How quick can I make this? It looked like the Nats offense worked up over the weekend. On Friday it was another bad showing, lots of people doing nothing. No XBHs no walks. Nats lose. On Saturday, the Nats got some breaks, but they made some for themselves. Even though they had one fewer hit, they walked 6 times, and took advantage of those walks with some timely hitting. On Sunday the offense, even without Bryce, actually hit the ball and hit a couple of home runs. That was the first multi-homer game for the team since April 25th and only their third since April 9th. (Fun fact - the Nats hit 14 homers in their first 7 games. They hit 16 in the 25 since).
Can they keep it up? The next two games will be a good test because the Tiger pitching staff 2013 is looking at lot like the Nats 2012.
Hmmm... too quick. Afternoon edition later.
19 comments:
I feel good about LaRoche having turned a corner. He definitely put together a string of good at bats. I'm about 50-50 on Espinosa having turned that same corner. Maybe just from the right side? As for Tyler Moore, I'm much less optimistic. He looked totally lost for ALL of those strikeouts. He had a good at bat when he hit that homerun, but he may just have walked into the right pitch at the right time. It wouldn't surprise me if he continues to struggle. Of course, he'll have less opportunity with Werth back in the line-up.
Any thoughts about Bryce's ejection? To me, Hirschbeck seemed eager for a confrontation. Bryce swore a couple of times but it didn't appear to justify throwing him out. Did they have a history from last season?
As Bryce continues his career, it will be interesting to see how he deals with being targeted by opposing players and umps.
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@Donald -
I'm right with you. LaRoche looks like he's settling in (as we all knew he would, 6 previous seasons of 85+ RBI's) so the middle of our order should start generating SOME runs. Tyler Moore on the other hands, looks "lost" as you put it, chasing pitches all over the plate.
@ Harper -
I'm finally on board with Espinosa over Lombo consistently. It took me awhile to get over the strikeouts and low average. But with our lineup intact, neither of them belong at the top of the order (I almost screamed when I saw Espi up there) and the power that Espi provides more than makes up for the 40 points in OBP in the 7 spot. I'm going to have to grin and bear it and hope he ends up close to .230 for the year, and take solace in the go-ahead 3 run homers.
Hirschbeck is just a massive d-bag always looking for a reason to put on an ump show. He made an ass of himself and is getting called out for it as he should be.
Harper showed up the ump, swore, threw his bat, got a warning, and then still threw his helmet. Hirschbeck has a quick temper, but that's going to get you thrown out by a lot of umps.
Here's the video. Looks to me like Hirchbeck overreacted. I'm siding with Bryce here. http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=26863113
JP Santangelo put it well during the broadcast. People come to the game to see Harper play, not to see Hirschbeck ump. Even if his delicate feelings were hurt, there was no call to eject Bryce. He didn't walk towards Hirschbeck and even had his back turned away from him when he got tossed. He didn't 'slam' his bat and helmet to the ground either. He certainly tossed them down harder than just a drop but he was on his way to the dugout. Who cares if Hirschbeck felt like he was shown up. There was no call to inject himself into the game like that. Lots of players have argued calls way more vigorously.
And if Harper wants those fans to see him he had just as much of a chance as Hirschbeck to turn around and keep himself in the game. Hirschbeck tried to send the third base coach to keep Harper in the game. Look at Prince Fielder disagreeing to his strikeout yesterday, he got his say in and then he walked to the dugout. I do believe Hirschbeck overreacted, but I think it's ridiculous to say Harper had no part in it. For what it's worth, this is the first person Hirschbeck has ejected since 2010.
I don't think any of us has said that Harper had no part in it. Just that Hirschbeck over-reacted to what seemed like a very minor outburst. Sure if Harper hadn't reacted at all to the call or hadn't tossed his helmet he may not have been tossed, but the punishment seemed to have far exceeded the offence.
Shown him up? How did Bryce 'show Hirschbeck up'? Replays show that Hirschbeck blew the call, but it doesn't change anything, Bryce is out. The ump 'won'.
Yes, it was a hot headed (read: 20 year old) thing for Bryce to do, but it was an even douche-ier thing for Hirschbeck to make an issue out of it by mocking Bryce by imitating his flapping arms and further inflaming the situation.
The mature ump would have said something to the Nats 3b coach and just turned his back and let the game take care of things.
Sometimes these umps forget what their roles are...
Here's my take. The call was correct, Bryce's bat clearly travelled over the plate and his wrists "broke". Now, should Hirschbeck be walking towards him, regardless? When he threw him out, from 50 feet away, the home plate umpire is 2 feet away, engaged in a quiet conversation with Harper. There was no "throwing" of a bat or "slamming" a helmet. If anybody should have tossed Bryce, it was the home plate ump, even if it wasn't his strike call.
Chaos
Harper -- it is now definitely evening and I see no afternoon edition. What kind of service is this?! I want a refund!
No afternoon edition. No Tuesday morning edition. Last week we got like 2 or 3 posts. Harper's going soft on us.
I saw him active on Twitter, so at least we know he's not dead.
Matt - you got it. Check your wallet I left it in there.
Josh - Harper had to travel to Nebraska for work for 5 days last week and has to spend this week making up for it.
Kenny - or at least not any more dead
Harper you should have like a video blog sometime. We need to see and hear what the legend looks and sounds like.
Maybe now that Strasburg is no longer baseball's golden boy pitcher (see, Harvey, Matt), some of the pressure will be off him and he can finally live up to the hype.
Now, now... Harper didn't say WHICH afternoon he would provide us an update... just that there was an afternoon edition coming. Eventually :)
C&S - it can't be that hard to find a pic of me. It's not like the world is full of "Harper Gordek"s
plus I'd only do a video blog if there was something to show (other than my face). Or else it's just wasting bandwidth.
Anon - You'd hope, but more likely Nats fans are going to lord Harvey over him. 2014 "Only 2nd in the Cy Young voting? BUM!!!!"
Zimm - I need to hire you to be my lawyer. I also need to do something which necessitates hiring a lawyer. I'll be right back.
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