The Washington Nationals in 2009

khucke · 06-22-2009, 04:14 AM

The Washington Nationals in 2009

April, 10th, Atlanta

After losing three straight in Miami to start the season, we notched our first win in Atlanta, 15-14. Our pitching made me hold my breath all game long. Being ahead 8-1 after 4 innings and 15-7 after 7, and still struggling up to the last out leaves me as a nervous wreck. The Marlins series already showed that our relief pitching is sub-par, while the starting pitching is not a whole lot better.
In today`s game Daniel Cabrera seemed to give us a solid performance, leading 8-2 after 5, but then he couldn´t get a single out in the 6th. In all fairness our defense isn`t much of a help: Dunn in LF, Dukes in CF or Beillard as 2nd baseman are all liabilities. But there is no quick fix here. Dunn is hitting terrifically with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs in 4 games. Dukes` OPS is at over 1.000. We got to keep checking the waiver list for some pitching. It could turn out that there might be some surplus in our OF, depending on how our AAA guys start into the season, so some trade flexibility may materialize. I haven`t planned any call-ups for two weeks, to give everyone on the roster some time to prove himself. Last night`s game though makes me seriously wonder if I can keep up to that promise.
One minor roster move: we picked up RHP T.J. Beam on waivers from the Blue Jays and sent him to AAA Syracuse.

News from around the league: C.C. Sabathia was injured during his first start for the Yankees and is out for the year!

Nats 1-3, 5th place, 3 games behind the Marlins

khucke · 06-22-2009, 05:47 AM

Atlanta, Sat April, 11th,

Lost the game 4-2 in the 8th. Lannan gave us a strong effort into the eighth but then ran out of gas. LHP Joe Beimel gave up two stright walks to walk in the Atlanta go-ahead run. Additionally Dunn had to be taken out of the game after a collision at home plate. It looks like he can avoid the DL with a couple of days`rest.

Nats 1-4, 3 games back of the Marlins

Around the league: Greinke, Damon and Ortiz are all out for several weeks. Yankees and Dodgers are 5-0.

khucke · 06-23-2009, 04:58 AM

Atlanta, Sunday, April 12th

Nationals 14 Braves 2

Nats 2-4, 3 behind Marlins, 2 behind WC berth

Our team batting is like this: .312/.392/.520, quite satisfactory! We got the first really solid start from our starters tonight, Shairion Martis, 22 years old, pitched 3-hit ball for 7 innings and gave up one unearned run. Despite of this very good start, we have an ERA of 5.90, and a bullpen ERA of 7.47. Tomorrow is our home opener against the Phillies, after that series I´ll reassess our pitching staff.

Around the league: The Yankees are still unbeaten at 6-0 and the Orioles still winless at 0-6.

khucke · 06-23-2009, 05:58 AM

Washington, Monday, April 13th

Phillies 10 Nationals 5

Nats 2-5, 3.5 games behind Marlins, 3 behind WC berth

Botched home opener on our part. we were down 6-0 after 3 innings and never really in the game. Scott Olsen was the starter and he`s now 0-2, 7.20 ERA. to make matters worse Ryan Zimmermann suffered a subluxation on his left shoulder while sliding into a base and will likely miss 4 weeks. We called up Alberto Gonzalez from Syracuse. We got him from the Yankees in a trade during last season, he can play all IF positions and the scouts really like his hitting potential, his career line is .234/.292/.343 though.

khucke · 06-23-2009, 06:07 AM

Washington, Tuesday , April 13th

Off-day

Nats 2-5, 4 games behind Marlins, 3 games begind WC berth

We had two free agents signing today:
38 year old RHP Al Reyes, who played the last two season with the Rays, he is assigned to AA Harrisburg for the time being.
32 year old RHP Rick Bauer, he pitched a few innings for the Indians in 2008, but appeared in 58 games for the Rangers in 2006 with a sub-4 ERA.

khucke · 06-23-2009, 09:56 AM

Washington, Wednesday, April 14th

Phillies 17 Nationals 3

Nats 2-6, 4 behind the Marlins, Phillies, 4 behind WC berth

The score tells it all!

Around the league: the division leader, Yankees, White Sox Indians (tie), Rangers, Marlins Phillies (tie), Reds, Dodgers
Best BA Kaz Matsui (HOU) .519
Best HR Braun (MIL), Thome (CHA) 5
Best ERA Lee (CLE) 0.55

khucke · 06-23-2009, 01:10 PM

Washington, Thursday, April 15th

Phillies 3 Nationals 2

Nats 2-7, 5 behind the Phillies, 4.5 behind WC berth

A coureagous performance by John Lannon (0-2, 5.14). I had to keep him in the game a little longer than I wished (8 innings), but the bullpen is shaky and overworked.

Here are my relief pitchers:

Lefties:
W Ledezma ERA 17.36, WHIP 3.0
J Beimel ERA 10.80, WHIP 4.20

These two are easily the two worst pitchers currently, but both of them are out of options. While I wished they`d get their act together in AAA, Ì don`t want to risk losing them to a waiver claim or free agency just yet. We`re in contact talks with a pair of LHPs currently, let`s see what comes out of it. So Beimel and Ledezma stay on the roster for now.

Righties:
Saul Rivera, ERA 14.54, WHIP 2.77
Rýan Wagner ERA 18.00, WHIP 3.00

These two are on their way to AAA, Wagner may opt for free agency instead, he`s been horrible in his 3 outings.

S. Shell ERA 5.79, 1.5
J. Sosa 1.93, 1.07
J, Hanrahan 3.3.8, 2.63

This threesome was accepetable and will stay in place.

Here are my call-ups:
RHP Al Reyes, a recently signed veteran of many years and

RHP Marco Estrada, a 25-year-old Mexican, who piched some 12 games for us in 2008. In AA Harrisburg he had 8 Ks in 4 innings. The scouts are not high on him, but I feel like giving him a chance to prove himself.

khucke · 06-26-2009, 12:13 PM

Washington, Friday, April 16th
h

Nationals(3-7) 6, Marlins(6-4) 5

Nats 5 games behind Phillies, 4 games behind WC berth

A nailbiter tonight. We got an early 3-0 lead, behind Martis`excellent pitching. As he began to run out of gas in the 6th, we were in trouble. Al Reyes pitched in his first game for us, but gave up the Marlins`go-ahead run. Two homers from Dunn and Dukes put us ahead again in the 8th. The Marlins loaded the bases in the 9th with 2 outs, but Hanrahan kept his nerve this time and struck out Paulino for the 3rd out.

khucke · 06-27-2009, 11:13 AM

Washington, Saturday, April 17th

Nationals´(4-7) 8, Marlins(6-5) 3

Another win in this afternoon game. Another shaky start by Greg Olson, whose stint was truncated by a rain delay after 2.2 innings. Our hitters are phenomenal:
Kearns .407/.414/.481
Dunn .361/.465/.778
Guzman .360/.407/.440
Dukes .386/.460/.750

and the rest isn`t too shabby either:

Team .294/.381/.487

Tomorrow Tavarez will make his first start this season.

From around the league
ML batting leader Jeter (NYY) .489

khucke · 06-28-2009, 12:34 PM

Washington, Sunday, April 19th

Marlins(7-5) 20 Nationals(4-8) 13

After this game some roster moves had to be made:

LHP Beimel was placed on waivers.
RHP Beam (AAA) was placed on waivers.
SP Scott Olson was sent to Syracuse (AAA).
Recently signed LHP Clay Fossum was called up.
Veteran RHP Kip Wells was called up.

Tomorrow the Braves (5-7) come to D.C. for a three game series.

khucke · 06-29-2009, 05:47 AM

Washington, Monday, April 20th

Nationals(5-8) 2 Braves(5-8) 1

Top of the ninth, score is 0-0, our starting pitcher is pitching great, but is running out of gas after 108 pitches and a double with one out. In comes Estrada gives up a single that scored the go-ahaed Braves run. In comes Casey Fossum. He had joined the team in the morning arriving from Syracuse(AAA). He gave up two BB to load the bases and struck out the next two batters, incredible! But still We`re down 1-0 with three outs left.
In the bottom of the 9th Braves closer Soriano come on the mound, Langerhans grounded out to 2nd, then Milledge singled and Kearns walked that brought up utility IF Willie Harris, hitting .178, he was down to his last strike quickly, when the umpires called a balk on Soriano`s next pitch. My runners moved up, and on the next pitch Harris hit a grounder straighht up the middle to plate both runs.

khucke · 06-29-2009, 10:15 AM

Washington, Wednesday, April 22nd,

The last two games against the Braves were lost, 12-3, 9-3. Weak starting pitching eas the main cause. Ledezma was placed on waivers. Danny Stark claimed off waivers from the Mariners

Nationals 5-10

khucke · 06-29-2009, 10:53 AM

Washington, Thursday, April 23rd

Off-day for us today. We got a solid hit inthe waiver arena: We claimed Brad Penny off waivers from the Red Sox! That adds roughly 5 mil to our payroll, that`s something that we must strive to balance out in the next few weeks.

06-22-2009, 04:14 AM	#1
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	The Washington Nationals in 2009 The Washington Nationals in 2009 April, 10th, Atlanta After losing three straight in Miami to start the season, we notched our first win in Atlanta, 15-14. Our pitching made me hold my breath all game long. Being ahead 8-1 after 4 innings and 15-7 after 7, and still struggling up to the last out leaves me as a nervous wreck. The Marlins series already showed that our relief pitching is sub-par, while the starting pitching is not a whole lot better. In today`s game Daniel Cabrera seemed to give us a solid performance, leading 8-2 after 5, but then he couldn´t get a single out in the 6th. In all fairness our defense isn`t much of a help: Dunn in LF, Dukes in CF or Beillard as 2nd baseman are all liabilities. But there is no quick fix here. Dunn is hitting terrifically with 4 HRs and 8 RBIs in 4 games. Dukes` OPS is at over 1.000. We got to keep checking the waiver list for some pitching. It could turn out that there might be some surplus in our OF, depending on how our AAA guys start into the season, so some trade flexibility may materialize. I haven`t planned any call-ups for two weeks, to give everyone on the roster some time to prove himself. Last night`s game though makes me seriously wonder if I can keep up to that promise. One minor roster move: we picked up RHP T.J. Beam on waivers from the Blue Jays and sent him to AAA Syracuse. News from around the league: C.C. Sabathia was injured during his first start for the Yankees and is out for the year! Nats 1-3, 5th place, 3 games behind the Marlins

06-23-2009, 01:10 PM	#7
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Thursday, April 15th Phillies 3 Nationals 2 Nats 2-7, 5 behind the Phillies, 4.5 behind WC berth A coureagous performance by John Lannon (0-2, 5.14). I had to keep him in the game a little longer than I wished (8 innings), but the bullpen is shaky and overworked. Here are my relief pitchers: Lefties: W Ledezma ERA 17.36, WHIP 3.0 J Beimel ERA 10.80, WHIP 4.20 These two are easily the two worst pitchers currently, but both of them are out of options. While I wished they`d get their act together in AAA, Ì don`t want to risk losing them to a waiver claim or free agency just yet. We`re in contact talks with a pair of LHPs currently, let`s see what comes out of it. So Beimel and Ledezma stay on the roster for now. Righties: Saul Rivera, ERA 14.54, WHIP 2.77 Rýan Wagner ERA 18.00, WHIP 3.00 These two are on their way to AAA, Wagner may opt for free agency instead, he`s been horrible in his 3 outings. S. Shell ERA 5.79, 1.5 J. Sosa 1.93, 1.07 J, Hanrahan 3.3.8, 2.63 This threesome was accepetable and will stay in place. Here are my call-ups: RHP Al Reyes, a recently signed veteran of many years and RHP Marco Estrada, a 25-year-old Mexican, who piched some 12 games for us in 2008. In AA Harrisburg he had 8 Ks in 4 innings. The scouts are not high on him, but I feel like giving him a chance to prove himself. Last edited by khucke; 06-23-2009 at 01:12 PM.

06-26-2009, 12:13 PM	#8
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Friday, April 16th h Nationals(3-7) 6, Marlins(6-4) 5 Nats 5 games behind Phillies, 4 games behind WC berth A nailbiter tonight. We got an early 3-0 lead, behind Martis`excellent pitching. As he began to run out of gas in the 6th, we were in trouble. Al Reyes pitched in his first game for us, but gave up the Marlins`go-ahead run. Two homers from Dunn and Dukes put us ahead again in the 8th. The Marlins loaded the bases in the 9th with 2 outs, but Hanrahan kept his nerve this time and struck out Paulino for the 3rd out. Last edited by khucke; 06-26-2009 at 01:11 PM.

06-22-2009, 05:47 AM	#2
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Atlanta, Sat April, 11th, Lost the game 4-2 in the 8th. Lannan gave us a strong effort into the eighth but then ran out of gas. LHP Joe Beimel gave up two stright walks to walk in the Atlanta go-ahead run. Additionally Dunn had to be taken out of the game after a collision at home plate. It looks like he can avoid the DL with a couple of days`rest. Nats 1-4, 3 games back of the Marlins Around the league: Greinke, Damon and Ortiz are all out for several weeks. Yankees and Dodgers are 5-0.

06-23-2009, 04:58 AM	#3
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Atlanta, Sunday, April 12th Nationals 14 Braves 2 Nats 2-4, 3 behind Marlins, 2 behind WC berth Our team batting is like this: .312/.392/.520, quite satisfactory! We got the first really solid start from our starters tonight, Shairion Martis, 22 years old, pitched 3-hit ball for 7 innings and gave up one unearned run. Despite of this very good start, we have an ERA of 5.90, and a bullpen ERA of 7.47. Tomorrow is our home opener against the Phillies, after that series I´ll reassess our pitching staff. Around the league: The Yankees are still unbeaten at 6-0 and the Orioles still winless at 0-6.

06-23-2009, 05:58 AM	#4
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Monday, April 13th Phillies 10 Nationals 5 Nats 2-5, 3.5 games behind Marlins, 3 behind WC berth Botched home opener on our part. we were down 6-0 after 3 innings and never really in the game. Scott Olsen was the starter and he`s now 0-2, 7.20 ERA. to make matters worse Ryan Zimmermann suffered a subluxation on his left shoulder while sliding into a base and will likely miss 4 weeks. We called up Alberto Gonzalez from Syracuse. We got him from the Yankees in a trade during last season, he can play all IF positions and the scouts really like his hitting potential, his career line is .234/.292/.343 though.

06-23-2009, 06:07 AM	#5
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Tuesday , April 13th Off-day Nats 2-5, 4 games behind Marlins, 3 games begind WC berth We had two free agents signing today: 38 year old RHP Al Reyes, who played the last two season with the Rays, he is assigned to AA Harrisburg for the time being. 32 year old RHP Rick Bauer, he pitched a few innings for the Indians in 2008, but appeared in 58 games for the Rangers in 2006 with a sub-4 ERA.

06-23-2009, 09:56 AM	#6
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Wednesday, April 14th Phillies 17 Nationals 3 Nats 2-6, 4 behind the Marlins, Phillies, 4 behind WC berth The score tells it all! Around the league: the division leader, Yankees, White Sox Indians (tie), Rangers, Marlins Phillies (tie), Reds, Dodgers Best BA Kaz Matsui (HOU) .519 Best HR Braun (MIL), Thome (CHA) 5 Best ERA Lee (CLE) 0.55

06-27-2009, 11:13 AM	#9
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Saturday, April 17th Nationals´(4-7) 8, Marlins(6-5) 3 Another win in this afternoon game. Another shaky start by Greg Olson, whose stint was truncated by a rain delay after 2.2 innings. Our hitters are phenomenal: Kearns .407/.414/.481 Dunn .361/.465/.778 Guzman .360/.407/.440 Dukes .386/.460/.750 and the rest isn`t too shabby either: Team .294/.381/.487 Tomorrow Tavarez will make his first start this season. From around the league ML batting leader Jeter (NYY) .489

06-28-2009, 12:34 PM	#10
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Sunday, April 19th Marlins(7-5) 20 Nationals(4-8) 13 After this game some roster moves had to be made: LHP Beimel was placed on waivers. RHP Beam (AAA) was placed on waivers. SP Scott Olson was sent to Syracuse (AAA). Recently signed LHP Clay Fossum was called up. Veteran RHP Kip Wells was called up. Tomorrow the Braves (5-7) come to D.C. for a three game series.

06-29-2009, 05:47 AM	#11
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Monday, April 20th Nationals(5-8) 2 Braves(5-8) 1 Top of the ninth, score is 0-0, our starting pitcher is pitching great, but is running out of gas after 108 pitches and a double with one out. In comes Estrada gives up a single that scored the go-ahaed Braves run. In comes Casey Fossum. He had joined the team in the morning arriving from Syracuse(AAA). He gave up two BB to load the bases and struck out the next two batters, incredible! But still We`re down 1-0 with three outs left. In the bottom of the 9th Braves closer Soriano come on the mound, Langerhans grounded out to 2nd, then Milledge singled and Kearns walked that brought up utility IF Willie Harris, hitting .178, he was down to his last strike quickly, when the umpires called a balk on Soriano`s next pitch. My runners moved up, and on the next pitch Harris hit a grounder straighht up the middle to plate both runs.

06-29-2009, 10:15 AM	#12
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Wednesday, April 22nd, The last two games against the Braves were lost, 12-3, 9-3. Weak starting pitching eas the main cause. Ledezma was placed on waivers. Danny Stark claimed off waivers from the Mariners Nationals 5-10

06-29-2009, 10:53 AM	#13
khucke All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Posts: 657	Washington, Thursday, April 23rd Off-day for us today. We got a solid hit inthe waiver arena: We claimed Brad Penny off waivers from the Red Sox! That adds roughly 5 mil to our payroll, that`s something that we must strive to balance out in the next few weeks.