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The sensational phenom and savior of the Nationals (Stephen Strasburg) felt tightness in his shoulder as was pulled from his start on Tuesday to a chorus of boos.
Tracee Hamilton of the Washington Post expressed that she hoped it was only due to disappointment.

Of course, the boos were due to disappointment. If it's fair to say that in the four games Strasburg doesn't start (along with discounting games played vs. Philly & NY team fans) the Nationals draw slightly under 20,000 fans while attendance spikes up to an estimated 40,000 fans for home games when he pitches, then it illustrates just how powerful a draw Strasburg has become. Fans chart out Strasburg's day in the pitching rotation. He even draws higher attendance for the teams when the Nationals travel for road games.

Fans have every right to vent their disappointment and frustration for one of the few games they honestly wanted to invest their hard earned time and dollars into seeing Strasburg only to have the rug pulled out from under them for a fill in starter. It's not like Riggleman came out on the jumbotron to announce that as a precautionary measure to ensure that the franchise and fans can enjoy many more Strasburg games that he would be pulled due to concern over a shoulder injury.

It's probably fair to assume that if most fans had the knowledge about Strasburg's arm they wouldn't have sent boos to Batista and the home team.

The point Hamilton appears to be missing is the 40,000 in attendance actually cared enough to plot out Strasburg games to witness something special. The fans wanted to see a true home team legend in the making type player for a city that hasn't had too much to cheer about come playoff time in any sport other then college basketball.

The boos should ring in the Lerner's ears as a message to become buyers and not sellers in the trade deadline market or at least stand pat with the top tier players such as Dunn, Willingham, and Capps. This is a time to excite the crowd even more by showing a willingness to spend and encourage fans to show up in droves to more than just one game out of every five.

Strasmas mania continues. On Thursday, on the Late Show with David Letterman, Nationals phenom pitcher Stephen Strasburg delivered a pretty decent Top Ten List. Of course Letterman's staff wrote them, but Strasburg delivered it well. With his next start this coming weekend in Cleveland against the Indians, can the Strasburg Fever continue? Watch the Top Ten below.

The most anticipated call up in the short Washington Nationals history was a success. That is if you count 14 strikeouts in 7 innings a success. Stephen Strasburg, in his Major League debut downed the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2. Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps each pitched a scoreless inning to solidify the win. The important stats: 7.0 IP, 14 K, 0 BB, 2 H, 2 ER, 2.57 ERA. Oh plus this...he clocked 100 mph a few times, averaging 99 mph on his fastballs. Also there are reports that on the MASN telecast, they recorded at least one pitch at 101 mph.

The crowd was there for a show and Strasburg did not disappoint. We could feel that a good outing was coming. When the Pirates' Delwyn Young lofted a home run to right field to take them to a 2-1 lead, it showed that the young pitcher was human. But the best part was the reaction. He came back out confident and struck out his final 7 batters. The 14 overall strikeouts set a Nationals record in one game for a pitcher. It was something to see. The soldout crowd roared at every strikeout. We barely sat the first inning as every pitch was reviewed by the fans.

While it was Strasburg's night, the pitcher had solid defense behind him. Adam Dunn launched a 2 run home run while Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham provided solo shots.

Even the expert and analysts were in awe. Listening to ESPN Radio's MIke & Mike show, their baseball people one after another noted how great his start was. On the Internet, in particular Twitter, the term "#Strasmas" was coined to describe the debut.

Of course we are talking about one game. Strasburg has many more to come. It will be how the opponents prepare for him. For the few teams that might see him multiple times this season, what will they do to adjust? Time will tell, but savor the moment for now. Strasmas might go down in the books as the day baseball truly returned to the Nation's Capital.

The Nationals selected 17 year old Bryce Harper (OF) as the #1 overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft last night. Harper, who spent much of his time at catcher, will be fast tracked to the majors by playing in the outfield vs. spending time behind the plate and risking injury. If he lives up to his potential Washington could find the corner outfielder so desperately needed. He possess the speed, arm, power, and defensive prowess that the team has been lacking in the OF. The promise of another possible game changing player to don a Nationals uniform marks this week as the week that could turn around a franchise mired at the bottom the past few years.

Stephen Strasburg's time to shine in the major league spotlight begins tonight (officially). Strasburg's talent has been showcased all season as one of his minor league starts aired on MASN. Tonight the city of Washington, Nationals fans, and baseball fans from all over get to witness one of the most anticipated spectacle in years to watch what could be the next great pitcher of this generation. The last time such excitement was in the air that forced networks to interupt programming was Sosa/McGwire's HR Chase or Cal Ripken's streak. Time will write its own story on Strasburg's career, but tonight Nationals fans can delight in the beginning of the Stephen Strasburg story that could turn around the franchise. Let tomorrow start the talk of whether the Nationals can sign Harper (a Boras client) or how Strasburg fares in his debut and let the Nationals fans bask in the glow of the past two days and dream of what could be.

On the day Ken Griffey Jr retires and the Stanley Cup gets interesting, we are discussing Armando Galarraga's near perfect game. And not in the good way. As you probably know by now, a mistaken call by first base umpire Jim Joyce, with 2 outs in the ninth, cost the Detroit Tiger the rare gem. Well maybe not so rare, since it's been done by Roy Halladay just a few days ago and Dallas Braden recently.

Viewing the video (embedded below) clearly shows Cleveland's Jason Donald out at 1st by a step. It wasn't one of those close call incidents. Yet Joyce, in an interview afterwards, had fully believed Donald was safe. But to his credit, he admitted his mistake, and went to Galarraga and apologized. The pitcher in return, accepted the apology. Class act by both, especially Galarraga, who has every right to be mad because he was robbed of his chance to be the in record books.

Besides Griffey, Galarraga, and Joyce himself, Tiger OF Austin Jackson was maligned by the mistake, as he made an incredible catch at the beginning of the inning to preserve the perfect game chance. No one is really discussing that. From all corners of the sports world, opinions were given as to what to do. On ESPN Radio's Mike & MIke show, the likes of NCAA Analyst Jay Bilas, SportCenter & NFL Live's Trey Wingo, and NFL Analyst Adam Schefter provided their take. Schefter had an interesting position. Have the game declared a "28 Out Perfect Game", making it such a gem, it could almost never be matched, and also allow Major League to make a one-time change.

More importantly though, this play may finally show Commission Bud Selig that instant replay is needed beyond Home Run or Foul Ball. While there should be nothing regarding balls and strikes, which are subjective, objective instances, such as whether a baserunner is safe or out should be available for review. At worst, make it reviewable in the 9th inning only.

The date has finally been set. The Nationals announced that Stephen Strasburg will make his Major League Baseball and Washington debut on June 8, at home facing the Pittsburg Pitrates. It was what everyone had anticipated, and now it's set.

Strasburg's work in the minors have done wonders for the minor league stadiums he's pitched in. They've sold out many of the games. His arrival in Washington comes at a great time. The Nationals are hovering over a .500 record backed by good pitching and offense. There have been down times, like giving up 2 inside the park home runs in back to back series, but even those were wins. Strasburg should further shore up the starting rotation.

The question now asked is can they play this way the rest of the season and make a run at a wild card berth? In all likelihood, it's not going to end that way, but the prospects just look better with Strasburg on the top level. The day prior to his MLB debut, it's expected that the team will be drafting catcher Bryce Harper. The future is now and later for the Nationals. The end of the 2010 season could prove interesting. Even better is the 2011 season. But we shouldn't look that far. Let's just enjoy June 8.

So in the span of about a month, I have given up season tickets to both the Redskins and the Nationals. Before I continue, I should define what I mean by season tickets. To me, it means a plan that includes several games over the course of the season. In the case of the Redskins, it was the entire season. In the case of the Nationals, it was a 20 game plan. There were a number of issues that came up to help to make these decisions. Economy and the performance of the team were common in both, but there were others specific to the teams and sports.

Over the course of my post-college adult life, I have owned or been part of a group that owned tickets to the Redskins, Nationals, Orioles, Capitals, and Terps Men's Basketball. I'm down to just the Terps now. My alma mater holds a great place in my life, and they could be in a losing season...I'll still watch them anytime.

For the Orioles and Capitals, it came to distance and time commitments respectively. Baltimore is not that far, but committing to every Sunday game (and for awhile, several weeknight games as well), just wasn't great. The nail in the coffin for the Orioles was when the Nationals arrived in town. The Capitals are a great ticket to have, but my work got in the way and I just could not commit to any games ahead of time to justify keeping those tickets.

The Nationals was easy. The 20 game plan was not onerous. We even actually split the tickets so I was only obligated to about 10 games a season. But in reality, why should I prepay for games they decide I should buy when I can show up on virtually any gameday, 10 minutes before first pitch to buy the exact same seats and probably have a 90% chance of getting them? It sounds harsh, and I'm becoming what the team does not need...a fan who barely spends money on them. Note to the Lerners, I'm probably not the only one.

The Redskins was much tougher, yet was easily justifiable. I once had season tickets in the upper level for a couple of seasons during the Norv Turner era. Then I had given up until a friend decided he was interested in getting premium seats (lower level). So for the past few seasons, we have been 20-30 rows from the field, in the end zone, cheering on those fans. This past season, we were upgraded to the club level to test out the seats there. But ultimately, it was not enough to keep our interest. Besides some personal issues, the Redskins simply don't have the draw any longer. The price was not justified and while the fan experience there is great, watching games on TV is almost as good as being there. After you weigh in parking, getting there, and the simple hassle of possibly not sitting an entire half, it was too easy a thing to drop.

One day, I hope to reacquire some of these tickets. I may sound like a fair weather fan, but a dozen or so Terps games is plenty. Add in the occassional ticket I'll be purchasing as a one-off game for all these teams, I'll still end up going to 25 or so sporting events live each year. Which means I'll essentially creating my own season plan.

Is same as the old. Well, more concisely, the interim no more. Jim Riggleman was announced as the Nationals permanent Manager tonight, Veteran's Day. As The Sports Freak just commented in our discussion of this minutes ago, it's almost appropriate as Riggleman seems like the grandpa that will tell you war stories.

Initial reaction is why Riggleman? Rumors had little, if anyone really looked at by GM Mike Rizzo and the Lerners. Former Mets and recent Japanese league manager Bobby Valentine was considered. Maybe Valentine cost too much? Or maybe he turned it down. Riggleman was a good choice to fill the interim role. But he showed little in his time to prove that he deserves the job on the permanent basis. Is it his fault? Not entirely, as former manager Manny Acta lost his job for the same reason...non-production from a team that CAN NOT produce, thank you Jim Bowden.

Well, positively for Rizzo, at least the Nationals didn't go through the debacle that the Redskins had hiring their leader until settling for Jim Zorn.

Anyone?

Yes, the World Series is still going on. But the Nationals season has been done for about a month now and one could argue has been done since June, but there has been little talked about the next manager. Is Mike Rizzo doing anything about it?

We have to believe Rizzo is making the rounds, and checking out potential candidates. But this isn't like the NFL where you might be waiting out an assistant to finish his current team's playoff run. Maybe, but there are great candidates out there. Why have we heard little about it? The only thing I've seen is a small comment in an article about the front office changes. Riggleman as the permanent? Really? He's done OK, but is this a great improvement over Manny Acta? BTW, congrats to Acta for getting interviewed in both Houston and Cleveland and landing the Cleveland job.

The Lerners and Rizzo need to pound the pavement. Eventually all these high draft picks may produce a great major league team. The right manager would help too. One early rumor who is still available is Bobby Valentine. He's a great analyst and may end up permanently at ESPN, but he could be the right man for the Nationals. Will the Nationals be the right team for for him?

Remember way back when, like almost 20 years ago, when the Redskins last won a Superbowl? Then a series of events occurred that was going to bring sports championships (plural is intentional).

1. Wizards being declared a team to be reckoned with.
2. Capitals make it to the Stanley Cup Finals.
3. Baseball returns to Washington.
4. Redskins sign/hire Spurrier, Gibbs, Haynesworth, Campbell

In Pardon the Interruption style, Toss Up, though we'll change it up a bit and give you a few choices. I get the feeling I already know the answer.

Thursday night, the Washington Nationals achieved the century mark by gaining their 100 loss of the season. Surprisingly the team was in the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers until late. It was back and forth with the Dodgers taking a 1 or 2 run lead and then within an inning or two, the Nationals fight back to one run down. They even tied it all up at 6. But the loss would come, unlike Wednesday night when they won against the same Dodger team.

More importantly than the one game, the 100th loss marks the second season in a row the team goes over a century. Not good when you open a publicly funded stadium and reward the city and fans with 2 sub-subpar seasons.

GM Mike Rizzo thought it best to relieve Manny Acta of his managing duties midway through the season, which didn't solve much. Jim Riggleman might be considered for the position permanently, but it's likely the team will go outside the organization to find the new manager. The interesting part is they never gave Acta, nor Riggleman in relief, much of a chance. The team was built by former GM Jim Bowden in terrible fashion, by acquiring has been, never was, or unwanted players of other teams. Player development went by the wayside and those that made it got shipped off in those trades.

In the end, no matter who manages the team, the Nationals need strong players to be selfless and play as a team well. They lack a true field leader. Maybe Ryan Zimmerman can fulfill that role, but he'll have to step up. The pitching core is both busted and inexperienced. Another season under their belts, the young arms should gain momentum in 2010. Is it enough? Maybe not for 2010, but we can shoot for a smaller goal than pennants. Let's see if we can go 99 or less.

Jim Riggleman has done a decent job since the Nationals fired Manny Acta. While some feel Manny had to go, others think Manny would have similar success at this point in the season with this team. Nyjer Morgan just does not get that good because of Riggleman.

That said, thoughts of what is going to occur in 2010 with the team are afloat. Of course there will be that pesky pitching thing. But who will lead this time? Funny that it is now rumored Bobby Valentine and Buck Showalter are on the Nationals list of interviews. The Sports Freak and I discussed this very topic when Riggleman took over. Well, not Showalter, but definitely Bobby V.

Showalter, I had not anticipated. I'm curious to see what he can bring to the table, but that may be the issue. Good solid veteran manager is what the Nationals need. While Showalter has been around awhile, I don't know if he fits the bill.

Valentine was a manager in MLB, probably most famously with the New York Mets. Once after being ejected from a game, he decided to return to the dugout with fake glasses, nose, and moustache. A little humor and personality just might be whtat the Nationals need in a leader. He currently manages a team in Japan, but they will not renew him after this season.

The baseball historian in me would have liked to have seen John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine all enter the Hall of Fame together in the same class. This would most likely have been the case if Smoltz hadn't attempted to give it one more try when he pitched for the Red Sox this year. Maddux retired last year, Glavine was released before he ever pitched an inning this year, so both are eligible to be inducted in 2014. Now Smoltz has to wait another year, assuming he doesn't pitch again next year.

Maybe some baseball writers will not vote for Maddux and Glavine on the first ballot with the intent to vote for them on the second ballot along with Smoltz.

Commissioner Bud Selig may be thrust into the spotlight once more due to comments made by hall of famer Hank Aaron. Selig draws comparisons to grandpa from the TV show the "Munsters". Selig like Grandpa seems to always bungle things up. He's the grandfatherly figure you'd like to see succeed, but more often than not fails and forces a grimacing pose caught on camera time after time. Reaching from the early history of baseball, is this the commissioner of baseball that fans should want weighing in on such a critical issue as Pete Rose's re-instatement?

Pete Rose holds the MLB record for total hits at 4,256. Baseball is a game driven by statistics that help compare one generation of players to another. To hold one of the games most prestigious hitting records would almost certainly punch an automatic ticket to the hall of fame, but there are several key factors involved before Rose could come close to entering the Hall of Fame.

Removing the ban from baseball for Pete Rose and pave the way to the HOF would then clear the way for Shoeless Joe Jackson to enter the HOF, as well. And therein lies the biggest hurdle for Pete Rose. It's the images and comparison to the 1919 Black Sox that links two of the game's greatest players not in the HOF.

Pete Rose could have helped himself by acknowledging so much sooner that he bet on sports including baseball and games involving his own team. He could have become a leading figure to encourage others to seek help for gambling addiction. Rose had a chance to help others see what addiction can do to your life. Rose could have shown that similar to drugs or alcohol, gambling can ravage your life, your family & friends, and tear apart the most important things in your life. And for Pete Rose baseball was the most important part of his life. The goodwill and sympathy from helping others could have made things more difficult for MLB. Pete Rose made all his decisions himself and now lives with the consequences.

To quote then Commissioner of MLB Bart Giamatti from August 24, 1989 - "The banishment for life of Pete Rose from baseball is a sad end of a sorry episode. One of the game's greatest players has engaged in a variety of acts which have stained the game, and he must now live with the consequences of those acts. There is absolutely no deal for reinstatement."

When Pete Rose bet on baseball it conjured images of 1919. The scandal of such players knowingly and willfully throwing a game drew into question the integrity of the sport once again. The ban from baseball for Pete Rose wasn't a personal attack on the player but to ensure when a game is played that it's played fairly, legitimately, and without any question as to the outcome of the game.

Gambling especially on his own sport while in uniform raised speculation as to the outcome of games and as such similar to the 1919 Black Sox where a stiff penalty was levied by Federal Judge Landis & 1st Commissioner of MLB on the Chicago White Sox players to assure that the national past time was indeed a fair game without a pre-determined outcome. He ruled that -

"Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball."

To allow Pete Rose back into baseball and undoubtedly the Hall of Fame would pave the way for Shoeless Joe Jackson to enter the Hall of Fame as well. It tarnishes the game to open pandora's box that's been kept closed all these long years. The integrity of the game would lose its luster when the verdict that assured fans that baseball wasn't crooked could be reversed. Pete Rose may only see the hallowed halls of legends in the Hall of Fame just like everyone else - as a fan. For his fate is forever tied to baseball's storied past of 1919. No matter where he goes in life a string of bad decisions connects and keeps him tethered to a past he can't escape.

Anyone who thinks that Pedro Martinez is going to make any meaningful contribution to the Phillies did not watch him pitch with the Mets the last two seasons.

The main focus of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is on the players who are usual on the roster, but this year it was the smaller names who ended up winning it for the American League.

Tuesday night's game was the shortest game since 1988, but it wasn't short of excitement. While Monday night's focus was on home runs, Tuesday was all about pitching. The American League was able to out pitch the National league despite a rocky start from Roy Halladay. Both teams managed to throw under 120 pitches over eight pitchers, with the AL throwing 108 and the NL throwing 118.

Even though the pitching dazzled it was the AL reserves that ending up being the difference maker.
While Carl Crawford, Curtis Granderson and Adam Jones are not unknowns in the league, they certainly weren't supposed to be more valuable than Jason Bay and Nelson Cruz.

With the game tied at three in the seventh inning, Brad Hawpe hit a drive off of Jonathan Papbelbon. When it looked like it was all but out, Carl Crawford reached up and made what he called the best catch of his career. That grab not only earned him the MVP but most likely also saved the game. It was one of the most spectacular plays of the first half and definitely the play of the game.

In the next half inning it was Curtis Granderson's turn. With one and no one on, Granderson laced a hard hit ball off of Heath Bell over the head of Justin Upton. With the ball careening off of the wall Curtis rounded second and slid head first into the bag at third base. The NL decided to intentionally walk Victor Martinez to get to, what they believed was a non-threat, Adam Jones. After a lengthy at bat Jones finally hit one into the outfield scoring Granderson on the Sac Fly.

These three in the end were the difference makers for the American League, showing why the NL has been unable to win recently. While the NL may have starters to compete with the American League, its reserves are nowhere close the AL's. It is the second year in a row that the reserves have made the difference. Last year it was Justin Morneau and Michael Young who won it for the AL.

If the National League wants to come out of the Mid-Summer Classic with a win in the near future it needs to look past its starters. Sure, it is good to have a great starting line up, but in the end it comes down to the role players. The AL just simply has better ones and that is how they have been unbeaten 13 in a row.

The Washington Nationals fired Manny Acta when the team returned to DC last night after a 5-0 loss the the Houston Astros. This was somewhat a surprise, as the rumours of his departure subsided after a frenzy less than a month ago. Jim Riggleman, the bench coach, is likely to take over in the interim. While a team playing subpar needs changes, the question is why now?

Baseball has come upon the All-Star game break, so putting in new management now is not a surprise. Riggleman can tweak the lineup and/or rotation and pull players from the minors if necessary. Certainly there is no question that the Nationals are terrible and need changes. But if Acta were not here all season, would the team be in contention? This team built by former General Manager Jim Bowden, did not underachieve. It had virtually no pitching and the hitting can not make up for that. Nor can a miracle manager. There are questions as to whether Acta was major league manager material. Alas the Nationals will never know as he never got the chance to field a major league team.

So who's up? While Riggleman has experience, which might be the direction that the team will head toward, he is still below .500 in his managing career with several teams. He will probably get to run the team in interim until th end of the season. Likely the team will have to go outside the organization. This becomes a problem as the team has yet to decide on a permanent replacement for Bowden. Mike Rizzo has kept the team running, but sinking, and made transactions, but has not had a full offseason to work. There is time of course, but the Redskins had time too when Joe Gibbs 2.0 retired and look how quickly they settled hired Jim Zorn.

In yesterday's Yankee game, Derek Jeter was called out on an attempted steal of third base on a play where the replay showed that Jeter avoided the tag at third. But in my opinion, the umpire made the correct call. The throw beat Jeter to the bag, and the third baseman applied a tag on Jeter. The tag missed Jeter only because Jeter held his left hand and arm back as he slid head first into third base, where his body moved forward right into the tag but his hand and arm never got tagged.

The Nationals drafted Drew Storen #10 overall in the 1st Round. Two sirens should have rang for Nationals fans to hear.

The first would have been the change in philosophy from high risk high reward picks involving young high school players vs. a more measured approach by acting general manager Mike Rizzo who prefers more experienced players from college to fully understand the player he's drafting with more time to evaluate players.

The second signal Nats fans should have heard was the sound of money. For all of the money that will be spent on the #1 overall pick Strasburg, the Nationals drafted a reliever early in day one of the draft. Storen signed quickly and could even be rushed (too) quickly to the 40 man roster in September. Adding to the mix the lack of command of Storen's pitches by MLB.com. Drafting another starting pitcher may have cost the Nationals more money. Although the Nationals bullpen lacks the depth and quality in the minor and major league level, drafting a closer for a team that is on pace to secure the number one pick in next year’s draft let alone vie for the league record in futility set by the 1962 Mets with a 120 losses seems premature. Affordable relief pitching can be found early in the offseason if it's a priority. With excellent scouting, young pitchers can also be developed through the system. Two factors that haven't really been addressed in recent seasons.

Would it be that far to fathom that ownership may consider all the money tied up into Strasburg and look for savings elsewhere? Fans may draw a connection between the lack of free agent spending in prior years coupled with a relief pitcher taken so early. Would ownership really have been willing to add Adam Dunn to the roster if they had already signed Teixeira? Fans may already be drawing their own conclusion and are expressing their counterproposal to ownership by the way of empty seats.

After taking back to back series vs. the Yankees and Blue Jays, much of the ballyhooed talk of the Nationals making a change at the helm to bench Coach Jim Riggleman has died down. The front office cleared out the coaching staff after last season with the exception of pitching coach St. Claire who was let go earlier this season. Removing Manager Manny Acta at this point in time won't resolve the underlying issues that permeate through the organization. Acta may have his faults and still have plenty to learn, but it would be interesting to see how he improves as a manager with more talent on the roster.

Stan Kasten and Manny Acta are all that's left from the initial hiring’s of managers and coaches. Former GM Bowden resigned before the start of the season. Firing Acta will neither improve the performance of the players on the roster nor improve the evaluation process of players to acquire. It's a move that would tell fans that ownership can't fire themselves for decisions and missed opportunities in free agency over the years, so the active manager would take the fall. If ownership truly believes that Acta is a solid manager and would be the best manager in the long term then giving him an opportunity to prove himself with more talent would suggest granting him that extra time.

A spectacular performance by SP Ross Detwiler and CF Willie Harris combined for a solid one-two punch to help defeat the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday to ensure a series victory with a 5-3 walk off 2R HR by Willie Harris at Nationals Park.

Detwiler pitched seven stellar innings in one of his best performances of the season as he searched for his first win. He was pulled after 99 pitches. Dukes helped Detwiler’s cause with a double that he tried to stretch into a triple. He was ultimately thrown out at third base, but drove in Nick Johnson before the out. Kip Wells came entered the game in relief with an inherited runner and after a single to LF, Adam Dunn failed to locate the cutoff man and proceeded to throw the ball to home plate allowing the tying runner to advance to 2B and scoring position.

Wells retired two batters in the 8th inning after allowing another run. He was relieved in place of Joel Hanrahan, who twice hasn't been able to hold down the closer status.

After the 7th inning MacDougal could have been called into the game or when Wells found himself in trouble. Instead MacDougal wasn't brought into the game until it was headed into extra innings. If he could log the two innings then why not preserve the victory and call in the closer in the 8th inning?

Ultimately the game was won by a 12 inning walk off 2R HR by Willie Harris who earlier in the game manufactured the first Nationals run of the game almost single handedly with a double and a steal. He also made an unbelievably difficult catch in CF to rob the Blue Jays of a sure hit.

Could extra innings have been averted? Fans will never know. 3B coaches usually get the pink slip for too many bad decisions about sending or not sending runners home. Managers get judged more often by keeping the locker room together as a cohesive group and managing the pitchers. Manny Acta's done a phenomenal job of keeping the team together and looking forward every game, but his handling of the pitchers leaves something to be desired.

Manny often makes similar calls time and time again regarding the pulling of starting pitchers very early in games without allowing the young pitchers to learn how to manage their own pitch count, how to pitch without their best stuff, and how to adjust during a game after the batters have adjusted with their third at bat. Otherwise Manny is creating middle relievers that start the game. It's the experience the starters gain in the later innings that make them a better starter. What clouds the evaluation of Manny's decisions about pitching is the talent he's had over the years on the staff. It will be interesting to see if decisions become easier and better as the talent improves.

The Manny Acta watch is on Day Whatever. His job continues to be on the line and according to the Nationals front office, he will be evaluated on a series by series basis. What confidence they give this man! Seriously, of course changes need to be made to this team. But firing Acta will not immediately improve the team. It may not even improve the team next season. Simply, there is no one out there who can say he's a good or bad manager. He's being evaluated as a miracle manager. That's not the way to run a baseball team.

So now that the worst team in baseball beat the hottest team, does that mean he buys an extra day? Series? Do we chalk it up as a win if they take one of three? Maybe not as they beat Chien-Ming Wang.

If the front office were baseball smart, and it should be after Jim Bowden left, Acta should keep his job through this season. Call up the best minor leaguers in September and see how they stack up against major league competition. By best, I mean the players who are major league ready, so Stephen Strasburg can stay down too, if he still needs tinkering in the minors. While not the best way to evaluate Acta, it's better than canning him now. Jim Riggleman is not a miracle worker either. Unless you can convince a Joe Torre type to take over the team, no manager can turn this team around.

It's anticipated that the Nationals will draft pitching sensation Stephen Strasburg with the first pick in the draft. His resume includes a fastball clocked at 100 MPH as well as some talented breaking pitches. After the selection the Nats front office has to quickly get back to work for the #10 pick in the draft, a compensatory pick for not signing SP Crow in last year's draft.

MLB decimated the Nationals farm system and allowed trades to occur receiving little back as compensation for top tier players. As the Expos moved to Washington, MLB directed GM Bowden to draft more players from college to accelerate their climb to the big leagues.

The Nationals reversed that strategy over the past few seasons looking long term in the hopes that some young arms would soon yield better records for a franchise looking up from the bottom of the league. The organization has signed few free agents the past few years and the depth of young players hasn't translated yet to the major league level.

The fans are waiting for some encouraging signs of life from the team and the Nationals may need to pass on the potential of HS athletes for a more tested and proven player from the college ranks. Ryan Zimmerman worked out nicely for the team. it doesn't mean that the long term strategy is flawed or incorrect, but there's been some misses in the draft causing the club to stay status quo with the exception of the signing of Dunn and a couple trades. Hopefully for Nationals fans the evaluation of talent is correct and will soon find some of the recently drafted players on the big league roster in the not too distant future.

Major League baseball history was recorded yesterday in rain soaked Washington, DC. Randy Johnson, the Unit, won his 300th game of his career. This has been a benchmark for guaranteed Hall of Fame induction in retirement. It also marks the last time we will see one in quite awhile. With the modern era of short careers, bouncing back and forth between bullpen and rotation, and diluted pitching prospects make 300 a long shot for anyone.

While Johnson may not have been the favorite pitcher of his era, we should celebrate his accomplishments. However, I think we should also take the powers that be to task. Why was this game played? Sure, his attempt at 300 was already delayed a day due to rain. But yesterday was no better. The San Francisco Giants do not return to Washington the rest of the season. Maybe that's it. But really that rain was terrible. I don't see any reason this game should have been played except for the Unit.

With the LA Dodgers holding the NL West and the rest of the division in shambles, the Giants could only contend for a wild card berth. Still unlikely as the NL East is still popping with the Phillies, Mets, Marlins, and the reconfigured Braves. Don't forget the Central as well with Cubbies and Cards. The need for these games to be made up at the end of the season are unlikely. So why was the game played? More boggling is that the game was the one scheduled for a 4:30 ET start. 1:30 PT on a Thursday afternoon. The TV draw would be low. The whole decision seems to be a thorough lack of thought.

The Atlanta Braves released Tom Glavine today. He signed a one year contact this season, but never pitched an inning this season, starting it in on the DL with rehab starts in the minors. Glavine has already stated that he wants to pitch somewhere this season.

While reportedly pitching only in the high 80's, he may have value to other teams Nationals?. OK, I may be joking, but I thought this might have been a good fit before he re-signed with Atlanta. Still, a real veteran arm (i.e. not named Cabrera), could give all the pitching a boost, even though the Nationals just replaced their pitching coach. Plus Glavine could draw bigger crowds to Nationals Park given his 305 wins and probable Hall of Fame in the future. His contract with the Braves would have cost at most $4.5 million. While not cheap, that may be a small price to pay to put some respect back in Washington pitching.

The Nationals released Randy St Claire from his pitching coach position yesterday. They replaced him with the AAA pitching coach Steve McCatty. When looking at a team with the highest ERA in the majors, you want to say it is a pitching coach problem. Except you have to look at the Nationals pitchers.

The bullpen frankly sucks. There is no secret about that. While some might argue there was no talent out there, the Nationals truly sat on their hands for pitching, opting to go for hitting power instead. St Claire did not get this team to produce, but I argue that anyone could have. Ultimately its the pitchers out there on the mound and they are responsible for their actions. All St Claire could do is make sure they were as prepared as possible. The talent is just not there.

Now that McCatty is taking over, the pitching might improve. Hey, they held on to the lead in his first game, winning 10-6. Yeah! Wow cheering for 6 runs given up. What I find unbelievable is that time and time again, a mid-season change in coaching is expected to produce. It almost never does. We will see how the Nationals respond long term. But the bullpen is bad. There's no getting around that without acquiring new talent.

Major League Baseball is soon going to come to a point where each team will schedule two pitchers to pitch in a game. With starting pitchers going fewer and fewer innings, the game is headed to a point where teams will need one pitcher to pitch the first four innings and a second pitcher to pitch the next four innings, leaving the remaining inning for a closer or one of the two pitchers if they are pitching well. The pitchers for a Mets game may be announced as Johan Santana and Tim Redding. Santana will pitch innings 1-4 (maybe 5) and Redding pitches the next 4 innings. Bullpens will still be needed to close games and in case one of the two pitchers can't even get through 4 innings.

The roster issues will work themselves out, either by expanding or simply rotating the second pitchers to the minors on the days they are not pitching (they wouldn't actually go to the minors, it would just be a technicality to fit 5 extra pitchers on the rosters).

There are numerous reasons why this type of 10 man rotation seems more and more like a real possibility, and I neither attempt to list or explain the reasons here. Rather I simply mean to observe and speculate about the direction the game of baseball is headed.

Steroids are back in the news and not because Jose Canseco got beat badly in an MMA fight. No, this time it involves the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals.

Richard Thomas, of Florida, was arrested Tuesday and apparently ranted that Nats and Caps were some of his customers. The Capitals and the NHL responded this afternoon and refutes the claims.

It is a wonder why Thomas would specifically name Washington teams and no others. No Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, or Florida Panthers. The details are sparse at this time, so only further investigation will do. These accusations cast a small shadow over the Caps great season. However, this places another level of distraction on the Nationals. Already reeling from poor pitching resulting in a pretty bad season, steroids accusations just pile it on. Testing is not perfect, but there has not been any public notification of steroid accusations for either team.

Now comes the hard part...proving a negative. Both teams need to prove that they didn't take steroids. For the Nationals, it is almost easy to believe, given the bad season they are having. However for the Capitals, it is an image they'll have to fight after a fairly successful season in a very physical game.

On both Saturday and Sunday night’s editions of Baseball Tonight, they had a segment where the analysts were asked who they thought the next 300 game winner might be after Randy Johnson most likely gets 2 more wins this season. Everyone said that no current players will get 300 wins. I think they overlooked someone: C.C. Sabathia. The key is that Sabathia is only 28 years old. He has 120 wins right now, which means he needs 180 more. If he pitches until he is 40 years old, that’s 15 wins a season for the next 12 years. Sure that’s a tall order, but he has the best chance of anyone pitching right now. Signing a big contract with the Yankees won’t hurt him getting run support, which goes a long way towards earning the W.

While the key to getting 300 wins is what you do after the age of 36, out of all of today’s active players, C.C. Sabathia has the best chance of anyone.

Manny is Manny, except when he's not. So what is he now that he has been suspended from playing in MLB for 50 games? From Alex Rodriguez to now Manny Ramirez, baseball has been jolted further by the performance enhancing drugs scandal. In prior seasons, the revelations have been largely taken by stars who have retired or no longer playing, like Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens. Or they were players unknown to even the average baseball fan. With A-Rod and Manny, we've now hit the players around their peak.

While A-Rod is arguably the best player in baseball, his positive result was during the so called "safe time" when steroid testing was merely a phase to see if regular testing was needed. The revelation was an act either intentional or not, of leaked information, that Bud Selig has no grounds to act on.

Manny, however, is to have taken a drug that is on the published ban list. If his doctor really prescribed something in error, then it's a sad mistake. Yet it was one that could still have been avoided. Time and time again, those that blame the prescribers, like Barry Bonds and Manny, all have the option to take the drug to MLB to have it tested.

It is disappointing to see this occur for Manny. A-Rod is hated by much of baseball fandom including some Yankees fans. Manny on the other hand, while irritating, is only hated by the Boston area, and probably New York. It was also interesting timing as A-Rod makes his return to the field tonight and Manny starts his suspension only a day earlier. We'll have to see if these next two months can win back the fans.

The Balitmore Orioles set a league record for going 0-21 to start a season, but don't let the fact that the Nationals have only won one game so far this season fool you. The hitting is dramatically better than last year and should end more losing streaks then had occured last season. Unfortunately for Manny the starting pitching has been relatively poor. The relief pitching on paper is even worse than last year.

Similar to the Wizards, look for the Nationals to monitor Acta closely through the first 20 games especially before a series on the road as the 20 game mark approaches. Eddie Jordan's team was beset by injuries. The Wizards started poorly and shortly there after he was let go. Jordan helped take Washington to consectuive playoff runs which Acta doesn't have on his resume.

A few comments on some recent news regarding the Mets and the Yankees:

I still can't figure out why the sale of Bernie Madoff's Mets tickets on ebay was such a big news story. Big sporting events sell for top dollar on ebay all the time, yet for some reason because Madoff was forced to sell his tickets, it's big news.

Monday brought some sad news for all sports fans with the passing of Harry Kalas. His booming baritone, instantly recognizable, served as the voice of the Phillies for 38 years. Football fans will also be familiar with Kalas's more than three decades of voiceover work for NFL Films. Kalas's enthusiasm and love of baseball, best captured in his signature "Outta here!" home run call, will be sorely missed from Phillies broadcasts. Spring and summer will never sound the same in Philadelphia. The fact that he had become so closely identified with one city and one team, a rarity for sportscasters in this day and age, makes his passing all the more difficult for fans. Thankfully Harry did live to see the Phillies finally win another World Series title last fall, and was there to make the call in a thrilling moment for the city and its longsuffering fans. Fans and friends should take comfort in the fact that he died in the pressbox doing what he loved.

Now that one week of the 2009 Major League Baseball season is under wraps, let's play a little fact or fiction:

The Tampa Bay Rays will make the playoffs in 2009: Fiction.
One piece of fiction about the 2008 Rays was that none of their players had career years. Are you kidding me? Just look at their pitching staff: Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, Matt Garza, Andy Sonnanstine, and James Shields all had career years last year, so if even a couple of them fall back to earth in 2009 it will mean that the Rays won't make the playoffs. Add to the fact that the competition in the AL East is better in 2009 than it was in 2008, and you've got the Rays being left out when October comes around.

The Nationals left Spring Training amid a myriad of hope. This season started with the hope that the relatively young pitching staff can come together and sustain itself over the long course of the season. There’s also the hope that the starting pitching won’t rely heavily upon the questionable bullpen which was overworked much of last year due to starting pitching rarely working deep into games and the hope that the depth in the outfield would yield to more production in scoring. Even after three straight losses it's too early to judge this team and the season. There's still lots to be learned and lots of games yet to be played.

A few quick thoughts on the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic:

• How long will it be before Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish is going to be pitching for a team in the United States?


• Here's a good way to sum up the problem with the team that the United States put together for the WBC: Ted Lilly was the number three starter on the team. If Ted Lilly pitched for the New York Yankees, he wouldn't even be the third best American starting pitcher, never mind in all of baseball. The U.S. can't compete with the rest of the world unless we have our best players on the field.


• Even if the WBC never achieves the recognition that World Cup soccer or Olympic Basketball has, the WBC is still an enjoyable exhibition that I hope sticks around every four years as planned.

Jim Bowden resigned yesterday as General Manager for the Washington Nationals. He cited that it was difficult for him to conduct Nationals business while the allegations of skimming money are still looming over him. He also denied that he participated in that wrongdoing.

We should feel bad for him. While he has not been charged with any crimes, he is "guilty by association" in related aspects. The age scandal over the prospect who is now really 23 instead of 19 or so involved a Dominican player, which is where some of the suspected money skimming has occurred.

Aside from the controversies, we need to analyze Bowden as a GM. He had a tough task ahead of him, taking the Montreal Expos underspent payroll, decimated farm system, and zero fan base to a team that at least you could say was a Major League Baseball team. Then the unenviable task of taking that team and competing against the Mets, Phillies, and Braves, in arguably one of the better divisions in baseball. His work was not stellar, but he has made progress. Sometimes in the process, the GM has to be sacrificed. In a few years, we'll know if Bowden really had the team headed in the right direction.

Manny Ramirez and Angel Presinal have nothing to do with one another except the fact that I want to comment on two recent Major League Baseball topics in one post.

Angel Presinal is the trainer who has worked with Alex Rodriguez and numerous other Major League ballplayers. After seeing the Sunday March 1, 2009 edition of Outside the Lines on ESPN, I have one question regarding Presinal being banned from clubhouses by Major League Baseball: aren't all personal trainers banned from Major League clubhouses? I couldn't find a definitive answer to that question, but I seem to recall hearing about trainers who were not employed by teams being banned by MLB in regards to Jason Giambi a few years ago. The media insinuates that just because Alex Rodriguez used steroids and worked out with Presinal that therefore all players who work out with Presinal use steroids.

Regarding Manny Ramirez rejecting the Los Angeles Dodgers latest contract offer, the reason for the rejection has nothing to do with his agent Scott Boras playing hardball to get more money. Instead, the reason for the rejection simply has to do with the fact that Manny just doesn't want to go to spring training. Look for Manny to accept the Dodgers offer after he is done playing in the World Baseball Classic.

A warning to the organizers of the World Baseball Classic: if you allow Major League teams to prevent players from competing in the WBC, then the event will be doomed to failure. This comes about from a recent news story that the Tampa Bay Rays are preventing Scott Kazmir from pitching in the WBC. Kazmir wanted to pitch but the team won't let him, citing "concerns about his health and workload." While these are valid concerns, every single team could cite these same concerns about every single player. If this attitude is allowed to prevail, the WBC will turn into an Olympic style competition where minor leaguers play to determine the best national team in the world. The WBC's best hope for success is in drawing fan interest to see the top players in the world play for their home countries, not in seeing the second best players. If Scott Kazmir is one of those players, he should be allowed to pitch no matter what the Rays think.

Thomas Boswell wrote an excellent column in the Washington Post today regarding the waiting game on Jim Bowden. It has more insight, but there's no real new news there, so we'll move on to things that are occurring on the field.

Oh wait, this doesn't occur on the field either.

Odalis Perez decides not to show up for Spring Training. Does he call the team? No. E-mail? No. Communication through the agent? No, even the agent is MIA. After signing a $850K minor league contract, Perez is not communicating and not showing up. It reminds me a little of the late Redskins defensive back Sean Taylor. Except Taylor was good, under contract, happy with it, and was seen at the University of Miami. Perez seems to be gone.

From his stats, his best season appears to be 2002, when he had an ERA of 3.00. Not too shabby, but the rest of the time except for 2004, he hovered around 5.00 or higher. And he expects to get a bigger contract? Or maybe he wants a major league one.

I guess time will tell, as now that he's a free agent again, he can test the market. But remember, Manny Ramirez is still out there. Maybe he's got an advantage since he's a lefty pitcher, but they've all reported in the past couple of weeks. Some team will really need that southpaw to sign him. We'll see if he gets closer to a million or is he just getting $875K?

Despite the fact that he is New York Yankee, many people respect Alex Rodriguez as one of the greatest current players, possibly even one of the best of all-time. His Hall of Fame chances were never in doubt, until the past two weeks. Still people say he had a HOF career before taking "boli".

But really there are still so many questions. Was 2001-2003 his only PED taking period? Was it just "boli"? What is "boli"? Too many questions to really say if he should be in the Hall. Jeremy Schaap of ESPN recently discussed this. In the ESPN Extra Point Podcast from 2/20, he discusses the chances of A-Rod's induction. I'll say that this is one of the few times I have agreed with Schaap. I usually find him too arrogant to believe, but here he makes a good argument. A-Rod takes these PEDs for 3 years sure, but what are the long term effects? How do we know they don't have a long lasting tenure to allow him to enhance his play? Moreover, why should he deserve to make it to the Hall when Pete Rose and Joe Jackson are banned for life? Rose and Jackson have been banned mostly for non-play actions, although one could argue their actions have affected play.

So the question now becomes, why shouldn't A-Rod get into the Hall? Arguments are that the Hall of Fame is a museum, so the "good" and the "bad" should be in. But the Smithsonian does not hold induction ceremonies, so how is that the same?

So the Nationals have their own little medical mystery of their own. In July 2006, the Nationals signed Esmailyn Gonzalez as a 16 year old shortstop prospect. However it has been revealed that he has aged to 23 and is really Carlos David Alvarez Lugo as si.com reported Tuesday.

Team President Stan Kasten has called it a deliberate fraud. The juicy details are showing several connections to the Nationals front office, as the team's own website is reporting. It goes as far up as Jose Rijo, special assistant to GM Jim Bowden. Given this little tidbit, I don't think it's a stretch that Bowden is on the hot seat. Rijo and Bowden are being investigated for skimming money designated for development of Dominican players and Bowden's previous drunk driving accusation in Florida are not making this situation easier. Also that Bowden was an MLB hire by previous team president Tony Tavares when the team was still owned by the league and not a Kasten/Lerner hire.

To me, they shouldn't do anything until his contract expires or he is officially charged with said crimes, if he is involved in this Gonzalez Lugo debacle. While his hands have been somewhat tied by a non-public salary cap, his performance as a GM is not the brightest. Not the worst, but not the best. I hope he is clean from all of this and the Nationals can make a clear decision based on his work as the GM.

This seems to be an odd circumstance. Alex Rodriguez was never suspected of using performance enhancing drugs. That is until Sports Illustrated published a little story a couple of weeks ago. I was at work today, so unlike the Roger Clemens fiasco where I was home sick in bed, I am only reading the pieces of the press conference he did today.

What gets even better is the oddities of his story.

- Selena Roberts is a stalker? I am paraphrasing of course, but he seems to have an issue with her. I heard this morning that she received a private apology. However, based on what I read, he did not apologize publicly during the press conference as some might want.

- He didn't know what he took last week, now it's "Boli"? I guess there is truth to that, as he's not sure what Boli is. So now, we've gone from having your teammates shoot you up in the ass, to cousins doing it. Hey, keep it in the family.

We've created this poll. We'll close the voting Friday night.

Adam Dunn signed a two year $20M deal with the Nationals. Initially this article was going to be Dunn done with Nationals, but it appeared Dunn was tired of waiting on Manny to sign with a team. If Manny had signed with the Dodgers that would have limited the options for Adam Dunn and pushed the Nationals offer to the top of the list. If Manny had signed elsewhere, it would have allowed Dunn to possibly fill the void in LA and absorb some of the dollars slotted for Manny. With Bobby Abreu reaching a one year deal with the Angels, the dominos began to fall into place for corner outfielders.

You know we've been looking at Peter Angelos so wrong. Maybe he knew all the problems and got rid of the players at the right time. Miguel Tejada, Rafael Palmiero, and Sammy Sosa...all suspected performance enhancing drug users.

Sosa - The Orioles used his bat for a year. His arrival came with the departure of Jerry Hairston, Jr. Hairston was a problem as he was a better than average second baseman and had to share time with real starter Brian Roberts. Sosa came in with the Cubs footing nearly half of his salary. Orioles opted not to pick up his 2006 year, as he waived the option prior to the trade. Excellent move.

Palmiero - Provided great years for the Orioles, though apparently juiced up. First solid first baseman since Eddie Murray left. In what was going to be his final year anyways, he tested positive. No harm, since it occurred in August or September and the Orioles were already out of the race.

Tejada - This is the one that boggles the mind. How did Houston not see this coming? The Orioles manage to dump him off to the Astros for nothing. He immediately comes under scrutiny for PEDs and now faces charges today of lying to the courts. Another good move, and possibly the best of all.

Amazing. Maybe we've had Angelos wrong all these years. He's genius!

And we thought the Clemens stuff was interesting last year. Unless you have been under roid-rage since Friday, it was revealed that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in the 2003 "survey" testing. On Monday in an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons A-Rod admitted to taking it from 2001-2003.

What's interesting is that this is not the most shocking part, IMHO. It's his accusations against Selena Roberts. Stalking him in NY and Miami? This makes Joe Torre's Single White Female accusations seem plausible, if you didn't believe it last week. Wait, Torre doesn't know SWF. I'm confused. Are there police reports of this? Certainly the part about Roberts attempted break-in while his children were sleeping warranted a call to the authorities?

As to the PED's, A-Rod also notes that he's not sure what he took. Excuse me? From Jose Canseco and his band of "Roiders", we learn that it's best to ask your friend and teammate to inject you in the ass when you need a fix. Now we learn from A-Rod that you just get the stuff, not knowing what it is, and take it. Cyanide pill please?

OK, aside from this shocking revelation, at least he came clean unlike Mark "The Past" McGwire, Sammy "No Hablo Ingles" Sosa, and Roger "Rocket has a totally different meaning" Clemens. Maybe he'll get into the Hall of Fame. Because we have also learned from Pete Rose that lying to the baseball public is the worst sin possible.

Tom Glavine, an Atlanta Braves great and arguably one of the best all time lefties, is showing interest in pitching for the Naitonals. His choice is to resign with the Braves, but if that is not the case, he might turn to Stan Kasten, current Nationals team president and former Braves excecutive.

This is not exactly the best choice for the Nationals in pitching. Glavine might have a best a couple of years left in him, but if they are looking to improve on last season's abismal record, Glavine could give them those extra few wins. Even with his age, he is probably better than all the current projected rotation, except possibly Daniel Carbrera. If the Braves do pass on him, Washington should not hesitate to work a deal, especially given the relationship he already has with Kasten.

Mark Teixeira, a Maryland native, was introduced as a Yankee. Mark recounted his love of baseball and his dad taking him to Orioles games as a child. He smiled as he said he was a fan of Mattingly even though he loved Cal (Ripken) & Eddie (Murray). He would wear a Yankees cap in the late 80s and early 90s to Yankees/Orioles games. Teixeira then regaled the audience what it was like to be a Yankee. As Bill Simmons said in his most recent mail bag article, "More!" Maybe Teixeira appreciated the Nationals offer even though he didn't sign with them. After all, he didn't trash the Nats.

One of baseball's greatest players phone is silent. Will the Nationals place a call to Ken Griffey Jr.? It's a familiar sound to hear that when he's healthy Griffey can still produce and do it well. The Nationals know all too well from dealing with Nick Johnson's injuries. While everyone is concentrating on other players, Washington could secure a steadying influence in the club house and the outfield by signing a future hall of famer.

For a team like Washington looking to rebuild the organization with players from the farm system, signing a player like Griffey, Jr. will provide the right type of player to help augment the development of the younger players on the team. It couldn't hurt in negotiations with Dunn to have one more player on the team he's already knows. Name one player on the Nationals roster that any free agent would say here's a player I want to play with and the answer would probably be zero, but add a player like Griffey, Jr. and that would change. There's something about talking baseball in the club house with one of the games greats. It's just one more selling point to prospective free agents.

Rumors on the boards suggest the Nationals are interested in Milton Bradley of the Rangers (OF). Just what the Nationals need another outfielder that may hit around 20 home runs. Signing Bradley after missing out on the Teixeira sweepstakes would sink any fan's 'Battleship'. The Nats possibly signing Bradley would be acceptable if he was the missing component towards winning a division title or championship. His signing with the Nationals would bring neither. It would only clutter the outfield with more of the same.

The only thing palatable about signing Bradley if they fail to sign any marquee players would be for the front office to hand out board games to every fan in attendance for every game Milton Bradley plays. At least it would provide the fans something to watch during the games. If the Nationals are completely locked out of signing any significant players during the offseason, it would mean more to invest the money into the community with charity work and donations to some favorite charities rather than over pay for a player that won't dramatically change the record of this team.

The Nationals may have lost out on acquiring Teixeira, but they shouldn't rest on their laurels or assume that the relationship between Dunn and Bowden is strong enough for him to sign with the Nationals over contender ready teams strapped with cash to spend. With other teams in a far more attractive position to court Dunn, the Nationals need to move more quickly to ensure that a trend of coming up short this offseason doesn't leave ownership and fans out in the cold.

The Nationals may not have landed Teixeira, but it was an encouraging sign by the Lerner's that they're willing to spend money on quality free agents as they continue to rebuild the franchise. They have rebuilt the front office, scouting department, and the farm system besides entering a new stadium with all types of amenities.

The Nationals didn't send any mixed signals about making a legitimate offer to Teixeira. Their offer was as high as any team still in the bidding war for his services. The team has been reluctant to sign any high priced free agents while instead focusing on rebuilding the infrastructure of the franchise that was decimated by MLB's ownership of the Expos. This would supposedly lead to a healthier team as the farm system was also rebuilt.

Buster Olney of ESPN recently wrote that the Nationals shouldn't have even entered the sweepstakes. "But what in the heck are the Nationals doing in this poker game? What in the heck are the Orioles doing in this conversation?

They should not be bidding. They should call Scott Boras, the agent for Teixeira, three minutes ago and tell him -- like someone who accidentally raises his hand at an auction -- Look, sorry for the misunderstanding, but we made a mistake. We really didn't mean to make that $160 million offer. ESPN.

The recent big name free agents that the New York Yankees have signed may at first seem like a huge increase in payroll. But what I have not seen mentioned or analyzed is the fact that the Yankees are really just replacing big contracts of outgoing free agents rather than adding significantly to their payroll.

The Yankees caught many off guard by making an initial offer and quietly sat back to then walk away at the end with the most prized free agent this off season. Teixeira is in the prime of his career. After the Angels pulled out of the bidding war and the Orioles fell behind most speculated that the Red Sox had the inside track over the Nationals with the Yankees a mere spectator. What does such high price spending leave for the rest of the league?

The Nationals appear to still be in the running for Teixeira. What will the Nationals do if they're able to sign him? That's not just what some Nats fans will be thinking, but Teixeira as well. What did the Nationals front office communicate to Boras and Teixeira? If Boras would require an escape clause to option out after three or four years, how will the Nationals continue to build around him other than hope for the farm system continue to develop?

Its music to Nats fans ears to see the Nationals making such a sizable offer to the most prized free agent this offseason. It shows a willingness by ownership to spend money to win as well as squash any rumored differences of Kasten and ownership.

A potential trade between the Rockies and Nationals involving (SP) Tim Redding and (CF) Willy Taveras fell apart after one player failed his physical ESPN. It's not mentioned which player failed the physical, but Redding did have foot surgery a few weeks ago. If it was Redding, then it's too bad the Nats couldn't due more to sweeten the trade offer like toss in a Kearns to dump some salary and one of the many corner outfielders on the roster plus receive a mid round pick back in the draft. Hopefully this trade isn't completely dead.

For a power pitcher, it's always been interesting to watch Redding throw against pitchers in games. He gave up multiple hits to pitchers in one game that included a home run. He danced around the plate showcasing his pitches, instead of blowing three fast balls right by the pitchers. Redding rarely made it to the 7th and sometimes 6th innings. The third time through the order gave him difficulties. Although it is true that the Nationals need more pitching, the addition of a potential leadoff hitter that can steal bases and compensate for others in the outfield with his speed and defensive abilities would have been welcomed in Nationals Park.

Is it true that the Nationals could be courting Manny to play in DC? Washington Post - Manny. Let's hope not. This is Manny at 36 and not 28 or 30. Manny may not be the big draw some would think, where Soriano was in his prime and was a draw to the game when he play here.

Manny also brings all of his wonderful clubhouse charm and for a team that already has several players with a troubled past the Nats will need more than just a slugger. There's so much speculation and rumor floating about, but with so much on the line going into the second season in a new ball park the Nats should aim higher.

The winter meetings in baseball are heating up as the holiday season approaches. Will Santa Claus bring Nationals fans the slugger and pitching they so desperately need or will fans receive a lump of coal? Trade rumors are fluttering about with most pundits perceiving the Nationals as an afterthought. It's known who the Nats are interested in and what their needs are, but will any prized free agents want to dance in DC? Boswell reported earlier in the Washington Post that an eight year deal for Teixeira may fall short of Boras ten year asking price, but will at least force our local team into the equation and a decision. ESPN also has reported the rumor of 8yrs at $20M per yearESPN Buster Olney.

The Nationals acquired outfielder Josh Willingham and starting pitcher Scott Olsen from the Marlins in exchange for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio and minor leaguers Jake Smolinski (SS) and P.J. Dean (P) Nats Trade. Willingham (29) has battled injuries throughout his career and has topped the 20 homerun mark. Unlike more recent Nats starting pitchers, Olsen has made it through an entire season. He’s an innings work hog that should provide relief for an overworked bullpen.

Where was "the greatest clutch hitter of all time" when the Red Sox needed him the most this year? David Ortiz hit a paltry .186 and had an OPS of .676 this post-season. In 2002 Ortiz hit .276 with zero home runs and an OPS of .655 in the post-season. In 2003 Ortiz hit .191 with an OPS of .645 in the post-season. How are any of those numbers "clutch?"

Apparently Cubans don't like Cuba either. At least not in the current state it's in. Reports are that 2 Cubans are missing from their hotel in Arlington and presumed defecting to the US. The Cuban National Team in in town to play the US National Team in a World Cup qualifying match. This seems to happen everytime a Cuban sports team touches American soil. It would seem that the Castro regime would not allow their team to travel to the US for any sporting events.

The current slate of missing players, while not confirmed as defections, reminds us of baseball players like Livan and Orlando Hernandez with their defections. Even Fidel Castro was a great baseball prospect who let his political aspirations get in the way of a Major League career.

The Nationals broke into the new Nationals Park with a story book ending game winning home run from Zimmerman. Although no one thought the Nationals would contend for a playoff berth this year, the hope was to follow up on a previous season without as many injuries and questions about pitching. As the season progressed, starters were barely able to make it into the seventh inning let alone log a complete game with any consistency. The starting pitchers and Acta created a tired bullpen staff.

With the team in need of a top pitcher and a cleanup hitter to protect Zimmerman, Guzman, and Dukes, how will the Nationals be able to sign what is hopefully Stephen Strasburg when the Nats couldn't even sign this year's top pick? To make matters more interesting, Scott Boras appears to be advising Strasburg Nats Possible Pick. This offseason will tell the future of how the current ownership runs the team.

The Nationals season came to a bitter end this past Sunday. While most of the DC area was reveling in the Redskins upset win over Dallas, the Washington Baseball Team got swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in the final series of the year. The Nats finish the season 59-102, because last Thursday's game against the Florida Marlins was rained out and was not rescheduled since it would have no affect on the outcome of the division.

Another lousy season goes by. Many of the fans did not want Frank Robinson released from his managing postion at the end of the 2006 season. But Manny Acta has worked hard to get the team up and running. Nobody expected the team to contend immediately. Baby steps are needed and they seem to be treading lightly.

On the field, the greatest need is pitching. From top to bottom, rotation to bullpen, the Nationals need arms. Just don't invite 1,000 pitchers to Spring Training like it was done in the past. Off the field, will Jim Bowden keep his job as General Manager? He joined the team before the Lerners purchased the Nationals from MLB and has had some questionable moves. Paul LoDuca anyone? The acquisitions of Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes are only a year old, but some thought they were risky when the transactions were made. Bowden may get to keep his job for now, as no one had expected a contender. The question remains will the Lerners and their team president, Stan Kasten, wants to keep him around or hire their own GM.

The Nationals are on the edge of 100 losses. Only way to stop it now is run the table, since they are 99. The Seattle Mariners decided that there was no reason to hold back and broke the triple digit mark already.

The Sports Freak and I attended last nights game, the penultimate of the home games. Well, I say attended because after the first pitch, we had pretty much decided to leave early and did so in the 4th inning. Hey, it's a school night. The day job had me traveling out of town Thursday, so staying until the end would not have been good. The picture is from the moment we left. At least we got to see them score one run.

While I'm still rooting for those pesky Nats to avoid the 100, I can't ignore this bad streak they've been on. Although if they do win out, they screw up those Phillies in the NL East, if those Mets can get it together. That kind of gives me a good feeling.

As the 2008 MLB season comes to an end, the Nationals are ready to set a franchise record for losses unless they win four of their last five games. Big Money Tony, would like the Nationals to avoid this dubious achievement. Five or ten years from now will anyone remember a 100 loss season from a 99 loss season? 100 Losses. No, but fans could remember that this was the year that finishing with so many losses provided one of the best and most heralded pitching prospects to enter the draft in the last decade.

The Nationals are in the midst of their final homestand for the 2008 season. While there was promise with the likes of Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge joining, there was no expectation of a playoff run this year. Note that I didn't mention Paul LoDuca.

There's only one goal at this point. Win 5 of the last 9 games. Doing so will leave the team at 63-99, avoiding the triple digit loss stat. The Sports Freak and I are headed to tonights game. Follow me on Twitter to get live reports from the field and in the stands.

Let's go Nats!

The Nationals continue their winning ways, beating the Phillies 9-7 in a great game. Yours truly was in attendance, albeit in 226U. That's 8-1 for our Nats in the past 9 sweeping AL West contender the Dodgers and taking 2 of 3 from the Phillies. Tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 8th, Ronnie Belliard got a pinch hit RBI to give the Nats the lead. Then Cristian Guzman gets to the plate with bases loaded and clears the bases with a double, giving insurance runs. We needed those as Hanrahan gave up two runs in the top of 9th before closing it out. Ryan Howard hit 2 home runs for the Phillies in their losing effort and now trail the Met by 3 games for the NL East crown.

As part of the game, in the next section over, a Philadelphia Eagles fan wearing the Westbrook jersey led chants of "E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!" every once in a while. I missed it, but during the top of the 8th, apparently a Nationals or presumably Redskins fan yelled back "Z-E-R-O, ZERO!...Superbowls!". That shut up Mr. Westbrook.

Guzman, coming off last weeks cycle game, comes in the clutch. Let's hope these performances are indicative of the offense next season.

Up next, a road trip that includes Atlanta, the Mets, and the Marlins. Only a 2 game set against the Mets, but hopefully the Nats can continue the winning ways.

Hi there. If you want to follow live with comments not made by the TV or Radio teams and oddball views from the fan seating, follow my Twitter postings here. It won't be play by play, but I'll summarize important plays or amusing anecdotes live. Also feel free to subscribe to my Twitter feed for instant analysis of future Redskins games, some Maryland Men's Basketball, and other sports or non-sports events. Summarized analysis and pictures on the next day.

On last night’s edition of Baseball Tonight, Buster Olney and Eduardo Perez both hit the nail on the head as to why the Tampa Bay Rays struggle to attract fans to attend their home games despite the team being in first place. Buster Olney summed it up by saying that playing four good months of baseball does not make up for ten bad years.

The Nationals put together a streak fans should be happy about. Along the way of the sweep, Cristian Guzman hits for the cycle, getting the elusive triple in his last at bat.

Not only do the Nats put together a pretty good winning streak, but they put the Dodgers in peril of winning the NL West. Of course the Arizona Diamondbacks are making it interesting by not winning that often either.

Guzman wasn't the only part of the offense, as Elijah Dukes hit two home runs in the game. Hopefully this is a sign of the offense we'll be seeing next season.

Baseball has decided to institute instant replay on home runs. What makes this so interesting is the change takes place during the season. I don't recall the NBA or NFL making changes to the rules in the middle of the season. Whether good or bad or in need of clarification the NFL and NBA implement rule changes at the end of the season. Live by the rules put in place at the start of the season that is fair for everyone good or bad from beginning to end playing by the same rules.

Yet maybe MLB being quick and nimble can prevent a bad call from being made. As much as it's great to be quick to act to get it right, playing by the same fair rules throughout the duration of the season seems to take precedence in the NFL and NBA and works well. Everyone knows the rules and works within them. What makes the change so interesting is that it’s the right thing to do but the timing is so odd that it conjures the feeling of indifference this late into the season. It's almost like an espisode of Seinfeld as a rule change this late seems like a change about nothing.

This past Saturday was the draft for one of our fantasy football leagues. Q, The Sports Freak, Stu, and myself made the trek up to New York City to meet up with Bob and another friend of ours. What better to do on draft weekend than to go to Yankee Stadium? OK, the Redskins were in town against Favre and the Jets (I nearly said Bennie & the Jets!). But it was only pre-season. We had live, real baseball going on in the Bronx. Against the Kansas City Royals. OK, maybe I'm not making a great case. Oh yeah, it's the final season of Yankee Stadium. There, that was a good reason.

With our luck, we had Sidney Ponson starting for the Yankees. Ahh the Prince of Aruba, ex-Oriole when even Q was still paying attention to baseball. Fond memories of watching him blow game after game. He apparently realized there were a few ex-Orioles fans in the stands, as he decided to revert to "Oriole Ponson". Yet the Royals only managed to pull 2 runs out of him. Of course, the Yankees weren't better for the first few innings, leaving players stranded for most innings including at least one with bases loaded. Finally in the seventh, the Yankees broke through for 2 runs, eventually winning it in the 13th.

Nothing can captivate an audience like someone knocking the ball out of the yard at a game. JWjr summed up most baseball fans opinions when he said, "when I watch a game at home I want to see a pitcher’s duel, but when I'm at the game I want to see the ball leave the stadium." Well nothing seemed to capture the country in the now deemed steroid era of baseball following the 1994 players strike like McGwire and Sosa going yard.

Justin Morneau may have won this year's home run derby, but Josh Hamilton won the fans hearts and imagination. Hamilton's record setting 28 home runs in the first round can only be described as "electric." Fans weren't just watching history or sitting on the edge of their seats, they were standing up with a giddy glow and a look of utter amazement as did the fans in the fictional movie "The Natural."

Ken Griffey Jr gets traded to the Chicago White Sox to end Major League Baseball's annual trade deadline.

Griffey's post-Seattle career has closely followed another athlete, but not in MLB. The NBA's Grant Hill has similar issues, except worse. Hill has been injured his entire career, despite all his talent. Griffey in recent years has a similar problem.

This however does put Griffey with a good team that has a shot at the World Series. I think many people are rooting for Ken here.

Who knew that in all these years of Manny saying he wanted out of Boston that he actually meant it this time? Boston sent him to the LA Dodgers and got Jason Bay from the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three way deal.

So this was an interesting move. How will Bay mesh with the Red Sox lineup? Is Big Papi David Ortiz protecting him, or is he protecting Ortiz¿

Will Steve Bartman ever be left alone? Through a friend, he has rejected a paid appearance at a sports memorabilia convention.

With the leaders of Major League Baseball standing as they are now, I'm rooting for the Cubs. That way we can all finally leave Bartman alone.

Busy day with the Washington Nationals.

Ryan Zimmerman returns after a stint on the DL. While nobody is expecting a Nats run at the playoffs, this should help the team get on track and put together a decent run in preparation for next season.

Next, Jon Rauch gets traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio. Bonifacio has been designated the Nats 2B of the future and will spend time at AAA Columbus until then. Obviously this puts pressure on Felipe Lopez to keep his job.

Finally, Cristian Guzman signs a new contract with the Nats. This event alone does not really mean much itself, except that the Nats are assured that shortstop will not be on their shopping list for next season. However, in combination with Zimmerman, and the Lopez/Bonifacio 2B, most of the infield is set. All we need is Nick Johnson to stay healthy for longer than a week or Dmitri Young to step up his defense, and the Nats have a pretty solid overall infield.

As Big Money Tony wrote earlier this week, we took our first of a two part journey to NYC to close down Shea and Yankee Stadium. This past weekend's trip was both fun and memorable. We started our trip via the metro to Union Station before taking Amtrak to Penn Station in New York.

Big Money Tony asked me if Amtrak was still the Wild Wild West of security. Having taken the train more recently than Tony I replied yes. Walk yourself and your bags onto the train throw them up top and walk to the dining cart for some food and drink and just hope for the best. It's the honor system. BMT brought up a great point about Amtrak. Where else can someone just hop on a train and while it's moving then go around checking tickets.

I enjoy watching the annual Major League Baseball Home Run Derby the night before the All-Star Game, but there are two things that usually come up regarding the players who compete in it that I am tired of hearing about. First is that competing in the derby ruins a player’s swing. Professional golfers need to be able to hit a driver and a 9 iron and that’s much more of a dramatic difference in a golfer’s swing than one night of a baseball player aiming for the fences. The second thing I am tired of hearing about is that the winner of the derby is jinxed and will not have good power numbers for the remainder of the season. Players get hot, players get cold. It has absolutely nothing to do with winning the home run derby.

The Sports Freak and I are on the road in New York City to catch the New York Mets in the last season of Shea Stadium. And boy did we pick a great game. Mets won, 3-0 by beating the Colorado Rockies. This should have been a great game, given one of the contenders for the NL East Division hosting the 2007 NL Champions. Instead we get a bottom barrel team visiting a still contender, but only after firing their manager.

The hometown Nationals appear to only play two ways. Win late or lose. They won last night, 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Catcher Jesus Flores, after going K, K, groundout, K, finished the night 1-5 with a single that scored Elijah Dukes.

Normally you don't hear "...that's all I need - 4 runs" uttered by a pitcher in a positive manner. We know we've heard that a few times from Nationals starting pitchers, but usually with some of those 7 words the late, great American Philospher George Carlin said. But Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners did say those words, after hitting a grand slam against Johan Santana.

In the battle of teams with managers fired last week, the Mariners beat the New York Mets and their ace Santana, with Hernandez's base clearer contributing 4 runs in the 2nd. Too bad he later got injured, putting a damper on what would have been a night to remember. It still is, as it is the first home run hit by a pitcher in Mariners history.

This reminds me of some better days in Baltimore, when Mike Mussia was their ace pitcher. The Orioles actually put him on the depth chart as an emergency outfielder on his non-starting days. I remember a two week stretch in the late 90's when the Orioles were down a couple of outfielders due to injury, Mussina was the 4th outfielder ahead of Harold Baines. I don't know if it was more that Moose was such a great hitter and the arm to send a hit back into the outfield quickly or that Baines' knees were held together with scotch tape, so they couldn't trust him to chase down a turtle.

In a game that ended sometime last night, thankfully before midnight, the National defeated the Texas Rangers 4-3.

Elijah Dukes had a 5-6 night including the tying and the game winning hits. Not to be dismissed was his excellent fielding as well.

The apocalypse must be around the corner. The New York Yankees signed Sidney Ponson to a minor league contract. Desperation has set in after the loss of Chien-Ming Wang. Granted at least they were intelligent enough to put him in the minors first.

In case you hadn't noticed, the Cincinnati Reds called up top prospect Jay Bruce from the minor leagues last Tuesday. In the 7 days he's been in the big leagues, Bruce has only gone 15 for 25 with three homers, seven RBIs, and six walks. That gives him a batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage of .577/.667/1.038. That's a slugging percentage of 1.038, not an OPS. That gives him an OPS of 1.705. All that adds up to one of the best debut weeks that I have ever seen in Major League Baseball.

So I'm torn. I want the umpires to have the tools to effectively call the games. But I don't want 3 hour games to turn into 4 hour games. While it didn't factor in the win loss column, in the Mets-Yankees game yesterday, a Carlos Delgado home run was waved off even though it was real.

Big Money Tony's streak of wins has come to an end. It should have come as no surprise if everyone knew how the evening started. I met BMT at his client's office as I exited metro. We happened to have a parking permit for our seats to last Friday night's game. As BMT's vehicle was being pulled from the garage, he had to run back upstairs to grab something. The parking lot attendant then had to move the vehicle over a second time. As I stepped inside I tipped the attendant. BMT then came down and jumped inside ready to go. I told him I had tipped the parking lot attendand to which he uttered damn. He had tipped the attendant, too.

We joked about going back to say there was a misunderstanding and ask for a tip back. Then it dawned on me. Wasn't this a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode? Maybe one of the lurkers on the site would be able to chime in? In any event the smug remarks forshadowed the pounding the Marlins gave the Nats on Friday and then twice over on Saturday.

There have been rumors online that Seattle has sent scouts to Reds games. Could Griffey be going back to where it all started?

Why not bring Griffey to DC? The Nats haven't had a star like Griffey since Soriano left in free agency. Having a player like Griffey in center field would move Lastings to LF and create more depth in the OF. It would also provide Zimmerman and Johnson more protection in the line-up. Holding onto Lastings and Zimmerman would be key, so who would the Nats need to give up besides a couple of prospects?

The Nats found themselves taking the Braves, Cubs, and Pirates series at home this past week. Not only did the streaky Nationals find some hitting but you could see how much fun the players were having. Winning has also made it easier for Manny to find time for players like Boone to receive more playing time and contribute making it a happy clubhouse.

The winning isn't the only change at home recently. The Nationals also changed the look of the HD Scoreboard. Now it shows both lineups and the live stats of the batter and pitcher. It also displays balls, strikes, pitch count, and mph. It looks fabulous and provides all the stats one could want.

Now on to more important things that being food of course. As BMT and I share a partial plan, we've been able to take in some of the cuisine at the new ball park. After sampling some of the dogs, I prefer the Hebrew National Dog and for a dollar more than the Nats dog it offers a lot more flavor. The Kosher Dog follows a close second and the potato knish was a tasty treat with less salt than a pretzel. The chili mac at Hard Times tastes great too.

We also tried the cafe in center field as we were seated and had waitered service. The view to home plate was fantastic and the chicken caesar salad was pretty good. The chicken was nice and juicy. We may never need to go back, but if we do I'll remember to ask for more dressing. Gifford’s Ice Cream even on a mild is always a nice treat.

The only thing lacking was finding the cuisine of the visiting city. I had read that Nationals Park would provide a taste of a Chicago dog when the Cubs came to town and I walked around the concourse level to no avail. Anyone that's had a Chicago dog done right knows just how delicious it is.

This is taking a rivalry too far. Running over an opponent on the field of play might be warranted, but fans running over opposing fans in a parking lot is too far. But I don't have to tell you that, or do I?

Sure, I can't stand Philly fans of any sport, nor the Dallas Cowboy fans (especially those who have never been in Dallas, let alone Texas). I find it hard though that no matter how drunk I am, I would run another human being over.

In my recent Major League Baseball preview of the National League Central division, my only comment regarding the Pittsburgh Pirates was the following:

"Do they still play baseball in Pittsburgh?"

With baseball season being back, it's time to see the ballpark. And for us National fans, do we have a great one.

Photo by BMT

That's right the Nationals are now 2-0 and own a half game lead over the Mets in the NL East. The future looks bright, but let's not forget to enjoy the present. The Nationals have a great new ball park, new players, and lots of optimism following a season ago where many were predicting Washington to set a new MLB record for losses prior to last season.

Wrapping up my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the AL East teams listed in order of predicted finish. While I admit it is not easy for me to be objective about the AL East, I’ll give it my best shot.

Boston Red Sox. It pains me to say so, but the Red Sox have done everything right over the past four plus years to build a championship contending team. It pains me so much to say that previous sentence that I can’t say any more about this team.

From the pre-game festivities to the nationally televised game on ESPN, the Nationals from top to bottom delivered the goods. Channel 7 and ESPN's pregame showcased the stadium, it's view, and all it's emenities. The only thing left to accomplish in their new ball park was to bring home a win and that they did in a dramatic walk off home run by Ryan Zimmerman in the bottom of the 9th for a 3-2 victory.

Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the AL Central teams listed in order of predicted finish.

Detroit Tigers. Let’s get this out of the way first. The Detroit Tigers are not going to score 1,000 run this season. Every year during the pre-season, baseball writers, analysts, and fans anoint a team as being the one that will score 1,000 runs during the upcoming season. The Yankee teams of recent years have been perennial favorites to score 1,000 runs. But guess what? Even in these days of record breaking individual offensive production, only one team in the past 57 years has scored 1,000 runs: the 1999 Cleveland Indians. And while the 2008 Tigers are good enough to win their division, they won’t be scoring 1,000 runs this year.

With all the rumors spreading about Canseco's new book, who's mentioned, and that A-Rod was interested in Canseco's wife there's only a few things to be said. Somewhere along the way DiNero's 'circle of trust' has been broken. Has anyone seen Canseco's wife? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but who is this beauty that has Canseco making such accusations. There's defending the woman you love and then there's the old someone has a high opinion of his wife besides even getting into the A-Rod factor. Canseco shocked the world with this first book as it brought steroids into the light of day and naming names as people laughed and ridiculed Canseco. Will the sequel be quite as earth shattering?

Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the AL West teams listed in order of predicted finish.

Seattle Mariners. Despite being the Arizona Diamondbacks of the American League in 2007 (having given up more runs than they scored), the Mariners look like a real contender in the division. Yes, their lineup is aging, but the pitching is solid, with the addition of Eric Bedard being just what they need to compliment Felix Hernandez and a good bullpen.

Did you hear it? No, everyone pretty much knows about March Madness (yeah, Georgetown is out!). The Major League Baseball season started this morning (for those of us in North America) or tonight, if you are in Japan or other parts of Asia. In not going to begin to figure it out for Istanbul. At least they didn't start the season tomorrow. The defending World Series Champion Boston Redsox defeated the Oakland A's 6-5 in 10 innings. Yes, it was also the first extra innings game for the season.

Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the NL West teams listed in order of predicted finish.

Arizona Diamondbacks. As usual, the NL West looks to be a very tight race, with any of four teams being able to win the division. You would expect that a team which significantly outperformed their Pythagorean record last year to have a fall back the following year, but the Diamondbacks went out and improved. Dan Haren gives this team two Cy Young contenders, along with Brandon Webb. Chris Young and Stephen Drew are a year older and now should be able to provide some much needed spark in a lineup that was lacking in runs last year.

We are living in a golden age of baseball writing, as evidenced by all of the enjoyable, thought-provoking and engaging content being written about all aspects of the game in many different media (books, newspapers, and the internet). The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008 is yet another example of this high quality writing in what is already a crowded market for baseball books.

Continuing my Major League Baseball season preview by division, here are the NL Central teams listed in order of predicted finish.

Chicago Cubs. Kosuke Fukudome will round out this team quite nicely. The pitching staff is nothing special but is deep enough and good enough to lead the Cubs to the division title.

A blip came across the headlines and I thought for sure that Bob (the Yankeeeeeeeeeeeeees win!) would have posted an article about Billy Crystal signing a minor league one day contract with the Yankees. Billy Crystal - A Yankee?. Crystal isn't the first celebrity to do this but probably the oldest as he's about to turn 60. It will be interesting to see what he has left, but I'm sure the players are loose and loving it.

"What is with this?" and what is with the Red Sox making Hank Steinbrenner a member of Red Sox Nation? Well at least he received an autographed cap from big poppy.

Part one of my Major League Baseball season preview by division begins with the NL East. Teams are listed in order of predicted finish.

New York Mets. The Mets have a lot of question marks for a team predicted to win their division. Can you really expect to get much production out of Pedro Martinez and El Duque in the starting rotation? Can Oliver Perez and John Maine have the consistency they’ve lacked in the past? Besides Billy Wagner, who is going to solidify the bullpen? Does their high priced, aging lineup have enough left in the tank? David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Johan Santana are bona fide stars, but the Mets are going to need production from other guys as well. The one thing the Mets have going for them is that the NL East is a relatively weak division.

Stan Kasden has done it again. He already improved RFK with the food court. He brought in some of the best minds in baseball and improved the farm system from one of the worst to a top ten farm system making it one of two teams that had the biggest leaps in grading MLB farm systems. With Stan's committment to winning and improvements made in the outfield, how can Stan mark another big win for the Nats?

What kind of an apology is it when someone doesn't even say what they're sorry for especially when they say "c'mon bro" when that very question is posed to them Lo Duca. What kind of comment is that?

Isn't anyone else tired of players paraded around and being forced to tell what they've done wrong? Is Pettite such the honest man when compelled to tell the truth. He may have confessed his soul, but after an inquiry. All of these players are now tainted, but the attitude Lo Duca has could spell disaster with such young players like Dukes on the roster. Whatever happened to being humble and trying to correct a mistake? Could the signing of Dukes who could be a changed man be the better signing than Lo Duca who already has an attitude over what he perceives to be something in the past?

A misjudgment and error in thinking that irreparably harmed himself and the game would have been a more appropriate ending to the discussion for Lo Duca, but instead readers of the "fireside" chat with Lo Duca had to settle for indifference. This is strike one for Lo Duca in my book. Bob could be right in his assessment of Lo Duca.

I didn’t watch all of the congressional hearing yesterday involving Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee, but I saw the nearly half-hour of highlights on SportsCenter. The biggest thing that now strikes me is the fact that it might be possible that both men are telling the truth as they believe it. I don’t necessarily believe that, but I have to admit it is a possibility. Clemens admits that McNamee injected him on multiple occasions. The disagreement is about what the substances in those injections were. McNamee says it was HGH and winstrol, Clemens says it was B12 and lidocaine.

I am not a doctor, nor do a play one on TV. Wharton professors refute the Clemens' team analysis of his later career years. I was a business major and had to take business statistics in my college years, but this is all Greek to me. Besides, as the Sports Freak can attest to, our stat professor was the cure for insomnia.

Erik Bedard has finally been traded to the Seattle Mariners, in exchange for 5 prospects. At least one of them will be starting on Opening Day. But that's not saying much for a team who traded away their only two "names" this off season. Of course, Miguel Tejada may have drawn unwanted attention to Baltimore. Still, some argue an everyday player vs. a starting pitcher is better...to some degree.

What's amazing about this is maybe Peter Angelos is trying to "out-Angelos" and "out-Snyder" Dan Snyder. As Q mentioned in his post a couple of weeks ago, Snyder is morphing into Angelos. Apparently the Empire Strikes Back as Angelos has now resorted to 2 weeks of talk before the trade occurs. His timing rivals Snyders amount of time spent jerking around Head Coach candidates.

Ahh, just what we need, another DC-Baltimore fight.

With lots of sports recent sports topics to cover, here are some quick thoughts from the New York perspective.

No, this is not a rehash of an old article. The Nationals signed Johnny Estrada to a one year contract.

This seems a bit interesting. Is there more to the LoDuca injury that has been let on? While Estrada has had problems with coaches at other teams, the Nationals seem to think they can fix that issue. Seems to be a lot of rehab projects going on in DC.

I thought we were electing a President this year, but apparently Commissioners too. Bud Selig has been extended through the 2012 season. This despite the fact that he had previously stated he would retire after the 2009 season.

Miguel Tejada back in the news. I know, I know, I'm sounding like a broken record. Maybe Rafael Palmeiro was innocent, blah, blah, blah.

Prior to the release of the Mitchell Report, there were thoughts that it could kill our National Pastime. Time will tell, but so far, it's given us more drama than the strike-shortened television season. The showdown between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee, complete with taped conversations is just compelling. The Mitchell report is even more interesting than where Santana will end up, and I'm not talking about the singer.

But the whole story gets stranger...

Wow. Wow. Wow. That was some compelling stuff. Lawsuit filed against Brian McNamee. Countersuit being considered. A taped phone conversation. This is normal fodder for Law & Order.

I'm sick at home today, but well enough to watch the press conference. His attorney, Rusty Hardin, seemed to speak off his mind, without notes. Clemens is now answering questions from the press.

The most compelling piece was listening to the taped phone conversation between Clemens and McNamee on January 4. While there was no "smoking gun" where McNamee said he lied, the conversation seemed to be Clemens asking McNamee to "tell the truth" and McNamee simply not answering.

At this point, I'm still on the fence. Nothing seemed to indicate if it was a circumstance where Clemens thought he was getting B-12 shots and McNamee actually give him HGH or steroids. Andy Petitte's confession seems to lean toward the notion that Clemens is guilty as well. However, to file a defamation lawsuit, that's pretty much a flat out denial.

So Roger Clemens now claims he received B-12 shots, not steriods. Does this sound familiar to the 3 Orioles fans out there besides me? Wait, you hard core baseball fans should know too. Yeah, Rafael Palmiero said it when he tested positive. So about 3 weeks ago, when the Mitchell Report came out, I asked if we should allow Clemens into the Hall of Fame if we don't allow Barry Bonds.
Similar question now. Should Palmiero be forgiven if Clemens is after 60 Minutes? I'll admit, it's slightly different. For now, we don't know if any positive test for Clemens. Raffy...not so lucky. So I'll say no. But we all laughed at Jose Canseco's accusations. Look how many were actually true. Could Palmiero actually be telling the truth that he was getting B-12 shots and had no idea steriods were in them?

I usually take Curt Schilling's messages with a grain of salt. He seems to spit out something every few weeks because he feels no one is paying attention to him. He makes a statement that I actually agree with.

These players that Oakland got from the Diamondback in exchange for Dan Haren had better be some good prospects. Otherwise, why trade away the AL All-Star game starter when he still has three years left on his contract for an average of less than $5.5 million a year? If this was Haren’s last year under contract and would be a free agent in 2008, then I could understand the trade. But Haren won’t be a free agent until 2010 so why wouldn’t Billy Beane keep him for two more years?

To the fans: just because the mainstream media chose to ignore the allegations against Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte does not mean it is surprising that they were named in the Mitchell Report. Clemens and Pettitte were named by Jason Grimsley in a federal investigation according to an article that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on September 30, 2006. I’d cite the article, but the LA Times has archived it to their paid/subscription section.

So unless you have been sequestered all day, the Mitchell Report was released. While some names, like Bonds were no surprise, Clemens and Petitte were big surprises.

That might be an appropriate comparison had the Orioles won something recently, i.e. not 1983, and there was a good team to break apart. But trading Tejada, arguably the O's star player, is a strange move.

The Nationals acquired the catcher they were looking for to mentor Flores by signing LoDuca to a one year contract ESPN

Washington makes a good signing for the right amount of time. It’s interesting that the Mets essentially traded catchers with Nats after trading for Schneider and giving the Nationals Milledge. Also interesting to note is that the Mets could have protected Flores in last year’s rule #5 draft and the move to acquire Schneider may not have been necessary.

What's this...the Yankees no longer the front runner for the Santana sweepstakes? It seems like the mighty Yankees have decided upon placing value on free agency and decided that the dollars and cents along with providing prospects for other teams just isn't worth the price.

It will be interesting to see where Santana lands and if the Yankees shift their attention to Bedard or Haren at a lower cost.

The Winter Meetings for MLB concluded on Thursday. The Nationals made three trades, a free agent signing, and extended Willy Mo Pena's contract. It was a spectacular start to a new season and new ball park.

The Nationals completed two trades that appear to have been in the works for a while. Milledge has some mild baggage from New York and Dukes has some serious baggage from Tampa Bay. Both could potentially be the middle of the line-up bats that the Nationals are looking to add to the team. The question is at what price.

OK, so physically I know where Baltimore is...about 40 miles north of Washington DC. However, where are they in the Hot Stove League? My baseball team of my youth seems to be nowhere in talks. Except that they are shopping Erik Bedard and Miguel Tejada lightly. Like a sad yard sale deep in a neighborhood nobody goes to.

My first thought. Who the F is Elijah Dukes, when I heard about him on Elliot in the Morning. Well they were trying to track him down because of his incidents in the past. It then reminded me who he was. I hear Dmitri Young had some doing in getting him so Young could bring the kid into the light and get him on a straight path. Very noble of him.

So it's interesting that the Nationals are "in the market" and made what I think is an excellent trade. ESPN reports that the Nationals acquired Lastings Milledge for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. My initial thoughts are that we won't miss Church. He was a touted prospect who ended being a good filler when we needed the help. Schneider however will be missed.