA to make room for Bernadina on the roster.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Nats win, off to best start since move to DC
http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

At 12-10, the Nationals are off to their best start since the team moved from Montreal to Washington after the 2004 season. With a .545 winning percentage in April, the Nationals have secured their first winning month since going 15-12 in September 2007.
.
.
The main reason for the winning record in April is the starting pitching. Take Atilano -- he lasted six innings and gave up two runs on six hits. It marked the seventh straight game in a which a Nats pitcher had a quality outing.

*Matt Capps has 10 saves in the Nats 12 victories this season

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 29 April 2010 - 10:47 AM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Storen continues fast track to Majors

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

The Nationals have promoted right-hander Drew Storen from Double-A Harrisburg to Triple-A Syracuse, said Doug Harris, the team's farm director. Storen is expected to join Syracuse on Friday.

Storen's promotion comes after he saved four games and allowed a run in 9 1/3 innings for Harrisburg. At the rate Storen is going, Harris expects the right-hander to be in the big leagues sometime this season.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Nats playing for 2nd Place tonight

http://scores.espn.g...florida-marlins

The Nationals (12-10) are ensured of finishing with a winning record for the first time in any month since going 15-12 in September 2007. This is their first winning April since they were 13-11 in their first month in Washington in 2005.

*A win tonight moves the Nationals into 2nd place in the NL East. Either tied with the Mets (1/2 game out of 1st) if Philly beats them, or ahead of Philly, (1 game back) if the Mets win

[JimRiceHOFer]

Zimmerman, Nationals beat Marlins to win third straight

http://sports.espn.g...ameId=300430128

Ryan Zimmerman homered twice and the Washington Nationals won their third straight game, beating the Florida Marlins 7-1 Friday night.

Scott Olsen (2-1) pitched six scoreless innings, giving up five hits and striking out four.

The Nationals' 13-10 record is the club's best mark through the first 23 games of a season

*Nats are in sole posession of 2nd Place in the NL East, one game out of first behind the Mets.
*More notably the Nats have won 4 out of 7 series so far this year (and tied one). The two series they lost were both to the Phillies.

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 30 April 2010 - 10:44 PM.

[jsinger121]

NatsTownNews

The Nationals today promoted Stephen Strasburg to Triple-A Syracuse. Strasburg is scheduled to make his Triple-A debut, Friday vs. Gwinnett.

http://twitter.com/NatsTownNews

[Burt Reynoldz]

Storen continues fast track to Majors

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

The Nationals have promoted right-hander Drew Storen from Double-A Harrisburg to Triple-A Syracuse, said Doug Harris, the team's farm director. Storen is expected to join Syracuse on Friday.

Storen's promotion comes after he saved four games and allowed a run in 9 1/3 innings for Harrisburg. At the rate Storen is going, Harris expects the right-hander to be in the big leagues sometime this season.

Any word on what the Nationals plan on doing with Storen? I would assume that they'll use him in the 7th inning, similar to how K-Rod was used when he was brought up by the Angels, correct? Or are there rumblings that they'd trade Matt Capps and put Storen in the closer's role? I would almost think that would be to their advantage - Capps has looked very solid out there, and I would think they'd get a decent return for him at the deadline.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Any word on what the Nationals plan on doing with Storen? I would assume that they'll use him in the 7th inning, similar to how K-Rod was used when he was brought up by the Angels, correct? Or are there rumblings that they'd trade Matt Capps and put Storen in the closer's role? I would almost think that would be to their advantage - Capps has looked very solid out there, and I would think they'd get a decent return for him at the deadline.

With Brian Bruney struggling so badly so far, I see Storen as a possibility to replace him in the 7th/8th innings when he comes up.

A year ago who thought that we would be talking about the ONE member of the Nats bullpen that was performing subpar.
Last year they were all subpar...

[JimRiceHOFer]

Father Time wins another game

http://scores.espn.g...ngton-nationals

Livan Hernandez had his season-low in innings and his season-high in pitches, yet he still managed to keep his ERA below 1.00 as he pitched the Washington Nationals to a 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.

The 35-year-old (right...) right-hander allowed two runs -- one earned -- while throwing 123 pitches over 5 1/3 innings for the Nationals, who moved back to two games above .500 (14-12) and are making a run for first place in May, rare territory for the franchise in recent years.


*And to remind you that we are still in NATStown - The huge Nationals Park scoreboard -- the team's pride and joy -- went blank in the bottom of the sixth. It was off and on the rest of the evening, so the public address announcer called out balls and strikes for the fans in attendance who don't actually watch the game.

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 04 May 2010 - 10:11 PM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Olsen takes no-hitter into 8th

http://sports.espn.g...ameId=300506120

Scott Olsen took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, pinch-hitter Willie Harris delivered the winning RBI single in the ninth, and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 Thursday night.

*The Nats are the only team over .500 to have a negative run differential.
Currently the are -17 runs scored this season, and 2 games over .500, and in 2nd place.

* Peter Angelos is dreading the day when the Nats fans invade his beloved Camden Yards like the Red Sox and Yankees fans, and sweep his 17 year rebuliding project to win the Battle of the Beltways.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Willingham fulfills mom's wish, lifts Nationals

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

Josh Willingham's mother called him Sunday morning to remind him that he homered last year on Mother's Day, and she'd love it if he could do it again. He made his mother very happy again on Mother's Day. The Nationals and their fans also felt pretty good, because Willingham blasted a solo homer into left-field bullpen with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to give Washington a 3-2 victory over Florida before 21,299 at Nationals Park on Sunday.

*The Nats are 3 games over .500, and have won 6 out of the 10 series they have played this year (and tied one), losing only 3.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Big League Stew gives the Nats a little credit

http://sports.yahoo....?urn=mlb,239880

I know everyone is still waiting for the other shoe to drop in the form of a trademark 10-game losing streak, but why isn't more being made of the Nats' current standing. They're 17-14, good enough for a second-place tie with the Mets in the NL East, and they're definitely playing better baseball than the Marlins and Braves. I'm not saying they're going to keep this up en route to 86 or 88 wins, but they are playing in the National League and have a decent amount of talent. I'm sure writing this entry just guaranteed the Nats a terrible week, but at what point do they become a bigger story?

[TheYaz67]

Well, they did not manage to win their sixth series last year until late July! And remember (as the team approaches the 20 win mark this week hopefully) that in the second week of July last year heading into the all star break that this team had notched a pathetic 26 wins total.

They are really playing great, but are now tested with their longest road trip of the year - 9 game starting with the NY Mets (3), then Colorado (4) and St. Louis (2). I would take 4-5 on this trip, given the competition.

Lastly, I think they need to junk concerns about starting Drew Storen's compensation clock early and get his ass up from AAA now. This bullpen has two overachievers in Clippard and Capps who are carrying them. They are also racking up appearances and innings at an alarming rate - only 4 relievers have more appearances than Caps (17 - 18.1 innings) and Clippard not only has 16 appearances, but has thrown a nutty 23.2 innings already. Burnett has been "okay", but Bruney and all his walks and really stinking the bullpen up. The Nats problem (or potential problem for Clip & Save) is that they seem to be involved in tons of close games so far....

[Awesome Fossum]

A year ago who thought that we would be talking about the ONE member of the Nats bullpen that was performing subpar.
Last year they were all subpar...

To be fair, everyone outside of Capps and Clippard (who both have been insanely good) has been subpar. Nobody else on the active roster has an ERA+ over 100 (Sean Burnett is the closest at 94). If the Nationals are going to keep winning all these one-run games, they need somebody else to step up.


But again, the key with the Nats is to just stay afloat until the reinforcements come (Strasburg, Storen, Wang, and hopefully a healthier Lannan and Marquis).

[JimRiceHOFer]

Tied for the Wild-Card

http://sports.yahoo....;type=wild card

Who would've thought that the Nationals would have been in playoff position a month and a half into the season (much less a week in).

All this without their two best starting pitchers - Marquis and Lannan - having done anything.

And Tyler Clippard is leading the Majors in Wins at 7-1???

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 13 May 2010 - 10:47 AM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Strasburg Throws 6 Innings of No-Hit ball

http://sports.espn.g...tory?id=5184846

Strasburg threw 79 pitches, 55 for strikes, struck out seven and walked one in facing 19 Norfolk batters, one over the minimum, before departing without allowing a hit. In two International League starts since Friday, he has struck out 13 and allowed one hit in 12 innings.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Marquis to have right elbow surgery

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

A day after a rehab start for Class A Potomac, Nationals right-hander Jason Marquis announced Wednesday that he was not pain-free and will have surgery to remove spurs and bone chips in his right elbow. Once he has the surgery, Marquis is expected to be back on the mound sometime in August.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Zimmerman homers twice in Nats' rout

http://washington.na...=facebook_share

Washington, which put the game away by tying a team record with a seven-run eighth, improved its record to 20-15 and has won six out of its past eight games. A year ago, the Nationals didn't win their 20th game until June 19.


*This blowout helps erase some of the Nats run scoring differential on the season. Now they are 5 games over .500 with a -8 run differential.

Contrast that to the team they just beat. The Rockies are 2 games under .500, but hold a +21 run differential???

Edit: Forgot to mention that "if the season ended today" then the Washington Nationals would be the NL Wild Card team

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 14 May 2010 - 08:50 AM.

[ADT]

Postseason Odds, PECOTA version 5/14/10


W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs

Red Sox 18 17 .551 86.4 75.6 3.75774 13.81304 17.57078

Nationals 20 15 .487 82.7 79.3 11.03380 12.90450 23.93829

[JimRiceHOFer]

Storen debuts against Cards

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

He entered the game with one out and a man on first in the seventh inning. He retired the first batter he faced, Felipe Lopez, on a foul ball down the left-field line, thanks to a fine play by left fielder Josh Willingham. After hitting Ryan Ludwick with a fastball inside, Storen struck out Matt Holliday to end the inning.

[Chemistry Schmemistry]

For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever seen inning-by-inning updates on ESPN for a guy who has never thrown a major league pitch before. It's almost as bad as the Michael Jordan in Alabama hype. Looks like another dominant outing from Strasburg tonight.

[loshjott]

For what it's worth, I don't think I've ever seen inning-by-inning updates on ESPN for a guy who has never thrown a major league pitch before. It's almost as bad as the Michael Jordan in Alabama hype. Looks like another dominant outing from Strasburg tonight.

Column in the Post speculated that 2 of the 3 most popular athletes in DC now are guys who have yet to perform here: McNabb and Strasburg. Heck, add John Wall to the mix now and it's 3 of 4 - Ovechkin being the exception.

[Nuf Ced]

I'll be wicked pissed if he gets called up before Memorial Day weekend when I have tickets to see the Chiefs in Syracuse.

SRO at Frontier Field in Rochester last night, and Joe Posnanski was there giving Twitter updates every inning. His column today:

http://sportsillustr...burg/index.html

Says Strasburg won't pitch for the Nats before June 4th so he won't be eligible for arbitration in 2 years.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Nationals unconditionally release OF Willy Taveras

http://sports.yahoo....tionals-taveras

The Nationals made the move Friday after Taveras cleared waivers. The team had designated him for assignment Sunday.
Taveras hit .200 in 27 games this season. He has four RBIs and one stolen base.

[Quintanariffic]

Nationals unconditionally release OF Willy Taveras

http://sports.yahoo....tionals-taveras

The Nationals made the move Friday after Taveras cleared waivers. The team had designated him for assignment Sunday.
Taveras hit .200 in 27 games this season. He has four RBIs and one stolen base.

Can Ellsbury be far behind?

[JimRiceHOFer]

Can Ellsbury be far behind?

Why the hell would you want the Red Sox to release Ellsbury???

Edited by JimRiceHOFer, 24 May 2010 - 12:33 PM.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Nationals put Pudge on 15-day DL with back strain

http://sports.yahoo....ls-rodriguez-dl

Nationals catcher Ivan Rodriguez is going on the 15-day disabled list with a lower back strain.The move is being made Monday, and is retroactive to Sunday.

The 38-year-old Rodriguez is batting .325 with nine doubles, a homer and 16 RBIs in his first season with Washington.

Rodriguez left Washington’s 7-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday after hurting his back.

[JimRiceHOFer]

Nats win 'Beltways' on Willingham's homer

http://washington.na...a...sp&c_id=was

Willingham's solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted the Nationals over the Orioles, 4-3, at Nationals Park.

With the score tied, Willingham thought he was going to face Alfredo Simon, but the O's closer strained his left hamstring on a close play at first base. Simon left the game and was replaced by Cla Meredith, who gave up the home run to Willingham on a 2-1 pitch.