Fouled-Off Bunts: Just A Few More Things Edition

You probably know this by now, but MASN and Comcast have finally reached a settlement, which will allow DC and Baltimore-area Nats fans to see the team starting in September -- just in time for the pennant race!1!1111!!! If there's justice in this world, Tom Boswell's Severn River Estate goes without.

Nick Johnson's fielding has noticeably slipped a bit this year, as Barry notes.

Billy Traber gets the callup as Roy Corcoran gets sent to New Orleans. Traber will fill in in the bullpen, but get a start this weekend. Frank, as always, displays his winning way with pitcher motivation:
"It's not coming down to who is pitching good. It comes down to what you have down there. There isn't much left. If he was burning it up, he would have been up here," Robinson said. "I'm not knocking Traber. It's no big secret going into it or big formula to figure out who's coming."

Matt LeCroy signed a minor-league deal with the Nats. He'll be playing in New Orleans. Presumably, every AL team passed on him. There's a chance that he could come up in September, but, really, what's the point?

MLB.com notes that "The Nationals have used 10 starters this season, and only Livan Hernandez and Ramon Ortiz have a chance to reach 200 innings."

Last year, only two starters reached 200 IP (Livan and Loaiza -- Patterson fell just short.) And the team used 15 starters.

ESPN had a story which has now disappeared from their site, saying that Livan had been claimed on waivers and pulled off -- basically guaranteeing that he's going to return next year. With the way he's pitched over the last month and a half, that's a good thing.

Zuckerman says that Soriano should be an MVP candidate. Somewhere, Tom Boswell is smiling, readying his NATS #1! Foam Finger.

Hot Blogger Action!!
--Federal Baseball sees some strange parallels with last season's San Diego series and looks back at happier times.
--Nats Blog graphically displays how putrid the pitching has been relative to last year.
--The NTP guys have a back-and-forth on the merits of Bowden and the Soriano trade. It's an interesting discussion.
--Beltway Boys discusses the effects of having a mediocre bullpen has on Frank's decisions.
--Dude, don't call that guy out, even if he's one of your colleagues. Bad things, man!