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Wire Taps: Washington Nationals' Prospects In The Arizona Fall League, Slow News Week Ends.

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• Quick AFL Notes: So Bryce Harper is hitless thus far in AFL action [Panic!?!!] and he's cheering for the Yankees [Anger?!?!?]. So Harper's 0 for 8 w/ 2 K's and drawing the ire of Nats fans for cheering for his favorite baseball team, (who got bounced from the post season last night), but I'm fairly certain he'll get his first hit soon, someone will capture it on video and post it on the Youtube and everyone will be happy and forget about the possibility of the preternaturally gifted left-handed hitting outfielder one day wearing pinstripes. 2010 2nd Round pick Sammy Solis made his first start for the Scottsdale Scorpions yesterday, holding the Salt River Rafters to two hits and one run in 3.0 IP in which he walked three while throwing 53 pitches, 30 of them strikes. The Scorpions have another game tonight. When does Matt Purke make his AFL debut? Here's all the links I could find. No. 3 on the list of the Nats' Top Stories of 2011 later this afternoon and our season preview in review later on tonight. I've taken a week, rested up and I'm ready to get going again? When does Yu Darvish sign with the Nats? How's Adam LaRoche's rehab going?

• LINKS AND LINKS AND...

• NATS BEAT: 

• "Not long after Bryce Harper signed with the Nationals, he revealed his favorite teams in a bunch of sports." - "Bryce Harper is still cheering for the Yankees" - Dan Steinberg, DC Sports Bog - The Washington Post

• "In the last four years, only 67 major league pitchers have thrown at least 600 innings. Among those pitchers, [John] Lannan ranks 39th in the game with a 4.00 ERA." - "John Lannan's future with the Nationals" - Ben Goessling, MASNSports.com

• "Remember how worried everyone was about Storen at the end of a horrible spring training? Turns out there was nothing at all to worry about." - "Position analysis: Bullpen" - Mark Zuckerman, Nats Insider

• "I'm going to start an occasional series called 'What if ...,' which looks at decisions the Nationals made, or didn't make, and how they might have turned out differently." - "What if ... the Nationals hadn't traded Josh Willingham?" - Ben Goessling, MASNSports.com

• Your Daily Message From The Dalai Lama On Twitter (@DalaiLama): "As idealistic as it may sound, altruism, not just competition and the desire for wealth, should be a driving force in business." 

• ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE: 

• "The Scottsdale Scorpions were able to get the early lead they needed, but left-hander Sammy Solis was not able to last long enough to earn the victory Thursday." - "Solis struggles with command; Harper hitless as Scottsdale falls again" - Byron Kerr, MASNSports.com

• "Scorpions starter Sammy Solis (Nationals) held the Rafters to one run on two hits over three innings before manager Arnie Beyeler pieced together four shutout innings from the bullpen." - AFL: Perez rips walk-off double in Rafters' win | David Heck, MLB.com: News

• AFL Box Score: Bryce Harper - 0 for 5, 1 K; Sammy Solis - 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 53 pitches, 30 strikes, 4/2 GO/FO -MLB.com: Gameday

• "AFL Update: October 7, 2011" - NationalsProspects.com

• "Bryce Harper Off To A Slow Arizona Fall League Start" - Harpermania.com

• Your Daily Message From SI.com's Joe Posnanski On Twitter (@JPosnanski): "The good thing is that Yankees fans won't blame A-Rod or anything."

• NATSTOWN: 

• "*sigh*. The Kid hasn't even played a game in Washington yet, and he's already wearing Pinstripes." - "Just Bryce Harper rooting on his Yankees on Twitter. No big deal." - Nats Enquirer

• "But, it’s never too early to start to speculate on what items might be on the old To Do List. So, let’s see what might be on Mike Rizzo’s To Do List this winter..." - "Looking at Mike Rizzo's To Do List" - Aaron Somers, District on Deck - A Washington Nationals Blog

• "I feel like if you are going to make predictions you need to go back and look at them otherwise they are pretty pointless." - "2011 Review - My Predictions" - Harper, Nationals Baseball

• "Back in 2009 Mike Rizzo and the Washington Nationals struck gold. They traded away a journeyman outfielder with less than 200 Nats ABs to the Mariners for a 6' 5" infielder." - "Michael Morse: A Statistical Story" - Craig MacHenry, The Nats Blog

• NL EAST UPDATES: 

Mets/Braves: "Talking Chop posted the e-mail that Braves President John Schuerholz sent to fans following their Metsian collapse in September this season. It reminded of the e-mail the Mets sent out after Game 162 in 2007." - "Comparing The Mets' And Braves' Collapse Apology E-Mails" - James Kannengeiser, Amazin' Avenue

Mets: "'They’ll probably start up within the next few days, but right now everything is quiet,' Reyes said, reiterating that he’d like to re-sign with the Mets..." - "Jose Reyes on contract talks with Mets: 'Everything is quiet'" - Aaron Gleeman, HardballTalk

Marlins: "The Marlins have eight players on the Surprise Saguaros, along with Corey Hart, a Minor League hitting coach who is on the Arizona Fall League staff." - "Dominguez among Marlins getting work in AFL" - Joe Frisaro, marlins.com: News

Phillies: "Four games into the Phillies' 2011 playoff run and the team's postseason offensive production has once again come into question." - "Will Manuel make changes to Phils' lineup?" - CSNPhilly.com Staff