Distinguished Senators, the Washington Nationals Blog That Is Great

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

I Hate Bunts So Much They Make Me Swear

I need to stop paying close attention to these games, because Frank Robinson is about to make my luscious hair fall out. First off, the Nats are facing a lefty starter again, and we all know that brings out the worst in Frank. Once again, the remains of Jeffrey Hammonds start instead of Ryan Church. As I've said before, I'm not opposed to platooning Church as long as he has a competent platoon partner. Marlon Byrd playing instead of Church is fine. But with Jose Guillen on the bench, Hammonds is out there. I feel for the guy, but he's just not a major league player anymore. There is simply no advantage to sitting Church against lefties if his replacement can't hit anyone. (NB: the fact that Hammonds actually has a hit tonight changes nothing).

That's not even the worst part. Brad Wilkerson led off the game with a double, which is obviously pretty nifty. Jamey Carroll, who's hitting .313 and even better against lefties, fucking bunts. That's stupid even if it works, but of course Wilk gets thrown out at third. Then Frank has Carroll take off on a hit 'n' run. Vinny Castilla doesn't get the ball in play, and Jamey's out by a mile. Frank managed us right the hell out of the first inning. If this were a war, he'd be hanged for treason.

UPDATE: Minutes after I post this, Hammonds wins the game. So I'll just shut up now.

My new first stop on the teh Internet every day? GunnarPeterson.com.

5 comments:

Olivier said...

See? You shouldn't shut up. The Cleveland Spiders won 21 games. Jeffrey Hammonds will get something done sometimes, just not often enough.

I mean, I saw Peter Bergeron get on a big hitting streak for two weeks once... I saw Shane Andrews hit 25 home runs in a season too... And guess what? Those guys werer placeholders. AAA, maybe AAAA players. So is Hammonds.

And Frank will negates enough of his prime assets by bunting guys over and asking them "Go get an out for me tiger!" and whatnot.

The season is 162 games long, and consistency is the key. Just watch the Braves.

Harper said...

What's wrong with betting on the one-out long fly ball? Seems like a solid strategy to me.

I have a big fear Hammonds will get a couple more hits and someone else will get sent down when Wil "watch me take at bats from our hottest hitter" Cordero comes back.

Olivier said...

Le Grand Orange, Re: 1 out flyball

Look, in the seventh or eight inning, against Randy Johnson or any guy who's hot that night, or a strong pen and a tight score? yeah, sure.

Sure, Capuano looks like a promising pitcher, he is already pretty and it looks like he was in a good groove last night. But at the bottom of the first inning? I disagree. Robinson has been doing that since he's landed in the Expos dugout, and it just never worked. I can deal with the fact that there may (may) be other things he brings as a coach that more than offset that proclivity of his, but still, I think it's bad strategy.

Olivier said...

"Sure, Capuano looks like a promising pitcher, he is already pretty and it looks like he was in a good groove last night."

Of course, I meant "pretty good".

Eh?

Harper said...

I've got to start using emoticons...

:) ;) :o :( :::::::

I can't do it! Read my mind people!