It's Port St. Lucie's Tradition Field, the Spring Training home of New York's Hated Mets for the second meeting of 2009 between NY and DC. Washington won 6-4 Wednesday with Jordan Zimmermann throwing three scoreless and Collin Balester getting roughed up but winning, and this afternoon it's lefty Scott Olsen on the mound against the Mets' Dillon Gee according to MLB.com's Bill Ladson's report on yesterday's loss entitled, "Beltway blues in loss to O's"...
...But before we get to today's game against the Hated Mets...Did you see mlbtraderumors.com's Tim Dierkes' article entitled, "Offseason in Review: Washington Nationals", where he quotes himself from way back in September echoing my sentiments about the Nationals' main offseason acquisition long before DC finally signed Adam Dunn:
"Hopefully Jim Bowden won't become too obsessed with Adam Dunn this winter (assuming Bowden keeps his job). Dunn doesn't fit on this team. They're in the beginning of a long rebuilding process."
Of course Bowden did get his man in Dunn, whether it was his obsession alone or the Nationals as a whole looking to add some much-needed offense to last year's worst team, but as Mr. Dierkes points out, the $20 million dollars they spent to add Dunn, "...would've probably been better spent on the June draft," where, as a result of last year's offensive woes and DC's FAILure to reach an agreement with '08 first-rounder Aaron Crow, the Nationals, "...have the #1 and #10 picks," and the new GM, whether it's Mike Rizzo or one of the other names reportedly under consideration, will have his(or her?) work cut out for him(or her?), as Mr. Dierkes writes:
"The Nationals new GM will have to hit a home run with the draft, and may also be charged with trading Nick Johnson and signing Ryan Zimmerman long term."
Trade Nick Johnson? Let's hope not. Otherwise I pretty much agree with Mr. Dierkes' assessment, but, let me just point out again, not the trading Nick Johnson part...Do Not Trade Nick Johnson...
TAWH Can Get Hurt? Huh? That Surprises Me...
The Amazing Willie Harris joined the list of injured Nationals, as MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported yesterday in an article entitled, "Harris battling sore left hip", where Mr. Ladson writes that Harris hurt his hip when he hit the outfield wall while tracking one that left the park in the game against Detroit...(and Mr. Ladson also updates the DC Faithful on the condititon of their favorite catcher, Jesus Flores)...
While Willie Harris is out of the lineup, Roger Bernadina has been doing his best "Willie Harris" making two diving grabs yesterday, which had Federalbaseball.com writer Doghouse, (who is reporting live from (or on vacation in) Florida all weekend in his posts entitled, "The Road to Space Coast") dubbing Bernadina, T(p)ARB, (The (p)rovisional Amazing Roger Bernadina), while the always pessimistic Mr. Sparkay texted to tell me that, Bernadina, "...did not have to dive" on one of the two plays he made...Is there any way you see Bernadina making the Nationals' roster? He was clearly the best player on the field on Friday?
Hill OK?
An AP report published by Yahoo! Sports.com entitled, "Elbow sound, Hill treated for inflammation", reports that DC starter Shawn Hill, "...has no structural damage in his surgically repaired elbow." Hill's elbow will play a big part in deciding the Nationals' '09 starting rotation. If he can go, the Nationals would obviously like to have him in there, but this sounds all too familiar to anyone who's followed his career...it's wait and see once again...
Scott Olsen vs New York's Hated Mets...
Carlos Beltran - 6 for 13, .462 AVG, 2 2B, 2 HR's, 6 RBI's, 2 BB.
Carlos Delgado - 2 for 11, .182 AVG, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
Jose Reyes - 5 for 16, .313 AVG, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
David Wright - 4 for 14, .286 AVG, 3 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI's.
It's the Nationals and the Hated Mets for the second time this year, I turned to Eric Simon from the SBN's Mets blog Amazin' Avenue for information on the Mets' starter Dillon Gee.
The game gets underway at 1:05 pm EST from Port St. Lucie. Who's Watching the Nationals?