Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Those Nationals went a respectable 3-3 over the last week. They took a three game set against the Orioles, a series highlighted by a thrilling 12th inning walk off homerun.
Since the team has come to Washington, the Nationals are 10-8 against Baltimore. Also, the fact that Teddy earned his first race win against the Oriole Bird cannot be ignored. This year has been the first year during which it felt like a real rivalry might be developing. There seemed to be more Orioles fans in the stands this year, and a lot more back and forth between them and Nats fans. Washington, because of Peter Angelos's attempts to block its attempts to get a team, has always felt that this was more of a rivalry. It is nice to see our neighbors to the north joining in the fun.
The Nats also lost two out of three to the Marlins. This year the Nationals are 2-10 against the Marlins. Against all other opponents, the Nationals are 32-42 and the Marlins are 34-38. The Marlins have a losing record against teams that are not the Nationals. Fortunately, the Nats only have 3 more games against the Marlins, and those don't happen until September 23, 2008.
Cordero Shuts It Down
This week's injury news is that closer Chad Cordero is out for the season. He has a right labrum tear, and pitching coach Randy St. Claire suspects that he has had that injury all season and pitched with it earlier this year. While the Chief's loss will hurt the Nats, Jon Rauch has pitched well in the closer role so far, with a 2.49 ERA. He has converted 17 out of 22 save opportunities. The biggest impact of Chad's injury is that with Rauch closing, the team has lost a reliable set-up man. This shake up is partially to blame for the bullpen's collapse this year. Nationals relievers have a 4.50 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP, two stats that put the bullpen at the bottom of the National League. As manager Manny Acta said earlier this week, "These guys, they're struggling."
Photo by volcanojw
Youth Movement
With all the injuries that the Nationals have had this year, a lot of young players are getting some big league experience. This week's first youthful replacement came when Lastings Milledge went down on Saturday against the Orioles. The Nats called up Roger Bernadina to become the new starting centerfielder and lead-off hitter. After getting a hit in his first major league at bat, Bernadina has struggled, getting only one more hit and batting .105 in 4 games.
The other big addition is Collin Balester. Balester is considered by many to be the Nationals' most exciting pitching prospect. He has a fastball that touches the mid-90s, and is not afraid to throw inside. Balester made his major league debut on July 1, and managed to earn a win against the Marlins, giving up one run in 5 innings.
Both players are expected to remain with the club for most of the rest of the season.
Game of the Week
The game of the week is Sunday, July 6 when Collin Balester makes his second major league start against the Cincinnati Reds. He is the future, and it will be interesting to see how he develops.
Meaningless Statistic of the Week: Nationals pitchers lead the National League in fewest hit batsmen in the month of June with only 4.
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i'm just impressed with that picture—seems amazing that you can get that much green in the shot without catching a little bit of basepath or warning track...