Center Field Gate

The Nationals defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 at Nationals Park on Sunday, taking two games of a three game series. The game marked the second return of Stephen Strasburg following his stint on the D.L., and “the kid” pitched well, despite giving up a home run to Adam LaRoche and making an errant throw to first baseman Adam Dunn. “I was talking to Stephen a little bit ago. He said that it is the best he felt,” Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman said, following the victory. “The ball was coming out of his hand good. Stras did a great job and gave us a chance to win.” The Nats trailed the D-Backs 3-1 into the bottom of the fourth, when slumping Josh Willingham shook loose from his doldrums and launched a pitch off of D-Backs starter Barry Enright to tie the game. The Nats won the game on a single by Ian Desmond, with Ryan Zimmerman providing an insurance homer. Typically, the Nats’ bullpen closed out their opponents, with Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett and Drew Storen shutting down the Arizona order.

The Ghost of Kerry Wood: Nats’ fans at the ballpark on Sunday probably didn’t get a chance to see Strasburg’s frustration with being lifted after pitching just five innings, but “the kid” was clearly angered by the move. Strasburg, mouth set and eyes flashing, sat the bench after the end of the fifth inning fuming. At least that’s what the fans at home saw, with Strasburg’s irritation coming in waves through the camera lens. Nats pitching czar Steve McCatty intervened with an explanation, speaking with animation as Strasburg shook his head on the bench. This isn’t the first time that Strasburg has been angered, though he never mentions it in any post game interview. But if Strasburg is angry it’s only because he has a right to be. And he’s not the only one. Jim Riggleman’s reputation as a manager with an early hook is well-earned. He’s got a shepard’s staff as big as Little Bo Peep (oops … well, let’s go with this version) — the result of his time as the manager of the North Side Drama Queens, when he oversaw the 1998 rookie campaign of strikeout king Kerry Wood.

The ghost of Kerry Wood seems ever-present with Riggleman, who coached the Slugs when they were going somewhere and the young Wood was the talk of baseball. The problem was that Wood had a raw elbow, with his ligaments tearing and bleeding everytime he threw. And in 1998, after a stint in the minors when he rarely threw even close to 100 pitches, Wood was carrying the load for a contending team — and throwing 115 to 120 pitches per game. Eventually (after sitting out the ’99 season with surgery, and pitching just so-so over the next three years), the elbow blew itself out for good and Wood, with successive stints in rehab, became a reliever. It was a loss, for Kerry Wood might have been, perhaps could have been (and maybe even should have been), one of the best starters in the game.

Riggleman, Wood’s skipper, blames himself. “If I had it to do over, I would do it differently,” he told the Washington Post back in March. “And we probably wouldn’t have gotten to the playoffs. If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have pitched him that much, period. But I would have caught a lot of grief. I caught a lot of grief as it was. We lost a lot of games where [Wood] came out after five or six innings. I was getting comments like, ‘C’mon, Riggs, leave him in.’” Wood disagrees: the ripping in his elbow had been happening for several years (he says) and it was bound to explode at some point. It was inevitable. “My elbow was going to go,” Wood told the Post. “If it didn’t go with [Riggleman] it would’ve gone with someone else. It was the way I was throwing, the stuff I had, the torque I was generating. It was a matter of time.”

Which is only to say that there’s a good reason why Jim Riggleman is as careful with Stephen Strasburg as he is. But Riggleman’s decision today — to sit Strasburg after the 5th — struck many fans as overly careful. After all, pitchers strain their arm, or throw out their shoulder, all the time. And not simply because they throw a lot of baseballs, or have a predisposition, or because they’re not on a pitch count. Pitchers blow out their arms because they’re pitchers. Wood understood this: in the end it didn’t matter how many pitches he threw, his “elbow was going to go” anyway. “It was a matter of time.” This is not an argument for having Rizzo, Riggleman & Company allow Strasburg to throw 110 to 120 pitches each and every game. It’s an argument for perspective and practicality — Stephen Strasburg is a pitcher, not a piece of fine China.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s a recognition that Washington Nationals fans aren’t going to show up at the park on Half Street to watch “the kid” throw 70 pitches over five innings — especially when it’s clear that (as happened on Sunday), he’s just starting to hit his stride.

This is what we can probably expect then — that the Nationals will flirt (on-and-off) with being good, but then will slip a bit (it will be tantalizing) before climbing precariously back. After the nearly on-a-respirator Los Angeles Dodgers’ took two of three from the Nats in L.A., there should be little doubt that August and September (but, of course, not October — at least not this year), will be spent reviving old arms (Jason Marquis), trying out new ones (Jordan Zimmermann) and nursing steady progress among those arms that will stay into next year (Stephen Strasburg). It could be a long and painful progress, as the Nats showed on Sunday when they dropped an 8-3 decision to the Trolleys (the game was not as close as the scores indicates). Jason Marquis was anxious for a solid outing, but a recovery from elbow surgery takes time, though Marquis attributed the rocky outing to his own failures: :”I put myself in trouble with the walks,” he said. “There was one play where I didn’t pick up the ball. There was an out I gave away there. I have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” The Nationals return home, where they will face the Florida Marlins beginning on Tuesday. Stephen Strasburg is scheduled to start.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Patrick Reddington over at Federal Baseball has a good summary of the career of Andre Dawson, who will be honored at Nationals Park on Tuesday. Reddington surveys the views on whether and how the Nationals should acknowledge their Montreal roots, the subject of much commentary in both the blogosphere and among Nats fans. We have nothing substantive or creative to add to Reddington’s comments, or those of Phil Wood and Ben Goessling, but would add this observation. If the Nationals are so anxious that the team’s fans acknowledge their Montreal roots, then they can stop producing apparel that dates the franchise (in chronological order) “Established 1905″ or “Established 2005″ — hell, why not 1886, when the “Washington Statesmen” were founded? If we want to acknowledge our actual franchise roots, there should be a sweatshirt that reads “Established 1969,” the year the Expos came into the league. Keeping it “Established 2005″ is just fine with me, and I would just bet that that is the preference of Washington fans.

Which is not to say that Andre Dawson does not deserve our applause. He does. He was an amazing hitter and young speedster (until Astroturf tore up his knees) and had an outfield arm that was second only to Clemente. I did not see him play in Montreal, but only in Chicago — where I recall him as one of the truly great clutch hitters in the game. Dawson was the one player the North Siders had before Sandburg and Grace made them a near powerhouse. I find it hard to believe that it took Dawson eleven years to make it into the Hall of Fame. He was the N.L. MVP in 1987, when the Cubs finished last. Dawson hit 49 home runs that year and knocked in 137 RBIs. None of his teammates were even close. And this in an era before steroids became prominent. He never touched them. Coulda, woulda, shoulda . . . but still: if Dawson had not had cartilage that sounded like grinding metal those last five years, he would have had 3000 hits.

Scott Olsen’s seven inning gem against the Dodgers has Nats fans (and the Washington Post) oohing and ahhing about the team’s new attitude. “Instead of saying ‘Get ‘em tomorrow,’ the Nats have finally assembled a tougher, more irritable group that actually does it,” Post columnist and leading baseball pundit Thomas Boswell writes. Boswell goes on to note: “It’s not just the Nats’ record that is different this spring. The Nats themselves are. They’re starting to resemble the first gritty crew that brought baseball back to D.C. after a 33 year wait.” Tougher? More irritable? Gritty? My first reaction was to scoff: forget irritable and gritty — we need front line guys who can throw strikes. Please, please, please Tom (I know you’re the best, or close to it), but you know (and I know, and it’s no secret) that a rotation of Lannan, Stammen, Olsen and Hernandez are not going to get it done.

But in studying yesterday’s box score, I began to question by own cynicism. The difference in the Nats 1-0 win yesterday (a beautifully pitched game, if ever there was one) from any of their wins last year was obvious. For right there, in the middle of the line-up, were two players the Nats needed, but didn’t have, in the ’09 campaign. When Mike Rizzo signed Ivan Rodriguez and Adam Kennedy in the offseason, he not only filled two special needs, he added two gamers to the clubhouse — players who not only know how to win, but want to. While Rodriguez and Kennedy went a combined 0-6 yesterday, their role on the team has been indispensible, providing much needed leadership to a crew of talented, but young, players. Mike Rizzo added a caveat: “We’re a long ways from where we want to be.” Yeah, true. But you’re also a long ways from where you were.

The difference between the ’09 and 2010 Nats becomes more obvious when you go through the line-up of the Chicago Cubs, whom the Nats face in Chicago starting tonight. The North Side Drama Queens are a team of head cases and disasters-waiting-to-happen: Alfonso Soriano’s penchant to drop flies in left field is damn near agonizing, the perpetually petulant Carlos Zambrano has been demoted to the bullpen, the perennially injured Aramis Ramirez is a fracture away from putting the Cubs in the cellar and Kosuke Fukudome is overpaid and (undoubtedly) on the trading block. I know, I know — the Cubs just swept the Brewers and can hit the hell out of the ball. But the name of this game is pitching, and the Cubs don’t have it. Forget the starters (or don’t — if you really believe that Carlos Silva is the answer), and focus on the bullpen. The line-up of Berg, Grabow, Gray, Russell and Marmol is a patched together crew of rookies and semi-veterans (like Marmol) who have yet to prove they can hit the strike zone. Put another way, we would be justified in saying that the Cubs bullpen collapsed in the first two weeks of the season, but we’d be wrong. It had nothing to collapse from.

Cubs fans are on a death watch. Nats 320 has an outstanding interview with Cubs blogger Joe Aeillo of View From The Bleachers, and while Joe sounds positive enough, you can almost hear the ‘Oh-God-wadda-we-gonna-do’ tension in his voice. Joe talks about Uncle Lou’s bullpen problems and notes that Zambrano has been “the weak link” in the rotation so far this year, but the icing comes when Nats 320 asks about Soriano. “I’ll give you $20 right now, straight cash homie, if you convince the Nationals to take him back,” Joe says. That’s a deal we can pass up: we’ll keep Willingham. Soriano, the bullpen — they’re all problems. But the real problem facing the Cubs is down the road in St. Louis. The Cubs don’t have anyone who matches up with Chris Carpenter, Brad Penny or Adam Wainwright. I can’t stand Penny (he should just rob a 7-Eleven and get it out of his system), but the former Dodger bad boy is pitching brilliantly — with three wins and a 0.94 ERA. That’s a record that Zambrano can only dream about.

The Cubs haven’t had a team since Mark Prior and Kerry Wood were five outs away from the World Series. Remember? Prior was a USC power pitcher with Cy Young stuff and Woods struck out 20 in his rookie season. And then . . . and then, in the 8th inning of Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS a little pop foul that should have been caught did them in. It was their last shot. Neither Prior nor Wood have been the same since; Prior became a surgeon’s dream and is now out of baseball and Wood is in Cleveland, dealing with a cranky back. Looking at Prior (a shoulder, an achilles tendon, a hamstring, another shoulder), you can understand why Mike Rizzo wants Stephen Strasburg in the minors — and why he insists that any member of the Washington club have a winning attitude. Put another way, the problem with Cubs comes down to this: Carlos Zambrano throws the ball in the mid-90s and is capable of a 20-win Cy Young season. But wouldn’t you rather have Livan Hernandez?

MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the Nats and Cubs have been in talks about a prospective trade that would bring Cubbie Kosuke Fukudome to Washington — though the reports add that the talks have not been “particularly substantive.” The Nats have apparently also floated the possibility of trading for the Brewers’ Corey Hart or the Rays’ B.J. Upton. The report, which originated with MASN’s Ben Goessling, reflects a distinct discomfort in Washington’s front office with the right field platoon of Willie Harris and Willy Taveras — players that would provide plenty of defense and speed, but not a whole lot of pop at the plate. From our perspective, a trade for Hart is more likely than a trade for Fukudome (the Brewers are unhappy with Hart’s lack of production), while Tampa is unlikely to trade Upton unless they decide, probably at midseason, that they can’t win with him.

That said, of the three players mentioned, Fukudome is the most intriguing. The Cubs had high hopes for the former star of the Chunichi Dragons (“the pride of Nagoya”) and spent oodles to get him — some $48 million over four years (with $26.5 remaining over the next two years). That’s a lot of money for a guy who hit .259 with 11 home runs in 2009. The plan for 2010 was to cut into Fukudome’s at-bats against lefties (just .242) by platooning him with former Buc and Yankee Xavier Nady (that is, Xavier Clifford Nady VI), whose kinky elbow is still kinky. But trading “The Fook” (a nickname that originated this year with Lou Piniella), would allow Cubs phenom Tyler Colvin to prove that he is, in fact, the next big thing in Chicago. And he probably is.

The question, of course, is what would Washington have to give up to get a player like Fukudome — and would they be willing to pay him the money he’s owed? The answers are: ”a pitcher” and “it depends.” The name most often mentioned in these rumors, albeit by MLBTR commenters, is Craig Stammen. Stammen’s status as a solid three or four starter has been steadily rising and he’s clearly that other good young starter that the Nats need to complement Lannan and Strasburg. The Cubs could use a starter (who couldn’t?), but would more likely attempt to land another arm for the bullpen. The Cubbies bullpen is shakey, and was a year-long problem in the 2009 campaign.

It’s all spit-wadding at this point, but my bet is that if the Cubbies have their eye on anyone at all, they have their eye on Tyler Clippard, whose seventh and eighth inning heroics in Washington last year showed that he’s in The Bigs to stay. But Clippard might not be enough to land the high-profile Fukudome, which means that the Nats would have to agree to pay a good part of Kos-K’s obese contract, or throw in another arm to seal the deal. Of course, there’s more to the calculation: Fukudome is an absolutely legit big leaguer, has worn out his welcome in Chicago, is still searching for a way to hit something close to .300 — and would put fans in the seats at Nats Park. People would pay to see Kos-K play. Yeah, I agree: it would be tough for Mike Rizzo to part with a pitcher like Stammen, whose upside is only now becoming apparent. But it would be much less difficult (and after last year’s adventure in the eighth inning, I say this with a lot of hesitation) to deal someone like Clippard – and maybe a prospect or two. And why not? Willie and Willy are fine players with lots of speed, but they’re a temporary fix and are simply not going to get it done at the plate. And we all know it. Don’t we?

The Milwaukee Brewers came into Nationals’ Park the proud owner of a four game losing streak that had put them ten games behind the St Louis Cardinals in the NL East. The Brewers will not likely catch the Redbirds, but they must have been pleased to escape Friday night’s game at Nationals Park with a decisive 7-3 win. There was much to be proud of in the Nats’ play, except for the final score: J.D. Martin threw 6.2 innings, gave up eight hits and struck out four. Perhaps most important of all, he didn’t walk one Blatzman and gave the Nats’ bullpen a rest. His solid showing placed him firmly in line for future starts — and a potential place in a revamped 2010 rotation. But Martin gave up home runs to Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee, which proved decisive: and Brewers’ starter Braden Looper gave up four hits in six innings of work.

The most memorable moment of the day, of course, was Stephen Strasburg’s appearance at Nationals Park, where he was introduced by the front office and Nats’ All Star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Nats’ fans packed the stands along the third base line to get a glimpse of the college phenom. Strasburg appeared genuinely complimented by the lavish attention and modest enough to admit that his journey to the big leagues was dependent on his own success — and the decision of the organization’s baseball people. This is amazing,” Strasburg said of the crowd. “To play at San Diego State, where we didn’t get many fans until this year, this is pretty special.” The Strasburg introduction was well-handled, a down payment on the promise made by the ownership at the all star break that things would get better for Nats fans. The Nats front office must believe the Strasburg investment has already started to pay dividends.

There were two other memorable events of the day, both important. The first was the light stand shot that Adam Dunn launched against the Brewers in the 1st inning. The home run, Dunn’s 32nd,  landed on the concourse just off the second deck in upper right field. My guess is that it was the longest dinger hit in Nationals Park. Ever. Dunn’s OBP is at .420 and after a late-July swoon, his batting average is .288. The second post-Strasburg event of note was interim manager Jim Riggleman’s praise of Nats’ fans in his post game comments after the loss to the Brewers. Riggleman seemed genuinely humbled by the fact that Nats fans are still showing up, night after night, to see major league baseball’s worst team. Riggleman noted that the players appreciate the support. Rigs has it right and it’s about time people noticed. Night after night, between 18,000 to 24,000 fans are showing up to see the Nats play. True: the high end numbers (some 30,000 or more) come to see the Red Sox or Cubs or Cardinals. But that hasn’t been true recently, when the Nats have faced the Rockies and Brewers.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Yankees-Red Sox tussle is over in Boston, with the final score 20-11. The Empire sealed the victory in the last minute with a field goal by Hideki Matsui. The Yankees drove the ball on the Red Sox with ease, picking apart their secondary. “This shows our character,” a Yankees player said after the game. “This was smash-mouth baseball all night. We were really able to get into their backfield. I just want to thank God for giving me this opportunity . . .” The Back Bay is burning: the Sawx are trailing New York in the NL East by 7.5, and are only one game ahead of the Rays in the wild card . . .

I mean, I can see why the Nats continue to play Ronnie Belliard instead of say, oh, Mike Morse. Can’t you? I mean, really, if we give Morse a chance you never know what might happen. Why, we could even lose some games. We wouldn’t want that to happen. Listen, Ronnie justs needs to get over the nervousness of playing in the big leagues. Like last night for instance: when he got picked off of first base for no damn good reason . . . The Centerfield Gate board of directors (by a very close vote) has instructed me to add three names to my list of underrated MLB Players: Naps’s outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, Belinski’s outfielder Kendry Morales and Ahoys’ outfielder Garrett Jones. So who the hell is Garrett Jones? Jones is the Pirates’ new right fielder, whom the Pirates got from the Twinkies  for ah . . . well, for no one at all. Jones is the guy the Ahoys signed as a free agent after the Twins released him. Will someone please, please, please, wake up the Twins. Garrett Jones has fourteen home runs in 43 games. Every time you turn on the television, there he is, plunking another one into the stands at PNC Park. Then the three people in attendance stand and cheer as one. It’s enough to shake your lack of faith in Neal Huntington . . .

On Baseball Tonight on Friday night, Tim Kurkjian said that the Cubs might be done. What? C’mon, really? There’s forty games left. Are you sure?

Yup.

The San Diego Padres capitalized on four Washington Nationals’ errors Friday night to take the first of a three-game set from our Anacostia Boys, 6-2. After taking two of three from the Mets, the Nats reverted to the sloppy defense that had characterized the first part of their season: two errant throws to first base, a dropped pop-up in foul territory and the misplay of a rolling double in the left field corner. That’s one error on Garrett Mock, one on Jason Bergman, one error on catcher Josh Bard and one on left fielder Adam Dunn. “It was just a bad effort,” interim Manager Jim Riggleman said after the game.

Trade Winds: The St. Louis Cardinals got their man, trading three prospects to the Oakland A’s for outfielder Matt Holliday. The key to the trade for Oakland was the acquistion of third baseman Brett Wallace, who may eventually end up at first for the white elephants. The former Rockie, Holliday paid immediate dividends for the Redbirds, going four for five with one RBI in the Cardinals 8-1 win over the Phillies. Beset by uncertainty over their own financial situation — and with ownership of the ballclub undetermined — the Cubs will have difficulty matching the Cardinals’ upgrade. The Holliday trade reflects the kind of mid-season moves that both the Cards and Cubs are noted for: needing a big bat in May of last year, the Cubs signed free agent Jim Edmonds — a move that fueled their run to the NL Central flag. This year, it’s the Astros who need the bat, particularly after it was announced that Astros’ first baseman Lance Berkman was being sent to the DL for a calf strain.

 

New Redbird Matt Holliday Went 4-5 Friday (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

The news in the NL Central will have an immediate impact on the Nats: it effectively takes the Cardinals out of the running for Adam Dunn (whose availability they reportedly inquired about this last week), while Berkman’s injury puts Nick Johnson on the table for the Astros. Houston called up Edwin Maysonet from triple-A Round Rock to take Berkman’s place, but he’s not the answer at first. The regular first base backup is Darin Erstad, but he’s also injured. Johnson seems a perfect fit for the Astros, with his high OBP and good glove. Astros’ players say they will “step up” to replace Berkman, but it will be difficult to replicate his numbers. ”I’ll just say Lance, being honest and sincere, is a piece of our team that is going to be difficult to replace,” Astros’ outfielder Carlos Lee, who leads the team in RBIs, said. ”The quality of player and what he means to this lineup, it’s going to be difficult to replace Lance. I think we’ll have to get it together and carry all the weight.”

Trade rumors involving Nationals’ players have escalated over the last week: the Phillies are said to be interested in Josh Willingham, the Tigers in Willingham and Dunn and, most recently, the Rangers have reportedly sent scouts to look at Nationals’ hitters. The Nats are said to be looking for “prospects” — primarily pitchers. The trade of Willingham to the Phillies becomes less likely if the Phuzzies pony up a handful of their best prospects (and pitcher J.A. Happ) to Toronto for Roy Halladay. And shipping Dunn or Willingham to Detroit (where the Nats are said to be scouting the Tigers’ double-A affiliate) seems perverse — trading players who are actually performing for a bunch of 21-year-olds who might (or might not) turn into major league players. That we got. Then too, a trade of Willingham to either Philly or Detroit means that we will be forced to watch a struggling Austin “Mendoza” Kearns (.198) learn how to hit. A good decision — but only if you want to drive what’s left of your fanbase out of the ballpark.

Author and friend Paul Dickson — the arbiter of authorities, the wizard of wordsmiths, the emir of ERAs, the sultan of slang — has dispatched an apparently tongue-in-cheek email entitled: ”Entry which will appear in the 2019 4th Edition of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary — The Frank Robby Curse.” Dickson, the author of The Paul Dickson Baseball Dictionary then explained: ”A condition which bedeviled the hapless Washington Nationals from the date they dismissed manager Frank Robinson and which lasted though two catastrophic seasons in 2008 and 2009. When the team finally became aware of the curse it staged a Frank Robinson night in April 2010 during which they named the concession concourse at  Blackwater Field (formerly Nationals Park) in his honor. The team won that night and went on to play one game over .500 for the season. The rest is history making  the NLCS in 2011, winning the NLCS in 2012 but losing to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series and finally the World Championship in 2014 when a new curse named for a long-forgotten manager named Manny Acta came into play. See also; curse of the Bambino, Bill Goat Curse.”

Dickson’s futuristic entry is more than plausible. My only quibble is with the phrase ”When the team became aware of the curse . . .” If they’re not aware of it now, they never will be. Dickson speaks the truth: it would be appropriate for the Lerner’s to keep their promise to honor Frank and it would please the fans, who remember that Robinson is a baseball legend whose understanding of the game is not in question. Robinson is missed, particularly by the younger guys on the club (and most especially by Ryan Zimmerman), who could use his wisdom just now. It would be interesting to hear what the Hall of Famer has to say about the club ownership; and interesting to know whether he would have put up with some of the deals (and the stripping of the ballclub) of the last two years. Nice touch though: “Blackwater Stadium.” Getaload of these charm school graduates. Oh, yeah – one more thing: I am on record with my baseball buddies — “me droogs” (here they are, if you’ve forgotten) – that the Washington Nationals will win the World Series before the Chicago Cubs (see, “Merkle’s Boner“), curse or no curse.

Down On Half Street: It’s possible to say something positive about the Nats, despite their Monday night loss to the Mets — and despite sinking to forty games under .500. While J.D. Martin’s first start in the majors resulted in a Mets’ pummeling, Nats’ reliever Tyler Clippard should now be added to the team’s list of “untouchables.” Clippard faced nine batters over three complete innings and struck out five of them. He looked unhittable (and he was), pumping in his fastball at 94 mph and fooling hitters with a sharp-breaking 12-to-6 curve. “This kid looks like he wants to stay,” MASN commentator Rob Dibble said . . . Logan Kensing gave up a home run to Jeff Franceour (don’t you just hate to see that), but his stuff is better now after his stint in Syracuse. He looked confident. So that’s Clippard, Kensing, Beimel, Burnett, Bergman and (maybe) MacDougal in the rebuilt Nats’ bullpen. It’s better, especially now that ”Coo Coo” Tavarez is gone, but it’s still baseball’s worst (5.54 ERA) and really, it’s not even close . . .

There were two miracles in 1969: Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and the New York Mets won the World Series. But it’s worth remembering that on this date — when Armstrong landed the “Eagle” at “Tranquility Base – the Mets were nowhere near being a playoff team, while the Chicago Cubs were in first place in the NL East and running away with the division. By early August the Cubs led the Mets in their division by nearly nine games. The North Siders had an almost perfect squad — a mix of power and speed with one of the strongest starting pitching staffs in the majors. The front four of Ferguson Jenkins, Bill Hands, Ken Holtzman and Dick Selma terrorized the National League, accumulating 68 of the team’s 92 wins. The Cubs closer, Phil Regan, accounted for another twelve. Which is to say: in 1969, five Cubs pitchers accounted for 80 of the team’s 92 wins.

The Cubs were assembled by clever design, though baseball experts and onlookers scoffed at a front office that had always proven inept. The key trade brought prospects Ferguson Jenkins and Adolfo Phillips from Philadelphia (two decades later the Phillies traded another prospect to Chicago — Ryne Sandberg) for aging starters Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson. A second, though just as important trade (in 1965) had brought catcher Randy Hundley and starter Bill Hands to Chicago for outfielder Don Landrum and fading reliever Lindy McDaniel. Sports Illustrated howled with laughter — how could the Cubs trade one of the league’s best relief pitchers for two unknowns? The Cubs had a great team of hitters (with Ernie Banks, Ron Santo and Billy Williams the keys), but the Cubs of ’69 could not have won without the trades they swung to build their starting rotation. 

The Mets, on the other hand, were almost exclusively assembled from within. Future Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver was in his third year (as was Jerry Koosman), Gary Gentry was a rookie and no one in the starting nine was over 30. The unlikely linchpin of this group might well have been Ed “Steady Eddie” Kranepool, an otherwise light-hitting first baseman who swung the bat like Joe Dimaggio from August on out. From mid-August until late September, the Mets went on a tear, while the Cubs faded fast. The Mets won 38 of their final 49 games, while the Cubs suffered a mid-September eight game losing streak that saw them sink into second place. They finished with 92 wins, but it wasn’t enough. The Mets took the division flag, with 100. The difference between the two teams was a swing of a startling 17 games over a period of two months: a swoon that Cubs fans have never forgotten.

The Cubs-Mets pennant race of 1969 is a model of how to build contenders. The Cubs spent nearly half-a-decade ridding themselves of aging pitchers (Buhl and Jackson, but also McDaniel), trading them for well-scouted prospects, like Hands and Jenkins. The staff was supplemented by a gaggle of home grown greats: Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ernie Banks — but also double play combo Glenn Beckert and Don Kessinger. The Mets rejected the blockbuster trade and stayed patient, being satisfied with developing hard throwing youngsters and very good (but not great) position players. Cleon Jones was homegrown, as was Kranepool, Bud Harrelson, Ken Boswell and slick-fielding-no-hit third sacker Wayne Garrett. While 1969 preceded the era of free agency, it’s still astonishing how the pieces the Mets developed clicked into place in one season.

Fifty years later, the Mets seem to have forgotten the lesson taught by the ’69 Amazin’s. The New York Metropolitans of 2009 are a patchwork of free agents and aging stars — with few homegrown talents that can carry the team. Every major position player except for Daniel Murphy and David Wright is over 30 and the team’s biggest bopper, Gary Sheffield, is 40. Alex Cora and Luis Castillo are 33, Brian Schneider is 32,  The pitching staff is not manned by young rising arms, but by a veritable line-up of sieves. There is one great pitcher on the staff, Johan Santana, but he’s from somewhere else. Livan Hernandez is 34. The one home grown asset, Mike Pelfrey, has a plus-5 ERA and the number five starter is Tim Redding — who is on the verge of changing residences. In 1969, the Mets’ number five starter was 22-year-old Nolan Ryan. Mets’ faithful complain of the baffling injuries suffered by the team, but what’s the big surprise? Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado are 32 and 37 respectively.

This hobbled, aging and choatic group come into Nats Park tonight to face-off against our Anacostia Boys. It’ll be a test for them — they need to win the series to stay in contention. My bet is that that won’t happen and that the fading Mets will fade further as the summer wanes. Of course, the Mets have been counted out before, as they were in 1969. But this team is not the “Miracle Mets” — it’s the wing-and-a-prayer Mets. For them to end up in the post-season would take a miracle even greater than Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon.

The Chicago Cubs got healthy in Washington, taking four games of a four game set, the last an embarrassing blowout with seeming ramifications for both the starting staff and the bullpen. Julian “Coo Coo” Tavarez was designated for assignment after the game and Logan Kensing was recalled from Syracuse. The Tavarez decision came several games too late; Tavarez had a habit of walking first batters and was particularly ineffective in his last three outings. The well-traveled Tavarez (eleven stops in 17 years) was optimistic about his chances of catching on with another club: “Tomorrow I’m going to be running and throwing balls, waiting for someone to give me a phone call. I’ll be back.” Maybe: but Tavarez, who has worn out his welcome, won’t be back in Washington. Logan Kensing, late of the Marlins, was recalled from Syracuse and will be given another chance with the big club.

It’s unlikely the Nats are finished shuffling. After a pre-All Star Game letter apologizing for their first half antics and the firing of Nats good guy Manny Acta, the Nationals and Jim Riggleman are in the midst of a mid-season slump that belies Riggleman’s promise that “We will turn it around.” It was hard to feel that during the Nats’ collapse on Sunday — the combination of a stadium half-filled with Cubs fans, an Alberto Gonzalez booted ball, the unraveling of Garrett Mock and ”Coo Coo’s” antics combined to send Nats’ fans home early. The stadium started emptying in the top of the 6th (it almost reminded me of Shea), leaving fans of the North Side Drama Queens to celebrate their victory. The Slugs are now rolling towards the Redbirds, whom they trail by two games. The Cubs head north to face the Phuzzies, while the Nats will square off against the Chokes, who are coming in from Atlanta — where they lost three of four.

Down On Half Street: It takes time to assess a trade, but Mike Rizzo’s acquisition of Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett is looking more and more like a steal. Morgan has gained the most attention, but Burnett (who should have been on the mound for “Coo Coo” on Sunday) has continued to impress. His ERA has dropped nearly half-a-point since his arrival in Washington. But Burnett has been used sparingly: logging less than nine innings in eight outings. During that same period, “Coo Coo” faced double the batters of Burnett, while his ERA rose by the same rate as Burnett’s fell. I don’t get it . . . MLB Network showed Ryan Langerhans in left field for the Mariners the other day. The former Chop and Nats’ outfielder’s BA has ping-ponged with the Blue and Teal. Meanwhile Mike Morse, the player Rizzo obtained for Langerhans, is hitting the hell out of the ball in Syracuse. Morse, a third round draft choice for the Pale Hose has been haunted by injuries and the Mariners seemingly ran out of patience with him. Morse has played short and third, but he’s now holding down second for the Chiefs. Morse is big, tough and hits the long ball and he has a good glove. He could be in Washington soon . . . 

Around the NL Least: Kingman over at The Real Dirty Mets Blog loves the Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur trade and says he has not yet given up hope on the Mets’ season. Readers of CFG know we have no brief for Francoeur, but we would probably take the swap. Francoeur was smiling all the way through the Mets’ loss to the Chops on Sunday in Atlanta, while Church looks like the same old Ryan Church that once played for the Nats . . . Braves Baseball Blog, meanwhile, makes a plea to Atlanta’s front office: “Another bat would be all I want. With offense struggling [the Braves] are in dire need of a legitimate bat to give support to McClouth, Chipper and B-Can . . . I’m very optimistic that it will happen, but some players I wouldn’t mind getting would be Holliday, Teahan, Jeremy Hermida, and or Alex Rios. But I don’t want the team to be trading away any potential future studs just so they can win now . . . not worth it in my opinion . . . ” The newest addition to nleastchatter is Fish Guts. This’ll be the last time I agree with a Phish fan, but he’s right about the new stadium and plans to replace the Marlins’ uniforms: ”my dream is that they keep the home whites with pinstripes, as I think those are some of the classiest threads in all of baseball.” That’s true . . .

Despite Nats 3-1 Loss. The Nats were outpitched in their dual against Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs Friday, but Jim Riggleman remained upbeat during the post-game press conference. The shape of the new “Riggleman era” in Nats’ baseball is now becoming apparent: the new skipper will attempt to infuse the Anacostia Boys with a new sense of purpose by accenting the positive. Saying he would attempt to keep from being negative, Riggleman vowed to stay away from words like “frustrating” in describing the state-of-the-team. “I can remember thinking I don’t even want to use those words,” he said. “It projects negative stuff.” Later in his post-game briefing, Riggleman was even more emphatic, while breaking his own rule: “[The team is] frustrated with the record, and they’re anxious to turn it around,” he said. “And I can tell you that. We will turn it around.”

Changing the culture of negativity is one thing, tweaking the line-up is another. Evidence that Riggleman understands the team’s weakness was apparent in the first inning, when he signaled a hit-and-run with Ryan Zimmerman at the plate. With Nyjer Morgan at second and Nick Johnson at first, Zimmerman swung through a 3-2 Zambrano offering. Morgan, running with the pitch, was called out while trying to take third. The classic strike-em-out-throw-em-out play killed a Nats’ rally, but Riggleman’s intention was clear: he wanted to keep Zimmerman from hitting into a double play, which has become a habit for the third sacker. Still, Riggleman was adamant: the Nats had played a good game, with Craig Stammen weathering successive on-base problems and early inconsistencies to pitch a solid six innings. The Nats waited for the departure of Zambrano, but couldn’t solve the Cubs’ bullpen. “To me good baseball is good baseball,” Riggleman said. “Sometimes you don’t hit good or you don’t pitch good, but you do a lot of things good. You play the game well.”

Playing the game “well” is what the Cubs did last night, which was a kind of model for what they had planned all year: their starters (Zambrano, or Lilly, or Harden) keep them in the game, Carlos Marmol pitches the eighth and Kevin Gregg closes it out. In between, one of their boppers (like Aramis Ramirez) puts one in the seats while their up-the-middle “LSU connection” do their wizardry around second. The model worked last night, but it didn’t work so well in the first half of the season, when the Cubs of ’09 appeared to be the Cubs of old — non-lovable losers who haven’t won anything much since 1945, and are without a world championship since 1908. The history weighs heavily. In the 8th inning of last night’s game, the chant coming from Cubs fans (let’s go cub-bies) was answered by one from a Nats fan sitting several rows behind me — nine-teen-oh-eight!

Down On Half Street: I attended the game with me droogs last night (here they are, once again) and received an earful from one of them — a Mets fan, no less — who pointed out that it wasn’t that long ago that the Nats could claim to be a good team. “They had a closer, a hitter and a couple good pitchers,” he said. He’s right. It might seem eons, but the 2005 Nats finished at .500 with a line-up Brian Schneider, Nick Johnson, Jose Vidro, Jose Guillen and Vinny Castilla. Livan Hernandez was performing miracles on the mound and Wil Cordero, who is now out of the game, was the closer. Those were the days . . . Even so, loyalists have to believe the Nats are still only a closer, a bopper, a veteran pitcher and a second baseman from respectability. Which is true, of course, for nearly every team in baseball . . . 

We’re likely to see more tweaks in the Nats line-up. The one way to keep the strike-em-out-throw-em-out first inning that we saw last night from becoming a habit would be to move Alberto to the second spot and move Zim down, perhaps to the fifth spot. The Nats need to find a way to move on-base machine Nyjer Morgan into scoring position without always having to depend on him to steal a base . . . Ronnie Belliard pinch hit on Thursday and again last night. Why are the Nats still in love with this guy? . . . Gonzalez is 10 for his last 20 and is laying claim to the second base job. He was at shortstop last night because Cristian Guzman was complaining about foot pain. “Fredo” is hitting the hell out of the ball, his triple against the Cubs on Thursday was one of the most impressive scorchers registered at Nats Park this year. Add his name to the list of “can’t touch” Nats, which includes John Lannan, Ryan Zimmerman, Nyjer Morgan, Jordan Zimmermann, Adam Dunn, Jesus Flores, Josh Willingham (mmmmm, well, maybe not) and (perhaps) Craig Stammen. I would put Sean Burnett on the list. That leaves Nick Johnson and Cristian Guzman as the most likely candidates to be packing their bags before the trade deadline . . . The Nats are apparently waiting for the right offer for Johnson, hoping his stock will rise in the next week. But there are reports that Mike Rizzo might be asking too much for Johnson and some “buyers” who might need Johnson could very quickly become “sellers” — especially if they keep losing 11-0.