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Archive for the 'Nationals' Category

Yunesky Maya Gets Another Opportunity

Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Ryan Mattheus took his fist to a locker after giving up five runs on four hits and two walks against the Padres. In those cases the metalic objects usually win. After the punch Mattheus found himself with a broken hand. He is not the first player to do that and he won’t be the last. As a result of his anger and a stretched out pen Yunesky Maya was called up by the Nationals along with Fernando Abad. The Nationals put Mattheus on the disabled list and sent down outfielder Eury Perez.

Yunesky Maya defected from Cuba about the same time as Aroldis Chapman. He was considered the more polished pitcher than Chapman, but lacked the overall stuff. Myworld had thought Maya would be pitching in the major leagues as a number three or four starter while Chapman struggled to get his command and find a third pitch in the minors. The reverse has happened. Chapman has become a closer for the Reds while Maya has been locked in AAA for the Nationals.

Maya stands only 5′11″. His pedestrian fastball and other underwhelming stuff does not seem to have the same effect on major league hitters as it did with Cuban hitters. In the Nacional Series he was considered a better pitcher than Chapman and for the 2009 WBC he was the top starter for Cuba. Aroldis Chapman was a back of the rotation starter for the Cuban team, but got most of the buzz because of his 100 mile per hour fastball.

His best year in the Cuban League was in 2008-2009 when he won the equivalent of the Cuban Cy Young Award finishing 13-4 with a 2.22 ERA. He struck out 119, second to Aroldis Chapman who had struck out 130. He signed with the Nationals in July 2010 and zoomed through their minor league system, getting two starts for AAA Syracuse before the season ended.

Maya had his best year last year when he finished with a 3.88 ERA at AAA Syracuse after 28 starts. This did not result in a promotion to the Nationals, even though he is listed on their 40 man roster. This year he is a less impressive 1-4 with a 5.07 ERA in eight starts. The opposition is hitting 30 points higher off him this year than they did last year. He still got the call up.

He has shown improvement with his last three starts, all quality outings. He has given up only four runs in his last 20 plus innings. The Nationals rewarded him with a callup to their bullpen. In the majors his record is 1-4, 5.52 ERA. He is going to have to improve on those results to stay in the bullpen.

Posted in Cuba, Nationals | No Comments »

Z-Man Error Derails Strasburg

Sunday, May 12th, 2013

Stephen Strasburg was cruising along with his best outing of 2013. For the first four innings he had retired 12 of the 13 hitters he faced, striking out 6 with a fastball consistently hitting 95-97 miles per hour. In the fifth Luis Valbuena smoked a one out double down the right field line, but Roger Bernadina quickly retrieved the ball, threw to cutoff man Danny Espinosa who fired to Ryan Zimmerman for the second out as Valbuena tried to stretch it to a triple. Wellington Castillo grounded a routine ball to Ryan Zimmerman, who made a bad throw to Adam LaRoche, winging it to the inside part of the bag and pulling LaRoche off first base. After that error the wheels flew off for Strasburg.

A pitcher is supposed to have the back of his teammates, so when one of them makes an error the pitcher is expected to bear down and bail out his fielders. Strasburg walked the number eight hitter Darwin Barney, running the count to 3-2. He also ran the count to pitcher Edwin Jackson to 3-2. Jackson drove a ball over Span’s head for a 2-run double to give the Cubs a 2-0 lead. Another 3-2 count to David Dejesus before he walked him. Starlin Castro grounded a ball into the hole. Ian Desmond made a nice backhand play on it, fired to second but DeJesus beat the throw. Anthony Rizzo put a dagger to the heart, bouncing the ball over the mound and into centerfield for a 2-run single. Rizzo attempted to steal second. Wilson Ramos was content to let him steal it. Rizzo stopped before he reached second, Ramos gunned it down and Rizzo was tagged out before Starlin Castro could even think about going home.

The only ball hit hard in the fifth inning was the Jackson double. Two walks, an infield single and a bleeder up the middle contributed to the loss for Strasburg, dropping his record for the year to 1-5. Not only did the Zimmerman error extend the inning, it forced Strasburg to throw 25 extra pitches. Davey Johnson had no choice but to pinch hit for him in the bottom of the fifth, with his pitch count now over 90.

Ian Desmond hit a solo shot to lead off the fifth, smashing the ball into the centerfield bleachers. He would have his second straight three hit game and finish a triple short of the cycle. Danny Espinosa followed with a single and moved to third after two groundouts. Chad Tracy pinch hit for Strasburg and lofted a lazy fly to center for the final out. It seems everyone on the National bench is hitting below .200s. That is not getting it done for late inning rallies.

Zach Duke came on to pitch the eighth. He may have punched his ticket to Syracuse, giving up four runs while only retiring two hitters. A wild pitch scored one run and a 2-run single by David Dejesus just by Danny Espinosa scored two.

The Nationals got the fans hope up for the last time in the bottom of the sixth. Back to back walks to Roger Bernadina and Ryan Zimmerman and a single by Adam LaRoche loading the bases with one out, ending the day for Cubs starting pitcher and ex-National Edwin Jackson. Shawn Camp came in and gave up a single to Ian Desmond to score one. Two hitters with batting averages under .200 could not extend the inning. Danny Espinosa struck out and Tyler Moore grounded to third. Danny at least got one hit but Moore went 0 for 4 to keep that average spiraling downward.

The Nationals could only get one more runner on base when Steve Lombardozzi hit a pinch hit triple in the right field corner. Recently called up Eury Perez popped one up into too shallow centerfield to keep Lombo stranded at third and Roger Bernadina sent his average to below .110 with a healthier fly out to center.

Hector Rondon pitched the last two innings, retiring all six hitters he faced.

Game Notes: Henry Rodriguez pitched two shutout innings. The velocity on his fastball hit three digits, but stayed mostly in the high 90s…Stephen Strasburg started the game throwing eight 95 plus mile per hour fastballs to David DeJesus. DeJesus took the eighth fastball to the warning track in centerfield. In the fourth DeJesus also drove Bernadina to the warning track in right field…Ryan Zimmerman made his second error of the game when he let a ball scoot under his glove in seventh. He atoned for that two batters later by starting a 5-4-3 double play…Bill Taft was the first President other than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson to win a President’s race.

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Posted in Nationals, Cubs | No Comments »

Nats Complete Sweep of Tigers

Friday, May 10th, 2013

While the sun was shining the rain was falling. Wierd. It didn’t last long. The Tigers may have wished it lasted longer to make this series not even happen. They lost the makeup game 5-4 allowing the Nationals to complete the sweep of the AL defending champion Tigers in a short two game series. The Nationals will travel to Detroit at the end of July for a two game series where the Tigers can achieve revenge.

The Nationals got to Doug Fister early. Denard Span pulled a double down the right field line to open the bottom of the first. Roger Bernadina laid down a beautiful drag bunt for a single. Doug got Bryce Harper to ground to second, but the Tigers could not complete the double play, Span scoring on the ground out. Ryan Zimmerman followed with a single. Adam LaRoche stroked a single to center appearing to load the bases with Bryce content to stop at third. The ball skipped past the charging Austin Jackson for an error allowing Harper to score and Zimmerman to advance to third. Ian Desmond roped another single to make it 3-0. Fister finally bore down to strike out both Danny Espinosa and Wilson Ramos to end the inning.

Fister did not do much better in the second inning. With one out and an 0-2 count to Denard Span he threw a ball inside, grazing Span on the uniform. A walk to Roger Bernadina put two runners on setting up back to back RBI singles from Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche to make the score 5-1.

Fister would retire the side in order in the third, but did not come out to pitch in the fourth. With runners on first and second and two outs Jim Leyland went to his big bullet early, pinch hitting Victor Martinez. Victor swing at and missed on a Dan Haren 2-2 slider.

Dan Haren gave up a lot of hard outs, but Denard Span and Bryce Harper did a good job of tracking down the line drives that seemed to hang up in the air long enough to be snared. Doug Fister drove in the first Tiger run in the second when he bounced a single up the middle to score Jhonny Peralta. Austin Jackson hit a hard liner tracked down by Span that had National fans taking a deep breath.

When Tiger relievers stalled any further rallies by the Nationals the Tigers got a big 3-run pinch hit homerun from Matt Tuiasosopo in the sixth that traveled just past the left field bullpen to pull within one. Dan Haren was pinch hit for in the bottom of the sixth, leaving the final three frames for the National’s bullpen.

Ryan Mattheus, Drew Storen and Rafael Soriano each tossed an inning of relief, each giving up a single but no more. With Miguel Cabrera on first after a two out single in the ninth Soriano gave up a long fly ball to Prince Fielder caught at the warning track by Denard Span to end the game.

Game One: Rafael Soriano likes to rip his tucked in uniform jersey out to hang over his pants once he picks up a save. He has convinced the rest of the Nationals to follow suit. When a final out is made the uniform jerseys are all pulled out from their tucked in pants to celebrate the victory…Tiger relievers Darin Downs, Luke Putkonen, Drew Smyly and Jose Valverde only gave up one hit in the last five innings. Jose was hitting 95 miles per hour on his fastball, something myworld doesn’t recall him hitting last year…Alex Avila hit two shots to right field, but Bryce Harper made an over the shoulder catch on one as he raced to the wall and a sliding catch on another to rob Alex of two hits. Alex hit another hard line drive caught by a charging Span. He finally got his hit in the eighth, but no batter in the game tagged the ball harder than Alex…Austin Jackson led off the fifth with a double. He should have been doubled off second when Dan Haren caught a hard liner back at the box. Austin froze about ten feet away from second but the throw from Haren sailed into centerfield as there appeared to be some confusion between Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa about who was to catch the throw. Fortunately for the Nationals Jackson could not advance to third and died on second after two fly outs to center.

Posted in Tigers, Nationals | No Comments »

Z-Mann Tames Tigers

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

It was a constant drizzle, delaying the game for close to an hour. Myworld did not get home until way past midnight. The delayed game did not impact the sizzle off the Jordan Zimmermann fastball as he restricted the Tigers to just one run on seven hits over seven innings in the Nationals 3-1 win over the Tigers. He struck out seven, many swinging and missing at his high 95 mile per hour fastball. The drizzle had stopped by the time Zimmermann took the mound and would not return until long after he left. The sizzle on the fastball never left.

The Tigers scored first in the third inning. Torii Hunter got things started by ramming a two out double down the third base line past a diving Ryan Zimmerman. Miguel Cabrera lined a single between short and third, just enough to allow Hunter to race home ahead of the weak throw by Tyler Moore. A walk to Prince Fielder put two runners on but Andy Dirks whiffed to end the inning. It would be the last inning a Tiger would touch third base.

The Nationals rallied for a run in the bottom frame. Denard Span led off the inning with a triple down the right field line. He had stumbled rounding second and a good throw would have gotten him at third, but it was off line to the outfield side of the bag. Ian Desmond lined one to first but Bryce Harper smacked a ball deep enough to left to score Span with the Nationals first run.

The Nationals scored another run in the fourth, again courtesy of a poor throw from right field. Adam LaRoche started the inning with his second single to left field. Danny Espinosa got his second hit of the game with a line single up the middle, LaRoche stopping at second. Kurt Suzuki lofted a fly ball to right, LaRoche tagged and the throw from Torii Hunter skipped past the third baseman, hitting the railing of the camera well. The ump pointed toward home allowing LaRoche to trot in with the go ahead run. Espinosa was allowed to take third. Jordan Zimmermann struck out to end the inning.

The Nationals scored another run in the fifth inning when Bryce Harper hit a no doubter deep into the right centerfield bleachers. The centerfielder took one step back, stopped and watched the ball sail into the crowd. As Harper rounded the bases he passed Miguel Cabrera, who at one time was a 20 year old potential superstar for the then Florida Marlins. What myworld would have given to have read each of their thoughts as Bryce passed Miggy on his way to touching third.

Tyler Clippard got fans nervous in the eighth. He retired the first two hitters, but walked Andy Dirks and Jhonny Peralta. He had two strikes on both but couldn’t put them away. Both fouled balls off until Clippard threw ball four. He finally got Alex Avila on a 2-2 check swing third strike to end the eighth.

Rafael Soriano came on in the ninth to retire the Tigers on three fly ball outs.

Game Notes: Denard Span started the Nationals off well in the first with a bloop single over short. He got picked off first before Desmond could finish his at bat…Two hitters struggling Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche both got two singles in three at bats. One of Danny’s hits was a perfectly placed bunt single while both of LaRoche’s singles were opposite field hits…It is rare to see Bryce Harper strike out on a fastball, but Joaquin Benoit got him to swing and miss at a 95 mile per hour heater…Adam LaRoche looked too casual when he booted a slow grounder in the first. Miguel Cabrera lined one at Ian Desmond at short who caught Torii Hunter too far off first base to double him off…Prince Fielder hit a high fly ball near the right field scoreboard that appeared to be a catchable ball that Bryce Harper missed. He leaped at the scoreboard to catch the ball but the ball fell to the right side of his glove without hitting the scoreboard. Andy Dirks, a lefthanded batter could not ground a ball to the right side to advance Fielder to third, where he could have been with one out. Instead he grounded a ball to short, forcing Fielder to stay on second…Both Torii Hunter and Prince Fielder swung on and missed at a Jordan Zimmermann high 95 mile per hour fastball…Miguel Cabrera pulled a ball hard to left off Tyler Clippard to lead off the eight that would have cleared the fence if he had straightened it out. The homerun would have made the score 3-2…Roger Bernadina made a diving catch in the ninth on a ball he appeared to have misjudged at first. Roger was a defensive replacement for Tyler Moore in the eighth…The racing Presidents seem to have fallen into a pattern. George Washington has won 11 races and Thomas Jefferson 7. The other three Presidents have yet to win a race. Something tells me there is a conspiracy going on.

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Posted in Tigers, Nationals | No Comments »

Span Snatches Victory From Reds

Sunday, April 28th, 2013

Denard Span made a couple highlight catches to preserve the Nationals 6-3 win over the Reds. The first catch came in the sixth after a solo shot from Shin-Soo Choo landed into the right field bleachers to make the score 6-2. Zack Cosart had just rapped a single off Dan Haren, who appeared to be cracking now that he was going through the order a third time. Joey Votto scorched one to the opposite field, the ball tailing away from Span. Span raced after it, lept and caught the ball as he crashed into the fence in left centerfield. It did look like the ball would have hit the fence for extra bases for Votto, putting runners on second and third and no out. Instead there was just a runner on first base with one out, setting up a smash to Ian Desmond for a double play. That would be the night for Dan Haren.

In the seventh the Reds had started another rally off Zach Duke. Tyler Clippard came on in relief with two outs and gave up an RBI pinch hit single to Todd Frazier to make the score 6-3 and Choo walked to load the bases. Zack Cosart hit one that appeared to be sailing into the left centerfield gap, but Span was able to track the ball, reaching his glove out to rob Cosart of what appeared to be a game tying 3-run double.

Dan Haren pitched well holding the Reds to only two runs in six innings to get the win. He helped himself a little with his bat in the second inning to give himself an early lead. In the second inning back to back one out walks issued by Mike Leake to Ian Desmond and Anthony Rendon set up the two out RBI single from Haren that was blooped over first base. Denard Span followed with an RBI bouncer up the middle to make it 2-0.

In the third back to back singles from Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth got things started. Zack Cosart made a nice diving stop on the Werth hit, threw from his knees to first, but Werth legged it out. Ian Desmond hit a single up the middle to score Harper. With two outs, Kurt Suzuki slapped a slow roller to Jack Hannahan at third. He threw to second, where Desmond appeared to beat the throw, but the ball sailed into right field allowing Werth to scamper home with the second run of the inning. Suzuki was given an infield hit with the run scoring on the error. The Nationals built their lead up to 4-0.

After the Reds had scored their first run on a two out Joey Votto double followed by a Brandon Phillips single in the top of the fourth, Bryce Harper responded with a two run homer into the Nationals bullpen to up the score to 6-1. That was all the runs the Nationals could generate. The Reds battled back, but two terrific catches by Denard Span left them short.

Game Notes: With his ninth homerun in the fourth Bryce Harper is on a pace to hit 63. He also broke a Nationals record with 18 RBIs in April. His .783 slugging percentage and 1.232 OPS lead all of baseball. Everyone was shocked with the numbers Mike Trout put up during his second year exposure to major league baseball. Bryce Harper appears to be doing the same, but he may put up better numbers than Trout did last year…There were 38,903 attending the game…Chris Heisey was removed from the game with a hamstring injury after grounding into a double play…Adam LaRoche went 0 for 4, but in a positive sign in his third at bat launched one deep to centerfield. He is 0 for 20 in his last six games with eight strikeouts, dropping his average to .143…The Nationals should get Wilson Ramos back from his hamstring pull for the Braves series…Ryan Zimmerman is not expected back until the Pirate series which begins on Friday…Mike Leake threw 47 pitches after the second inning and was gone after three. If Tony Cingrani continues to pitch well and Mike Cueto returns from his injury, Mike may find himself out of the rotation…Joey Votto threw his helmet into the dugout after grounding out to short in the eighth inning.

Posted in Nationals, Reds | No Comments »

Gio with the Game; Harper with the Homer - Nats Win

Friday, April 26th, 2013

Gio Gonzalez tossed a one hitter over eight innings and Bryce Harper blasted his eighth homerun into straight away centerfield to give the Nationals a 8-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The win puts them back at .500 ball.

Davey Johnson fiddled with the lineup in an attempt to end the hitting drought. While some of the parts may have changed the position of the names in the lineup had shifted. This seemed to wake up the Nationals bats.

Ian Desmond got things started for the Nationals in the second inning with a one out single off Bronson Arroyo. Danny Espinosa poked one deep to right center field. Ian seemed confident Shin-Soo Choo would not catch the ball and was screaming around second. Choo was just short of getting to the ball. It bounced against the fence and Desmond was able to score. A Kurt Suzuki single and a Denard Span infield single drove in Espinosa for the second run. Zack Cosart made a nice bare handed pick up on Span’s infield single but the umpire ruled the bang/bang play at first in favor of the Nats, allowing the second run to score.

Last year Bryce Harper had trouble with the slow breaking stuff. This year he has not been fooled. In the third Bryce belted one of Arroyo’s slow offerings into the deepest part of centerfield to up the lead to 3-0. Jayson Werth, hitting in the cleanup spot, singled. Adam LaRoche finally made contact with a ball and grounded it to first. Joey Votto elected to throw to second to begin the double play but hit Jayson in the back. The ball bounded to right field with Werth advancing to third and Adam to second. An Ian Desmond ground out to second scored one run. With the infield playing in against Danny Espinosa, Danny made the point moot by depositing a ball into the right field bullpen to up the Nationals lead to 6-0.

In the fourth Gio gave up his only hit of the game when Joey Votto stroked a ball into left field. It hit into the flowering plants in left field just before the front row of the bleachers to end the shutout and the no hitter for Gio Gonzalez. Gio did not let the hit faze him, retiring 13 of the next 15 hitters.

The Nationals added two more runs in the eighth off Logan Ondrusek. Ian Desmond led the inning off with a single, but he was eventually picked off first by catcher Devin Mesaraco when he was caught leading off too far from first base. With two outs Kurt Suzuki extended the inning with a walk. Roger Bernadina pinch hit and got his first hit of the year, lining a ball over second base for a single. Denard Span hit a shot straight at Shin-Soo Choo who first broke in for the ball and then tried to retreat, reaching the ball too late. As it bounced against the wall Span raced to third with a triple making the score 8-1.

Davey Johnson decided to give Rafael Soriano some work and brought him out to pitch in the ninth. After walking the leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo on four pitches to make Nats fans a bit nervous he got Zack Cosart to ground to Espinosa for a double play.

Game Notes: There was a big smile on Danny Espinosa’s face after his homerun in the third. With Davey Johnson wanting to give Steve Lombardozzi more playing time and Danny hitting only .150 his playing time looked to be reduced. He had a double and homerun to give his name another day on the lineup card…Steve Lombardozzi played third base last night instead of the struggling Anthony Rendon, who had gotten off to a slow start. Lombo hit in the second spot and went 0 for 5 to drop his average below .300…Gio Gonzalez had retired the first 11 hitters until the Joey Votto opposite field homerun…Adam LaRoche struck out in his first at bat in the second to give him six straight strikeouts. He finished the night 0 for 4 to drop his average to .160, grounding out to first or the pitcher in his last three at bats.

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Posted in Nationals, Reds | No Comments »

Wainwright Carves up Slumping Nats

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

Take a hot pitcher, add in some cold bats, mix in some curveballs, fastballs and sliders and you have made yourself a shutout. Adam Wainwright was the hot pitcher. The coldest of the Nats bats was Adam LaRoche, who struck out four times. He had no clue at the plate, flailing at his 74 mile per hour curveballs, taking his 93 mile per hour fastballs and looking very abused at the plate in the Nationals 2-0 loss.

Adam was not the only one Wainwright had befuddled for the evening. For the night Adam struck out 8, including the side in the fourth. After five starts and more than 30 innings he also threw his first walk, giving Bryce Harper first to face Adam LaRoche for the third time in the sixth inning. The walk advanced the tying run to second, loading the bases with two out. Adam tried to check his swing on a 94 mile per hour fastball but was not successful.

The Cardinals scored both their runs in the fourth inning. The top four hitters in the order all hit opposite field singles or doubles off Ross Detwiler. Shane Robinson started the rally with a leadoff single, Allan Craig scored him with a hit and run double down the right field line, Matt Holiday singled and Carlos Beltran drove in the second run with a single. With runners on first and second and no one out Detwiler retired the last three hitters to keep the damage contained. With the way the Nats bats have been hitting the two runs became too much of an obstacle to overcome.

Except for the sixth inning, Wainwright did not allow a runner to reach third. He was finally taken out of the game after Bryce Harper led the ninth inning off with a hustle double down the right field line. Mike Matheny gave him the luxury of striking out LaRoche for the fourth time to get the first out before bringing out Edward Mujica to record the last two outs. LaRoche could have batted hundred times and would still be trying to make contact off Wainwright.

Game Notes: Bryce Harper had two of the five hits for the Nationals. On his second hit he made an inadvisable break for second. While he barely beat the throw, the fact the team was down 2-0 meant his run did not mean anything. The only thing his advancement did was keep the team out of a double play grounder…Jayson Werth had an opportunity to drive in a run in the sixth, coming up with runners on first and third with one out. He popped one up to second for the second out swinging at the first pitch…The Nationals pulled three pretty slick double plays in the first three innings. They would have a fourth in the fifth inning but it was ruled a sacrifice with Pete Kozma thrown out trying to advance to third on a 5-4-1 sacrifice and throw out at third…Nat fans were booing Pete Kozma when he came to bat. They still remember him as the unlikely hero who had the game winning hit in the fifth and deciding game of the playoffs against Drew Storen. The booing did not prevent him from getting two hits in three at bats…Of the Nationals ten wins, five have been against the Miami Marlins. The Marlins have yet to reach five wins. One more loss and the Nationals will find themselves below .500. They are 5-9 against teams other than the Marlins. They are also 3-8 against teams .500 or better…Matt Carpenter is the second player we have noticed who does not wear batting gloves. Jeff Keppinger was the first…Myworld walked to the stadium from the metro. For the first time we remember we saw some black kids playing baseball on Jefferson Field. The coaches were using a pitching machine to throw batting practice and a portly kid was doing more swinging and missing than making contact. Hopefully that doesn’t discourage him from pursuing the sport.

Posted in Cardinals, Nationals | No Comments »

Bisons Score 27 Runs; Negrych Hits for Cycle

Thursday, April 18th, 2013

The Buffalo Bisons scored the most runs ever in an International League game since official records have been tracked (1973) by downing the Syracuse Chiefs 27-9. It was still a winnable game for Syracuse after six, with the Bisons only holding a 13-9 lead. The Bisons blew the game open in the seventh with a ten spot to take a 23-9 lead.

The big bats for the Bison were Jim Negrych who went 4 for 7 with a cycle from the leadoff spot, crossing the plate four times and driving in one. Negrych opened the game with a triple to jumpstart the Bisons to an early 5-0 lead. His single in the fourth started another five run inning for the Bison. A double in the fifth and a homerun in the sixth completed the cycle. Negrych is now batting .515 for the year.

Moises Sierra may not have hit for the cycle, but he went 6 for 6 with five runs scored and three RBIs. He was only a homerun away from hitting for a cycle. Luis Jimenez banged out five hits to drive in eight runs. He had a 3-run homerun in the seventh and four singles. Ryan Langerhans blasted two homeruns to drive in six and cross the plate five times.

Tanner Roark saw his ERA rise to 8.59 as he gave up ten runs in just three plus innings of work. Patrick McCoy could only get two hitters out before giving up nine runs. The saving grace for him is that only four of the runs were earned.

The minor leagues saw a second cycle with used to be prospect Carlos Triunfel hitting one in the Tacoma Rainers 8-0 win over the Fresno Grizzlies. Carlos also tripled in the opening frame but failed to score. His leadoff double in the third started the Rainers four run rally. He led off the fourth with a homerun and finished off the cycle with a single in the fifth. His day ended with another single to go 5 for 5 and raise his average to .296.

James Paxton threw six shutout innings for the Rainers, giving up two hits and walking four. Giants prospect Mike Kickham only went three plus innings, giving up five runs on nine hits with two homeruns.

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Posted in Indians, Mariners, Giants, Nationals | No Comments »

Nats Top All Teams in Beer Prices

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Despite their finish the Nationals know they will be number one in one thing - the price of beer at the stadium. With draft prices of $8.25 that tops the second place team the Miami Marlins at $8. Yes, those Miami Marlins who traded all their players to get a cut salary now feel the obligation to gouge their fans with $8 beers. At least the Nationals are winning.

Myworld knows the vendor price for beer at Nationals stadium is $9. Perhaps the location of where they get their hops could be the reason for the higher prices. Or they just know Washington fans will pay a lot for their beer because they were not as impacted by the economic downturn.

Two teams myworld is surprised not to see on this list are the New York Mets or the New York Yankees. Following behind the Nationals and Marlins for highest beer prices are the Philadelphia Phillies ($7.75), Minnesota Twins $7.50), Toronto Blue Jays ($7.34), Boston Red Sox ($7.25), Chicago Cubs ($7.25), Atlanta Braves (no price listed), St. Louis Cardinals (6.75) and San Francisco Giants ($6.75).

Myworld would like to know the top ten teams who charge the least for their draft beers.

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Hudson Carves up Nats; Braves Streak on

Saturday, April 13th, 2013

The Braves have won 10 of their first 11 games, giving them the best record in baseball and sending a message to the Nationals that the division will have to be won. They took advantage of a couple critical mistakes to beat the Nationals for the second straight day 3-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 41,992.

The Nationals made two crucial mistakes in the loss. The first was by Denard Span in the first inning. He led the game off with a single then advanced to second on an errant pickoff throw from Tim Hudson. With no one out Jayson Werth lined one into centerfield that stayed up for B.J. Upton. Span did not seem to bother to track the trajectory of the ball and broke for third. He was standing on third when Upton caught it and threw to second to complete the double play.

The second mistake was another costly throwing error by Ryan Zimmerman. He made a throwing error in last night’s game that proved crucial in the Braves comeback win from a 4-0 deficit. Today, Justin Upton bounced a routine two out grounder to the Z-man. It appeared he rushed his throw, sidearming the ball past Adam LaRoche to bounce against the dugout. Evan Gattis followed by depositing a Stephen Strasburg fastball into the left field bullpen to prove the difference in the game.

Tim Hudson only gave up four hits in his seven innings of work. The first two hits were wiped out by double plays. The fourth hit was a solo homerun by Danny Espinosa into the right field seats in the fifth inning to give the Nationals their only run. Through nine innings the Nationals only stranded one baserunner with Braves pitchers having to face only two hitters over the minimum.

The Braves scored an insurance run in the ninth off Ryan Mattheus. Chris Johnson and Ramiro Pena led off the inning with singles. For Pena it was his third hit of the day. Andrelton Simmons failed to lay down a bunt, popping it up to Mattheus. B.J. Upton blooped a single into no man’s land in rightfield, falling just in front of Jayson Werth and behind Danny Espinosa to load the bases. Jason Heyward grounded a ball to Danny Espinosa and when the Nationals were unable to turn two a run crossed the plate.

Game Notes: The first three hitters in the order are similar. Leading off are two centerfielders with the uniform number 2, Denard Span and B.J. Upton. Second in the order are two rightfielders with the same first name, though they spell it differently (Jason versus Jayson). Batting third both teams have their superstars who occupy leftfield, Juston Upton and Bryce Harper…In the eighth inning Wilson Ramos tried to beat out a grounder that glanced off the pitcher. He pulled a hamstring trying to beat out the throw from Dan Uggla and will be placed on the disabled list. Jonathon Solano will be called up to take his place on the roster…Tim Hudson mixed his pitches well to Bryce Harper, throwing a lot of curveballs at him. Bryce did not get a ball out of the infield going 0 for 3…Dan Uggla made a couple nice defensive plays and looked like a different player from the one myworld witnessed this spring…Jason Heyward made a nice diving catch on an Adam LaRoche line drive curving toward the right field line. Tim Hudson was one of the first to congragulate him on the catch…In his third at bat Bryce bounced one back to the pitcher. He seemed a bit frustrated not running the ball out…Stephen Strasburg threw seven straight fastballs to B.J. Upton to start the game. Upton whacked the seventh fastball to deep centerfield, but Denard Span was able to track it. The Brave hitters kept Span busy, whacking six balls near the warning track….The Braves third base coach made a poor decision by sending Dan Uggla in the second inning on a ground ball single by Tim Hudson. Bryce Harper threw a strike to the plate, getting Uggla at home by at least five steps…The error by Ryan Zimmerman cost Stephen Strasburg seven more pitches…Stephen Strasburg is trying to be mindful of runners breaking for second before he even throws the ball. In the third Justin Upton broke for second. Strasburg stepped off the bag and instead of turning around to throw to second he threw to first. Upton beat the throw to second from Adam LaRoche. If they could have picked off Upton that would have been the third out and Evan Gattis would have to pick another inning to hit his homerun…At the end of the sixth inning Stephen Strasburg had thrown 44 balls and 68 strikes for 112 pitches. Tim Hudson had thrown 22 balls and 52 strikes for 74 pitches.

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