Fouled-Off Bunts: It's Vidro's Fault Edition

Remember when Jose Guillen went out the first time, and the team started winning? Warning: Passive Voice ahead! Snide comments were made in the press about how that was no coincidence.

Well, since Jose Vidro's been back, the pitching has dropped from the middle of the pack to the worst. Coincidence? Is no one going to point that out? The defense is certainly better without him.

Oh, what could've been! From the sidebar, Felipe Lopez was given the option of sitting yesterday. He didn't. If he had, Damian Jackson likely would've played short, and never would've replaced Zimmerman, and never would've made those three errors. Someone needs to write some alternate fan fiction. (Please don't. There's enough crap out there!)

Is there anything more grating than the "It's my fault" acceptance speech? Sure, we don't like it when people deflect blame, but this particular type of "excuse" (and it's not really an excuse) always strikes me as selfish. It's a "Hey, look at me" sort of thing. Can't they just say "I screwed up"?

His excuse this time is that the game moves too fast for him, because he hasn't played enough. Alrighty. First he complains when he plays too much because he's tired. Now he's not playing enough. Someone get him a bowl of porridge.

I don't know why they don't cut him. It would only cost the team $50,000 or so -- the cost of a replacement minor leaguer. And if it's someone they're going to call up in September, the marginal cost is even less. I guess they don't see the harm in keeping a warm body (even if he plays like he's stiff) around. They can just staple his moldering corpse to the pine in a few weeks anyway.

A close 2nd place on my annoying athlete cliche list is home run hitters who say they're not home run hitters. Enter Soriano. If Soriano's not a home run hitter, then I'm Roger Feckin' Angell.

3rd on the list is asshat managers. Frank says that Alex Escobar is going to be the everyday CFer so that they can see what they have with him. Immediately following that, Ryan Church gets a slew of apperances in center. Alrighty.

So, Frank, do you think that Soriano has a chance of being MVP? Soriano's not a viable candidate, for sure, but this is example #45,287 of Frank ripping his players for no good purpose. He's right with his assessment, but just as I don't want my 90-year old Grandmother pointing out the freshman 15 I put on, I don't want a senile manager speaking his mind all the time either. Diplomacy and tact, good sir!

Daryle Ward missed a few games this week with sore Achilles tendii. He claims he over-exerted himself shagging fly balls during BP. I'm assuming by "over-extered" he means "Did just once."

Robert Fick has started a rehab assignment. No hurry. Will he be back next year? If he is, I hope it's not as the team's primary backup C.

Colton Willems, one of the two Nats first-round picks, was shut down for the season with arm fatigue. That's nothing to worry about. It's normal for a barely 18-year old (is he even that old?) to have a little fatigue. Colton had a pretty good first year. His K totals were low, but he pitched effectively. Still, for someone so young, it's nice to see that he could at least hold his own.

Thom Loverro looks ahead to the central question of the offseason (non-Soriano division): What do you do with the two overpaid lumps of flesh in the middle of the infield, Guzman and Vidro. The odds of making either disappear are unlikely, unless the team is willing to eat 95 cents on the dollar. Still, that'd net the team a nickle, which is more than Guzman's worth.

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NFA updates the draft signings. With the recent signing of Stephen King (hold the jokes; the writer is the one who sucks) and Glenn Gibson, the Nats have done a good job of getting their guys in. The only realistic top player left for them is Sean Black.

Federal Baseball blogs up a storm: He looks at Ryan Zimmerman's chances of winning the Rookie of the Year award, and comes to a depressing conclusion. He vents his frustration at the corpse of Damian Jackson. And he digs up a quote from Stan Kasten emphasizing how much the guy hates agents.