Going 0-4 against Wolfpack under Davis, Tar Heels restore emphasis - College - NewsObserver.com

For anyone who continues to defend Butch Davis, I want to remind them that he went 0-4 versus our biggest football rival, NC State: Going 0-4 against Wolfpack under Davis, Tar Heels restore emphasis - College - NewsObserver.com

Overdue Baseball Blog

I wish I could be happier about the ultimate outcome of this World Series.  The good news is it went a full seven games – 5 of which were very entertaining, not just the epic game 6 – the Cardinals are my dad’s favorite team, a National League team won, and St. Louis is a nice town with great fans.

As many of you know, I really do not like the way LaRussa manages and overmanages his team and bullpen. The only real blemish on baseball, the best sport or pastime ever invented, is the dead time. Some of that is pitchers and batters stepping out or off after every pitch.  But the worst part is changing pitchers and trips to the mound.  If I was commish I would ban visits to the mound by coaches or managers.  I would also cap the number of pitchers on an active roster at 9 or 10, or install some kind of ‘minimum batters faced’ standard to eliminate pitchers who only face one hitter (which of course means more pitching changes). 

Keep batters in the batters’ box and managers in the dugout and you’d speed up the games.

One of the reasons I was rooting for the Rangers – despite the presence of W - is the stark difference in the way they treat their pitchers. Nolan Ryan is working to instill that organization with the ethic that pitchers should pitch deeper into games and figure out how to get out of jams - on their own.  This DIY/punk rock approach teaches pitchers to get outs without always looking for help or getting bailed out by one - or two - relievers.  That’s better for pitchers - I assume a Hall of Famer who threw 7 no hitters knows what he’s talking about - and speeds up the game with fewer pitching changes.  And it keeps the game moving; you’re watching baseball – pitching, hitting and fielding – and not guys standing around talking to each other.

LaRussa and guys like Pat Riley are hailed as geniuses who are actually bad for their sport; LaRussa slows the pace of the game dramatically and fails to develop grit and resourcefulness in his pitchers, while Riley’s crime is turning a fluid and active game into a wrestling match and daring referees to call every foul. 

Then again, the difference in the Series was the Cardinals’ bullpen.  They got outs while the Rangers’ pitchers walked a ton of guys; walks and hit batters probably cost the Rangers game 7.  So in this battle of philosophies, LaRussa’s coddling and overmanging defeated Ryan’s DIY approach.

Anyway, it was a great series to watch.  Taut games, ridiculous comebacks and resourcefulness from both teams’ hitters (the Rangers in game 2, for instance, not just game 6), and entertaining baseball.  

Two more quick Series notes:

• TV ratings were up 19 percent from last year, game 7 was watched by 25 million people, and head to head game 4 defeated NBC’s Sunday Night Football last weekend despite the lack of Yankees, Red Sox or Phillies.  That’s good news.
• As it is with most sporting events, it was fun to be on Twitter during this series but in particular during game 6.   Fun and more fun.

Another overdue baseball blog topic is our hometown Nationals.  Even after a month to reflect I feel that the Nats’ 80-81 season was a fantastic accomplishment.

As I’ve blogged before, we had great luck and great times at Nationals Park.  I need to check with official statistician Evan Manuel, but I think the Nats were 13-4 when a Manuel was in attendance, including for Zimm’s 2 strike, 2 out, bottom of the ninth walk off grand slam versus the dreaded Phillies. 

The hometown team won 80 games despite Zimmerman missing more than 55 games due to injury (and Adam LaRoche for most of the season), Jim Riggleman’s petulant decision to quit during an 11-game winning streak, the lack of a lead-off hitter for the first two-thirds of the season and Jayson Werth’s failure to produce as expected (let’s just leave it at that, shall we?).

The season was saved by a pretty impressive bullpen led by Drew Storen and All Star Tyler Clippard, the emergence of Danny Espinosa, Wilson Ramos but especially Michael ‘I INVENTED beast mode” Morse, and unexpected starting pitching. 

If you look back at the season the starting pitching, from April to September, was phenomenal. 

• Livo Hernandez was not the prototypical number one starter, but he ate up innings and kept the Nationals in almost every game he pitched.  I hope he comes back as our number 5 starter and sage in 2012
• John Lannan was slow and steady all season in compiling another sub-4.00 ERA.  An excellent third or fourth starter.
• Jordan Zimmermann bounced completely back from Tommy John surgery to become our best pitcher.   Though he had a losing record his 3.18 ERA was spectacular.

Midseason the Nats changed up their rotation when they traded Jason Marquis and moved Tom Gorzelanny to the pen.  But the starting pitching continued to excel.  I’m not going to spend much time on Chien-Ming Wang since I doubt the Nats will bring him back.  But our other 3 second-half starters were as good or better as Livo, Lannan and ZNN.

• Ross Detwiler went 4-5 with a 3.00 ERA in 15 second-half starts
• Tom Milone sported a sub-4.00 ERA in 5 starts after a September call up; fellow September call up Brad Peacock was even better, with a 0.75 ERA in 12 innings.  Both of those guys could stick in 2012, though 2013 is more likely.

Oh yeah, Stephen Strasburg came back, too.  He was lights-out in five starts after returning from Tommy John surgery: 1-0, with a sparkling 1.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts in as many innings. 

I feel almost giddy about the Nats’ future (for the record, I feel the same way about the Heels in 2011-2012 but don’t plan to jinx that with any premature blogging).  In 2012 we’re looking at a line up that could look like:

SS Ian Desmond

CF Werth

3B Zimmerman

LF Morse

1B LaRoche

RF Free Agent Pick Up

2B Espinosa

C Ramos

Or we could sign Prince Fielder at first, or make a big trade and swap free agent headaches; what do folks think about Werth for Carl Crawford for instance?  Either way, with a rotation of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Lannan, Detwiler, and Livo, backed by Henry Rodriguez, Sean Burnett, Clippard and Storen with that lineup, we could win 90 games next year.  When does 2012 start? 

GO NATS!

Letter to the Nationals

We closed up summer today by going to the Nationals game, an excellent 7-2 win, against the Dodgers.  It's been a good summer for us at Nats Park; I think the Nats are 12-3 with a Manuel in the building. And we've witnesses some exciting games, including the epic win over the Phillies that ended with the Z-man's walk off, two-out, full-count, bases-loaded grand slam.

The half-smokes have been consistently good this year, too. 

But some things at Nats Park have gotten worse to the point of unbearable.  It culminated today with a video honoring convalescing troops to Toby Keith's jingoistic and stupid 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue.'  Perhaps Obama's recent caving in to the Rs fooled executives at Nats Park into thinking George Bush was still president and invading the wrong countries.  'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue' is so 2003.


Anyway, that video prompted me to send the following email to the Nationals.  Let me know what you think.


*************


To whom it may concern:


I like the way the Nats honor veterans convalescing in area hospitals, but did you really have to play that horrible, jingoistic Toby Keith song today on Labor Day?  Honoring our troops is one thing, but that song is offensive and Keith is a right-wing nut. 

We love going to the games, usually 15 or so every season, but is seems that at times the franchise seems more like a Virginia team playing in the suburbs rather than a DC team playing in the District (whose government and taxpayers helped pay for your stadium, I might add).  As a District resident, I urge you to play less bad country music. Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn is one thing, but I think most fans don't like the 'wash my truck' song played during the seventh inning stretch, for instance.  What's wrong with simply playing Take Me Out to the Ball Game? 

On the other hand, playing Bustin' Loose after a home run is fantastic. I'd play that song instead of AC/DC when the Nats take the field.  DC has such a great musical legacy, from Duke Ellington to Marvin Gaye to Chuck Brown to Minor Threat/Fugazi to Patsy Cline to the Bad Brains to Shirley Horn to Seldom Scene - why play AC/DC or ugly Americans like Toby Keith?

Playing local music would help bond and brand the team to the region and to the District (at a time when baseball is working to increase appeal to African-Americans) AND get rid of some of the bad music currently played at Nats Park - win win!

Thank you for your consideration.  One more thing - resign Livo!

Athan Manuel
Tenleytown
Washington, DC

3 headlines/reasons why people don't read the paper

Three pretty depressing headlines in yesterday's Post, one ridiculous - the return of football - and two important and especially depressing - stagnation on the job front, and the President abandoning the regulation of ozone pollution.  Of those two, hard to decide where to start, or which one is worse.

I guess I'll start with the news of no new job growth in August and persistent 9 percent unemployment (though the Sierra Club is hiring!). Those numbing stats came out on Friday, September 2nd.  So bad news for the president, the country and of course workers and the unemployed.  

But who is doing fine? An under reported story last week (August 26th) pointed out that corporations are doing great. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis corporate profits AND cash on hand increased in the second quarter.  And the profits were pretty hefty: $57.3 billion in the second quarter, according to the BEA, after growing $19 billion in the first quarter.  So more than $70 billion in profits, profits hefty enough to in theory give companies confidence to re-enter the job market.

Increasing hiring is a tangible step these profitable corporations should take. And you would think it would be in their interests to do so.  I'll paraphrase a quote every American has heard from Henry Ford: "I want people who have the money to afford my products."

Consumers drive the U.S. economy, but why aren't corporations hiring and thus creating more consumers? 

But I guess it is the height of naivete to question why corporations can't understand the larger stakes here, beyond creating more consumers.  I'm referring to the need to act in the common good.

Before you make fun of my naivete, I'd like to remind folks that the notion of the common good helped guide the United States in the post war years and especially during the cold war. The U.S. and the west needed to show the world that our system was better than the communist one.

So, among other things: workers were allowed to unionize and as a result wages went up and the middle class exploded; the civil rights movement overturned legal segregation; government safety nets such as Medicare, Medicaid and landmark environmental bill were passed; trillions were poured into public universities, etc.

And by and large corporations went along. They offered health insurance, did not move factories and jobs to Mexico or China or wherever, and pay scales were much more proportionate and not nearly as grotesque as they are now, where CEOs make 50 to 100 times more than their employees.  They understood that their profits were a result of operating in a stable, progressive, democratic state, and they benefited from contributing to the common good.

The common good buy-in started to erode under Reagan and the anti-tax movements that hatched in California in the late 70s (remember Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that turned California from the promised land to a failed state? Makes sense that narcissistic politics would start near Hollywood) but really picked up steam once Communism collapsed.  

After the Berlin Wall fell, the narrative became 'capitalism wins!' rather than the more honest, accurate and complex assessment that 'a shared government-corporate commitment to building a huge middle class' won.  Our system was better because government - via laws and programs, and a progressive tax code - and corporations - by paying their taxes AND hiring Americans and paying their workers middle class wages - democratized capital.

As we now know, democratizing capital is no longer a common good. Companies don't care about that or the middle class.  The cold war ended as globalization was getting a foot hold, and corporations abandoned the U.S. and shipped the working class jobs abroad.  Union membership went down, wages tumbled, but corporate profits went up.  Various bubbles in housing, the internet, etc. allowed us to ignore those trends for a while.  But a bursting housing bubble - fed by the repeal of Glass-Steagle and other consumer protections - exposed the tenuous ground many middle class Americans were standing on.

Keynesian economics call for governments to prime the pump when corporations can not, such as in the Depression, or WILL not, like now.  That won't happen any time soon.

Unfortunately, corporations have a key ally in the modern Republican party.  They too have abandoned the middle class in favor of the corporate class - insidiously using social issues and working class votes to do so.  Republicans would rather cut taxes for the wealthy rather than spend tax money on the middle class or on another stimulus or infrastructure bank. And they'd rather see the country suffer than see the President succeed. 

  

Speaking of the President, how depressing to have Obama - not Bush - suspend plans to more tightly regulate ozone pollution. There is no way to sugar coat any aspect of this decision.

One, the decision means more air pollution.  Clean air is NOT a boutique issue that you can chuck or in this case suspend during tough economic times.  Seniors and children will suffer as a result of the White House's decision.

Two, it undercuts the EPA and Administrator Jackson, the best member of the Obama cabinet.

Three, the President is giving in to lobbying pressure from polluters. Giving in to the oil industry does not match the rhetoric of 'the audacity of hope' or 'the fierce urgency of now.'

Four, it is simply terrible politics and yet another capitulation to the Republicans. Cleaner air is not a burdensome regulation, no matter what Rick Perry or John Boehner say.  First it was extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, then it was linking increasing the debt ceiling to budget cuts without increasing revenue, and now opposing cleaner air.  

I could have mentioned not supporting a single payer, Medicare-for-all style health care system, but we new that as a candidate he did not support that style of reform.  

But rehashing candidate Obama's quotes DOES remind you how compelling he was two years ago. Now he seems determined to cave on core and important issues that would benefit the country and yes the common good.  Instead, the President is doing things that benefit the wealthy, big oil, and the Tea Party.

Maybe it will help him get reelected.  What on earth are the Rs going to complain about, they've gotten a lot of what they've asked for!  

But we expected and hoped for so much more from President Obama.  I wish the guy from 2 years ago would reappear.

Finally, the reappearance of football season for me always stinks.  I do not like the way TV and the paper pivots away from baseball to report on every little detail about pro and college football.  Baseball and the nation deserve better, from sports and from the President.

OK, my rant is over.  Here's hoping next week is better.

Another nice win

After a weekend of nail biters, loud fans and walk-off wins against the dreaded Phillies, things returned to 'normal' last night as our hometown Nationals calmly defeated the somehow-in-first place Diamondbacks 4-1.  It was a relatively ho-hum, by-the-book night of pitching, an excellent start from emerging lefty Ross Detwiler, defense, Ryan Zimmerman making 3 stellar plays, and timely hitting by Jayson Werth, whose three-run homer sealed Detwiler's win.

It was also a tidy game, as the Nats won in about 2 and half hours. It seems like every game Evan and I attend the Nats win and the game is quick (almost always 2 and half hour with not many walks or dead time).  Hard to beat.

Their recent streak - centered around Zimmerman's hot hitting and some nice found-money pitching from Detwiler and Chien-Ming Wang among others - have the Nats only 2 games under .500 at 62-64.  Washington has to merely go 19 and 17 the rest of the way to finish at 81 and 81. 

That is certainly doable since our Nats play 19 of those games in Washington.  Best of all, it's not exactly a Murderers Row of teams coming to South Capital Street, either.  We've got home stands coming up against the fourth-place Mets (3 games), fifth-place Dodgers (4 games), sixth-place Astros (3 games), and fifth-place Marlins (3). The only good teams we play are 3 more this week versus the Diamondbacks and 3 games in September versus the Braves. Assuming we win each series against the bad teams - not sweep, just win - and split the six versus the good ones, that get us 12 curly Ws.

On the road, the Nationals go to Cincinnati for 3, Atlanta for 3, Philly for 4, New York for 4 and Florida for 3. I feel good about splitting with Philly and the Mets, and not getting swept in any of the others so that gives us at least 7 road wins.

For a final total of - ta da! - 19 wins to close out the season, and a very satisfying 81 and 81 mark for 2011.  

Waiting for . . .

As some of you know, Evan has a blog called Waiting for 2012.  But recently the August 8th SweetSpot blog by David Schoenfield looked at a possible Nationals line up in 2013: 

2B Anthony Rendon
RF Jayson Werth
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Prince Fielder
LF Mike Morse
CF Bryce Harper
SS Danny Espinosa
C Wilson Ramos
 

Of course, the big news here is Fielder, news since everyone knows we are signing Pujols this winter (of course, Mike Rizzo will in reality sign whoever Scott Boras tells us to).  Espinosa to short stop is not news; he's historically been a short stop and assumes Rendon develops as expected and therefore pushes Desmond off the field.

The semi-big news is Harper in center field.  We know Werth has to stay in one of the corner outfield spots for the next 6 seasons, and Morse's emergence means he gets a corner too, so Harper gets center.  That issue will actually get settled this winter as the Nats are expected to sign a center fielder, with Morse moving to 1B in 2013 after LaRoche's contract expires.  So a more likely 2013 line up is:

CF Free agent 
2B Rendon
3B Zimmerman
1B Morse
RF Werth
LF Harper
SS Espinosa
C Ramos


I'd take either one, frankly.

In terms of pitching, it's exciting to think about Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannan, Detwiler, and someone like Brad Peacock (who'll get a call up soon; nice bit on him from Baseball America here) in 2012 or 2013. Add Tyler Clippard, Colin Balester, Ryan Matheus, Henry Rodriguez and Drew Storen and you have a legit, big-league staff.

So 81wins this year, between 85 and 90 in 2012, and who knows the limit in 2013!  Go Nats!

Why We LOVE Sports

Last night's incredible come-from-behind 8-4 win by the Nationals, capped off by Ryan Zimmerman's dizzying 2-out, full-count, bottom of the ninth, half-past midnight, against the hated Phillies and their fanatics blast was out of this world!  I urge everyone to check out the video, especially Charlie Slowes' radio call that starts at the 35-second mark.

Unbelievable!

Everything about the night was unbelievable.

1. I can't believe it was actually played.  It rained HARD for an hour and half, but the grounds crew did a great job taking care of the field.  And I NEVER gave much thought to this before, but the field at Nats Park really drains well! 
2. And kudos to Evan, for doggedly believing that they would play, and that the Nats would eventually win.
3. On a bad note, it was depressing and unbelievable how many Phillies fans were in the our house.  The ratio was at least 4-1, obnoxious fans to local and loyal fans.  Of course, that made screaming 'Go back to Philly!' that much sweeter after Zim's blast.
4. Also unbelievable, how sooooooo many Phillies fans bought tickets in right field just to heckle Jayson Werth.  Those sections were sold out last night. He may be worthless to us and them, but fans who buy a ticket just to be ass holes are below worthless.  Those folks have got to be the most pathetic fans in sports.  
5. Zim's unbelievable blast got the attention it deserved but it was a great team win by the Nationals over the best team in the National League.   Tom Gorzelanny and Sean Burnett were fantastic in holding down the fort and pitching 4 scoreless innings against the Philllies' lefty-heavy line up. 
6. Before Zim stepped up Johnny Gomes and Ian Desmond rapped RBI singles, Desmond's with 2 strikes.
7. Finally, kudos to Werth for getting the comeback started.  The former Phillies player fell behind 0-2 against Philadelphia closer Ryan Madson, but fought back during the 11-pitch at bat to stroke a single to left to start the rally.  Unbelievable.

Simply an unbelievable and exhilarating night at the ball park.  A night capped off by a grand slam - AND lots of cheering, hollering, smiling, high-fiving Evan and strangers alike, and overall happiness. 

That's why we like sports.  Where else do you go to smile and high-five strangers?  Where else to you go to CHEER?  GO NATS!

It worked!

In an eerie coincidence, less than 2 weeks after the debut of our sister blog - firebutchdavis.blogspot.com - Carolina announced that they were indeed firing coach Butch Davis.  

The headline at www.tarheelblue.com was a little understated - Carolina Football Makes Coaching Change - but the bottom line is Carolina finally fired Butch Davis.  In doing so, Carolina came to it's senses and fired the coach who tarnished the standard set by Dean Smith and heaped more embarrassment on the University than any other coach in the last 50 years.

Chancellor Holden Thorp got it right when he said today "What started as a purely athletic issue has begun to chip away at this University's reputation ... I have lost confidence in our ability to come through this without harming the way people think of this institution. Our academic integrity is paramount and we must work diligently to protect it. The only way to move forward and put this behind us is to make a change."

I've said this before, but will restate that I don't think Butch Davis ever understood what Carolina means.  He did not work for the athletic department, he worked for THE university.  


Finally, his 'clueless defense' may have been the last straw for Thorp and Athletic Director Dick Baddour.  

You could probably get away with that defense if it was one player or one instance.  But there were multiple and repeated problems associated with Davis' football program:

• FOURTEEN players were suspended for academic fraud - or six more players than wins - fraud that was uncovered while the University investigated illegal contacts between players and agents;
• One summer after at least 3 players take an illegal, agent-funded trip to attend a party thrown by an ex-player, the same thing happens again for the second summer in a row;
• In the wake of an academic scandal that resulted in players getting suspended, you follow that up with one of your players getting caught by NC State fans plagiarizing a term paper;
• In the wake of the academic and player-agent scandals, you follow THAT up with players racking up tens of thousands of parking ticket.  On top of that, a tutor is charged with paying some of the parking tickets.
  

You simply can not overlook a list that long.  It was more than cluelessness, it was incompetence.  Davis was in charge and therefore responsible.  Maybe he thought he was back at Miami, or at Ohio State or USC or Auburn or South Carolina or wherever. 

But you can not be that sloppy and irresponsible at Dean Smith's school.  Carolina has higher and better standards than that.  Davis never understood that responsibility, and he was finally fired today.  

The football program was an embarrassment for the last 14 months (but not the players like T.J. Yates who persevered) but today is a great day to be a Tar Heel.  We got it right today.

Top 12 songs of all time

On our recent car vacation to New England I had my iPod on random play through my entire (digital) music collection so heard a variety of songs.  Since returning to DC I've stayed on random play and have now come up with my latest top 12 list of the best songs of all time (Athan Manuel edition).

In no order, here goes:

• My Girl, The Temptations
• Roll Over Beethoven, Chuck Berry (also my vote for the U.S.'s national anthem)
• Debaser, The Pixies
• Tears of a Clown, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
• What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding, Elvis Costello
• I Will Dare, The Replacements
• Superbad, James Brown
• Road Runner, The Modern Lovers
• Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads
• Fisherman's Blues, The Waterboys
• Take Me to the River, Al Green 
• Heatwave, Martha and the Vandellas

Honorable mention: See Saw, Aretha Franklin; Cry Cry Cry, Johnny Cash; Mystery Achievement, The Pretenders; Brothers Gonna Work It Out, Public Enemy; The Message, Grandmaster Flash the Furious Five; Daft Punk is Playing at my House, Losing My Edge, both by LCD Soundsystem; Los Angeles, X; Magnificent 7, The Clash; Summer Wind, Frank Sinatra; Holiday in Cambodia, The Dead Kennedys; Where the Streets Have No Name, Mysterious Ways, U2; Girl Like You, The Smithereens; Losing My Religion, REM; Don't Stop til You Get Enough, Michael Jackson; Walkin' After Midnight, Patsy Cline; etc. etc.

Another bad day in Washington

We've had lots of bad days in Washington since the Tea Party came to town in November, but today was a particularly tough one for our  sports teams (as the nation's capital we claim the national teams as ours).  Eerie to note the parallels between the U.S. women's national team and the Washington Nationals.

• Both teams played finals today - a World Cup final, and the final game of a 3-game series versus the Braves; granted the women's final was much, much bigger, but they were both finals.
• Each squad lost the lead twice in their games (the Nats led 6-2 and 8-7; the national team was up 1-0 and 2-1).
•  Both teams lost their lead late and in the eights; the 8th inning for the Nats, and the 81st minute for the women's national team.

There are other parallels I'm sure that perhaps involve Ichiro, but those 3 are enough. 

A tough couple of games.  But for the World's Cup the only comfort is that we lost to a team that relentlessly made plays.  The U.S. did pay for a sloppy clearance by Ali Kreiger late, but we lost mainly because of what Japan did - especially their goalie - rather than mistakes or errors by our team.

It was a great tournament to watch, and fantastic to watch Abby Wambach play, too.  Hope she can wait four more years for the 2015 World Cup (the year Ariadne graduates from high school, by the way!) and get another shot at a championship.  Wambach deserves it.

Big Weekend Redux

Excellent bounce back win by the Nationals last night against the Braves.  Timely hitting by Wilson Ramos and of all people John Lannan, plus nice defense in particular by Ian Desmond and a nice game from Lannan and the pen.

So we are half way there in terms of winning the series from Atlanta and thusly getting the second half off to a great start.  Today's game will be tough as we have 5 starter Tom Gorzelanny matched up against All-start and NL leader in Js Jair Jurrjens. 

GO Nats!

But the big story today will the women's World Cup final.  Great piece in the NY Times today on Abby Wambach and her proclivity with headers.

Not sure what this means, but interesting to note that the on-line version of that article is "Abby Wambach Stands Tall for U.S." while the print edition article's title is "Playing Head Games."

Finally, check out my latest blog: Fire Butch Davis (http://firebutchdavis.blogspot.com/).  I'm used to having a dozen readers for CHB, but am curious if FBD and the associated Facebook page will pick up momentum.

Excellent Sports Weekend on Tap

I don't think it's hyperbole to call this weekend's series between the Nats and Braves make or break.   Our hometown Nationals are only 8 games back of the Braves in the wild card race. 

An Atlanta sweep would practically put us out of contention.  Being 11 games out could THEN lead to GM Mike Rizzo turning the page to the 2012 season and trading veterans like Jason Marquis or Jason Coffey or Tom Gorzelanny. 

Come to think of it, no matter WHAT the Nationals do against the Braves, I'd trade those 3 in a heartbeat if given the chance.  With Jason Peacock (just called up to Triple A Syracuse), Ross Detwiler and even Chein-Ming Wang available or on the horizon those guys aren't worth keeping if the Nationals get a decent offer.

But back to the Braves.  It will be mano a mano, with our top 3 starters - Livo, Zimmermann, and Lannan - versus theirs - Hudson, Hanson and Jurrjens.

However, if the Nats take 2 of 3 from Atlanta it would be HUGE.  One, they'd pick up a game on a rival. Two, Washington would bolster their confidence by doing so on the road. And three, winning the series could provide some positive second-half ju-ju for first half flops like Jayson Werth. 

GO NATS!

Of course, the second half of this potentially excellent sports weekend is Sunday's Women's World Cup final between the U.S. and Japan.  The U.S.'s wins over Brazil and France were riveting, as should the final.

We're supposed to be there but Japan has been a surprise.   However, they are not to be taken lightly, having clearly earned their berth in the final by taking down hosts and favorites Germany in the quarter finals before rolling over Sweden - a team that beat us in group play.

I like our chances mainly because I love Abby Wambach.  What a great competitor and teammate.  I love the casual way she describes her accomplishments - which have been significant and game-changing - in contrast to her more animated and excited descriptions of her teammates and team.   She's a leader AND a play maker.  Her skill - and height as she has scored two impressive headers in our last two games - have been key, and will be again against Japan.

Go National(s) team!

Nationals Progress

Counting Tyler Clippard's win in last night's All-Star game, the Nationals head into the second half of the season at 46-45, only 8 games back of Atlanta for the wild card spot.

Competing for the wild card this season is probably a little too optimistic.  But for a team with our recent history of 100+ loss seasons actually competing and finishing the first half at 45 and 45 is significant.

Clippard is a great place to start since the Nationals' pitching has been the main reason the team is keeping it's head above water.  Their five man rotation has been in tact for most of the season.  

Number one starter Livan Hernandez was expected to be an inning eater, not a real number one.  In addition to eating up tons of innings Livo's pitched well and been consistent all year.   And he's my age (perhaps)!

The Nats are counting on Steven Strasburg to be their number one starter of the future.  The great news is Jordan Zimmermann is pitching like a number one THIS year.  In June he was as effective - and at times as dominant - as Justin Verlander or C.C. Sabathia.  In his last 10 starts (since May 22nd) in 67 innings, his ERA is 1.61. He's persevered despite not getting much run support, staying focused and positive and dominant.  By far the best first half story for the Nats is Zimmermann.

Former number one starter John Lannan has settled nicely into his number 3 starter slot, and he too has excelled.  In HIS last 10 starts, his ERA is 2.95 in 61 innings.  After a rocky 2010 he's bounced back, throwing lots of ground balls and pitching with confidence.

Number four starter Jason Marquis has been solid.  After a great April he's had some tougher luck of late.  However, though he has missed a few starts, number 5 starter Tom Gorzelanny has been better than expected.   Like Zimmermann, he's lacked run support so is only 2-6 but he sports a sub-4.00 ERA and has done his share of inning eating.

Then there's All-star game winner Clippard, who is a league leader in holds and has a sub-2.00 ERA.  But a great ERA is not rare in Washington's bull pen. Ryan Matheus, Henry Rodriguez, and Drew Storen all have ERAs under 2.60.  And of course Storen has converted 23 out of 26 save chances, too.

The only under-performing pitcher in the bullpen has been Sean Burnett, who has been inconsistent and lacking in confidence at times.   He turned it around last year to finish strong, so hopefully that can happen this year, too.

Of course, when it comes to under-performing but hopefully bouncing back one can only think of Jayson Werth.  It's amazing that we are at .500 while Werth, our stud off season pick up, is at .217!   Unfortunately, Werth's terrible production has not been the only challenge this offense has faced.

Ian Desmond, who has improved his defense, was a wash out as a lead off hitter.  Our best hitter, Ryan Zimmerman, missed two months, and our clean up hitter, Adam LaRoche too was werthless and is now out for the season.  

So the Nationals got almost no production from their Opening Day 1 through 4 hitters in the first half. 

Their pitching - and an improved defense - is the main reason, but credit also goes to the bottom half of that opening day line up, especially Danny Espinosa, Wilson Ramos, and especially Micheal Morse. 
 

Espinosa is a candidate for rookie of the year with 16 homers, 52 ribbies, and an 800 OBS - plus a flare for the dramatic hit and great defense.  Ramos too has had some big hits and is already a fantastic defensive catcher with great footwork and a great arm.

But after Zimmermann, Morse is the second-best story for Washington.  After a torrid spring, Morse flopped in April and May.  He was eventually benched in left field in favor of Laynce Nix, another revelation this year who has gone from the bench to the clean up spot in two months.  The same goes for Roger Bernadina, who started the season in Syracuse but now starts in center.  Though still not comfortable in the lead off spot the Dutch Master has been stellar on defense and had his moments on offense.

But Morse is THE story with the bat. After LaRoche got hurt Morse was back in the line up at first, getting so hot you would have thunk that he replaced Wally Pip.  He finished the first half at .304, 14 homers and 48 RBIs with an .886 OBS.

This team has competed so well so far this season that it's easy to forget that on June 23rd, after winning their 11th game out of 12, their manager Jim Riggleman petulantly quit.  There is no "I" in team but there is one in Riggleman.  

The Nats seemed to quickly turn the page, and GM Jim Rizzo facilitated a successful transition by hiring Davey Johnson, who had worked the last two years as an adviser, to take over.   

Hiring Johnson was a great move then, but looks even better now.  Hiring such a proven coach and winner must have helped quell any uncertainty or unease in the club house in the wake of Riggleman's abandonment of the team.

Every major league team has talent, but often the intangibles are necessary to make good teams into better - or in some cases great - teams.  

This team's intangible is resiliency.  Whether it's their record in one-run games, the way the Nats have outscored their opponents by more than 15 runs in extra innings, or in overcoming Werth's horrible first half AND their manager quitting in the midst of an incredible winning streak, this team has had to deal with lots of challenges and problems.  Thanks to their resiliency - and starting pitching - the Nationals had a successful first half and are poised to have an even better second.

And we still have Strasburg and Bryce Harper on the horizon, for 2012, too.

GO NATS!

Wicked Awesome

Tonight's lackluster Home Run Derby (though Robinson Cano is heating up) gives me a chance to blog on another baseball topic.

The presence of both Big Popi and A-Gone in the Derby is a reminder of our trip to Fenway last week. Prior to our trip I was kind of tired of Red Sox Nation and their loaded, Yankees-like line up.  

But our trip to Fenway won me back.  

I've been to Fenway probably 25 times, mostly in the 80s when I was working for PIRG.  Some things have changed since my last visit: the Ratskeller is no longer around the corner and there's a Qdoba and McDonalds and other chains on Kenmore Square.  And of course, you used to be able to walk up on game day and pick up a bleacher seat.  

Despite those changes the Red Sox experience is still pretty awesome.  Despite an increase in corporate signage the park itself looks gorgeous.  The renovations and additions by the current ownership look great.  Fenway looks classic and modern.

There's great beer selection, and you can pick up an excellent Fenway Frank inside the park or some great sausage outside.  And the fans are really INTO the game, rather than simply AT a game.

They also play great music between innings.  No Journey or classic rock or Top 40 drivel.  At Fenway, at least the night we were there, you get lots of punk rock and new wave.  We heard The Clash, U2 (of course, it's Boston), Rancid, Social Distortion, Joe Jackson, and The Pixies.  Hard to improve on listening to 'Debaser' at a ball game. 

The Bosox also have two great signature songs: 'Shipping off to Boston' by the Dropkick Murphys when Papelbon comes in; and they cap off a win with The Standels' 'Dirty Water.'  The crowd really gets in to both songs, standing, clapping, hooting, etc.  And 'Dirty Water' is a great sing-along song, too.

Finally, Boston looks like a college town in that everywhere you go everyone is wearing Red Sox gear.  You see some Patriots stuff and a decent amount of Celtics stuff - mainly Rondo, FYI - but  everyone all over town is wearing Red Sox.

Not just awesome, wicked awesome!

Best and worst

Today's win by the US women's soccer team was an incredible event.  How incredible?  Of all the bloggable topics - our vacation visits to Fenway, the baseball AND basketball halls of fame, Boston and Vermont; the Nats being 500 at the all-star break despite Jayson Werth(less)'s terrible return on their investment; Greece's on going crisis and the parallel one here in Washington on the debt ceiling - I have to blog on that stirring win on penalty kicks.

The game was the best and worst of soccer.  Watching soccer is always kind of tough; there is so little scoring that you don't want to turn away in case you miss an actual goal.  All that tension is magnified in an elimination game against a rival like Brazil in the World Cup.  

And the tension was even higher and crazier this afternoon when the referees blew call after call, and as a result the U.S. was down 1-2 to mighty Brazil AND were down to 10 players.  

One of those goals and the player deficit were both the result of a questionable call against Rachel Buehler that resulted in a red card AND a penalty kick goal. Of course, things got even worse when Brazil was awarded a second penalty kick by the referee after Hope Solo blocked the Samba Queens' first attempt.  Predictably, Marta nailed the do over and the U.S. was tied 1-1 and a player down with 40 minutes of soccer left.

The U.S. defense finally cracked in overtime when Marta scored again after the referees missed a possible off sides call on Brazil.

The calls on German soil were so bad, especially the penalty kick do over, that they reminded me of the 1972 Munich Olympics basketball game against the Soviet Union. In that game an Olympic official, not the referee, ordered a do over for the Soviet basketball team, a chance they converted with a basket to defeat the U.S. for the gold medal.

Despite trailing by a goal with only a few minutes left and only 10 players on the field, the U.S. was determined to go down swinging and displayed that epic American trait - for better (men's and women's world cup) or for worse (Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan) - of never giving up, and assuming that one way or another we will figure out a way to win.

And they did.  First Abby Wambach scored a dramatic-is-an-understatement goal with 2 minutes left in overtime to send the game to penalty kicks.  Then goalie Solo and the U.S. squad won it 5-4 on penalty kicks.

It was an exhausting and dramatic couple of hours, and put on display the best of the American spirit and the best of high-stakes soccer. 

But it also displayed the worst of soccer: the terrible referring which seems to crop up with shocking regularity, the diving and flopping athletes  - most sports value and reward toughness; soccer rewards acting, flopping and theatrics - trying to kill time late or fool the referees, and of course the stupid and inconsistent off sides calls.  

I would love to ref a soccer game. 

One, I would only say two words to any player who is not bleeding or does NOT have a bone sticking out of their skin, yet falls to the pitch: "get up." Or "get up you flopping ass hole; I'm not calling that a foul unless you are bleeding or have a bone sticking out of your skin.  Soccer is a physical game sometimes, so buck up!"

Brazil whined and complained and  flopped and stalled so much that the crowd booed Marta most of the game and was clearly on the U.S.'s side as the contest progressed.

Two, I would never call off sides.  Why is that even a penalty? Isn't there a goalie back there?  If an offensive player is behind the goalie it's off sides.  If they're not, then it's not.

Three, one rule change world football should adopt is prohibiting backwards passes once the ball has crossed the midfield line.  Once you cross midfield you have to stay on offense, period. When George Mikan and other big men entered the NBA in the 50s scoring plummeted as teams were afraid to go inside, so they passed the ball around the perimeter for minutes at a time (learned that at the Hoops Hall of Fame this weekend!).  That prompted the use of a 24-second clock.  A shot-clock in world football is impractical, but forcing teams to stay on offense would help increase the action and scoring.

Then again, the current rules produced a tense and taut game, so maybe we don't need THAT many rules changes.  But better refs would help keep the focus on the players, who were pretty fantastic to watch today.  

GO USA!

More there there than I thought

Like most of the hundreds of Nationals fans in Washington, I've gotten excited by their recent hot streak.  Though they have a talented roster, I thought that it was merely a hot streak on the backs of surging players such as Michael Morse, Danny Espinosa and pitchers like Jordan Zimmermann rather than proof that this year's squad is a talented and legit team. 

But something in today's Post is making me rethink that position.  Adam Kilgore reports that the Nationals have outscored their opponents 26-6 this year in extra inning games.  And yesterday, as the Nats - the Washington Nationals - played on national TV in the Fox Game of the Week a graphic showed that 11 percent of Nationals games have gone into extra innings, the highest percentage in baseball in almost 50 years. 

Not sure if the extra inning-games percentage means much: it could be that our bullpen is NOT as good as we thought, blowing leads too often; or it could mean than this team never gives up and has a talent for late-inning comebacks. 

Either way, I think outscoring your opponent by 20 runs in extra inning games is impressive. It demonstrates both physical talent - making plays on offense, defense and the base paths AND making pitches - and mental toughness and confidence. 

A young, talented roster AND confidence - and now Davey Johnson?  Go Nats!

A few more notes:

• I love the Davey Johnson hire, in theory.  He's a great baseball man with an impressive track record.  But it has been 10 years since he managed.  But of all the potential managers available it's hard to quibble with a hire like Johnson.
• Also hard NOT to root for Equatorial Guinea in the women's World Cup.
• One potential concern for the U.S. team - not enough Tar Heels (or less there there than usual). Historically fellow alums have made up half the roster, but this year only 3 of the 21 players on the U.S. team are from Carolina: Tobin Heath, Heather O'Reilly, and Lindsay Tarpley.