Nationals News, Finally a Respectable Team Edition

by John Quinn on Aug 10, 2009 10:45 AM EDT

We're between halves of the Strasburg roundtable, so I'm just going to post a few links:

The Nationals have won eight straight! The Nationals have won eight straight!

No major news on the Jordan Zimmermann front, and in this case, no news is good news. I really hope they don't need to open him up, but only time will tell.

A few days old, but the National Anthem was played on a bat on Saturday. That was pretty cool.

My favorite sideline reporter, Debbi Taylor, argues for giving Mike Rizzo the GM job. I agree with her for the most part, but she says that bringing in Julian Tavarez and Kip Wells were good moves, and I don't think I can agree with her there...

As Dave first reported yesterday, the Red Sox have some interest in Cristian Guzman after Jed Lowrie, heretofore their shortstop, reinjured his arm. Instead of simply letting Boston pick up his salary, though, the Washington Times is reporting that the Nationals would prefer to get something in return for Guzman. Guzman was having some issues earlier this year (and what sounded to me like an attitude problem), but has hit well and has been improving on defense. He's not getting any younger, and the Nationals won't be in contention for a while, so I say trade him for a few lower-level prospects and save the money on his salary... to pay Strasburg.

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So XM's Seth Everett is explaining why he won't talk about the Nationals...

…when call gets on talking DC baseball. The caller knows what turned it around, it was the Presidents Race in Pittsburgh, when Teddy hot ambushed…or was it when they spelled their name wrong in the jersey, cause that was a perfect metaphor fo——

you know what? Don’t talk about the Nationals…

Vivian Jaffe: "Have you ever transcended space and time?"
Albert Markovski: "Yes. No. Uh, time, not space... No, I don't know what you're talking about."

by Patrick Reddington on Aug 10, 2009 12:05 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

GUZMAN

So, Boston? If he clears waivers, doesn’t that mean that nobody put in a waiver claim?
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Cristian Guzman cleared waivers and can now be traded to any club, according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. The 31-year-old shortstop is hitting .317/.337/.437 , but the $8MM salary he makes this year and next seems to have prevented teams from claiming Guzman.

MLBTR

by RoscoeNats on Aug 10, 2009 2:36 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah, I guess so. Huh. I guess that means we can’t trust any Boston papers anymore!

by John Quinn on Aug 10, 2009 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions

In my opinion this sucks.

by RoscoeNats on Aug 10, 2009 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions

Associated Press – August 10, 2009 3:34 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Washington Nationals suddenly are baseball’s best team.

OK, the Nationals do still own the majors’ worst record in 2009. But they head into Tuesday’s game at Atlanta with eight consecutive victories, the longest active streak.

And dating to games of July 25, Washington is 12-4, the top record in that span.

The main reasons for the recent success: much-improved defense, a better bullpen and a surge on offense.

The Nationals are averaging 7.06 runs since July 25, more than 1 1/2 more runs than any other club in the National League. A defense that had been averaging about an error a game has made only five in the last 16 games and leads the NL in fielding percentage in that time.

by RoscoeNats on Aug 10, 2009 3:41 PM EDT reply actions