I had a good time in Pittsburgh, but I am glad to be home. PNC Park is truly a great park and I have to say it was fun to finally sit in a road park and watch the Nationals cruise to a couple of easy victories. I have to also mention briefly that the last time I looked forward to a players next AB the way I did Espinosa's was back when Zimmerman was still a rookie. You know how some scouts say you can just tell when you see a special player. It is way to early to say it, but from my brief glimpse at Espinosa, he seems special.
Both Saturday and Sunday's games were domination and Ian Desmond continued his strong second half Sunday Afternoon. --Ben Goessling at masnsports.com
If you thought this Nyjer thing was just going to go away it isn't. Here is one column that suggest the Marlins might have been more in the wrong. --Alex Remington fangraphs.com
Nyjer's comments after learning he was suspended. --Bill Ladson from nationals.com
All Nyjer's comments prove is he just doesn't get it. --Dave Nichols at natsnewsnetwork.com
But Nyjer might be just the player the Nationals need. Quick point counter point on this. A little fire is good but Nyjer's numbers are just terrible, and add in all the baseball IQ issues and it makes those numbers even harder to stomach. Now the counterpoint. If a really good year for a player is unsustainable then shouldn't the same be true of a really bad year? --David Aldridge from tbd.com
One more story that won't go away. ESPN personalities that probably have never watched a Nats broadcast defend Dibble. I am not suppossed to critize writers and I don't know if Cowherd counts, but after what he said after the deaths of Shawn Taylor and Eddie Guerrero I will just leave my thoughts unsaid. --Dan Steinberg in The DC Sports Bog
Strasburg's surgery is successful. --Ben Goessling from masnsports.com
Now let's all hope for a speedy recovery with no issues. Especially those issues that might impact the health of Stephen Strasburg. As much as it frustrates us that Jesus Flores' recovery has been slowed down by blood clots and the like those are serious health risk and a players well being is ultimately more important than if they ever again step on a major league field. Any time surgery is done complications can arise.
The Nationals have some choices with how they treat their starters down the stretch. I for one am especially excited to see Maya. --Adam Kilgore from washingtonpost.com
The Nationals aren't concerned about their numbers. Just having fun and playing baseball. --Mark Zuckerman at natsinsider.com
The Nationals say they don't want to field a psuedo AAA squad, but the young guys might be better than the veterans. Meaning the Nationals can compete and evaluate. --Adam Kilgore at washingtonpost.com
Around the NL East
For some Mets fans flying to Chigaco seeing Omar on the plane was just the beginning of their fun. --Barry Petchesky from deadspin.com
General Baseball
Baseball can be a dangerous sport at times, and just because it doesn't have to violence of football doesn't mean concussions should be treated any differently. --Jeff Passan from yahoosports.com
One of the great things about baseball is how every moment the game shifts and changes. A teams odds of winning rise or drop on every pitch. How much does the count effect what will happen at the plate. --Joe Posnanski at si.com
Colby Rasmus is an outfielder that any team would want to have, but things haven't been going well between himself and the Cardinals. It may all end up with either Rasmus or TLR somewhere else next season. --Jeff Passan at yahoosports.com
Passan's article was very fair to both sides, but some people haven't been. Most people I have seen are taking the side of Rasmus. The internet baseball community for the most part seems to really like young players and is full of people that lean more towards the stats side of baseball. This describes me as well as other people around the internet, and the only reason I wouldn't take Rasmus' side is because I want him traded here. But before I wanted to comment I had to look into why Rasmus might have been sat. It didn't take long to find out either. The language being used by La Russa is what gets on people's nerves. But let me just point out in defense of sitting Rasmus that he is OPSing .677 in the monthes of July and August. He did miss time in August and only get into 18 games, but in July he OPSed .665 while appearing in 23 games. La Russa is a good managers and sometimes good managers will play the hot hand. So, maybe that is why John Jay is getting playing time over Rasmus.
Enjoy your Labor Day. Hopefully everyone gets to relax and enjoy the day off and a good game against the Mets.