MVN - Most Valuable Network

There really is nothing good to write about

If you’re pushing Paul LoDuca as the symbol of something good with the Nats.  It’s very nice that he had a good series against the Marlins, and is willing to play LF (though one might question playing a 36 yr old former catcher in the outfield) and 1B (though one might question sitting arguably the Nats most respected hitter Dmitri Young, struggling or not.   Hey, this “one” guy asking all these questions seems pretty smart!). It’s also very nice that he’s been able to raise his average to .228 / .307 / .291., that in the past 3 days he doubled his XBH total since coming back (all the way to 2).  

“I’ve never been the type of player that’s looking for statistics.”

You know what?  If it would help you say….”get on base” or “hit for power” or even “throw out runners”, well then maybe you should start looking for these “statistics” you speak of. 

“I want to win games. I want to be out there to help this team win. “

Then you go out there and you rake that infield dirt to its finest consistency because that’s going to be the most help you can give the Nationals.

Youth Update

I’ve been a bit remiss in actual numbers recently forgoing that for whimsical flights of legal fancy.  For those of you that eat and breathe numbers (like Mathman , who *I never realized appears to be a Michigan Wolverine fan) here are the June splits for the Nats 4 youngsters (playing)

Jesus Flores :  .238 / .293 / .369   

After hitting .340 / .417 / .528 in May  you wondered why the Nats would try to put this guy in AAA.  There’s the reason.  With a reasonable BABIP (.290 in June, .486 in May!) he’s a .240 hitter. Thing is with all this time under his belt, does it really help going down to AAA?  It’s not a hitch in his swing that he’s working at, it’s timing major league pitching.  To me that’s something that can only be worked out on the major legaue level.  If you didn’t believe Flores was the catcher of the future, I can see him playing AAA ball to see how he does there first, but for the Nats there should be no question.  Flores is the man from here on through the next few years.  He should play and play every day.

All that being said I like the power I see, and think that’ll improve.  I think Flores is better than a .240 hitter as well.  A .260 / .320 / .420 line might not seem like much, but real catching is hard to find.  Those numbers put him close to being a Top 10 hitting catching, so don’t be dismayed if he’s not a .300 hitter. 

Elijah Dukes : .292 / .395 / .481 

 A June nearly as awesome as his May was horrendous.  He walked he hit for power.  You couldn’t ask for anything more.  The most positive thing about Elijah in my book is the consistency of his patience.  Now tied for 2nd in walks (yes, still behind Nick) he was walking even when he wasn’t hitting. A .311 OBP with he was batting .167.   To still see him walking now that he is putting the bat on the ball shows a player that wasn’t just grasping for ways to get on base, but a player with an honestly good eye.

I’ll be curious to see if his power stays when his average declines (as it likely will - .375 BABIP for June) in the 2nd half.  If that’s the case it’ll be hard not to be hyped about his future.

Lastings Milledge : .242 / .303 / .384

Milledge’s worth is all tied up in his average, even though he hit for a bit more power in June than he had in April or May.  Simply put he has to hit .280+ to even start to be useful.  Not necessarily this year mind you, but soon.  June was clearly a disappointment , but it was actually a slight step up from May.  A continuation of that and a batting average around .260 in July would be nice. 

 However right now the major concern is getting him back from injury without losing him for the season.  Roger Bernadina, Kory Casto, Willie Harris aren’t the long term answer Milledge might be.

Wily Mo Pena : .242 / .254 / .323

Wily Mo didn’t bottom out in June as we all probably thought he would, instead keeping his hopes alive by getting enough base hits.   Still I’ve said it before and I will until there is a resolution, Pena more than anyone is here for his hittting.  He needs to get on base and he definitely needs to slug.   He has done neither for half a season now.

Can you say the same thing about Milledge? Sure, but Lastings is 3+ years younger than Wily and has about 1000 less at bats in the major leagues.  You can still say he’s learning.  Wily Mo you can’t.  Why not make a deal to an AL team for a underperforming 27/28 yr old former MI prospect?  or any pitching? He’s no use to the Nats now.

This Table is not Square

It is Round

New Roundtable Up!

 with Miss Chatter and Nationals Enquirer.   Read it, if only to justify…our hard work?  No, that’s not it, it’s just emailing. That isn’t hard.  Our passion?  Well, maybe for the other two, but I can hardly bring myself to care about the Nats without a cocktail of powerful narcotics.

Well read it to justify something of your choosing.

Can’t you see they’re burning, burning

Cordero is out this year Maybe next year too. 

I’ve peered into the future though and that’s not the worst of it.

July 12th : Shawn Hill discovers he is missing his right arm from the elbow down. Nats: “To be fair, we thought his grip might have been a bit off.”

August 1st: Ryan Zimmerman’s DL stint linked to Leprosy. Nats: “Lesions? We thought they were bruises from extra infield practice”

September 20th: Nick Johnson should be back this weekend. Nats: “Nick is a still little slow on the basepaths, but is showing his trademark patience at the plate”

September 21st: Nick Johnson found to be dead since April. Nats: “We’re still putting him in at first”

There is no truth to the rumor that the Nats med staff diagnosedBallWonk, Basil from Federal Baseball, and Chris at Capitol Punishment with a runny nose, a hangnail, and split ends respectively.