tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post238235039349156699..comments2023-10-20T04:28:04.547-04:00Comments on Nats320 -- A Washington Nationals Blog: DeflatingScreech's Best Friendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01094199653375184305noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-20850728858581907612008-09-03T11:21:00.000-04:002008-09-03T11:21:00.000-04:00Have you looked at the standings lately?The Braves...Have you looked at the standings lately?<BR/><BR/>The Braves pulled it out last night in a slugfest vs. the Marlins displaying horrific pitching by both bullpens, but what is interesting after our sweep of Atlanta this past week is that we head tomorrow into Atlanta and if we can win tonight and sweep Atlanta again, we could possibly be only <B>THREE</B> games behind the Braves in the NL East cellar!!!<BR/><BR/>Its truly amazing to me that when you look around at other teams in the Majors you have some teams playing bad including our friends to the North the Orioles with 63 wins, San Diego is tied with us in the Win column at 53 and Seattle 1 better with 54 wins. In all there are 15 teams below .500 with the Marlins on the edge of .500 right now at 70-69.<BR/><BR/>When you are so far out of the playoff picture, it doesn't help to watch the standings so I was surprised how things look the morning of Sept 3rd especially considering the Tampa Bay Rays are in 1st place along with the Cubs and the Brewers right behind them!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-11528996431728858432008-09-03T08:41:00.000-04:002008-09-03T08:41:00.000-04:00I dunno about the injury sucking the life out of t...I dunno about the injury sucking the life out of the crowd. It seems like late in the game, the crowd was as into it as any that I've been to in months. They really cheered and cheered Hinckley. And when the Nats had the rally in the 8th, the crowd actually (my god!) cheered without something having already happened, or without being prompted by the godawful scoreboard!Chris Needhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10455692848328638937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-90083329443024576502008-09-03T08:08:00.000-04:002008-09-03T08:08:00.000-04:00Your sushi looked great --- the game didn't!Many g...Your sushi looked great --- the game didn't!<BR/><BR/>Many games you can point to ONE play that turns a game around and even before the Flores injury, that play was when Dukes was doubled off of 2nd base in the 2nd inning. <BR/><BR/>In the 2nd inning, we should have had men on 2nd and 3rd with one out after a Flores out to Victorino instead of "man" on 3rd and 2 outs.<BR/><BR/>The Nationals best chance to score was in that 2nd inning and it was that 1 play that sucked the air out at that point and time and any remaining air was sucked out after the Flores injury. <BR/><BR/>As SBF pointed out with Milledge in the 9th and his questionable baserunning judgement, what was Dukes thinking in the 2nd inning with no outs?<BR/><BR/>"Dukes knows he did wrong. There is no outs and you have a runner in front of you," Acta said. "You have to make sure that the ball drops down. Still, if it's a clean single, most of the time, the third-base coach will not send you home with no outs. Hopefully, it will not happen again." <BR/><BR/>Throw in the Flores injury and this looked like the Nats 3 months ago with dumb baserunning, some spotty relief pitching, and a big injury and NO run support for John Lannan. OK, defense was great and<BR/>#58 Mike Hinckley looked good, and we got down a Sac by a pitcher so not exactly like 3 months ago!<BR/><BR/>We can't roll back time to see how it would have played out in the 2nd inning if Elijah Dukes would have stayed closer to 2nd base, and you have to tip your cap to the job Hamels did, but I would have liked our chances in that 2nd inning if we played smart baseball.<BR/><BR/>Also, we had the unlucky bounces as you can find in Nationals losses. Another ground-rule double that if it doesn't go over the fence scores Belliard from 1st base and we get on the board that way.<BR/><BR/>Oh well, lets start a new winning streak tonight!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28676208.post-50405860747294262952008-09-03T07:52:00.000-04:002008-09-03T07:52:00.000-04:00I was at the game and saw the injury. I think cat...I was at the game and saw the injury. I think catchers, as a group, probably have an extremely high tolerance for pain, so I'm always concerned when a catcher is slow to get up after a hit. I'll say a prayer for Jesus and light a candle when I go to church tomorrow.<BR/><BR/>I happened to hear part of Charlie Manuel's comments on the WTOP sports report, where he commented on Utley's slide. I didn't try to transcribe it, but he said something like "some people say that's old school, I say it's good school. If we didn't do something like that, we may as well put on lipstick and [mocking tone of voice] say "excuse me, I'm going to steal a base". There was laughter in the background. <BR/><BR/>I was not amused.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com