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Washington Nationals Suffering From Impatience at the Plate

The Washington Nationals batting coach,  Lenny Harris, has been under the microscope this season. The Nats have the worse record in the NL and it is due in large part to their poor plate discipline.Harris who took over for Kevin Mitchell in the middle of the 2007 season (Mitchell has had problems with alcohol abuse) has presided over an undisciplined line up that was depleted by the lose of Nick Johnson who was their most disciplined hitter and also a clubhouse leader.

The following article gives insight into Harris’ attempt to get his charges to understand that patience is a virtue in the  batters box.

He has not been successful getting his message across and the Nats are likely to make changes in the off season. I say offer up some cash to Milt Thompson.

Everybody knows that DC is a prettier town than Philly.

Satisfied that Milledge had regained some comfort with his swing, the two exited the cages and prepared for the evening’s game. Measuring a ballplayer’s true progress requires a long view, which is why Milledge’s truest tendencies are still evolving. Still, among the 213 major leaguers who’ve seen at least 1,000 pitches this season, only 34, Milledge included, swing more often than they take. That makes Milledge, who swings at roughly 50.5 percent of all pitches, one of the most aggressive hitters in the game. The line between encouraging such an approach and restraining it requires balance.

Ivan Rodriguez Traded to the Yankees

Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez is a Yankee. Reports are out today the Yankees have acquired Detroit Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez in a trade for reliever Kyle Farnsworth.The Yankees have upgraded the catcher position big time. No offense to Jose Molina of the fabulous catching Molinas , but Jose he is no I-Rod.

Molina is a fine defensive catcher but Pudge is a much better offensive player, steroids or not.

From the LoHud Yankees blog

Fascinating move for the Yankees, who take away from their strength in the bullpen to fill a big hole at catcher.

Brian Cashman put it well, Rodriguez brings an offensive upgrade to the position while providing the same level of defense. He was at .295/.338/.417 for the Tigers with 24 extra-base hits and 32 RBI.

Molina (.226/.333/.310) wasn’t helpless at the plate. But playing him five or six days a week was a risk as he is not in the best condition. Rodriguez knows the AL and he has helped teams get to the postseason.

The Yankees have Brian Bruney ready to plug into the bullpen. They also will rely more on Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras. Mark Melancon could be looming. They traded Farnsworth at the peak of his value. As good as he has looked, do you trust him in a big spot?

Joe Girardi doesn’t. Otherwise he would have been left in the game on Friday night at Fenway Park.

Jerry Manuel Leads Mets Into First

Hard to believe isn’t it? An interim manager perhaps giving a highly paid team  the boost that they needed.

 The Mets have won 10 in a row and Jerry Manuel is 18-9 overall as their  manager.

Perhaps the argument can still be made that Willie Randolph was not the problem and that the turn around was just a matter of time for  a team with the obvious  talent of the Amazin’s. Yet you have to wonder about a team that blew a 7 game lead to the Phillies last September turning it around this July to catch the same team that had a 6.5 game lead over them when Manuel took over.

Who would have thought that Damion Easley and Fernando Tatis would step in and do the jobs that they are doing? Billy Wagner stepped up and got the save last night after going through a rough patch this spring. The team appears to have turned it around.

Will this continue? Well I don’t expect the Mets to play .670 ball for the rest of the season, but they could be close.

We’ve been taking such a beating all year long for how we play the game and what we’ve done wrong and what little we’ve done right,” closer Billy Wagner said. “I love seeing guys who told us two weeks ago how bad we stunk, and now they’re going, ‘Well, you’re in first place.’ Yeah.”

Evict the Nationals! Put Their Bats and Balls on the Street!

The Lerners are not paying rent. They need to be evicted. The slime-balls are playing DC for fools.They have the worst team in MLB, playing in the newest stadium and they have the audacity to want the city to pay them $100,000 a day because their office were not ready on time, even though they were getting free rent at RFK. They still haven’t paid sales taxes on the season tickets and luxury box sales.Did I mention the stadium was built by the generous tax dollars of the citizens of Washington, DC?

I said all along that the Lerner’s were the worst possible pick to steward baseball in the Nation’s capital after a 33-year hiatus. They only care about one thing, money. Their greed is odorous.

It is time for DC citizens to boycott that team. Hell it is nothing but a AAA team anyway.

The slime balls are putting a low ball product on the field and charging top dollar for it. They haven’t signed any of the top five draft picks. The Nats are only averaging 9000 viewers per game on MASN and the PR moves are atrocious.

This is one vote for eviction. Padlock the gates and make the Lerner’s sell to some one who wants to win!

Sidney Ponson’s Second Chance at a Second Chance

abreu-beats-rays.jpgYankees win in the tenth 2-1 over the Rays.

Ponson had a strong outing today after a shaky start against his former team the Rangers.

His line today was six innings pitched, allowing five hits, two walks and his only run allowed was on a homer by Carlos Pena in the sixth inning. This shot tied the game but Ponson shook it off and sat down the next three in order including an inning ending strike out of Navarro

Maybe Cashman made a good decision going with a guy who has made some questionable decisions in his past, that has left him in hot water with the league and back home in his native Aruba.

Ponson who has never had the season to match his potential is running out of chances, but he has always been a rather lucky guy as his 5-1 record attests.

Maybe that luck will continue with the Yankees. All he needs to do is give the Yanks some quality starts and with Veras, Ramirez and Farnsworth handling middle relief Big Sid may have found a home.

And Cashman may have just what he needs to make the playoffs.

The Rays, With Help From Bud Selig, Be-Devil the AL East

The Tampa Bay Rays continue to fascinated all of baseball by opening up a lead In the AL East on the mighty BoSox and the perennially powerful New York Yankees. Statistically the Rays are very good but there overall stats don’t add up to a 55-33 record. They only lead in one category and that is in stolen bases. The importance of stolen bases is a source of much discussion in the saber-metrics community.The Rays OBP is .342. That is good enough for sixth in MLB. The Red Sox are in second place with .354. The Rays are tied for eighth in runs scored 33 runs behind the Red Sox who are in third.

Maybe it’s the pitching? OK let’s take a look see. OK they are third in ERA at 3.57. Far ahead of the vaunted Sawx pitching that is seventh at 3.84. The Yankee pitching staff is far back at 4.19. The Rays are also in a virtual three way tie in WHIP. However the rays are in 12th in K’s far behind Boston and they are being edged out by the Yankees in this stat.

So is it pitching, speed and defense that is the difference? Hmm… could be. Will it keep up? I tend to doubt it. The Rays play at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, a park built for pitching and speed. The stadium is the second worst hitters park in baseball, with a park factor of .780. At home the Rays are 22 games over .500 on the road they are a mere .500 team.

The Rays have played 50 games at home and only 38 on the road. Those guys at HQ know how to bring early season excitement to the MLB! Way to go Bud!

So in the end the Rays will finish third and they may never get a new park.

But maybe I am wrong…

www.opensourcebaseball.com

Kevin Slowey: Diamond Gem

Kevin Slowey is Hot! Slowey is turning it on at the right time for fantasy owners. He has won three of his last four starts with a no decision in a game that the Twins won late.In his last start he pitched a complete game shutout against the Brewers. In that game he struck out eight while walking none. He threw just 109 pitches 79 of them for strikes. He gave up only three hits while exhibiting remarkable control and command of all pitches.

In his past eight starts he has a 2.72 ERA and a WHIP of 0.98 in 53 innings. His walk to strikeout ratio is 6:1 the best in the majors among starters.

I was able to pick him up as a free about a month ago and he is still available in many of the Yahoo! Fantasy leagues. Search quickly to see if he is available in your league. Slowey

CBS 2 Video of Minaya on Why He Fired Randolph

It was odd perhaps. It was classless perhaps, but how would  you have fired a guy who has lead a team that has obviously under performed? How long were they supposed to wait?

 The Mets are a huge disappointment to their fans and very importantly to its owners. Rarely has a team shelled out so much $$$ to get so little in return. From being on the precipice of a World Series in 2006 to a historic collapse in 2007 Willie just couldn’t get it done. Since the All-Star break of last season how can this team be under .500 and someone not have to pay the price?

 Someone had to pay, I say let the man making a cool $2M per year take the fall.

Hey I like Randolph and I think that he will back managing as soon as next year.

The Mets (and Minaya) did him a favor in giving a better chance at getting his next job by letting him go now. The longer they would have waited the less chance he would have finding the next golden egg contract.

The other side of it of course is that it gives Manny Acta ,who is currently slaving away for the Nats a chance to get away from that fool Jim Bowden and get to work for an organization that wants to win.

Acta Poised to Become the New Manager of the Mets

Manny Acta will be the future manager of the New York Mets. You read it here first. Or maybe somewhere else, but in any event it seems safe to say that Acta will be going back home soon to be re-united with Omar Minaya. Acta has done as much as he can with the Washington Nationals and their limited payroll. He is under contract with the Nats through 2009, but this is sports where contracts aren’t worth the paper they are written on when it comes to breaking them. Besides the Mets will pay whatever it takes to get him, and the fact that Acta is a native Spanish speaker will help with the predominately Latino Mets.Besides that he has a way about him with young players and he is respected by the Mets veterans as well. Additionally he already knows several of the Mets players who have been recently traded from the Nats.

Acta will make more money, have more talent to work with and he will get away from that idiot Jim Bowden, who has to be one of the most hapless GMs in all of baseball.

Acta makes about $500,000 for the 2008 season and is scheduled to make about $600,000 in 2009. Willie Randolph was making about $2.2 million from the Mets. Acta will get a deal worth  about $1 million per year from the Mets.

Book it!

MLB Using Licensing Bat on Little League Baseball

So you want to be a Big Leaguer and represent, emulate and just all around be like Mike, or Albert, or Chipper?. (but please not Pokey!)

 Well kid somebody gotta pony up!!!

Yes MLB, that stands for Major Litigation Business is going after the new generation of fans with a vengeance. If you don’t pay the license fee, you can’t call your team the Cubs, Cardinals, Yankees or any other MLB logoed franchise. You have to buy your uniforms from the official clothier of major league Baseball, that company being Majestic.

Majestic was recently bought by VF Corporation this past February.

Now I am not saying that anyone should boycott Majestic or VF. Quite frankly I wear a lot of their apparel.

Especially like their hoodies…but someone should take a stand. Not necessarily me but someone with a concious, and not a closet or drawer, ok make that hamper and floor full of the deliciously thick and natural fiber luciousness that be Majestic.

Anybody knows if the Little Leaguers can call themselves the Grays, Browns, or Expos etc.? Just wondering…they probably have the rights to the past as well as the present.

The story reminds me when back in the ’90s, when the NFL (No Financial Loser) did a simlar move against Pop Warner football. They politely asked a team called the Vikings to change their names.

It turned out that the Little Vikings club had been in existence before there ever was an NFL Minnesota Vikings franchise.

Touche!