Nationals Daily Evolutions 8/31/10

I did everything I possibly could to help the Nationals win last night. I listened to the Dexter soundtrack, I smoked a cigar, and I cooked and ate cuban spiced pork. Of course then I had to wait three hours for the game to even begin, and couldn't make it until the end. I went to sleep right after Zimmerman's long homerun. I figured it was as good a time as any. --MLB Video

The outfield may have been underwater, and Michael Morse was wondering how much water he was going to have in his shoes, but the Nationals played a clean game. --Mark Zuckerman at natsinsider.com

When you have an ERA over 7.00 and most of it is from pre-injury starts then it is a good idea to look beyond your numbers. Jason Marquis has been the pitcher the Nationals thought he could be in his last three starts. --Adam Kilgore at washingtonpost.com 

Nyjer Morgan doesn't agree with Riggleman batting him 8th, but he is still going to play hard. --Faran Fagen at nationals.com

Here is another take on the entire Nyjer thing, and from watching the video that wasn't just a hard play. The entire plate was open. All Nyjer had to do was slide and he was safe. The catcher was out of the baseline and wasn't waiting for a throw. If Nyjer was paying more attention to Pujols than to the catcher then that is his problem. At that point in time it doesn't matter where the ball is as he is already committed to going home. He has to judge by the catcher if he is going to slide or try and run him over, and the catcher never tried to block the plate. Nyjer's baseball IQ this year has been Nook Loganesque. Nyjer's comments just sound like a guy working his way out of town. --Adam Kilgore from washingtonpost.com 

This Strasburg news isn't likely to go away for awhile. More on that, and another DC media personality that might want to quickly learn the phrase, "No comment." After the jump.

The man who is less famous than the surgery named after him wants to help Strasburg. --Dan Steinberg from The DC Sports Bog

Mark Prior doesn't know why everyone is asking him about Strasburg, and then gives some pretty insightful comments. Look, Mark if you don't want people to keep asking you a question give them a terrible answer. Don't answer in an intelligent and informative manner. --Sports Radio Interviewers at deadspin.com 

Strasburg's presence made money for the team. So, how much are they likely to lose while he recovers? --Maury Brown bizofbaseball.com

Some people are not taking this news well, and even think Nats fans should pull a Rip Van Winkle until 2013. --Harper from natsbaseball.blogspot.com

Jim Bowden says it doesn't alter the plan, but then says to wait until 2014. --Jim Bowden from sportingnews.com

Losing Strasburg is a problem, no doubt, but if he alone is not the answer then his injury cannot be considered something that cannot be overcome. Next year the Nationals could still have the best rotation they have ever had since moving to DC, and that isn't including any free agents (doesn't have to be a big name could be a lower level guy like De La Rosa). --Mark Zuckerman natsinsider.com  

Dave had some random thoughts yesterday. He is right Livan most likely won't have as good of a year next year as he did this year, but if anyone believed he would have as a good a year he wouldn't only cost $1 million. In baseball money that is basically free. If Livan does anything next year it is a bonus, and a 4.50 ERA and 200 innings is well worth $1 million. --Dave Nichols at natsnewsnetwork.com

A comparison of bonuses to sugested slot. I think the Harper and Taillon slots are flipped. I can't imagine the second overall pick having a higher slot than the first pick. --Jim Callis from baseballamerica.com

If Livan was looking forward to seeing his brother in September it won't happen now. El Duque has walked off into the sunset for perhaps the final time. --Mark Zuckerman from natsinsider.com

Former Expos closer Luis Ayala signs with Rockies. --Ben Nicholson-Smith mlbtraderumors.com 

Looking for something to do Thursday September, 23? Watching a screening of Ken Burn's The Tenth Inning sounds like the perfect way to spend and evening. --Cheryl Nichols from natsnewsnetwork.com 

DC Media News

The job of the media is to report the news. Not to make the news, or to become news themselves. It never ends well when media members become news. Mike Wise better learn the phrase, "no comment," or he might be keeping Rob Dibble company. --Dan Levy at presscoverage.com

Do you know how many times a day Jeff Pearlman or Rob Neyer retweet something from Keith Olberman, or how many media members critized Glen Beck last weekend. None of them were from The Post though. They have a rather strict guideline when it comes to dealing with social media. --Barry Petchesky from deadspin.com

Around the NL East 

Everyone keeps expecting the Phillies to catch and beat the Braves, but the Braves aren't the Mets and are likely to hold onto their NL East lead. --Alex Remington at yahoosports.com

Pete Rose recorded a series of videos and in this one he explains why he couldn't play today, because he didn't like striking out, and also something bad about Ryan Howard hitting opposite field homers. --Graham Bensinger from yahoosports.com 

General Baseball

Vin Scully might have the best voice ever for a baseball announcer. Listen to his soothing tones as you watch someone recreate Kirk Gibson's walk-off in RBI Baseball. --Owen Good kotaku.com

Tony La Russa has made it a habit to call out players for being lazy. Colby Rasmus is now the target of his furor. Ryan Zimmerman makes everything look effortless. Does anyone think he is lazy, or just super talented? With both Matt Kemp and Colby Rasmus on the outs with their teams this could be a good year for the outfield trade market. --Bernie Miklasz at stltoday.com 

It may not have increased the White Sox chances by much, but aquiring Manny did increase their chances and in the end all it cost was money. --Jon Paul Morosi 

Baseball is trying to become a world wide sport, and atracting a country with over a billion people is never a bad idea. A look at baseball's attempt to infiltrate China. I know Wang isn't seven feet tall and isn't from mainland China, but he was a pretty good pitcher while on the Yankees and from what I have heard he was a pretty big star in Asia. I just find it funny that this article acts like he never existed. --William Wan in The Washington Post

That is all for today. Let's hope the Nationals can repeat the success they had last night, but without the rain and three hour delay. It will be fun to see how Zimmermann does in his second outing off the DL. The Marlins have some good hitters, but they will strike out.