bmfc1

VS: Outstanding. They'd justify doing that with some nonsense about making up for losses in attendance or other revenue.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Swan Swan H wrote: Go nine, Dickey. Lock the bullpen door and don't let 'em out until the bus is loading. Also, make sure bfmc doesn't swing by to catch the 9th. HA! Don't worry.

The Nationals GM said that they released Ankiel rather than a reliever when activating Storen because they play a double-header on Saturday. LWFS: True! I think that Davey accepts that you will lose some, this is a loss, so why burnout the bullpen, especially with 4 games against the 2d place team this weekend. MGIM: the President's Race used to be a big deal but it's not anymore except for kids and tourists. The PA guys says "It's time for the main event!" which makes me wonder about the import of the game I'm there to see. The predictability of Teddy losing grew tiresome two seasons ago.

Let Dickey go 5 and start him on Saturday. Unless you think the fucktards in the bullpen could screw this one up..

Rubin tweets that another reliever will be added before Batista's start on Saturday. I guess Nieuwenhuis will go.

On the scoreboard last night, they had a picture of Gio Gonzalez which his arm folded and the quote "every fifth day is my day." Not THIS fifth day.

Turner ass-umed Hairston would be there. Hairston was playing near the warning track. Turner should have been there.

Holy crap, Angel Hernandez made a great call!

With the ? at 2B, you could put Jordany there but Sandy said the other day that he sees JV as an OF.

Well put JCL. A lot of food for thought. Some teams get a breakthrough hitter who wasn't on their radar. It doesn't appear that the Mets have any pleasant surprises at the moment.

The flaw in swapping Ankiel for Nieuwenhuis is who goes when Baxter returns? That might be resolved if the Mets become "sellers" and perhaps Hairston or Turner is traded.

The Nationals will designate Rick Ankiel for assignment to create roster space for Drew Storen, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (on Twitter). How about signing Ankiel and sending Nieuwenhuis down so he can play every day and hopefully cut down on his strikeouts?

[u:2qcgjo38]METS:[/u:2qcgjo38] Tejada-SS Torres-CF Wright-3B Hairston-RF Bay-LF Davis-1B Turner-2B Thole-C Dickey-RHP [u:2qcgjo38]Nationals:[/u:2qcgjo38] Lombardozzi 2B Harper RF Zimmerman 3B LaRoche 1B Morse LF Espinosa SS Bernadina CF Flores C Gonzalez LHP

Batista after last night's game (quoted by Adam Rubin): "Our team is going through a bad stretch right now," Batista said. "But my personal belief is we're way better than our numbers are. Baseball is living proof that who you might not expect might be there in October. I know a lot of people didn't expect us to be as good as we have this year. But I believe this team is way, way better than what it's been playing. And regardless of the fact what other people might think, October is not here yet. We'll see at the end of the season. ... "Right now they're playing good baseball, but I don't believe they're a better team than us," Batista continued, referring to the Nats. "They're playing great baseball. But better team? I believe we're the better team. We just have to play as we're supposed to. Every team goes through a bad stretch, from the greatest to the worst. I remember I told Terry two month ago: 'I haven't seen a team better than us.' ... We just have to believe how good we are and just go out there and perform. I believe we are the best team in baseball. We just have to play like one. That's what we're not doing." I appreciate his confidence in the team but how about shutting up after "they" beat "us" two days in a row.

Frayed Knot wrote: bmfc1 wrote: FK--thanks for the note on all the close losses. Maybe this is what happens when one manager is playing three dimensional chess and the other is playing checkers. Yup! Every single one of those one-run losses was Terry's fault. I'm glad we agree.

metsmarathon wrote: i wish you would stop going to games there. I hear you. They won the day game a month ago without me... let's hope it happens again.

Back from my 4th loss this year at Nationals park. On the bright side, the pizza was good for DC and the lame PA Announcer wasn't there. Sadly, his backup sucked too: at one point, he said that Ike was batting when it was Wright. Here's the question: why didn't Shorty bring in Edgin to face Lombardozzi? There were two on and Edgin is a lefty just like Lombardozzi. He didn't so I asked my son BEFORE Lombardozzi came up, "why is Edgin warming up if he not going to come in right now?" Those were the two runs that lost the game and, to me, another example of why Shorty is an awful in-game manager. I would like to know why he had Edgin up but didn't use him with two on. Did he actually have confidence in Batista? FK--thanks for the note on all the close losses. Maybe this is what happens when one manager is playing three dimensional chess and the other is playing checkers.

Capital Weather Gang ?@capitalweather Per earlier tweets, while chance of rain delay or two, Nats should be able to play..these are not constant, continuous storms.

Adam Rubin ?@AdamRubinESPN TC said he needs to maximize outfield defense w/ Chris Young pitching, hence Bay, not Valdespin. TC said he'll still "mix and match with Bay That makes sense but Duda is out there.

No Valdespin against the righty after what he did last night? He could have started in CF for Torres (they want to give Bay ABs, I guess).

I disagreed about last night's final AB and continue to do so but I appreciate your points.

Edgy DC wrote: Beato isn't a rookie, and he wasn't so much just called up as he's just returning. Byrdak's OBP given up to righties is .407 for his career and .457 this season. Beato's was .276 on his career and .250 for his few appearances this season. Regarding "Shorty,": Yup, he's short. Manuel's black. Howe's bald. Let's lay off, for the love of the rest of us pocket people. "Rookie"--no, you're right, but far more inexperienced than Byrdak. I'm surprised at your use of stats to justify removing Byrdak when you eloquently decry bringing in "cold" relievers at the expense. You've made a strong case on that point. And "Shorty" he is, to me. I'm no Randy Newman but it's what I will call him. And I would never use a phrase like "pocket people"--that's just mean.

The next person in this thread bitching about using Beato last night who actually suggests an alternative will be the first They'd be the second because LAST NIGHT I said: "Shorty should have left Byrdak in with the bases loaded." Byrdak sucked but I'd rather have the veteran, who was already in the game, pitching with the bases loaded, than the rookie who was just called up and was not already in the game, even if meant an opposite matchup. And again, I said that to my son as Shorty went to the mound.

When Desmond came up, the Nationals fan to my right said to watch for the squeeze since Desmond can't swing. Shorty walked Desmond intentionally. Was there any discussion on TV or radio about Desmond's injury? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/post/injured-ian-desmond-plays-crucial-role-didnt-need-to-swing/2012/07/18/gJQA84oftW_blog.html

Edgy DC wrote: Well, I don't want knee-jerk management of the organization, certainly. And if that makes Alderson seem aloof, well, long live aloof. It's not "knee-jerk" management to wonder why Justin "Pie In Your Face" Turner" is the only right-handed bat off the bench. Alderson is not GM'ing for 2012 but there has to be someone else out there. If he and his group are so smart, then find players better than Turner, Nickeas and Batista. The bar isn't that high on those three and yet we see them day after day. And the bullpen was the only area of the team that Sandy and Company focused on (Rauch and FF were FA's and he traded for Ramirez). Well done! I better get used to Shorty's in-game machinations because he's not going anywhere. That means more "by the book" moves like Beato last night. As for Murphy's base-running, we were in short left so we had a perfect line from him to the ball. He didn't go half-way so he could easily score, and we know he didn't stay on the bag to tag up. He was 1/4 way, as if he was unsure what to do because he didn't know if the ball would be caught. He should have tagged up but being unsure shows a lack of baseball smarts. To the contrary, Wright had a great read on a pop-up earlier in the game and would have scored if the ball stayed fair.