Baseball 2016---Season On!

[DCPatriot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2olHqB6I4c

Jayson Werth and the "DC Strangler" (Jonathan Papelbon)    ROFL!

He refers to the time Papelbon put Bryce Harper in a choke hold after Harper didn't run out a ground ball out last season.

[DCPatriot]

Just how much will Nationals miss Jonathan Papelbon?

Eddie Maltz

WASHINGTON -- With closer Jonathan Papelbon hitting the disabled list for the first time in his 12-year career, the big question is, just how much will the first-place Washington Nationals miss him?

The big answer? Not as much as you might think.

The 35-year old Papelbon, who was acquired from Philly just before the trade deadline last year, clearly isn’t the dominant force he once was. He’s averaging 90.7 miles an hour with his fastball this season, down from 91.4 a year ago and way down from 94.8 back in 2011. That’s a pretty drastic dropoff, and one that helps explain why the veteran righty is a mere shadow of the back-end beast he used to be.

On the surface, Papelbon’s 16 saves (seventh in the NL) look fine and dandy. In fact, prior to hitting the DL, he was on pace for 41 saves this season, which would tie a career-high. For a guy that ranks 10th on the all-time saves list and third among active pitchers, that’s saying something. But his peripherals say something even louder -- namely, that Washington’s closer hasn’t been very good.

more at: http://espn.go.com/blog/washington-nationals/post/_/id/1300/just-how-much-will-the-nationals-miss-jonathan-papelbon

[EasyAce]

If Dusty Baker is smart, he'll think about Shawn Kelley stepping in. Baker's remark
about Kelley not having shown closer makeup with his previous four teams is a
little unfair, since Kelley never really got that much of a chance to show he had it
on a consistent bases, and like the writer says he's been lights out when he's
pitched this year.

[Jazzhead]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2olHqB6I4c

Jayson Werth and the "DC Strangler" (Jonathan Papelbon)    ROFL!

He refers to the time Papelbon put Bryce Harper in a choke hold after Harper didn't run out a ground ball out last season.

Tough loss for the Phils.   They probably would have won if Ryan Howard had been at first, since he's bigger than Tommy Joseph and wouldn't have been pulled off the bag on Harper's 9th inning infield "hit".   

I've always liked the way Jason Werth plays ball, even after he left us to go to the Nats.   My wife once got me season tix for our anniversary,  and specified seats in right field so she'd have a good view of Werth's butt!

Pap?  I couldn't be more pleased that you guys have him now!   Right on, Freddy Galvis, who beats Pap like a drum. 

[DCPatriot]

Tough loss for the Phils.   They probably would have won if Ryan Howard had been at first, since he's bigger than Tommy Joseph and wouldn't have been pulled off the bag on Harper's 9th inning infield "hit".   

I've always liked the way Jason Werth plays ball, even after he left us to go to the Nats.   My wife once got me season tix for our anniversary,  and specified seats in right field so she'd have a good view of Werth's butt!

Pap?  I couldn't be more pleased that you guys have him now!   Right on, Freddy Galvis, who beats Pap like a drum.

Jayson Werth holds sway with the team, IMO.

Back when they clinched the  NL East under Matt Williams, I distinctly recall the clubhouse celebration with the champagne flowing...where in a live interview, Werth responded to the question of "How about the managing of 'rookie manager' Matt Williams.

Werth totally ignored the question after a painful pregnant pause, and essentially said the players won in spite of Williams.

And Williams is now out of the the Show.

[EasyAce]

Jayson Werth holds sway with the team, IMO.

Back when they clinched the  NL East under Matt Williams, I distinctly recall the clubhouse celebration with the champagne flowing...where in a live interview, Werth responded to the question of "How about the managing of 'rookie manager' Matt Williams.

Werth totally ignored the question after a painful pregnant pause, and essentially said the players won in spite of Williams.

And Williams is now out of the the Show.

Actually, he was hired back by the Diamondbacks as a coach in the off-season.

I wrote his managerial obituary thus when he was executed last October:

Our long Nationals nightmare is over . . . for now . . .
http://throneberryfields.com/2015/10/05/our-long-nationals-nightmare-is-over-for-now/

Before the Washington Nationals lost their final regular season game to the National League East champion Mets,
general manager Mike Rizzo promised he wasn’t going to leave people twisting in the wind. Rizzo’s words, not
mine. Maybe he thought Nats fans had been forced into doing the twist too long this season already.

Monday morning Rizzo kept his promise—and how. He executed manager Matt Williams, just a year after Williams
was named the National League’s Manager of the Year. The man who came into the season leading the prohibitive
World Series favourites leaves it with his head in a guillotine basket.

Rizzo also executed Williams’s entire coaching staff—including respected pitching coach Steve McCatty, batting
coach Rick Schu, and bench coach Randy Knorr, the man Nats players actually wanted to succeed Davey Johnson
on the bridge.

The only surprise seems to be that Williams wasn’t fired the moment the Nats’ flight back to Washington landed
after the 1-0 Sunday loss. And his managerial obituary is likeliest to be headlined, “He didn’t see the iceberg until
after it hit the Titanic.” Until after it hit, hell. Williams didn’t see the iceberg until after the damned ship sank.

The Washington Post‘s impeccable Thomas Boswell found an even more delicious analogy a week earlier, after it
came forth that Jonathan Papelbon tried to choke Bryce Harper in the dugout and Williams admitted having no
clue: “If Matt Williams had been at Ford’s Theatre in 1865, he would have loved the play. Did something go wrong?
Nope, didn’t see a thing. Nobody said anything, either.”

At the same time, another Post writer, Barry Svrluga, published a wholly damning three-part series examining just
how the Nats went from Series favourites to serious ignominy. The Nats were dogged by injuries and inconsistent
play all season long, but these Nats could have been the healthiest team in baseball and Williams would still have left
jaws on the floor and a team in shards.

The bill of particulars just involving in-game thinking or lack thereof is damning enough, from lifting a starter from
division series tying games one out from a complete game shutout to bringing in a rookie instead of three solid
veterans to lose a division series.

From refusing to use his setup man and closer in pressure situations that weren’t eighth or ninth inning assignments
to refusing to juggle his rotation to let Max Scherzer face the oncoming Mets in a series that just might have proven
to begin the Nats’ final downfall.

From bunting with a hitter who couldn’t bunt and leaving on-deck Harper at the mercy of a guaranteed walk to
sending Harper’s would-be choker Papelbon out to pitch the ninth anyway because he didn’t see the attack until
shown video postgame—then declaring Harper’s pre-scheduled off day the following day was really discipline for
his “involvement” in the previous day’s assault, which amounted to giving the victim a little blame after all.

From warming relief pitchers up repeatedly but not bringing them in one night to watching in disbelief when he
brought them in the following day and couldn’t understand why they had nothing left but fumes and would be
ignited on the mound.

Williams might have begun losing his clubhouse after last year’s division series. It might have continued when
neither Williams, his brain trust, nor the front office seemed to have a clue about managing the rehabs of the
wounded, or working the slumping out of their slumps.

But this season, factoring most of the above plus his equally maddening habit of failing to tell his players when
they’d have off days until they saw it on the day’s lineup card, Svrluga’s series exposed the disconnect once and
for all, when he cited Jayson Werth—likewise discovering his off day by seeing the lineup card and never hearing
it from the skipper—cornering Williams and demanding to know, “When exactly do you think you lost this team?”

“He’s like the guy in his house who hears a sound, like someone breaking in,” said an unnamed Nat to Svrluga.
“And his reaction isn’t to take care of the problem or investigate. It’s to put his head under the pillow and hope it
goes away.”

If that was Williams, Rizzo could be the guy in his house who puts a fire out with gasoline. Approaching the non-
waiver deadline, Rizzo had a team who needed help at the plate and in the middle relief corps. (So who told him to
trade Tyler Clippard, who’d come back to haunt him as a Met?) He had a revived closer who nailed 29 of 31 save
opportunities and a nifty 1.64 ERA as of the day before the deadline.

Allowing limited resources in the wake of landing Scherzer on a $210 million deal, Rizzo decided the way to fix
those plate and middle relief issues was to deal for . . . a closer with a reputation for on- and off-the-mound
combustibility. Pushing Storen into a setup role, misplacing veteran Casey Janssen—a former closer now suited
better to a setup role, and showing a solid 2.82 ERA before the deadline—into the seventh inning role.

Storen and Janssen were a mess from then on. For the Nats players, whom Svrluga describes as practically fainting
when the Papelbon deal was made, it felt like a betrayal considering their fondness for Storen and admiration for the
ways he’d pitched his way back from often humiliating adversity.

Then Storen came into a 9 September game against the Mets only to see Yoenis Cespedes (if there’s an award for
Most Valuable Trade Deadline Acquisition, Cespedes would probably share it with David Price this year) send his second
pitch over the left center field fence. He got the last two outs of the inning, then in abject frustration slammed his
thumb into his locker’s lock box—and couldn’t bring himself to admit it until two days later, in Florida, when he couldn’t
throw.

Broken thumb, season done. Broken team, season done. And that was before Papelbon v. Harper.

The long Nationals nightmare may be over at last. But that might be nothing compared to the one they face this winter.
Whom to succeed Williams? Should Rizzo himself face the executioner?

Whom to bring in in the event they lose Zimmermann, Ian Desmond, Denard Span, and Doug Fister (who fisted his way
out of the rotation and into the bullpen) to free agency? Can they re-balance a lineup that had only one everyday
lefthanded bat (Harper) and rarely got to look at lefthanded pitching?

Will a promising kid corps (Rivero, Ross, outfielder Michael A. Taylor, middle infielder Trea Turner) begin keeping their
promise next year? Can they rid themselves of Papelbon and his $11 million 2016? (Assuming nobody else in baseball
wants him, is there any formal rule saying you can’t trade a baseball player to the NHL or the UFC?)

And will the next Nationals manager see the icebergs before one of them the Titanic?

[DCPatriot]

Actually, he was hired back by the Diamondbacks as a coach in the off-season.

I wrote his managerial obituary thus when he was executed last October:

Okay....WHO ARE YOU?

I swear I was reading Boswell, there.

I am not worthy, @EasyAce !   

[DCPatriot]

Wow!

The NATS just won a CLASSIC for the ages....taking the rubber game vs. the CUBS in 12 innings.

Werth comes through once again, hitting the top of the RC wall, just a foot from leaving the park.   Michael A. Taylor, on 1b was running on the pitch.

So...another interview on field...audio sounding thru the park...and the jumbo tron showing Jayson Werth....

1st question....:" Jayson...this was one for the age...the back and forth...what are you feeling right now?"

Werth raises both his arms and screams "HOLY SHIT!"

The guy comes back with the mic and says....under his breath...but heard thru the park..."We can do without the cursing...."

Werth: ( even louder )    "KISS MY ASS!"


Gotta love these guys.   

[DCPatriot]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1BkzCf6olE

[Polly Ticks]

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/184321684/braves-freddie-freeman-hits-for-cycle

Freeman hit for the cycle last night, AND the Braves won in extra innings -- both of which are rare feats these days.

[DCPatriot]

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/184321684/braves-freddie-freeman-hits-for-cycle

Freeman hit for the cycle last night, AND the Braves won in extra innings -- both of which are rare feats these days.

Not fond of the Braves and that "tomahawk cheer"...but as an Orioles' fan..I sure do feel bad for Nick Markakis.

I'm hoping they will trade him to a contender...after all the bridesmaid seasons in Baltimore.   

[Polly Ticks]

Not fond of the Braves and that "tomahawk cheer"...but as an Orioles' fan..I sure do feel bad for Nick Markakis.

I'm hoping they will trade him to a contender...after all the bridesmaid seasons in Baltimore.

I'm a huge Markakis fan, no matter where he ends up. 

[DCPatriot]

I'm a huge Markakis fan, no matter where he ends up.

Yep...a fan's player.   Works hard..keeps his head down...involved in the community, etc..

Buck Showalter hated to see him leave.  But, you've only got so many years to make the $$$.

[Neverdul]

Not fond of the Braves and that "tomahawk cheer"...but as an Orioles' fan..I sure do feel bad for Nick Markakis.

I'm hoping they will trade him to a contender...after all the bridesmaid seasons in Baltimore.

Having grown up in Baltimore I am an O's fan but haven't been following them much since I moved to PA.  But they are having a pretty good season this year so I'm going to have to look for games on TV up here.

I'm pretty sure I saw Markakis play in 2004 when he was with the Aberdeen Ironbirds. 

[DCPatriot]

[Tyler] Wilson 3-hitter, Jones homer helps Orioles beat Red Sox 5-1 [takes 1st place in AL East]

BOSTON -- Tyler Wilson allowed three hits over eight innings, Adam Jones added a home run and three RBI, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Thursday night.

The victory gives the Orioles their second series win this season over their American League East rivals.

video of great performance at link

http://espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=360616102

[DCPatriot]

Having grown up in Baltimore I am an O's fan but haven't been following them much since I moved to PA.  But they are having a pretty good season this year so I'm going to have to look for games on TV up here.

I'm pretty sure I saw Markakis play in 2004 when he was with the Aberdeen Ironbirds.

It's amazing what Buck Showalter gets out of his guys.

The Yankees would give him the world to get him in their dugout.

[EasyAce]

It's the Angels' turn to get their Freak on . . . Tim Lincecum started on Saturday:

* Threw a deadly looking changeup 38 percent of the time.
* Got ten of his outs on that pitch.
* Surrendered only one run in six and a third.
* 7-1, Angels, your final against Oakland.

If Lincecum keeps pitching like that and using that changeup the way he did today,
it could mean serious help for the Angels this year and next and a BIG load off
their pitching woes. He hadn't looked this good since his better days with the Giants.

[DCPatriot]

Oh-oh....are the METS crashing even BEFORE the Dog Days of August?

...losing another one to the BRAVES.

NATS win tonight, the lead goes to 7  games.   

[Leto]

It's amazing what Buck Showalter gets out of his guys.

The Yankees would give him the world to get him in their dugout.

Of course the Yankees used to have uck in the dugout and showed him the door.

[DCPatriot]

Of course the Yankees used to have Buck in the dugout and showed him the door.

Billy Martin, anyone?   

[DCPatriot]

A special tip of the cap to you @Polly Ticks for showing the rest of the league that the METS are mortal.  And wounded.

Love the come from behind win tonight. 4-3.   

[sinkspur]

Rangers up 10 games in the AL West. It's a very weak division, but Rangers have a very young, very good team.  And Manager Jeff Bannister is willing to risk playing kids like Jurickson Profar and Nomar Mazzarra, who are shining in the lineup.

Pitching's holding up so far.  Rangers right there with the Orioles in the number of players (6) who have 10 or more homers.

See you guys in October.

[Polly Ticks]

A special tip of the cap to you @Polly Ticks for showing the rest of the league that the METS are mortal.  And wounded.

Love the come from behind win tonight. 4-3.

I got home late, but made it in time to catch all the late-inning fireworks.  Very exciting game!

[MajorClay]

Go Rangers!   

[DCPatriot]

Go Rangers!   

Yes, we used to refer to the Rangers as "Orioles' West".  Trades on the field, but also hires from the O's organization.

Today...a lot of the former O's brass are in the Blue Jays' organization.   

There was such a thing as Orioles' Magic.