Friday, April 25, 2008

It's A Funny Game!

If you and your buddy were making picks of players to hit a walk-off, alternating players, where would Wil Nieves get picked? Last? Maybe just a pick ahead of the other Wee Willie, Harris? Man!

Did you see that swing?! Up and away junk, and he swung high, driving the ball to right, a sorta excuse me swing that kept going and going and going and GONE! (As Lenny Harris would undoubtedly say as he's pointing at me and telling me to go feck myself, it was to the opposite field!) The ball just sorta floated and floated out there, and not until it cleared the wall did I think it was actually possible for it to leave! Amazing!

Nieves has certainly had the week of his life! He's got a ton of energy back there, and you can just tell that he's dying to stay up, even if the chances of him repeating a week like this ever again are about as great as Kasten sending me a Christmas card.

Wil Nieves!? Wil Nieves!? Not even he probably thought he could do it!

  • I'm tempted to forgo the afterglow for a deconstruction of Manny's borderline-incompetent strategy with the 8th inning, but we'll save it for another time. short version: STOP THE GODDAMN INTENTIONAL WALKS!!!

    • posted by Chris Needham at 10:36 PM

    24 Comments:

    • most importantly -

      i missed the game but tuned in to see nieves get interviewed, then the recap.

      did teddy win tonight?

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/25/2008 10:49 PM  

    • Yeah, Teddy won.

      But Screech DQed him for cutting across the outfield. Did you see Nieves get pied? Perez got him good with a shaving cream soufflee at the start of the interview.

      By Blogger Doghouse Riley, at 4/25/2008 10:56 PM  

    • How about using Mike O'Connor as the LOOGY. Wasn't the whole point that we didn't have room for a LOOGY and needed a long man? Well, I guess there wasn't much chance of this going into extras--Manny knew Wil was going to end it all the way.

      By Blogger Steven, at 4/25/2008 11:05 PM  

    • Wil Nieves has become the flavor of the month -- he can manage pitchers, he plays well defensively (nice back up on a bunt last night, good pick off tonight). What does this mean for Estrada when fan fave LoDuca comes back? And if Nieves keeps it up, what does it mean for Jesus Flores?

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/25/2008 11:24 PM  

    • Just got back from the game. It was my first time at Nats Park- it's a great place to see the game.

      Anyways, Nieves had a great game. Caught a runner stealing (Cubs runners were 0-2!), and hit his first (walk off) home run of his career, what a way to do it!
      Milledge had a great game too. 2/2 with two walks, and Perez wasn't too shabby either.

      That 8th inning was a disaster. I'm not sure what Manny was thinking. What made it worse was the 10,000+ Cubs fans in attendance, but luckily it didn't matter in the end.

      What was that about a sweep?

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 12:00 AM  

    • I will send you a Passover card.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 12:21 AM  

    • the chances of him repeating a week like this ever again are about as great as Kasten sending me a Christmas card.

      Kasten sent me a card last Christmas, Chris. What's wrong with you?

      (Well, it wasn't exactly a Christmas card, it was a Seasons Greetings card. And it didn't exactly come from Kasten, it came from the team. But I'm sure Kasten had to run the expense to design the card, print it and pay the postage on it past the cheap Lerners for approval, so it might as well have come from him. And it's the thought that counts anyway, isn't it?)

      So I'm gonna assume your card was lost in the mail and look forward to another good week from Nieves.

      And after being at the game tonight to watch it in person, I have just two words to say: Ryan who?

      By Blogger An Briosca Mor, at 4/26/2008 12:40 AM  

    • What was he thinking in the 8th inning? Listened to his press conference on the way home and Manny said in the end he felt he got a better matchup by avoiding Ward. Really? Worth loading the bases to get it?

      Nieves heroics were a load of fun, but Rivera's 2 outs saved this game.

      Teddy fooled most of the crowd into thinking he'd won, but yes he cheated by straying from the warning track. Did anybody tape or tivo the game? I would love to get my hands on it.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 1:16 AM  

    • Teddy, I hope you meant Soto not Ward, because O'Connor IBB'd Soto to load the bases. Ward pinch hit for Cedeno, who then was subbed out for Murton when O'Connor came in. If Manny had it wrong, then I'd be very concerned.

      It didn't make sense to me to intentionally walk Soto. He had looked terrible today, striking out all three times he was at the plate.

      Secondly, why was O'Connor put in? Bowden just went on and on about how he'd take on a long-reliver role. 1 out in the 8th doesn't quite fit that scenario.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 1:36 AM  

    • Hated the IBB. Hated it.

      But when you're Manny and your team's been losing most of their ballgames, you're gonna trot out the one-run tactics from time to time.

      This time it happened to work: the Nats gave up one run against the chance of giving up more than one had they not given the IBB.

      Please, Manny, don't make a habit of this.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 1:55 AM  

    • Do you realize that we've won games this week on home runs by FLop AND Wil Nieves. Forget the DQ, no wonder Teddy won. Somewhere, Harold Stassen is smiling.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 2:50 AM  

    • Will, I'm not sure you've got it right. Ayala IBB'd Soto, then Ward came in for Cedeno, and that's when Manny inserted O'Connor to face the lefty Ward. Murton then replaced Ward, so Manny was asked to defend the insertion of O'Connor who never even faced a lefty. His answer was that he'd rather see O'Connor-Murton than Ayala-Ward.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 3:09 AM  

    • Still, too many intentional walks. How many runs have scored on bases-loaded walks and wild pitches/passed balls? This team leaks runs on defense while it only scores when it can string three hits together or FLop comes through, which is about twice every lunar cycle.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 3:32 AM  

    • I love the new park, but I must say the empty seats behind the plate are a disgrace. It looks awful on tv, and something is completely wrong if the fans arent going to be intimate with the plate.

      Can someone explain what is wrong with this picture?

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 9:24 AM  

    • What's of great concern to me about the eighth inning is Acta's misuse of O'Connor. You bring a kid up from the minors who has not established himself as a starter, telling him he will be used for long relief. Then you call the bullpen and tell the coach to get O'Connor up and throwing, warm him up quickly, because he's needed for a spot appearance in a 3-2 ball game.

      Acta has him come in with the bases loaded, not having warmed up properly, not having been prepared at all for such an appearance, and he walks the batter he's supposed to get out. Probably a better outcome than throwing a hanging curve. If that experience, engineered by the manager, doesn't mess up the head of a putative starter, what will?

      O'Connor today must be one of the most confused pitchers in the major leagues. He has no idea what his role is or what is expected of him.

      What would have happened without Nieves' walkoff and the Nats had to go into extra innings? Who would have pitched the tenth, the eleventh?Again, calling on O'Connor in that spot situtation made no sense whatsoever.

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 12:11 PM  

    • My take on it was that after the IBB (which should never have been done) Acta needed to pull Ayala, because after an intentional walk its hard to get your strike zone command back. He went with O'Connor for the match up but when Lou pulled the switch for a lefty Acta didnt want to just go back to the pen again in such a close game, but didnt have a choice after the O'Connor walk. Really if we can just stop handing out IBB to anyone not named Pujols we would be better off

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/26/2008 2:38 PM  

    • How about Lannan?

      Now if a couple more young pitchers of ours can step their game up, I think we'll have a pretty formidable team.
      (And maybe then our batters won't have carry the team, because they sure aren't right now.)

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/27/2008 5:17 PM  

    • What about Wil...dude is playing out of his skin right now! And this might be early, but he seems to work well with Lannan, so do you keep him up and send Estrada back down for the pusher?

      By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/27/2008 9:21 PM  

    • Anyone else notice that Estrada looks like Duff from Ace of Cakes?

      By Blogger Unknown, at 4/28/2008 12:14 PM  

    • very nice........I'm tempted to forgo the afterglow for a deconstruction of Manny's borderline-incompetent strategy with the 8th inning........

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