Lost Weekend in Chapel Hill

It's not often when things go better in Fayetteville then they do in Chapel Hill, but that's what happened this Thanksgiving weekend for the staff of Carolina Hellenic Blue.

Thanksgiving in the 'ville was great as all 18 of our immediate family went to my parents house to celebrate, eat, and play foot, whiffle and kick ball games (in person, not video or computer games).

The weekend in Chapel Hill, and the games played there, were not so great.

First, we lose to Duke, which is bad enough, in football. The loss allowed the Devils to advance to the ACC championship game, so beating them would have been doubly sweat. To make matters worse, Carolina should have won that one going away.  The Heels dropped two touchdowns, and dropped an interception on Duke's game winning drive.  Those 3 mistakes doomed the Heels on Saturday.

Second, later that day the Carolina women's soccer team - the most dominant dynasty in the history of sports, winners of 21 of the previous 31 NCAA championships including last year's title - lost in the elite 8 to UCLA 0-1.  I think the Heels had never lost in the elite 8 in 32 NCAA tournament appearances.

Finally, and third, was Sunday night's shabby loss on the road to UAB. It was a classy move for 'ol Roy to go to Birmingham in honor of his former player and assistant Jerod Haase.  Usually, the big name school does not travel to the up-and-coming one, but Roy is Roy.

What we did not expect was Carolina to play terribly for 40 minutes and lose to the Blazers. Coming off an exhilarating win over Louisville the Heels looked listless and completely out of sync, with no one looking more discombobulated and down right untalented than James Michael McAdoo.  

The Heels looked like a team that had not played in a week, which was the case, and it showed early as no one other that J.P. Tokoto looked interested.  Marcus Page tried, but clearly the UAB defense was focused on stopping him, and they did. 

Without Page we needed at least one or two more guys to step up to help Tokoto, and usually reliable Brice Johnson almost did, Kennedy Meeks and Joel James could not give any sustained effort, and McAdoo had a serious case of Mac-A-Don't.

The lay off and the inexperience of this team, at least the inexperience of this P.J.-less rotation, is enough to cause me to shrug this one off as 'one of those games' that happen early in a season with a team like this one, a team still learning and figuring things out. 

The flip side is, it's hard to shrug off how bad McAdoo played. He not only looked soft when he attacked the rim, but he made terrible decisions - a three pointer, really? - and was inactive; he even had trouble catching the ball or grabbing loose balls or boards.

I don't think it's time to panic, but in a bizzaro world where things go better in Fayetteville we need McAdoo to be McAdoo and help Page, Johnson and Meeks overcome the loss of Hairston and make things right in Chapel Hill. 

GO HEELS! 

A Great Week to be a Tar Heel (after a rough couple of months)

After months and months of dissonance, from P.J.Hairston's mistake filled summer to the latest reminders that the Carolina football program is an embarrassment to the University, some semblance of order was restored to Tar Heel Nation last week. 

Two great things happened.

One, Dean Smith was awarded the highest honor that an American can earn, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. More than a great Tar Heel, Dean is a great American. For many, and certainly for me, he embodies everything good about Carolina. Not the basketball program - Carolina.  

To be, rather than to seem.*  Could a guy born in Kansas be any more a Tar Heel?

In recounting why we has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom we are once again reminded why he is a great American. Dean was an active citizen on top of being a successful basketball coach. Sure he graduated 98 percent of his players, won an Olympic gold medal, won two national championships, and did it the right way.  But Dean also cared about the well being of his fellow citizens, and worked to make our country, not just Carolina, better. Whether he was integrating parts of North Carolina, advocating for gay marriage or against the death penalty, Dean knew that to truly be an American one has to be an active citizen engaged in making ours a more perfect union.  

Two, perhaps in honor of Dean Carolina looked like Carolina on Sunday in defeating the defending national champs on a neutral floor.  

What a game! Roy said it after the win but after 4 lackluster games the team seemed to finally stop looking at the bench hoping for Hairston to come in and bail them out (I can't include Leslie McDonald in the same sentence as Hairston; that guy has been in Chapel Hill for 4 years and yet has NO identity or presence it seems). 

The great news is the guy they need is already on the floor in the person of Marcus Paige. He finished strong down the stretch last year, and his progress along with Hairston and James Michael McAdoo was enough to make Heels giddy for this season, at least until the troubles with PJ surfaced this summer. Against Louisville, we saw Paige emerge as a two-headed monster who could dish like Marcus but score like P.J. 

It was fantastic to watch, and exciting to think about how Paige will only get better as he gets stronger. He's already a smart player - of course a Carolina player - and his skills will keep growing. Paige is going to have a monster year for the Heels.

Remember, this is Carolina. As great as Paige was the win reached the giddy level due to the contributions from the entire team.  There are many to choose from, but I'll start with Nate Britt.

Even in wins, such as the ones over Oakland and Richmond, Britt has generally been pretty bad.  His performance against Holy Cross prompted me to tweet 'that my biggest fear is that Britt turns into Adam Boone.' 

Against Louisville he stopped going north-south a la Boone and aggressively attacked the rim and even displayed a deft touch, too! He's a freshman so we should cut him some slack on his learning curve, but it was great to see him play with confidence and poise against an opponent like Louisville. 

Paige and Britt moved the ball, Carolina style, for 40 minutes as everyone contributed to a great win. 

Speaking of freshman AND moving the ball, how about Kennedy Meeks?  He looked like Sean May in ways ridiculous - he's chubby! - and sublime - look at those outlet passes, soft hands and soft touch around the basket.

We saw Paige coming, and knew Meeks and players like Isaiah Hicks and Britt were touted recruits, but I'm not sure if anyone other than ol' Roy saw Brice Johnson coming on the way he has so far.

He is this team's X factor.  His energy and skill off the bench have been phenomenal - so far.  Johnson appears to have a nose for the ball and scoring, and has become that third guy, along with Paige and McAdoo, that every successful basketball team needs.

If Johnson and Paige keep playing at this level, Britt and Meeks keep growing and getting more comfortable, and McAdoo starts acting like Mac-a-do instead of Mac-a-doesn't, this team will continue to be fun to watch AND make a run at an ACC championship - even without Hairston.

Of course, the Heels could use Hairston and even McDonald if for no other reason that as deep as our front court is (McAdoo, James, Tokoto, Hicks, Meeks, Simmons, Hubert all played and scored versus Louisville) our back court is equally thin (yes, that was walk on, fourth-string point guard Wade Moody getting first-half minutes).

This squad will make some noise nationally, too, and this team will keep being tested as the Heels play a brutal schedule. The Heels still have games against Kentucky and Texas, and at Michigan State before turning to the ACC with new rivals like Syracuse in addition to games versus Duke (overrated in my opinion with a weak front court) and FSU (under rated), etc. 

But this week the Heels showed we have the talent to be Carolina, Dean's Carolina.  Forget Hairston.  With Paige, Johnson, etc. we have enough talent and skill to go win a lot of games and go a long way. 

GO HEELS!

A Few Random Notes

• Kudos to Chapel Hill's Superchunk for, among other things, including the North Carolina state motto, 'to be rather than to seem,' in their song "Your Theme." If you are not listening to "I Hate Music" you are under utilizing the gift of hearing.
•  I was embarrassed to see Carolina send letters to Marvin Austin, Greg Page and Robert Quinn stating that those three should no longer associate with UNC or come back to Chapel Hill.  Did the same letter go to Butch Davis and his staff?  I am not absolving the players from associating with agents, etc. but to single out the student-athletes instead of the coaches and adults in charge is embarrassing.
• Dean is the STANDARD.  The athletic department, especially the football program,  needs to remember that; what would Dean do?

One of the worst days of the year

One of the worst days of the year is inarguably the day Carolina ends its basketball season - if it ends with a loss, that is.

But another of the worst days of the year is the day the NFL season starts in earnest (on a Sunday, like in the old days). This year, recent events and actions make the prospect of football dominating the sport pages even more loathsome than usual.

As some of you know, I stopped following the NFL the year of the big strike, the one when NFL owners eventually fielded replacement players, that strike.  Unlike baseball, which I found out I really missed when it was stopped by misguided owners and labor troubles, I found out I did NOT miss the NFL that much.

I never went back in part because I did not miss football, but also because I was disgusted by the league itself and its' fans.  It's bad enough that the union is so weak that NFL players - abused by a sport so violent that most careers are short (and if you have a long one your body or brain is often severely damaged) - very rarely receive guaranteed contracts from wealthy owners.  Players went on strike in part to push for guaranteed money.    

But what made things worse for me was the average fans' reaction to the games played by replacement players.  Fans showed up to watch those scabs play.  It didn't matter who was playing, violence is violence, football is football.  Once players saw that, the union caved and since then things have gotten worse for players.  Seasons got longer thus more hits were absorbed, the game got more and more violent, and players bodies and minds kept getting abused.

Which of course brings me to the NFL's recent settlement with 4,500 former player who had sued the league over inadequate or callous medical care.  Mike Wise covered most of this ground in an excellent column in The Washington Post on August 29th.  For $650 million the NFL was spared having it's own players, it's former employees, take the stand and testify that coaches and doctors lied to them about concussions and other serious injuries.  

No guaranteed contracts, no lifetime health insurance, no concession that football is such a violent sport that ONE PLAY can ruin someone's body and/or brain for a lifetime.  The NFL is a rouge league that mistreats and lies to it's employees every game. 

I honestly wonder how long that business model will continue.  Last month's settlement bought the NFL some time, but the issue of medical abuses to former and current players will not go away.  

Another thing that probably won't go away is the love of violence and gambling, the twin factors that keep NFL fans glued to their TVs  on Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday, ...).  Besides the banal abuse of the players, that sentence includes the other 3 reasons I don't like the NFL; the trident of gambling, violence and TV that reenforce some of the worst aspects of American culture.  Those three ills are hard to beat, and sports like baseball or hobbies like reading can't seem to compete.  

America is worse for our love of football.

And Carolina is worse, too. In fact, college football is probably worse than the NFL. Professional teams are in it to make money, plain and simple.  But college and universities are supposed to have higher aspirations, which of course is the most naive statement anyone can blog about college sports.

Carolina, of course, should and used to be different.  But the recent scandals there have tarnished a school once known for doing things - everything - the right way, a school that used to take it's cues from Dean Smith.

Now it takes it's cues from ESPN, and in doing so Carolina has acted like just another low-life college whose goal is to fill up stadiums and make money, NOT to educate student athletes.  

I wish Carolina would have had the nerve to drop football for a year completely.  I know, we wouldn't have been able to hire someone named Larry Fedora!, but doing so would have restored Carolina's moral leadership. More importantly, it would have reminded the world that sports are secondary to academics, and restored same balance - at least at one campus.

In addition to chasing dollars, college football probably abuses players even more than the NFL. There are no restrictions on hitting in practice, for instance, and worse medical care.  

However, college football and all its abuses are easy to fix. Two reforms, making freshman ineligible and only playing 8 games a season, with one or two playoff games, would practically solve all the problems with the college game.

For the NFL, hopefully the entire league will go out of business - or MAYBE the league will change or evolve into a flag football league or something. Malcolm Gladwell predicted that in 20 years the physical abuse suffered by NFL players will be deemed socially unacceptable by our civilized society. I just hope a society seemingly dependent on violence, gambling and TV will eventually get there.

Of course, there are other reasons to not like football:

• It's corporate, corporate, corporate. From the NFL playing the Super Bowl in a neutral site so it can cater to fat cats/corporate sponsors not real fans, to the Chic-Fil-A Beef O'Brady's National Bank bowls, to college players banned from profiting when the school sells THEIR jerseys, abusive corporations or cartels are in charge of both the NFL and college football. The bosses make the real money; the workers do not. 
• Football has plays like the blitz. Baseball has plays like the sacrifice. When a game is tied, football has sudden death overtime; baseball has extra innings. The goal of football is use an offensive attack to penetrate the other sides defenses; in baseball, it's to be safe at home (all that is courtesy of George Carlin).
• A team named the Redskins represents the capital of the free world, in 2013. The same team that refused to sign African American players until 17 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier insists on burnishing that racist legacy by keeping the most offensive nickname in sports.  A team owned by a guy who seems completely oblivious about the nickname and that legacy.  
• Ray Lewis.  

Birthplace of our hometown team

Among other things - second largest French-speaking city on the planet, home of poutine - Montreal is the home of the Nationals, the city where our hometown team was born in 1969.

We visited the town where Jackie Robinson played his first season of professaional (white) baseball and Andre Dawson and Gary Carter became Hall of Famers last week, and surprisingly and happily found some lingering Expos love.  And some souvenirs.

One of the first places we visited was the Olympic Stadium, mainly to ride to the top of the tower that holds the roof of the stadium in place for the view. While in the observation deck at the top, Evan and I struck up a conversation with one of the guides there. He wistfully recalled many good times rooting for the Expos, and said Montreal remains a good baseball town with many fans still rooting for the Nats. He thought that most Montreal fans had switched their allegiance to the Blue Jays, but we did run into two local Montreal citizens/fans wearing Nats gear who yelled "Go Nats" when they saw Evan wearing a curly W.

Even though he worked at the Olympic Stadium even he called it a horrible venue for baseball (it hasn't aged well either; the concrete looks worn and crumbly and even the CFL's Alouettes play most of their games at McGill University). As you know, the stadium was built for the 1976 Olympic Games so most of the seats were pretty far from the field. He did say it was loud and had a great echo, so a small crowd could sound huge.

Finally, he knew a lot of the teams' history, both the Expos and the Nats.  He even apologized for the lack of talent that came from Montreal in 2005.  Evan and I defended that team, which after all went 81 and 81, and some of the players.

We expected a lot from our vacation to Montreal, but discussing the merits of Brad Wilkerson and Jose Vidro was not on that list.

Rue Saint Paul is the heart of old Montreal, and features lots of restaurants and tourist shops.  We found a decent amount of Expos gear for sale but all of it was old.  We saw a Gary Carter replica jersey at a few stores, but at each shop they only had 1 small size jersey left.  I was able to find a nameless Expos jersey in my size, a black Expos, and a fitted, authentic New Era hat for Evan. Both hats had been on the shelf so long that the New Era stickers on the bills were hard to remove. And the clerk told me that we bought probably the last, fitted Expos hat he would EVER sell.  He doubted he would ever order any more, or could even order more if he wanted to.  Once their stock is gone, memories of the Expos may disappear, too.

Evan and I wore our new Expos gear the next day, and got a few thumbs up and compliments from folks on the street. We probably had around a dozen Expos interactions with Montrealers if you include seeing 3 or 4 folks we saw on the street wearing their hats or shirts. It was enough to make me feel a little guilty for gaining from their loss

A Few Nats Notes

• The good news: the Nats have won 6 of 10. The bad news: we can't seem to beat the Braves!  What a frustrating series.
• The other good news: we take on the Cubs this week, so a 4-game winning streak may be on the horizon.
• Finally, I don't know what to make of Straburg on Saturday night. I hope he's not hurt, but the way be lost it in the second inning is a concern. He had pin-point control in the first, evidenced by the perfectly placed pitch that hit Justin Upton in the posterior. But in the second he practically beaned the mascot.
• Anyway, we're still 'only' 9 and a half back in the wild card. GO NATS!

162 games in one night

That sound you heard last night was an entire, 162-game season, passing by in one night.  The Nats' 2-3 loss to our new archrival Braves encompassed a season's worth of frustration and sadness - and frustration. Let us count the ways.  

• The game featured another wasted start by Stephen Strasburg. Stras struck out 9 in 7 innings as he had some nasty off speed stuff working.  The Braves tied the game at 1-1 on back to back to back bleeders, and probably had two good swings off of Strasburg all night.  Once again that effort was not good enough thanks to an anemic offense.
• No loss is complete without a wasted key at bat from Jayson Werth. Pinch hitting for Strasburg in the seventh with the go-ahead run on second Werth's strike out was practically pre-ordained. The only surprise is that he went down swinging. Despite being the July Player of the Month Werth and his $14 million-a-year salary is still unreliable in the clutch, and his dramatic game-winning homer in game 4 last year increasingly looks like a case of the blind squirrel finding an acorn.
• Last year, Natitude translated into lots of good luck: walk-off wins due to wild pitches; game-winning pinch hits from Chad Tracy or Tyler Moore; Harper taking baseball by the throat, etc. etc. This year's declaration of 'World Series or Bust' broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: you have to be humble - or else. Davey Johnson forgot that the greatest sin a human can commit (at least to the ancient Greeks, who have been validated by 3,000 years of history) is hubris. 
• Last year, Natitude also translated into hard hit balls finding gaps and driving in runs. This year, as it was last night, it seems like 90 percent of our line drives find gloves. Case in point is the seventh. Harper hits the ball on the screws right to Heyward. Of course, that line-drive out would have scored the go-ahead run IF Werth had moved the runner to third instead of striking out.  There were numerous line-drive outs last night: Rendon's sacrifice fly could have been a double to the gap; Uggla robs Desmond, etc.
• Last night's loss even featured a bull pen melt down even when Davey made the right move. Clippard has been lights out all season but even he faltered last night, giving up the game-winning homer.  #snakebit. 

I guess to be more precise, I should blog that last night's loss means the passing of the NL East. Catching the Braves, even if we someone sweep the remaining 8 matchups, is unlikely but the wild card is still an option. The Nats are 'only' 7 games back of the Reds and only have to pass one other team, the Diamondbacks, to get there. But as many have said, before the Nats can realistically make ANY run to the playoffs they have to start hitting.  

That brings me to our ray of hope: kudos to Bryce Harper for calling out the team, from the manager on down, last week. Last September he carried us down the stretch and he can do it again. Unless he does, it will be a long, long off season.

Go Nats!

You're Welcome (I think)

It took a few days, and some infuriating losses, but it looks like Natitude may be returning to southwest Washington.  A week after firing Rick Eckstein - 6 hours after I blogged about the need to do just that - the Nats' offense seems to have awaken.

Of course, we also thought that after the Nationals scored 13 runs in support of Stephen Strasburg to finish a four game sweep of the Padres.   So, in the words of the old Negro spiritual:* 'we will see.'

Last week's blog tried to end on an optimistic note, namely that things could change for this team if Bryce Harper got hot and rejuvenated our offense.  Thankfully, that seems to have started happening.  The Nats have won 4 of 5 to reinvograte the team's season, again, and Harper has gone 7 for 16 with two homers, one a walk off to win a must-win game versus the Pirates, and 6 RBIs.

In addition to revisiting last week's blog, I also want to expand on today's Washington Post story by Nats beat writer Adam Kiglore.  The author examines a handful of reasons why this season has been so frustrating and disappointing.

One was the underperformance of the Nationals' left-handed hitters, in particular Adam LaRoche - who to be fair has always been a slow starter and could very well carry the team again as he did in August last season - and Denard Span.  Injuries in general have hurt, in particular to Harper who is also left-handed.

Another reason was the addition of Span turned the team from a bashing, slugging one to a more balanced nine that could manufacture runs with speed and small ball.The common denominator to both diagnoses problems?   No more Michael "Beast Mode" Morse.

Even though he hits from the right side, we do seem to miss his pop, and in hindsight it would have been great to keep him along with Span and not resign an aging LaRoche.  Of course, one can argue that with Zimmerman at third we need a Gold Glove fielder such as LaRoche at first.  And again, LaRoche could get super hot again and save his and our season (though he's 35).

But as much as we may miss the presence of another home run hitter, or if he would be that much better than LaRoche or Span offensively, I think we may actually miss Morse more in the clubhouse.

One other reason Kilgore lays out for the disappointing season is the pressure that comes with being a  'World Series or Bust' favorite.  No one can argue that any of the Nats, with perhaps the exceptions of the stoic Zimmermann and now-stoic Strasburg, and the carefree Gio, have handled that pressure well.   Tight play has defined this squad for most of the season.

One can safely assume that Morse could have helped with that problem. Or solved that problem. Or the personable and likeable and 'Take On Me" loving Morse would have kept that from ever BEING a problem in the first place.  

Beast Mode would have trumped World Series or Bust.

Natitudes and platitudes
* Maybe Mike Rizzo is not a genius.  Regardless of the Morse trade, the descision to not bring back Sean Burnett and rely on Zack Duke as our only lefty in the pen was a mistake. And Kilgore pointed out the the failure to resign Edwin Jackson does not look that good in the rear-view mirror AND cost the team a draft pick.
* Then there is Drew Storen.  Not sure how to assess how any pitcher could come back from the game 5 debacle, but save to say the Nats have not handled him well, and a pitcher who two years ago saved 43 games has regressed all the way to AAA.
*Finally, Kilgore did not mentin the bad ju-ju of picking William Howard Taft as the 5th

The Nats are killing me

As some of you may have noticed via social media, I've been a bit cranky when it comes to our hometown Washington Nationals.  Most of that crankiness was initially aimed at often ridiculous (the violence that pops up all to often during the Presidents race) and sometimes important (the stale and cheap patriotism of a standing ovation to honor convalescing veterans, an ovation that seems to absolve fans of actually helping veterans or thinking about our 13-year odyssey in Afghanistan*) topics.

But my crankiness is now metastasizing into full-on, Carolina losing to Dook after Zeller tipped in one of THEIR shots, depression.

The Nats are killing me.  

Two Sundays ago, Evan and I watched Washington complete a four game sweep of the Padres by scoring 13 runs.  THIRTEEN!  We had won 7 of 10 games, and were only 4 games back of the Braves.  Natitude was back!

But since then we've played our worst baseball of the year.  After this weekend's sweep to the Dodgers the Nats are now 2 and 8 in our last 10 games. Whatever good mojo the Nationals had has been eviscerated.  The Nats are now in 3rd place, half a game behind the Phillies for second in the East, and seven games behind the Braves AND the second wild-card spot.

It's hard to understand how a team that has Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, and Ryan Zimmerman can be this mediocre, and unable to build up ANY momentum over the course of 100 games.

Injuries is part of the story, especially for the lack of momentum that has kept this squad from ripping off a few 5 or 6-game win streaks.  Two weeks ago the 7 out 10 streak coincided with Harper then Wilson Ramos coming off the disabled list. 

But what gives now?  The big 3 pitchers have been great (despite today's stinker from ZNN), and even Dan Haren (on the hill tomorrow looking to end a 3-game losing streak!) has pitched better since coming off the DL.

It's not news that the offense has been horrible, frustrating, depressing, you name it. Saturday night's game was indicative of one of the biggest issues: driving in runs. The Nats had 12 hits but only scored one run, driven in by pinch hitter Roger Bernadina.  Against the Dodgers the Nats batted .077 with runners in scoring position.  

When a team with so many good players underachieves, who is to blame?  Is it Davey Johnson, his line ups, the way he uses the bull pen?  Is it hitting coach Rick Eckstein?  The Nats rank near to bottom of almost every offensive category.

Is it underachievers like Denard Span or Jayson Werth, who had a great second half last year but is currently making almost $500,000 per RBI this season and is hitting less than .200 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs?

I'll offer two things that could help a now healthy squad play better, maybe catch the Braves, and/or secure one of the two wild card spots.  I'm not going to touch the pitching, which outside of 2 or 3 bad outings from Drew Storen and Rafael Soriano has been generally great.

One is a simple line up change.  I'd go back to the future, and move Werth and Harper back to the top of the order, Zimmerman, then my big move of Desmond at clean up, followed by LaRoche, Rendon, Ramos, and Span (who has played great defense but is simply not getting on base enough).

Werth seems to stink everywhere else, and excelled at lead off last year. The second slot is the new third; you want to put you best hitter there since that spot gets about 15-20 more plate appearances than the 3 hole does a year.

Desmond often rises to the occasion with runners on base, and moving him up two places gets him a few more - important - at bats.  He's a free swinger but drives in runs.  

Two, fire Rick Eckstein for a number of reasons. One is admittedly cosmetic. Do something to get the team's attention/make them feel guilty/light a fire/insert sports cliche here. 

But others are valid.  The team is not hitting, and more importantly their approach to pitchers seems odd and confusing.  

Hitters guess and look for one pitch when they should be aggressive, take pitches when they should be expanding the zone looking for a pitch to drive.  

Or they frequently expand the zone at the wrong times, swinging at first pitches when it's actually time to work the count.  At bats look discombobulated; case in point was Harper Saturday night. He struck out LOOKING, taking all three strikes, when the situation called for looking for a pitch to drive no matter where it was (like Joe DiMaggio** or Tony Gwynn).  As much as I pick on Werth - ask Evan - we can not ignore that Harper has been swinging at too many bad pitches and taking too many 2-strike ones since he came off the DL; his pitch recognition - or approach - needs some improvement.

You can't fire the players so sadly have to fire the hitting coach. Bring in Frank Robinson, or Mrs. Robinson (the nation(als) turn their lonely eyes to you**) but do something.

These changes would work, or are at least worth trying, and I hope the Nats do something soon. It's past time to get hot. Going to last year's line up with Desmond at clean up and Eckstein at home could very well work.

GO NATS!

* One other thing I've been cranky about has been the generally lousy music the Nats play but that has gotten a little better. Positive developments include LaRoche using Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road' as his walk up song; LCD Soundsystem's 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' and Stevie Wonder's 'You Haven't Done Nothing' making appearances lately, and Chuck Brown's 'Bustin' Loose' is heard after most homers (but there is still too much modern shlock country, too much AC/DC).
* One ray of hope. Line up change or no line up change, Harper is capable of getting red hot and carrying a team as he did in May and September last season. The big 3 should continue to be awesome. And we play the Braves head to head alot; if we sweep those games we're in!