Well, it’s all come down to this.
With Seattle defeating Oakland and Philadelphia holding off Washington (on a very good double play with bases loaded and one out in the ninth), the Nationals hold a one-half game “lead” on Seattle entering the final day of the season. A Nationals loss or Mariners win will secure the 1st overall pick in the 2009 draft.
Andrew S. | 27-Sep-08 at 6:58 pm | Permalink
I’m holding my applause until tomorrow. But I am excited. Don’t let me down, Nats!
Old Senators Fan | 27-Sep-08 at 6:59 pm | Permalink
We’re #1!!! I hope there isn’t as much drama in the games on Sunday, because my heart can’t take this again!
EdDC | 27-Sep-08 at 7:15 pm | Permalink
The Nats shouldn’t get too excited. Just stay calm, treat tomorrow like it is any other game, and just keep doing what they have been doing all year long.
Ronny | 27-Sep-08 at 7:25 pm | Permalink
If I was Acta, I would start a lineup of pitchers just to be sure we don’t hit anything.
hartmanbirge | 27-Sep-08 at 7:27 pm | Permalink
C’mon Nats!!!!! Just ONE MORE game! Go go go go!!! The suspense is killing me~!
JayB | 27-Sep-08 at 7:33 pm | Permalink
You just know the Nats will win tomorrow……it has been that kind of year.
Jdub76 | 27-Sep-08 at 7:57 pm | Permalink
The top spot is not exactly that great. You are officially the worst team in baseball and in this case have the “honor” of paying $10 mil to Strasburg. What a great deal!
Positively Half St. | 27-Sep-08 at 8:08 pm | Permalink
The Lerners deserve that “honor”. After failing to sign Crow, they need to be put in the gut check position of signing the best player or not. I was a hge apologist. They have something to prove now.
Ben | 27-Sep-08 at 8:45 pm | Permalink
God this is depressing. I actually cheered when Seattle won, and felt like such a loser.
So, onto another subject that makes me less depressed. Brian, I’ve heard this kid Davis described as an outfielder, and occasionally as an ‘if/of’. I presume this means he is an outfielder who can play a bit of first base. Could this be the solution for us for next year, or at least an option to explore at first. Honestly, we don’t have the peices to move to make a splash in the trade market, and the Lerners are unlikely to spend on a free agent. Is this a possibility? Or am I grasping at straws?
Also, why wasn’t the kid called up?
Andrew S. | 27-Sep-08 at 8:51 pm | Permalink
Davis probably isn’t a major league regular, and not a regular 1b. You want power, avg, etc. from 1b.
John O. | 27-Sep-08 at 8:57 pm | Permalink
Having clinched the division, the Phillies lineup tomorrow might be worse than the Nats lineup.
bangzoom | 28-Sep-08 at 1:37 am | Permalink
Davis might be an inch taller than Ronnie Belliard, if that. Not the ideal guy to play first base defensively, even though Ronnie has played there in a pinch this year. What a fiasco…
hartmanbirge | 28-Sep-08 at 1:53 am | Permalink
If we can sign Strasburg then the group of young pitchers is starting to get impressive… imagine rolling towards October with some combination of this:
Strasburg
Detwiler
Zimmerman
McGeary
Balester
Lannan
Strasburg would give us a legitimate #1 starter…. not many teams have one… and yea, Lerners - you’re going to have to bust the bank to get a talent like that. He’ll be in DC within a year…
SlowPitch63 | 28-Sep-08 at 6:28 am | Permalink
We also win with a rain out. The biggest benefit to getting number 1? All our posts on the subjectr for the next 9 months will be one line shorter. We won’t have to start them with,”If Seattle takes X then…”.
Let’s play two!
Sue Dinem | 28-Sep-08 at 8:27 am | Permalink
Headline from TSN Daily: Padres won’t lose 100, beat Bucs
Positively Half St. | 28-Sep-08 at 8:37 am | Permalink
I would have preferred Seattle to play first today, so that they could win and allow mne to root for the Nats to win today. However, since the Nats play first, I will straight out root for them to lose #102. It will give one more reason to hate on the Lerners thiis winter.
EdDC | 28-Sep-08 at 9:40 am | Permalink
I am glad the focus is shifting to the Lerners from Bowden. Bowden could well be made the scapegoat very soon and fired, thereby energizing the season ticket base into thinking a remedy is on the way.
The Nats have given Bowden amazingly small budgets to work with. No free agent money to speak of. You can’t trade for sizable contracts, only for bargains–thereby eliminating well over half of your trading options, including for legit players who have established their market value. You only get to shop in the remainder bin. You can’t get international kids who can demand the big bucks. You can’t pay $4 million for your #1 pick. If you sign one draftee over slot, that means you have to cut back on some others. You can’t sign Zimmerman long term for what the market says he is worth. And it goes on and on.
The answer to this mess has always been Fire Bowden. But now, I wonder if many fans will begin to see through that?
Louis J. | 28-Sep-08 at 9:59 am | Permalink
EdDC….Amem !! right on with your comments on Fire Bowden and where the problem really is.
Chris | 28-Sep-08 at 10:53 am | Permalink
Well, let’s not let Bowden completely off the hook.
But, you’re right. This is the lowest opening day payroll the franchise has had since something like 2003.
Dale | 28-Sep-08 at 11:19 am | Permalink
I agree completely with EdDC.
The budget for signing players in the draft was a revelation to me. The disclosure that Crow’s money was used to sign two other players at midnight shocked me. I had assumed that the Plan had it’s main priority in quickly building the farm system, but to penny pinch that end of the system was just stupid, actually it was a betrayal to the patient fans.
The second part that really irks me is that money can be spent in having the best coaching staff that can be bought. To have a team of 24 year olds without having a great teaching staff with Manny is beyond comprehension and has to be addressed immediately this winter.
Berndaddy | 28-Sep-08 at 11:59 am | Permalink
I would myself agree with a lot of what EdDC posted but Bowden’s still has a bad reputation with all the other GM’s in Baseball. Can he be trusted with a bigger payroll? That’s the question of the century. There’s to many what if’s in this organization all ready no thanks to all of the mgmt team…
EdDC | 28-Sep-08 at 12:15 pm | Permalink
Berndaddy,
I have heard that a lot about Bowden, that none of the other GMs want to talk with such a jerk, if that’s what he is.
But I really wonder about this. What if you are a GM–pick a franchise. You have three or four guys you think you can move, in exchange for guys who might plug some holes in your line-up. Let’s say the guys who are willing to move have major league contracts, you know, like most of the other clubs not named the Nationals have. Bowden is not allowed to go after such guys becuase these guys have to be paid major league contract money. So Bowden calls you again with the same old tired requests: Give me your up-and-coming stars out of your farm system in exchange for my leftover junk no one else wants, Bowden says. Meanwhile, I will keep my own up-and-coming stars, Bowden says.
What is your response? Likely it will be something like: Sorry, Jim, I have a real GM on line 3. May I get back to you some decade in the future?
John O. | 28-Sep-08 at 12:18 pm | Permalink
There’s going to come a time when the Nats are going to have to either (a) trade a prospect or two to get some guys for a stretch drive, or (b) trade some quality guys for a stretch drive (not the Mike Stantons of the world) in return for a prospect or two. Anyone have faith in JimBo holding the steering wheel at that time? I don’t.
Louis J | 28-Sep-08 at 1:29 pm | Permalink
John O.
I don’t mind Bowden “holding” the steering wheel. I worry about the Lerner’s driving the car!!
Louis J | 28-Sep-08 at 1:55 pm | Permalink
Let’s play GM/Owner…the following moves involve increasing the team’s payroll but would make the Nats a playoff contender with only the lost of a few prospects.
Would Lerner agree to trade John Lannon, Colin Balester and ???? for Roy Holloday of Blue Jays assuming you can sign Holloday to a contract extension?
Would Lerner agree to sign free agents Mark Texiera, CC Sabathia and either AJ Burnett, Ben Sheets or Derek Lowe?
Would Lerner agree to acquire Raul Ibanez (LHH-OF)to hit in the middle of the lineup?
Would Bowden be willing to trade Austin Kearns, Tim Redding and Saul Rivera to Rangers for Vicente Padilla,lefty reliever/closer CJ Wilson and receive cash considerations from the Rangers for difference between Padilla & Kearns salaries?
Lineup possibilities:
1. Guzman(SS)
2. Milledge(CF)
3. Zimmerman(3B)
4. Texiera(1B)
5. Dukes(RF)
6. Ibanez(LF)
7. Flores (C)
8. pitcher (the LaRosa method)
9. Bonfacio or Hernandez (2B)
Starters
1. Sabathia
2. Holloday
3. Burnett/Lowe/Sheets
4. Padilla
5. Martis/J. Zimmermann/Hill
Sue Dinem | 28-Sep-08 at 3:13 pm | Permalink
Can we get you your 12th beer now?
hartmanbirge | 28-Sep-08 at 3:35 pm | Permalink
Phillies now up 5-3 and the Nats have fired ALL of their coaches!!!! Morale must be rock bottom!!!!! I think we just might “win” this thing!!!!! GO NATS!!!!!
Old Senators Fan | 28-Sep-08 at 3:56 pm | Permalink
Phillies still ahead 5 to 3 in the bottom of the 8th! Only 3 more outs left for the Nats! Go Team Go!!!
Dick | 28-Sep-08 at 4:05 pm | Permalink
God bless Marco Estrada!
Scott | 28-Sep-08 at 4:11 pm | Permalink
Yes!
hartmanbirge | 28-Sep-08 at 4:13 pm | Permalink
My man Marco Estrada comes through!!!! Now 8-3 Phils!!!!! I KNEW the Nats would pull through!!!! GO NATS!!!!!! LOSE one for the gimper!!! (Young, Johnson, Hill, Cordero, LoDuca, Dukes, MIlledge, Kearns….. all of em!!! Gimps!)….. Way to go Nats!!!!
Old Senators Fan | 28-Sep-08 at 4:15 pm | Permalink
Welcome to Washington Stephen!!!
Dick | 28-Sep-08 at 4:16 pm | Permalink
We did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never had any doubts. I knew we had ‘em all the way.
Dick | 28-Sep-08 at 4:21 pm | Permalink
Luis Ayala is ruining the Mets season!
estuartj | 28-Sep-08 at 5:04 pm | Permalink
“We have given you a republic, if you can keep it”
Benjamin Franklin, 1792
“We have given you Strasburg, if you can sign him”
Manny Acta, 2008