Center Field Gate

If you were to name former Nats’ players who might come back to haunt their old team, you might nominate several: the Belinski’s star slugger and former Expo Vlad Guerrero, Royals outfielder Jose Guillen (okay, well maybe not), perhaps even outfielder Ryan Church of the Atlanta Braves. There are others, and lots of them. But Tim Redding? The Nats gave up on Redding after the end of last season, after the right hander had put in two so-so years in Washington: he was 3-6 in 2007, 10-11 in 2008. The Mets needed arms so they signed him. But he has struggled for the Chokes, with a record that reflects his worst year in D.C. along with an elevated 5.25 ERA. But on Saturday, Redding might well have pitched the game of his life, dueling D.C. ace John Lannan through seven complete while giving up only four hits and one run. Redding kept the Nats off the board long enough to allow the Mets to score enough runs to squeeze out a 3-2 victory that turned (as pitchers’ duels often turn) on a misplay in the field. In the case of the Nats, it was a misjudged liner hit at rookie Ian Desmond, who was starting his first game in right field. Redding’s outing and Desmond’s miscue were the headline news of the day, though Lannan gave up only five hits with Tyler Clippard nearly perfect in relief.

Redding pitched well, brilliantly in fact, but — as always — Nats fans will have trouble giving the former Anacostia Nine righty full credit for the win. Our preferred method is to point out that Nats’ hitters returned to their slumping ways, reverting to the stretch against Philly that saw them flailing against the likes of Hamels and Lee. The previous game, when Zimmerman and Willingham finally unwrapped the lumber, was little solace: the Nats are stuck in a drought of magnificent proportions, with Tim Redding only the most current beneficiary. Others, too many others, have come before. The Nats squeezed out a measly five hits against the Chokes, scoring only two runs. It was hardly a palliative that Adam Dunn plated RBI 100, or that Josh Bard continued to knock the ball. The Nats have to unlimber the wood against guys like Redding, and they failed to do that on Saturday — and, as has happened too often this season, John Lannen suffered.

Down On Half Street: CFG contributor DWilly — in the midst of a typically male gathering several nights ago — castigated one of our blog’s contributors for “going easy” on Nats’ owners. “I’m a season ticket holder,” he said, “and I have to tell you my patience is giving out. You’ve been nice to them, a lot nicer than I would be.” He put his index finger and thumb together to display his lack of patience: “I’m this close,” he said. (Nods all round to that.) But, you know, lots of fans are “this close.” But just when I thought he would go on and on, listing the original sin of the team’s owners — which are many and varied — he closed the conversation with two words (and a re-raise): “Juan Rivera.”

Juan Rivera? Was Juan Rivera once a part of the franchise? Really?

Oh yes, he certainly was. I should have remembered. The current 30-year-old Belinski outfielder and DH is a human highlight film — and having the kind of year that he did in 2006, when he hit .310 and logged 23 home runs. Rivera has the same kind of numbers this year, though his batting average has dipped a tad. Rivera was once a Nat — or Expo, actually — back in 2004. The then-25 year old had a good year, hitting .307 in 134 games for a last place team whose players were on their way to Washington. Rivera wasn’t: he was traded by the to-be Nats along with Maicer Izturis to the Belinskis for Jose Guillen. In the universal register of bad trades, this one is right up there: a galactically stupid move that ensured the Nats would show up in Washington with the worst team possible. You remember, don’t you?

This was when major league baseball was using the Nats as a farm system for the rest of the league and Omar “the Sultan” Minaya (who’s doing the same kind of bang up job with the Chokes that he did when he was here) was presiding over the team’s dismantling. Wouldn’t it be nice if Juan Rivera were holding down right field for the Nats? Wouldn’t it be nice to see Maicer Izturis somewhere in the infield? Wouldn’t it be grand if Austin Kearns (now gone, it seems, for good) turned into Joe Dimaggio? If we had some ham, we could have some ham and eggs: if we had some eggs. In the universal list of “these things are best forgotten” (world wars, continental pandemics, the melting of the ice sheets — and Expos and Nats trades) the trade of Juan Rivera is best forgotten.

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Washington Nationals — with the team’s bats silenced by Padres’ pitching, at least the Nats could count on their starters to put in six or maybe even seven innings of solid work. That was particularly true for John Lannan, perhaps the club’s steadiest starter. That’s not true now. The normally predictable lefty was anything but predictable on Wednesday, as Lannan struggled through a difficult fifth inning, allowing the Friars to score five runs to extend the Nationals’ losing streak to an embarrassing six games. That makes two sweeps in a row: one in St Louis and one in San Diego — with the Nationals now without a win since the series against the Chicago Cubs. The Nats seem to have slipped back to some their worst habits under Manny Acta: of scoring little and pitching poorly — but at least playing with fire.

If Willie catches that ball . . .

While hard luck lefty John Lannan pitched well, though not brilliantly, the Padres found ways to score: in the fifth, Everth Cabrera and David Eckstein hit seeing eye singles before all-star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez hit a line drive that tailed away from left-fielder Wille Harris. The ball landed just out of his reach, scoring two runs. Chase Headley’s two-run double later in the half-inning added to San Diego’s lead, and that was essentially the game. In the clubhouse afterwards, Nationals interim manager Jim Riggleman remained upbeat: ”[Lannan] was a lot better than the line scores are going to say,” Riggleman said. “If Willie catches that ball, and I know it was a tough play, if we catch that ball, we’ve got a bunch of zeroes on the board and it doesn’t get us into trouble right there. You look for effort, and we got a good effort.” Lannan was also philosophical: ”That’s the way the game goes,” he said. “It has happened to me before. You’ve just got to tip your hat, they made things happen in the fifth. I battled today, I felt pretty good.”

Down On Half Street: Former Philadelphia Phillies All Star shortstop and Chicago Cubs manager (and now Trolleyman third base coach) Larry Bowa was in his element today on the MLB satellite radio network — he was in front of a microphone being asked his opinion. This isn’t the first time. Bowa has been here before and is now counted on as somewhat of a regular. Bowa can be obnoxious, which is why he’s no longer managing, but he’s mostly right about almost everything having to do with baseball. And he was again today. It was a fascinating interview and former Angels skipper and now XM Radio “Home Plate” on-air personality Kevin Kennedy did what he was supposed to do: he fed him softballs that Bowa dutifully lofted into the stands.

The American League is “far and away” the better league, Bowa said, and added that the A.L. East is packed with talent. He added that the difference between the two leagues is not even that close. (See, what did I tell you — this guy is obviously a moron.) Bowa then said that he thought that Manny Ramirez was overswinging in the wake of his suspension, to show that he could put the ball out of the ballpark without steroids, but that his swing would soon return to normal. “He’ll be okay,” Bowa said. That makes sense (and it’s what any L.A. cabbie could have told us). Bowa also said that it was the plan of the Dodgers to keep James Loney at first and play new-guy-in-L.A. Jim Thome off the bench: to keep a lefthanded bat ready for the post-season (another safe prediction). My own sense is that L.A. is haunted by the spectre of Matt Stairs, whose post-season home run last year so buckled the Trolley’s knees that they will not allow it to happen again. Hence — Thome!

But by far the most interesting and insightful comment — and least from a purely baseball perspective — was Bowa’s analysis of L.A.’s reason for acquiring the much-traveled Jon Garland, lately of Arizona. Garland is not simply a steady pitcher who can be another starting arm in the run-up to the post-season, he said, “he’s a very steady ground ball pitcher.” Bowa said that if you check Garland’s stats you’ll see that he pitches mostly down in the zone “and to contact” — as he did throughout his career with the White Sox, Angels and most recently the Diamondbacks. “So you have to have good fielders behind him, which he didn’t have in Arizona.” That’s not true with the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers, “who are either one or two in defense, I can’t remember which” (Bowa added) Garland can pitch to contact and get people out in a way that he couldn’t in Arizona. Los Angeles can put a defense behind Garland that will make him a better pitcher than he ever was in Arizona — and maybe even take half-a-run off his ERA. That would make Garland’s current ERA of 4.29 in Arizona somewhere in the under 3.50 range in L.A. “Which is darn good” by National League standards. That’s not bad statistical thinking for a shlameel like Bowa, who regularly harumphs about Bill James and sabarmetrics with his buddy-buds on the radio: “Bill James, you know, the guy who invented Sabermetrics,” radio guy Dan Patrick once reminded Bowa during an interview. Bowa turned up his nose. “What team did he play for?” Bowa whined. “This guy Bill James has all the answers, but he’s never worn a uniform.” Yeah, that’s right Larry. And neither did L.A. General Manager Ned Colletti – the guy who pulled the trigger on the Garland trade.

Now pitching ground balls in L.A.: Jon Garland

MLB Network’s two hour special — 30 Clubs/30 Report Cards — provided a good snapshot of who’s where with a little less than half-a-season left. There were few surprises: the Trolleys are the class of the National League, the Redbirds are the team to beat in the NL Central, “the Nation” and “the Empire” remain the flagships of the AL, the Belinskis finally have competition in the AL West and no one (but no one) thinks the Nats will improve. Former Rangers General Manager John Hart’s on air analysis was sobering. ”I’m not going to beat a dead horse,” he said — and then went ahead with the whipping. Not only has the team little talent, but there’s little talent for Mike Rizzo to call on in the Nats’ farm system. ”I don’t see a lot of good young players waiting in the wings to come up,” Hart said — a statement that debunks the sometime-narrative that the Nats’ development program will soon yield major league-ready ballplayers to the Anacostia Nine. It just ain’t so and John Hart isn’t the only one who thinks so — Baseball Prospectus ranked the Nats’ farm system 29th, which is (if you’re counting), next to last in all of baseball.

What’s so astonishing about Hart’s assessment (little talent — and none coming), is that it’s difficult to see how the team can appreciably improve in the second half. They just have to play better, no matter who’s on the field. This means, as Hart made clear, that new manager Jim Riggleman has to instill a culture of discipline and pride in the players. Easier said than done. “I really look at the fundamentals, that’s where it starts . . .” Hart said. ”This is a club that fundamentally hasn’t been able to get the job done.” He added: “If you look at their pitching staff they’ve got a bunch of guys who are under 25 which is a good thing, they don’t have a lot of power in that staff, so you have to catch the ball if you’re going to compete . . . how did they get here? I think they overevaluated some of their people; I think number two, I haven’t seen a sense of urgency.”  

Hart’s assessment is the harshest I have heard, reinforcing the on-air and in-the-stands complaints about the product the front office has provided. The overriding complaint, in truth, has nothing to do with the team’s talent, but with the players’ desire to win. This is what Hart’s statement about a “sense of urgency” means: forget the on-the-field talent, the Nats are playing like they don’t care — which is the worst thing you can say about any team in any sport.

Down On Half Street: The Nats open against the North Side Drama Queens tonight at Nats Park. Next to the Nats (and the New York Chokes), the Cubs are probably the most dysfunctional team in the game. Cubs GM Jim Hendry traded away all-world utilityman Mark DeRosa, signed bad boy and galactic whiner Milton Bradley, and has continued to coddle “isn’t he cute when he’s angry” underachiever Carlos Zambrano. The baseball gods then intervened to punish Hendry: Aramis Ramirez went down with a shoulder separation, second baseman Mike Fontenot started hitting like Mike Fontenot, Alfonso Soriano started hitting like this guy and, most recently, the answer to all the Cubs woes — Geovany “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” Soto — has been sidelined due to an oblique strain.

The result is that all of baseball has gotten to see the Cubs farm system in action – and, unlike the Nats, the Cubs actually have one. Itsy-bitsy Sam Fuld has replaced Soriano in left field, drain plug Jake Fox is the interim catcher (we have an interim GM, so why not an interim catcher?), potential powerhouse Micah Hoffpauir has been able to show his stuff, oldster Randy Wells has pitched like Zambrano oughta, Kevin Hart has finally been allowed to audition for the rotation and permanent minor leaguer Bobby Scales (who?) has shown Hendry that he should have brought him up from triple-A years ago. Cubs fans have watched all of this with something akin to Jean-Paul Sarte’s view of the universe: hell is other people, or in this case — hell is Milt the Moron lofting the ball into the bleachers after two outs. “I haven’t seen that one before,” Lou said, “I’ll be honest with you . . . I mean, do we need to teach math?”

Okay: none of this is pretty, but you’ve gotta admit, it sure as hell is entertaining.

I would add this caveat. The Cubs aren’t dead. They’re a solid team and should they ever reach their potential (with a middle of the line-up order that is among the best in baseball), they’ll catch the Cardinals and end up in the playoffs. Certainly, Tony LaRussa knows that — it might be the only reason the Redbirds are willing to trade half their farm system (and — unlike the Nats — they also have one) for Roy Halladay.

Somewhere in the back of every fan’s mind is a list of baseball injustices. For Cubs fans it’s that Ron Santo isn’t yet in the Hall of Fame, for Pirate’s fans it’s that Roberto Clemente wasn’t named the NL MVP in 1960. There’s an argument on the net about whether Tim Raines, one of baseball’s great on base players should be in the hall, whether Jeffrey Maier or Steve Bartman should have been called for interference, whether Satchell Paige was justified in being irritated that Branch Rickey chose Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier. But in terms of pure injustice, few can top the unstated but embarrassing slight suffered by Texas Rangers fans who saw perhaps the game’s best second baseman (who came up as a shortstop in ‘04) held out of the all star game. Even Boston Red Sox fans were upset.

It’s not any easier to talk about the Kinsler slight now that the game is over. Not only is Kinsler a possible AL MVP, the American League went into the St. Louis “Midsummer Classic” with (count ‘em) one second baseman – the well-deserving Aaron Hill (who’s an institution on my list of baseball’s most underrated players). Hill became a starter after Dustin Pedroia (here he is, in case you’ve forgotten) decided to spend time with his wife, who’s enduring a difficult pregnancy. To take Pedroia’s place, Hill was made a starter and Tampa Bay Ray Carlos Pena was named to the team. The naming of Pena meant that the AL might have fielded an all-Tampa Bay infield, particularly after Ray’s coach Joe Maddon named hometown favorite Ben Zobrist as a possible second baseman. Zobrist is a hell of a hitter, but Tampa Bay fans look at him as a “super-uilityman” — and he’s played nearly half his games in the outfield and shortstop. And since when does a “super-utility-man” get named to the all star game? Still, there was a chance that Kinsler might appear after Evan Longoria decided not to play, the result of an infection his throwing hand. But AL manager Joe Maddon picked Angels’ third baseman Chone Figgins to take Longoria’s place. Who knows, maybe there’s something about Kinsler that Maddon doesn’t like, but it certainly can’t be his qualifications: he’s hitting .337 with 14 home runs, 58 RBIs, 84 runs and 23 stolen bases — better numbers than any other AL player at the position. Not bad for a guy who finished second in fan voting and got to spend the all star break at a Starbucks in Dallas.

The slight of Ian Kinsler has rightly angered Ranger fans, but this isn’t the first time that a great player and potential MVP was overlooked in “the Midsummer Classic.” In 1954, feared Cubs hitter Hank Sauer was given three days off during the all star break, despite the fact that he was having a phenomenal year. Baseball’s older veterans still talk about the Sauer slight, noting that he’d won the rain-shortened 1952 classic with a home run — a year in which he’d led the league in homers and RBIs — and was one of the game’s most-feared hitters. In 1954, they note, he was having a career year and single-handedly carrying a bad team. Sauer (nicknamed “the Honker” for his big nose) was hardly a defensive whiz (he once misplayed a fly ball during a night game and explained that “I lost it in the moon”) and might have been the slowest outfielder in the National League. But his Wrigley Field blasts were the stuff of baseball lore and Cubs fans loved him: whenever he hit a homer, Cubs fans in the rightfield bleachers showered him with packets of tobacco. On Hank Sauer Day, a celebration of his career, there was so much tobacco on the field that it took five wheelbarrows to remove it. ”I loved playing in Wrigley Field,” Sauer remembered during his retirement. “Fans would throw tobacco to me. What I couldn’t put in my pocket, I’d store in the vines. I supplied the whole club with tobacco.”

The Sauer injustice remained unmentioned by the Cubs outfielder throughout his career and into his retirement. When asked about it he dismissed it with a shrug, adding that a lot of people in the league that year were more focused on Chicago’s new rookie phenom — shortstop Ernie Banks. Then too, as Sauer himself would have admitted, he hardly deserved to be on the starting nine in ‘54. The NL outfield was packed: with Stan Musial, Duke Snyder and Jackie Robinson, a veritable murderers’ row, named as the league starters. But that Sauer should have been on the team is not in question. The same holds true for Kinsler.

As tradition would have it, 1997 was a fairly typical year for the Chicago Cubs. The Also-Rans boasted a power-packed line-up of potential Hall of Famers (Ryne Sandberg and Sammy Sosa), a handful of on-base guys (Mark Grace and Shawon Dunston) and a few young faces with great potential — like starting pitcher Geremi Gonzalez and outfielder Doug Glanville. Which is why the season caught so many Cubs fans by surprise: the team started losing in late April and didn’t stop until September. Their final numbers reflected their futility: they were dead last in the NL with only 68 wins, which tied them with the even more hapless Phillies. If the arc of the Cubs’ ‘97 season was ever downward, then the arc of Cubs manager Jim Riggleman was upwards — a reflection of his increased irritation and angry outbursts. By the end of September, the Chicago baseball press were following Riggleman around like a pack of hounds. He was “good copy” — questioning the team’s attitude and criticizing unnamed players for being “selfish.”

The 1997 season is emblamatic of Riggleman’s style: he’s not above criticizing players, speaking his mind, or making tough decisions. In the middle of the ‘97 season, in an effort to provide some spark to the Cubs’ line-up (and to signal that no one was above being called out for not producing) he benched Ryne Sandberg, then defended his decision in public as lynch mobs formed on Michigan Avenue. Riggleman then confronted outfielder Sammy Sosa in the Cubs clubhouse, when the outfielder insisted on playing loud Latin music on his boombox, even after a Cubs loss. Sosa regularly ran through Riggleman’s signs and seemed so intent on hitting thirty homers that he remained unphased by the Cubs’ play. By July, the Cubs were two teams: a Latin team clustered around Sosa and an increasingly disaffected core of veterans who were tired of losing.

The betting for the ‘98 season was that if it came to a choice between Sosa or Riggleman, the Cubs skipper would be gone. Which makes the ‘98 season that much more of a surprise: not only did Riggleman stay on, he patched up relations with Sosa, united the Cubs’ clubhouse, and re-jiggered the Cubs line-up, batting Sosa ahead of on-base hitting machine Mark Grace. The result was a Cubs’ revival that surprised even the most die-hard Cubs fans, earning the team a spot in the National League playoffs. “I treat players the way I want to be treated,” Riggleman said in the middle of the season, an admission, perhaps, that his ‘97 irritability was misplaced, but also a signal that his policy of discipline had not been forgotten. In ‘98, Sammy Sosa began to take instruction, turned down his boombox and yielded to Riggleman’s signs. Riggleman even had a bounce in his step when he went to the mound. At one point, he admitted that team losses fed his irritability. ”It know it eats at me daily,” he said.

Riggleman’s reputation as an outspoken disciplinarian followed him to Seattle, where he took over as the Mariners’ interim-manager in 1998. It didn’t take him long to become the darling of the Seattle media, who learned that he was as good a copy for the Post-Intelligencer as he had once been for the Chicago Tribune. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — the kinds of divisions that had plagued him in Chicago were present in the Mariners’ clubhouse. When some of Seattle’s players (including some of the team’s more medicre pitchers) criticized Ichiro Suzuki, Riggleman (an Ichiro defender) lit into them. Why were players criticizing Ichiro? His answer was blunt to the point of being painful: “Pettiness, seventh-grade mentality, just pettiness of whatever jealousy, pointing fingers, deflecting responsibility, lack of accountability, just a lack of a character. These things happen when you’re losing; you’re not seeing that happen with winning teams now. But those winning teams go out and lose a couple games and you’ll see it.”

A tiger doesn’t change its stripes and Jim Riggleman will remain Jim Riggleman — he’s an outspoken disciplinarian with a good baseball mind, but he cultivates controversy and isn’t above leveling criticisms not only at players, but also at owners, scouts and general managers. If he is given a poor product he’ll say so, as he did in Seattle (”the deficiencies start at the top,” he said), where his off-the-cuff remarks made him fanatical supporters among Mariners’ fans, but few friends in the front office. Which is why Don Wakamatsu is now in Seattle and Jim Riggleman is in Washington. He will “tighten the ship,” impose discipline and shake things up. If being bad-tempered will make the Nats hit, field, pitch and run better, he’ll be a hero. But if that doesn’t work, don’t be surprised if “Gentleman Jim” trains his sights on Mike Rizzo and Stan Kasten. When he does, they’ll wish they were somewhere else — or they’ll wish he was.

MASN commentator Rob Dibble was even more outspoken than usual during the second half of Houston’s pasting of the Nats last night. “I think some of these guys are mailing it in,” he said during the seventh inning of Washington’s 9-4 embarrassment. “It’s pathetic,” he said at another point. Dibble’s comments are now the talk of the blogosphere, including a long article on his comments on D.C. Sports Blog — which reviewed color analyst Ray Knight’s post-game response to some of Dibble’s charges. At first, it seemed, Knight was unwilling to associate himself with Dib’s criticisms but, after hearing him out, issued his own blistering attack. “You know what I would do? I’d clean house,” Knight said. “When guys don’t make plays defensively I’d sit ‘em on the bench. I’d give a guy a chance to play. And I’m talking about for a week, I don’t care if you’re hitting .320, I don’t care what you’re doing, I’m tired of seeing it too. We’re just two former players that busted our butts, and we’re here working for a company that you expect a fine product.”

Neither Dibble nor Knight blamed Manny Acta or the team’s coaches for the team’s weakness. ”I know Manny Acta and I know these coaches are busting their butts to get the most out of these guys, but the players, they don’t expect that out of each other in that locker room,” Dibble said. “That’s what I’m saying. Somebody needs to point a finger in there and say, ‘Enough’s enough. You guys are on my team, you’ve got to go out there and back me up.’ John Lannan deserved better out of his bullpen, he deserves better defensively, and he definitely damn well deserves better offensively after what he’s done the last six outings on a bad ballclub . . . So for me to watch a guy like John Lannan, who I think has a huge heart, and he goes out there, he never mails it in, I think there’s a lot of guys who should apologize to him.”

In retrospect, while Dibble’s and Knight’s comments seemed aimed at the entire team, they came in the aftermath of a yet another particularly sloppy game by Washington shortstop Cristian Guzman, whose year long indifferent fielding continues to hurt Nats’ starters. This is the second time that Dibble has focused his attention on the Nats’ shortstop — the first being in Colorado when Guzman booted a ground ball that hit his ankle. Knight didn’t need any more clues: “I don’t know who exactly you’re feeling it about,” Knight said. “I’m feeling it about certain people. But Manny has to make that decisions, or [Mike] Rizzo. If you think that there’s a player out there not defining the position . . . Take shortstop. Balls are going up the middle, knocked down, erratic type play. It looks like, to me, Goozie’s mind is somewhere else. He’s the guy I’m most disappointed in.”

Dibble and Knight’s comments are significant. Both men are not only former highly regarded ballplayers, both feel a part of the Nationals’ organization. Dibble regularly refers to himself as a part of the Nats’ team (”we’ve just got to do better”) and Knight has gone out of his way to get to know players and coaches. Unlike former MASN analyst Don Sutton (who departed when a broadcasting slot came open elsewhere), neither are looking at their MASN work as a launching pad to stardom. More specifically, while the new “nasty boys” tandem of Dibble and Knight have said that “Manny has to make that decision, or Rizzo” — their comments are a direct challenge to the Nats’ front office: if you’re going to get rid of lazy players, you might want to start with ”Goozie.”

It’s not hard to figure out who might need Guzman. The ten year veteran has a sharp bat and has been in the thick of a pennant race before — with Minnesota in ’02, ‘03 and ‘04, years in which the Twinkies reached the off-season. Guzman seemed to feed off the Twins’ success, registering just 12, 11, and 12 errors respectively during that time. Teams in contention and shopping for a shortstop are likely to see Guzman’s glove work in Washington (where he’s accumulated twelve errors already) as a result of playing for a last place team. A team like the Seattle Mariners, for instance, might find Guzman’s bat a plus in any run-to-the-division title. While the Mariners’ claim they’re satisfied with Ronny Cedeno’s play up-the-middle, the former Cub is hitting just .149. Cedeno would do better with full time work: he only saw action while subbing for regular shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who was rehabbing a strained left hamstring.

Even if Cedeno stays in Seattle, Betancourt is available. After returning from his rehab, Betancourt was shifted to second (he had never played there before), before being put back on the bench — fueling rumors that he was headed out of town. A straight-up swap of dissatisfied shortstops might appeal to Seattle, whether the trade involved Cedeno or the 27-year old Betancourt. It is well-known that the Mariners’ have been discussing Betancourt with the Pirates, but given the Knight-Dibble rebellion, the Nats might think about getting into the mix. While Dibble thinks that Guzman should be benched in favor of Alberto Gonzalez, the young Venezuelan has not proven he’s a slick fielder, with six errors in 21 games this year. Either Cedeno or Betancourt would be a step up — even if the Nats had to fork over some extra dollars to swing the deal: Guzman is owed $8 million for 2010 while Betancourt (a better and younger player) is in the second year of a four year $13.75 million contract.

Nats Win! Nats Win! Jordan Zimmermann came up from Triple-A just in time to save the Nats the humiliation of yet another loss, pitching a stellar six innings against the Tomohawks. Zimmermann may well be a “find,” though it’s clearly too soon to tell. Unlike the other Zimmerman, this one wasn’t expected to be an immediate star: he was drafted in the second round with the 67th pick in the 2007 draft. Before the Nats focused on him he hadn’t gained too much attention — pitching for Division III University of Wisconsin-Stephens Point.

This “Zim” (or perhaps it should be “Zimm”) is a four-pitch guy: fastball, curveball, change-up and slider. He threw his fastball at 95 last night and was low in the zone — a requirement for any NL fireballer. Nationals Farm Authority (which is indispensible) has quite a bit on Zimmermann. We note he was taken behind Detwiler, Smoker and Burgess in 2007.

Jordan Zimmermann pitched on the same day that Ryan Zimmerman was given a contract extension, which locks him up for five years for about the same amount given by the Orioles to Nick Markakis. Nats 320 has good coverage of this and I have little to add, except for the comment that those who say that “Zim” has yet to have a breakout season are absolutely right: but so what? My wife watched the Nats press conference and noted that Kasten and Lerner “look really worried.” Their same-day “roster shuffle” netted four new pitchers, including Kip Wells, who has kicked around since 1998 — pitching for the White Sox, Cardinals, Pirates, Rangers, Marlins and Rockies. Z and Z are the future: Kip Wells is not.

During the press conference announcing Zimmerman’s new contract, Stan Kasten was damn-near eloquent: “This is a big thing today, I think,” he said. “We demonstrate our commitment to building this team the right way.”

So say we all.

White Elephants: One of the best games I saw pitched this year was between two no-names — A’s lefty Dallas Braden and Blue Jays newcomer Ricky Romero. (The Jays won 1-0.) That I would even mention this is saying alot; I don’t think anything north of Buffalo should even be in the league, particularly if the team is named after a bird and plays in a hotel. The only other Blue Jays game I watched “live” from the former Skydome featured a young couple out in the left field hotel suites overlooking the field; they were shagging their brains out, all in front of a national audience.

Braden and Romero are worth watching, but particularly Braden. His 2006 shoulder surgery doesn’t seem to have had an impact on his fastball, though it is clocked only in the high 80s. The key for Braden is location, and putting his slider on the inner half of the plate for righthanders. On Sunday, Braden gave up five hits in just over seven innings. But here’s the catch: he was outpitched by Romero, who is also a lefty — and also has had shoulder problems. A graduate of Cal State-Fullerton (a baseball assembly line), Romero was picked behind Matt Garza and Ryan Braun by that “baseball genius” J.P. Ricciardi. Ricciardi, who gave us Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells, was slammed for the pick in Toronto.

Romero and Braden are comers, it seems — the new breed of young lefthanders that could dominate in the junior circuit for the next decade.  Braden may well be a part of a new white elephant staff reminiscent of the Hudson-Zito-Mulder days. They’re not there yet: Sean Gallagher is struggling (an 8.10 ERA), as are Dana Eveland and Brett Anderson. But in the Sunday tilt, Braden threw 97 pitches, 59 for strikes. His outing against the Jays followed a similar effort against Jon Lester and the Red Sox, in which Braden threw 90 pitches, 60 for strikes. Trade him to the Nats.

The Belinski’s breeze into town and they’re probably the best team in baseball right now: better than than slugs (who just swept three from the Pale Hose, but got schooled by the Rays), better than the Bosox (who replayed the ‘67 Series with the Redbirds and did just alright), and certainly better than the D-backs, Marlins or A’s. The only other team that might come close are the Phillies (a team to be feared, in my estimation), but the Angels took them in three at Citizen’s Bank Park, 7-1, 6-2 and 3-2. The scores make it look closer than it really was. The Philadelphia press says the Phils are “skidding” — but that’s not true: the Belinskis are a buzz-saw.  

This is the franchise the Nats want to become: profitable, popular (they rank second in the AL in attendance!), successful — and winners. It wasn’t easy. After years of being up-and-down, the Halos set into a tradition of signing players developed by others: Reggie Jackson, Rod Carew and Don Sutton (to name just three). They were all great players to be sure, but not rooted in an Angel’s tradition. Because there wasn’t one. The result was that the Halos came close — but never quite got there. Sure they were good some years, even really good. But those good years were usually followed by a collapse. Or by just plain bad luck. 

Every team has their year of tragedy, with Bucky Dent homers and black cats. The Angels had theirs in 1986, when ace closer Donnie Moore came in in the ninth inning to close-out the Red Sox in the deciding play-off game. The Belinski’s were up three games to one. And they were one strike away from a World Series appearance against the New York Mets. With two out and two on in the ninth inning, Bosox Centerfielder Dave Henderson stroked one into the centerfield seats in Anaheim Stadium to give the Bosox a 6 to 5 lead. While the Angels later tied the game, a shocked and unsteady Donnie Moore gave up the winning run in the 11th. The series went back to Boston and the Red Sox (and Billy Buckner) went on to meet their date-with-destiny against the Mets.

Al Michaels made the call: “The pitch, deep to left, and Downing goes back. And it’s gone. Unbelievable. You’re looking at one for the ages here. Astonishing. Anaheim Stadium was one strike away from turning into Fantasyland. And now the Red Sox lead 6-5. The Red Sox get four runs in the ninth on a pair of homers by Don Baylor and Dave Henderson.”

The up-and-down history of the Angels changed in 1997, when they were bought by Disney. The mouses renovated Angel’s Stadium and infused the franchise with some badly needed cash. The Halos won it all in 2002, five years after being bought by Disney, four years after Angels Stadium was renovated and renamed, and three years after the corporate people running the franchise hired Mike Scioscia — the best move they ever made. 

But the biggest difference was that the Angels abandoned their bad habit of signing free agents developed by others and started plugging money into their own farm system — a tradition that has continued under new owner Arte Moreno, who bought the franchise in 2005. The result is that they now have the best starting five in baseball, three of whom are home grown: John Lackey (drafted second in 1999), Ervin Santana (signed as a free agent in 2000), and Joe Saunders (a 1st round pick in 2002). The Halos gave up a good shortstop to get Jon Garland, but the trade has been a draw — at worst. Francisco Rodriguez, meanwhile, owns a 1.80 ERA and has nine saves. Not bad. Anderson, Matthews, Guerrero, and Hunter man the outfield and DH and they’re all boppers. Guerrero has lost a step (it is said), and I can understand why people might be upset: over the last ten games he’s only hitting .410.

The Nats are due to face Lackey, Garland and Santana. Ugh.

Say Hey. A Read Writes: “Mark, you’re an idiot. You had a post arguing about whether Ted Williams or Stan Musial was the second-best player in baseball. What the hell is wrong with you? Haven’t you ever heard of Willie Mays? You have lost all credibility with me. No one can ever take you or your blog seriously again.”

Okay, well … yeah, you have a point. You have a really good point. And it’s not like I think you’re wrong. Willie Mays was the second best player who ever played the game. I saw him play and he was breathtaking. There is no question about that. And he is listed second on everyone’s list, right behind The Babe. But you have to remember my blind spot. He played for the Giants. I mean … the Giants. As Carl Furillo used to say: “We couldn’t even stand the sight of their uniforms.”

One of me droogs really gave it to me at poker last night, saying a friend of his looked for a good explanation of the Elijah Dukes-Manny Acta dust-up on these pages, but without finding it. “He had to go to the Washington Times blog,” he said. So today I checked out what Mark Zuckerman had to say about the incident at PNC and it was pretty much along the lines of what we said — with some added speculation. Still, what Zuckerman has to say is more than passably interesting: 

“Close observers of the Nationals note at least three suspect situations involved Dukes in the last month alone. On May 12 at Shea Stadium, he started up the infamous dugout chant that had Mets pitcher Nelson Figueroa referring to the Nationals as ’softball girls.’ Last week at Nationals Park, he gestured toward plate umpire Doug Eddings upon hitting a game-winning homer, a move that upset both Eddings and uniformed personnel (including Acta). Zuckerman says, a little further down in the story:

“His image within the Washington clubhouse has to come into question, too. Though Dukes does have a group of supporters among his teammates and coaches, a sizeable number of uniformed personnel have soured on him and question whether the player with the checkered past really has turned his life around at all.”

So, having heard the explanation from Mark Zuckerman (and wanting to close the book on this angry exchange) we put our crackerjack staff on this story. Their conclusion probably tells it best: Manny and Elijah are like oil and water, from different backgrounds and different experiences and the friction between them finally boiled over in Pittsburgh. The differences between the two are not likely to be resolved anytime soon. The question is, can they learn to get along, or does Elijah get shipped down — or (more likely) out. For now they’ll try to coexist and maybe things will get better. The reason for that, as Ray Knight said on the Nats broadcast from Pittsburgh, is that “between the white lines,” Elijah Dukes’ talent is undeniable.

Between the white lines.

The Test In Seattle: The three game tilt that begins tonight when the Nats sail into Seattle should be interesting. The Mariners are sinking fast, with manager John McLaren’s neck on the line. The guy I respect the most on the bench is former Cubs manager Jim Riggleman, who might get a shot when (not if) McLaren goes. My guess is the Mariners will try to run themselves out of their current troubles, with Ichiro testing Jesus Flores’ arm every chance he gets. If Nick and Ryan were healthy, these three games might not be much of a contest.

The great hope of the Mariners this season was Eric Bedard, the off-season acquisition who was supposed to vault them into contention with the Belinski’s. Bedard is 4-4 and his last game he couldn’t get into the sixth inning. The rumors in Seattle is that it’ll take one more losing streak — and McLaren’s ouster — before a mid-summer firesale strips Seattle of Bedard, Johjima, and Sexson. What the Mariners’ would get for any of them is anyone’s guess. There will be takers for Bedard, Johjima is a heck of a player (in my humble opinion), but Richie is probably done.

Homage to Carl Furillo: Last night one of me droogs asked who played right field for the Dodgers in the 1950s. One of our number (a real Dodger fan — and now a Mets partisan, with all that implies) knew the answer instantly. “It was Carl Furillo.” The questioner was non-plussed. He said that he did not follow the game anymore, since he had “grown out of it.” Not me buddy boy. I’m still the kid I was back when Carl Furillo was playing the caroms off of the wall in Ebbets Field.

Furillo is one of baseball’s forgotten talents, a player who had a very good career, seemed never to be injured, and was a heckofa clutch hitter. His final numbers are pretty impressive: a .299 career batting average, with 192 home runs. He hit .344 in 1953, and in 1955 he hit 26 home runs. He had a gun in right field — hence his nickname, “the Reading Rifle,” which he assumed in the minor leagues.

Furillo was one of Roger Kahn’s famous Boys of Summer. Kahn caught up to him after he left baseball and he was working on installing elevators in the World Trade Center. Kahn got the impression that Furillo was embittered. He had reason to be: he was released by the Dodgers just before he qualified for a pension, because he tore his calf muscle. He later sued the team and was awarded back pay. But he was also embittered because he thought that no one in baseball really remembered or honored him or his career — that the Dodgers might be remembered by their fans, but he wasn’t.

That certainly didn’t seem to be true last night. Furillo died in 1989 at the age of 66.

Pale Hose’d: The White Sox have stuck Josh Fields at Triple-A — and he’s playing like a major leaguer. I remember when Joe Crede went down with an injury last year I thought “oh, oh,” and then Fields knocked the hell out of the ball. Okay, so he didn’t knock the hell out of the ball, but he proved he belonged in the majors. So when Crede came back this year, what did the Pale Hose do? … they demoted Fields. He’s at Charlotte, where he’s hitting .292 with three home runs. Listen, if the White Sox don’t want him …

The Very Junior Circuit: If you sit here in the National League on the East Coast you focus on … well, you focus on the National League on the East Coast. For us, a team like the Texas Rangers hardly seems to exist. So in reading through the Hardball Times this week I learned that the Rangers have the fourth best minor league system in baseball. I believe it, but so … ? This team is lost … maybe Nolan, the new Ranger president (who, presumably, knows something about this game), can help.

GnatsNation: Tyler Clippard and Collin Balester continue to tear up Triple-A, while Mat and Sean continue to get torn up in the majors … Paul LoDuca is still out, but it seems not to have made a difference. Wil Nieves’ walk-off home run on Friday night sailed into the bullpen, giving him one more homer than the former Met … So now, after the Nat’s win, a sweep is out of the question … I hate to say it, but the one-time great hope for the Cubs in centerfield might be done (see below). Dubois is hitting .174 at Columbus; even Langerhans is doing better. Oleanders and Morning Glories has a good dit in on the Mets — which I missed and Just A Nat’s Fan has a good piece (”We All Scream for Ice Cream”) on what it’s like to cheer for the Anacostia Boys when your heart is still on the North Side. I hear ya … > span>