Fouled-Off Bunts: Hail To The Mistress Choker

Dmitri Young, whose return from drug abuse and spousal abuse was one of the surprises of the season, was rightly named NL Comeback Player of the Year.

Dmitri's year really came out of nowhere, far exceeding anyone's expectations, even, no doubt, Bowden's. He set a career high in batting average and on-base percentage while lightening the mood in the clubhouse. His 38 doubles were the most he's had in a decade. He didn't replace Nick Johnson, especially when you factor in his defense, but he was a solid stopgap performer and, at the time a deserving All-Star selection.

Congratulations to him. He deserves it.

I just wish he'd go lose 40 pounds in the offseason, not so he can play the outfield, but so that he wouldn't wear down. His second-half slide, which probably was partially a function of playing over his head, had to have been aided along by his shape and his massive body wearing down in the disgusting weather we have here in the summer.

Our good friends at MLB.com don't help a thing with the first part of their opening line: "During Spring Training, when everybody was picking his team to be historically bad." Vegas, who certainly knows a hell of a lot more about predicting and people's expectations since, you know, they get paid to know that crap, had the Nats at 66 wins. I'm tired of reading the 'historically bad' canard and seeing that used to trumpet up the team's success.

It bothers me, in part, because it's vaguely insulting to the actual successes the team had. We don't need to invent boogeymen to appreciate what this team did. They played hard, they kicked some good teams' asses down the stretch, and they exceeded last year's record while trimming payroll by $30 million. That's a great story on its own without inventing a bunch of tripe. Let the works and actions of the players speak for themselves dammit.

Teh Zuck hands out his Letter Grades for the various Nats, proving that he likely went to one of those schools where grade inflation is the norm. Ryan Langerhans doesn't even get an F.

Because I'm crotchety, I was struck by this: "Offensive numbers were putrid but remains one of the best catchers in the game." If you insert 'defensive' in there, I might agree. But without straining myself, I could probably name 15 catchers (and undoubtedly more if I did strain) I'd rather have on my team, when you consider the totality of their contributions.

I was struck by the honesty of the comments Acta made with regards to Schneider's lack of offense.

The Maxwell hype machine continues. He looked impressive, but to read some of these things (especially the BPG comments) he's ready for his All Star starting slot.

Ibid... it references the "consistent basis" with which Wily Mo Pena went to the opposite field as the reason for his success. Here's his hit chart for the year, at least for games at RFK. Toggle singles and see that a fair number did go to the opposite field. But look at all other types of hits, and they were pulled or hit to dead center.

But going to the opposite field doesn't mean automatic hit. So let's look at the groundouts. Only one of those went to the opposite field, although his flyouts basically all did. The flyouts going to left is consistent with a batter missing a curveball or other breaking pitch.

In general, the adjustment a batter makes when he's fooled is to slow down the bat and drag it through the zone, often with the head of the bat trailing behind the wrists. If he connects, it pops up, usually to the opposite field. Look at other pull hitters like Soriano. You'll see the same effect. When they hit a weak fly, it's going the other way. That's what Wily Mo did here.

Did he have some opposite field hits? Yep. Did he do it on a "consistent basis"? doesn't seem to be. Take a look at his 2005 results in Great American. You'll see that he had his occasional share of opposite field singles, too. It just happens. Maybe Lenny did fix him and give him some adjustments, but his performance doesn't seem that dramatically different than what he did in the past.

Lenny Shapiro comes out swinging for all-around good guy Bob Carpenter who, thanks to the Nationals apparent incompetence, may actually be back on MASN next season.

The Nats were apparently interested in wooing Dan Shulman, typically heard doing the ESPN Sunday Night games on the radio, to be the lead voice, but neglected to see if he was interested before telling Carp to go screw off. Shulman turned them down, and now they're left holding the bag, begging to see if a marginally tolerable announcer would come back. Shapiro's column -- and kudos the the Post for finally having a goddamn column about the Nats! -- basically pleads with the Nats to take Carpenter back, and cites the hundreds of comments in favor of Carpenter on the "blogosphere" (whatever the hell that is), message boards, and emails to MASN.

Apparently, ever since that ugly incident, MASN has blocked my emails.

Surprisingly, Lenny shares the anecdote that Sutton went to team management to complain about Carpenter's style, and how they didn't mesh. While both are pros, there were a few occasional awkward exchanges, especially when Sutton was left dumbfounded by something asinine that Carpy said.

Whether they hire him or fire him, I don't really care. (OK, that's a lie. I want someone new). I just hope they don't make the ultimate decision on the stupid "continuity" argument, as if settling for mediocrity were optimal to improving things. If that were the case, we'd still be smiling and nodding as Frank Robinson penciled in a hobbling Vinny Castilla while Zimmerman was stapled to the bench. Hey, it's continuity, folks!

Speaking of Zimmerman, Svrulga neglected to give me a "some internet goober contributed to this report" credit. Jerk.