Center Field Gate

Now that the Phuzzies have become the former world champions — dropping the World Series to New York’s Jedi Knights – we can return to baseball’s second season: as ultimate a test for GMs and owners as the on-the-field play of their counterparts during the regular season. So it is that the Nats’ off season rumor mill is finally in full swing, with reports circulating that the Nats are once again eyeing second sacker Orlando Hudson as the solution to the team’s problems in the middle infield. Jon Heyman over at SI says that Hudson is looking for other opportunities — as Trolley manager Joe Torre ”employed Ronnie Belliard over him” through much of September and into the playoffs. In fact, it was downright weird watching Belliard shine in the L.A. post-season, particularly considering his embarrassing swing-from-the-heels style of play for the Nats through nearly 120 games. Can it be? Would L.A. really pick Belliard as their second sacker over Hudson?

Ah . . . well, not really. L.A. is all a-glitter over the prospect of signing free agent Adrian Beltre to play third base, with Casey Blake moving over to second — an experiment that keeps Blake’s bat in the line-up while adding a power hitter at the corner. Beltre could, in fact, pump about 20 dingers into the left field seats in Dodger Stadium, giving the kind of power to the Trolley line-up that Raul Ibanez provided in Philadelphia this last year. And L.A.’s his home town. That puts Belliard on the Dodger bench (which is where he, ah, belongs): and makes Hudson expendable. There’s no doubt there’s been an on-again off-again flirtation between the Nats and Hudson which dates back to late 2008 — when the Nats seemingly pursued the glove man, hoping he could fill the infield hole next to Cristian Guzman. In any event, the Hudson-to-the-Nats never quite happened and the “O-Dog” ended up in Hollywood. Now, it seems, there is revived interest in Hudson: the flirtation continues.

But is Hudson the right fit for D.C.?

Right here (in this paragraph), we might take a look at Hudson’s stats, which are more than presentable (.283, 9 HRs, 62 RBIs — and, more importantly, a good glove), and then follow that with talk about how Hudson would add some badly needed punch to an anemic middle infield. But all of that would beg the question: the problem up the middle for the Nats is not at second base, it’s at shortstop — and bringing Hudson in not only doesn’t solve that problem, it short-circuits the end-of-season discussion about moving Cristian Guzman to second and finding someone (like Ian Desmond) to play Guzman’s position. I’ve argued before that moving Guzman to second doesn’t solve anything. And it doesn’t. In fact, signing Hudson only creates an additional problem: for if Guzman can’t play second any better than he played short and if Ian Desmond doesn’t work out (and he might not) then you don’t have one problem, you have two.

Even so, the “we want Orlando” bandwagon is entering its first stage, in large part because no one is sold on Alberto Gonzalez — including outspoken MASN announcers Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble and regular Nats commentator Bill Ladson. Ladson pegs Gonzalez as no more than a sometimes substitute. “I think it’s pretty clear that he is no more than a backup,” Ladson said in a recent column. “I was shocked with the way he played after interim manager Jim Riggleman made him the everyday second baseman. There were times I thought he wasn’t fundamentally sound with the bat and glove.” Really? Gonzalez hit .265 in 105 games, and while he wasn’t exactly a whiz kid at second, he wasn’t a disaster. While Gonzalez ended the season with an admittedly paltry OBP of .299, he finished the season strong, hitting .344 in his last ten games. Gonzalez is young, has a good attitude and he’ll only get better. In fact, he might get a lot better.  

Hudson, on the other hand, will make somewhere in the range of $5 million to $7 million per year (and he’s not about to sign a single year contract) and his rumored wrist problem is worrisome. He will be 32, on the down side of his prime years. Gonzalez will only get better: Hudson can only get worse. Why spend $5-$7 million a year (over three years, I’ll bet you) for a guy who might have a problem staying in the line-up. Of course, Hudson hits a hellava lot better than Gonzalez (no question) and has a stellar glove (he’s one of the best fielding second sacker in the majors), but he’s iffy in a way that Felipe Lopez was iffy. Then too (we might remember) Joe Torre thought that, when the chips were down, Ronnie Belliard was the better player. That oughta tell us something. So what should the Nats do? At least one of the options they should consider would be to take the money they would save on signing the “O-Dog” — let’s call it “Hudson Money” — and spend it on buying a solid front rank free agent pitcher. It comes down to this: who would you rather have? Orlando Hudson — or Jon Garland? Or Joel Pineiro? Or even Jason Marquis?

The Washington Nationals finished the 2009 season on a high note, winning their seventh in a row, 2-1, in fifteen innings in Atlanta. The game winning RBI was plated on a line drive by Alberto Gonzalez , whose single in the 15th inning drove in Elijah Dukes with what turned out to be the winning run. The win could not save the Nats from the worst record in franchise history — as well as the worst record in baseball for the 2009 season: 59-103. Gonzalez was 2-6 in his last outing, raising his BA for the season to .265. Logan Kensing, who pitched two innings of three hit ball in relief, got the win. Starter J.D. Martin pitched six solid innings of six hit baseball, giving up a single earned run. But the pitching of the bullpen was the key story in the team’s last game of 2009 — Tyler Clippard, Ron Villone, Jason Bergmann, Saul Rivera and Kensing pitched nine innings in relief, giving up no runs.

While the Nats left Atlanta with their seventh consecutive win, the front office isn’t underestimating the work that needs to be done in the off season — the naming of a manager, the acquistion of two veteran pitchers, a reconstruction of the league’s worst bullpen and moves that will solidify the defense, especially up the middle. If there was a highpoint in the season (at least according to the Nats’ front office) it was the acquisition of centerfielder Nyjer Morgan and lefty reliever Sean Burnett from Pittsburgh. “I’m not saying we are where we want to be, certainly not,” Nats’ GM Mike Rizzo said after the Atlanta win. “We know the targets we have to hit.” But many of the positive moves were actually negatives — additions by subtraction: the cutting of failed starter Daniel Cabrera, the exile of outfielder Lastings Milledge and the abandonment of the Joel Hanrahan experiment . . .

But the real high point of the season occurred before it even began — with the firing of Jim Bowden. The move was long overdue. The appointment of Mike Rizzo to take his place, first as “acting G.M” and then permanently, reshuffled the weak front office. Rizzo recast the Nats’ development program in the Dominican Republic, engineered the Milledge-Morgan swap, signed pitching phenom and first overall pick Stephen Strasburg, and rejiggered an embarrassing bullpen. His May signing of Mike MacDougal to a minor league deal — often overlooked — provided Washington with a closer. Rizzo’s mid-summer moves stabilized the franchise and gave the Nats immediate credibility. In a otherwise lost season, Rizzo’s promotion provided the one key bright spot  . . .

It’s not clear whether interim manager Jim Riggleman will return, though there’s no doubt that his handling of the club after the firing of Manny Acta focused the defense and provided needed wins. The club was sluggish under Acta and played with more intensity under Riggleman. ”I think Riggleman really did a good job handling the ballclub after the All-Star break,” Rizzo said after the end of the season. “I think he put us on pace to really focus and bear down on the fundamentals of the game — to play cleaner and more efficient ballgames. He had the players playing at a high level. I think he has done the best job he could with the ability level that he has.” It’s clear that many Nats’ players would like to see Riggleman return . . .

The most dramatic moment of the Washington Nationals 2009 season came during the last at bat of the last inning of the last game the team played in front of their home fans: with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning — and Nats fans on their feet and screaming — rookie Justin Maxwell put a heart-of-the-plate fastball (thrown by one of the game’s best relief pitchers), into the first row in left field, sealing a stunning 7-4 come from behind victory. Maxwell’s hammer came on the ninth pitch from Mets’ reliever Francisco Rodriguez who came into the game in the last inning to nail down the victory for the New York Nine. But Rodriguez — the strikeout king of relief pitchers — struggled with his control, ever as much as Mets’ defenders struggled to get outs.

The stunning victory in the home half began with an Alberto Gonzalez single to the left of scrambling Mets’ shortstop Wilson Valdez, who threw wide of first. Gonzalez — head first into the bag — was safe. With the score 4-2, Nats fans seemed fated to take their punishment, but when Mike Morse singled to center (two on, no one out), the crowd of some 23,900-plus began to take an interest. Willie Harris then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, moving Gonzalez to third and Morse to second. With men on second and third and one out, Elijah Dukes (whose first swinging strike was intended to win the game) had one of his most patient at bats — and Rodriguez walked him. Bases loaded.

Ryan Zimmerman came to the plate — and Nats’ fans were on their feet. Zimmerman had already put one into straightaway centerfield (in the eighth), and Nats fans supposed he might do it again. But Rodriguez fanned him on three straight pitches, the last a nasty cutting fastball that Zim couldn’t touch. Adam Dunn came to the plate. The Nats’ most important long ball hitter (38 home runs), had struggled in his last 30 at bats — and through most of the night. But as deftly as Rodriguez had handled Zimmerman, he seemed to wilt before Dunn’s big-bat threat, walking him on a 3 and 2 pitch that wasn’t even close.

Rodriguez was non-plussed: he called for the ball as Dunn walked to first, forcing a run in from third. Dunn’s base-on-balls trot put the Nats one run away from a tie. But it was still 4-3 Mets. Dunn’s walk brought Justin Maxwell to the plate — a rookie with no big game history. As with Zimmerman, K-Rod went after Maxwell, just missing on his first pitch before registering two strikes (looking). But then, oddly, Rodriguez grew cautious (he threw a ball wide), just as Maxwell began to battle. Rodriguez threw another ball and the count was full. Maxwell fouled off the next two pitches, including a high-in-the-zone might-have-been that hooked harmlessly into the left field seats. Rodriguez had taken something off the pitch and it wasn’t hit very hard. So Frankie made his calculation. Impatient, and knowing he was facing a rookie, he put his best fastball over the plate — something that a kid from Olney, Maryland would never be expected to touch.

And Maxwell put it over the left field fence.

Ross Detwiler notched his first win of the season on Monday, with a 2-1 win over the Mets. The victory against the Chokes was a distinct improvement over the previous three games: the Nats’ starter was effective, the bullpen held the opposition to zero hits in three scoreless innings, and the Nats scored when they needed to. ”It feels great,” Detwiler said of his victory. “It kind of feels like I got the pressure off myself to get that first victory. It’s one for the records.” The starter’s success came because he threw strikes: 65 of them in 99 pitches — with three strikeouts, nine groundouts and seven fly balls. Detwiler gave up seven hits and lowered his ERA to 5.35. Mike MacDougal, whose confidence took a hit during the series with the Braves, came on to pitch the ninth — and retired the side. Surprisingly, the Nats hitting was provided by three newcomers. Justin Maxwell went 2-4, Ian Desmond 2-3 and Mike Morse 3-4. Morse, who’s been hitting the hide off the ball, hit his third homer of the season in the sixth inning with no one on.

The Case For The Kids: Nats fans are getting a taste of what they’ll be seeing next year. Monday’s lineup included Justin Maxwell, Ian Desmond, Mike Morse and Alberto Gonzalez. While interim manager Jim Riggleman says that he will continue to play his veterans, the end of the season is turning into a kind of advanced spring training. The August 27 injury to Nyjer Morgan (and Cristian Guzman’s bum foot) has allowed Riggleman to test Mike Morse’s staying power in the bigs and so far he has to like what he’s seen. Chico Harlan quotes Riggleman as calling Morse ”a professional hitter,” and the numbers bear him out: Morse is hitting .306 and seems to have shaken off the injury bug that has been such a big part of his career. Riggleman doesn’t quite know where to put Morse, but he started him in right field on Monday, in place of Elijah Dukes. Dukes has been hitting better since his mid-season return from the minors, but he’s the first to admit he has trouble hitting a curve. Then too, while Dukes’ on base numbers are getting better by the game, his power stroke has disappeared. That’s not true for Morse, who’s season total of three home runs was notched in the last three games.

The rise of Morse — and Justin Maxwell’s apparent new found ability to hit major league pitching — creates one of those happy, and rare, problems: a crowded outfield. Barring a trade (and given that Nyjer Morgan has centerfield locked up, with Willingham in left), the Nats are now set to go to Florida with at least four outfielders contending for the remaining outfield slot: Morse, Dukes, Maxwell and Roger Bernadina. While it’s too soon to tell (and a lot can happen in the off-season), if spring training were to start today, the competition for right field would likely come down to a tussle between Morse and Dukes. Dukes has helped his cause by being a good citizen and consistent nose-in-the-dirt player, but his BA continues to hover between .250 and .260. Right now, albeit in far fewer games, Morse is shaping up to be the better hitter.  

Of course, it’s possible that Riggleman (if he loses his “interim” tag) will write Morse’s name in at second base: but Alberto Gonzalez’s recent post-slump production (seven for 17 in the last five games and ten points on his BA over the last ten) and improved defense make him a contender for a starting spot up the middle. Gonzalez is no Chase Utley (who is), but there are plenty of teams out there who would love to have a second baseman who can hit .270. Over at Nationals Pride, Jeff wonders whether the Nats should sign free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson. Maybe they should. But the Nats’ weakness up the middle is not at second (Gonzalez has — count ‘em — one error at second in 51 games), it’s at short — and getting Hudson doesn’t solve that problem. I’ve never understood the knock on Gonzalez: he hits better than Kaz Matsui (a lot better), fields better than Felipe Lopez (remember him?) and doesn’t have a surgically repaired and naggingly bum left wrist, like Hudson. Putting Gonzalez permanently at second (just ignor what these guys have to say about him) makes for one less thing: and frees up money to sign a top flight starter (or even a couple) and a top notch closer (if they can find one). After all, it’s possible for a team to win, or even contend, with a steady-but-not-great second baseman, but it’s impossible for them to win without a starting staff or a bullpen. If 2009 showed the Nats anything, it showed them that.

A heads-up Justin Maxwell stolen base followed by a Pete Orr fly ball to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Nats a 5-4 walk off win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park on Wednesday night. The Nats’ comeback win was sparked by a Ryan Zimmerman three run home run, a shot into the centerfield bullpen off Trolley righthander Chad Billingsley that tied the score at three. Billingsley was into the sixth and pitching a no-hitter until Zimmerman’s blast. It was Zimmerman’s 31st home run and 100th RBI of the season. The Nats went ahead 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t keep the lead — as a shaky outing by closer Mike MacDougal and two Cristian Guzman throwing errors allowed the Dodgers to tie the game in the top of the 9th.

The Nats looked like they were headed for yet another anemic night at the plate, as Billingsley mastered the Anacostia line up with six innings of no hit baseball. But with runners on first and second in the sixth, the suddenly tiring Billingsley was visited by Dodger pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. On the very next pitch — with Zimmerman at the plate – the Dodger righty threw a ball that hung up-and-in on Zimmerman, and ended up over the fence. In all, Billingsley threw six innings, giving up only one hit. It was a masterful if vain performance by the 12-10 Dodger. Nats fans were pleased to discover that they’re not the only ones frustrated by poor defense. An eighth inning fly ball off the bat of Adam Dunn dropped between confused left fielder Manny Ramirez and centerfielder Matt Kemp, while a sure double play bouncer up the middle was thrown wide at first. The miscues sent the Nats into the top of the ninth with a one run lead and a chance to close out the game.

The Nats were actually lucky in the 9th, despite MacDougal’s keep-em-in-the-game pitching and their two errors: two line shots ended the inning with the bases jammed. The Dodgers were only able to score once in the top of the ninth, leaving the score tied at four. In the bottom of the final frame, Justin Maxwell hit a single past a diving Ronnie Belliard into left, was sacrificed to second by Alberto Gonzalez and then stole third. A surprised Trolley catcher Russell Martin threw wide of the bag at third to put Maxwell 90 feet from home. That brought journeyman Pete Orr to the plate. His long fly ball to right — dropped by the usually sure-handed Andre Ethier — won the game.

John Lannen looked nearly unhittable for six complete innings tonight, but Philadelphia hitters got to him in the seventh, hitting back-to-back home runs and powering the first place Phillies to a 5-3 win at Nationals Park.  The damage was done in the top of the 7th, when Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez hit back-to-back homers. The Werth-Ibanez dingers were enough to chase Lannan, who was relieved by the usually effective Tyler Clippard. But Clippard gave up a homer to Chase Utley that sealed the game. The Nats threatened in the ninth against shaky Phillies’ closer Brad Lidge, but with runners packing the bases Ryan Zimmerman (the hero of Monday’s contest) and Adam Dunn (already the proud papa of 35 round trippers this year) could not bring them home. Zimmerman struck out to Ryan Madson and Adam Dunn hit a crippled duck to second base.

A dejected John Lannan gave up 4 round trippers on Tuesday (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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.