For 2012... ONE of these teams needs to play in October

Happy New Year my readers.
Going into 2012, obviously I want the Red Sox to win it all... but I doubt that they will. They have too many holes and I want them to treat 2012 as a year to take stock.

I'd love to see my National League team, the San Francisco Giants win. I think they have a solid shot to win the N.L. West, especially if Buster Posey comes back.

And of course I'd like to see the Yankees crash and burn.

Other than that, besides drama I would really like to see one of five teams make the playoffs this year:

The Orioles, the Nationals, the Pirates, the Blue Jays or the Royals.

Not one of those 5 teams played in the post season in the 2000s.
(The Royals and the Nationals/Expos franchise didn't see October baseball in the 1990s either!)

Teams shouldn't go two decades without a post season appearance and we have 8 years to remedy the situation. The Rangers and Reds didn't play in October for any season in the 2000s but quickly changed that in the 2010's. Hell, if the Rangers got one more strike, they'd take themselves off of the "Waiting for a Championship" board.

But let's pick it up. ONE of those teams has to have a shot. Don't tell me it is hopeless. Who predicted the Rays could have won a pennant in 2008 in a division with the mighty Red Sox and Yankees?

The Red Sox are in flux and the Yankees are old. The Orioles or Blue Jays could sneak in.

Who is the powerhouse in the A.L. Central? The Tigers? A young talented Kansas City team could surprise everyone.

The Phillies are a year older and as Ryan Howard showed us, potentially prone to injuries. And the Nationals have a talented rotation. Why not them?

Why can't the Pirates, who were contending in July, put it together for a whole year in a tightly packed NL Central?

If ALL of those scenarios come true, then it will be odd.
But ONE of them? How hard could it be for ONE to come true?

Let's go.
Your fans have been waiting long enough.

No Washington pitcher has ever clinched a post season series

Anyone who reads this blog knows I have a mild obsession with pitchers who throw the last out of a playoff series and get mobbed by their teammates on the mound.

I've written about it many times including this gem.

And I'm working on a blog series on that topic. I already posted one about the Red Sox.

So going through the other teams I realized that baseball fans of the city of Washington D.C. have never experienced the site of a pitcher throwing his hands in the air and being mobbed at the end of a post season series.


Never once.

Not a World Series, LCS or Division Series.

Every other big league city has had that experience at least once. Even the two places where big league baseball doesn't exist anymore had that moment. Johnny Podres was in the middle of a mob for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Steve Rogers clinched a series for the Montreal Expos.


But three different franchises have played in Washington DC in the 20th and 21st centuries. One became the Twins. One became the Rangers. One used to be the Expos.

And in all of those years and teams they have combined for one post season series win. The 1924 World Series. But that one ended with a walk off hit: Earl McNeely's bad hop single that scored Muddy Ruel in the bottom of the 12th in Game 7.

Walter Johnson was the winning pitcher but the celebration was at the plate.

So take note Washington pitchers Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Tyler Clippard or Drew Storen. If you get to play October and you find yourself on the mound with a chance to win a series, you'll be giving Washington fans a sight that they have NEVER seen.

Unless of course you consider most Washington fans were Baltimore fans and they saw a lot of post season celebrations. But that's quibbling.

Mr. Francona Goes To Washington (at least he should)

Terry Francona has had a rough few months. In the first week of September he looked like he was going to coast to his 6th playoff berth in 8 years in Boston. He was the dignified leader of the only 2 World Series titles the Red Sox have had since selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. I thought he was going to be the manager for the next 10 years, being like Tom Kelly. He was a steady manager with multiple titles who gave the team an aura of class and professionalism.

On August 31st, the Red Sox beat the Yankees 9-5 and had a game and a half lead over the Yankees. Their 83-52 record was the best in the American League. If they weren’t World Series bound, they were simply going to be formidable.

After that day, the Red Sox lost 20 of their last 27 games. They finished in third place on the last day of the season. They never won back-to-back games the rest of the season. Francona was out as manager. It was revealed that the clubhouse was a mess on his watch and his own personal life was in disarray with a pending divorce.

He was passed over for both the Cardinals and Cubs managing job. Can you blame him that he wants to take a year off?

You’ve earned it Tito. I would argue that he never has to manage another ballgame in his life and he won’t have to answer to anyone.

But no doubt he’d rather go out like Tony LaRussa than have Carl Crawford’s failed dive for that ball be his swan song.

Well, Mr. Francona (he has earned the respect to be called Mr. Francona), get your life back in order. Fix your family situation. Relax and spend the summer away from the press.

Then in 2012, get your butt to the Nationals!

Davey Johnson, a fine manager in his own right, is in charge in Washington. But he is not a long-term solution. He was an emergency stopgap when Jim Riggleman suddenly thought he was Earl Weaver and wanted a mid season extension.

The Nats had a nice September (17-10) and finished just under .500 (80-81). That was the team’s best season since they broke even in 2005, their first year in the capital. They haven’t had a winning season since 2003 when they were the Expos.

But there is talent in place. Obviously Ryan Zimmerman, Danny Espinosa and the safe and sound from his ordeal Wilson Ramos are in place.

Young pitchers like John Lannan, Jordan Zimmerman, Drew Storen, Henry Rodriguez and Ross Detwiler all have talent.

And oh yeah… by 2012 Stephen Strasberg would be recovered and allowed to pitch without kid gloves. Plus Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon will be in all likelihood on the big league squad. If the projections are any indications, a nice nucleus in Washington would be adding a Franchise pitcher and two franchise players.

And by then would age catch up with the Phillies?
Would Ozzie’s mouth catch up with him in Miami where Jeffrey Loria can’t stop firing managers?
Would the Mets still be a mess?
Would the Braves not be clicking?

By 2012 the National League East might be a winnable Division for a young talented team getting an influx of top tier talent.

A winning season would be the first Washington fans had seen since 1969.
And when you consider most baseball fans in DC grew up Oriole fans, they haven’t had a good team to root for since 1997.

Using my “You don’t follow a team before you are 7 years old” rule, no baseball fan 21 years old or younger in Washington or Northern Virginia who was an Oriole fan before the Nats arrival has ever rooted for a winning team.

So imagine what it would be like if the Nationals became a good team (which it looks like they are about to be!)

They will probably need a solid manager to hold the reigns.

That could be Mr. Francona.
And the bar is a little lower than in Boston.

It’s a perfect fit.
And it could be the perfect ending for a manager who deserves one.

Wilson Ramos is safe

Washington catcher Wilson Ramos was rescued.

I know very little other than that.

I don't need to know much more than that.

A man was kidnapped and is back, alive and unharmed.

And I am happy that tragedy didn't raise its ugly head this off season.

GET BACK TO WASHINGTON!!!!

Back to baseball.

Please have Wilson Ramos be safe

Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped in Venezuela.
I really hope he is released unharmed.
Let's all hope for that and trust the authorities in his country are working to get him back.

I hope by Spring Training this is a strange episode, far in the past, and we are talking about Ramos' role in the building of a solid year in Washington.

Get him back.

Can the Nationals go 11-3 the rest of the way?

OK, it isn't the thrilling pennant race to save the season... BUT it could be a big stepping stone for the Nationals.

11-3 would mean the Nationals would have a winning record.
After losing over 100 games in 2008 and 2009 and coughing up 93 losses last year, a winning year THIS year would be a giant first step for the franchise.

It would be the franchise's first winning season since they were the 2003 Expos.
It would be the city of Washington's first winning baseball season since the Ted Williams managed 1969 Senators.

And with a core of young players like Wilson Ramos and Ryan Zimmerman and pitchers like John Lannan, Jordan Zimmermann, Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard they might be piecing together decent team.

And oh yeah. If Stephen Strasburg is totally back from his Tommy John surgery and Bryce Harper hits as advertised, this team could be making strides to be the first playoff team in DC history since 1933.

Step one though... put a winning team on the field.
And they can do that THIS year by going 11-3.

And I'm rooting for them.

Sanity

I had questioned why the Nationals and Dodgers needed to play a double header, especially with the Dodgers traveling cross country.

Evidently mother nature agreed with me.

Game 2 was rained out.
The Dodgers get out of Dodge. I guess it will be only 161 games for the boys in blue.

A question about the Dodgers-Nationals double header

Rain yesterday forced the Dodgers and Nationals to play a double header today.
Here's a question:

Why?
Seriously. Why did they need to play both games?
The Dodgers are going to San Francisco tonight and let's face it, neither team are playing this October.

The Nationals are 16 1/2 games out of a playoff spot with 21 games to play.
The Dodgers trail Arizona by 11 1/2 games with 20 left.

Yeah it is POSSIBLE that they could get hot, the Braves and Diamondbacks could collapse and a Nationals vs. Dodgers game could be an NLCS preview.

Is that possibility REALLY worth playing 2 meaningless games in what will no doubt be an empty Nationals Park?

Play ball.

Unlike Riggleman, the Nationals didn't quit

The Nationals have had a hell of a week.
They swept the Mariners in a dramatic series at home in DC. And the euphoria of that series lasted about a nanosecond as Jim Riggleman, he of a career of mediocrity, suddenly felt he was entitled to an in season contract negotiation.

Say what you want about Riggleman and I have nothing personal against the man, but he quit on the team.

And off they went to Chicago where interim manager John McLaren was promptly thrown out in HIS first game. (The team was running out of managers.)

Friday night's game was one of the wildest and strangest regular season games you will ever see as the White Sox kept tying the game on the brink of losing. And yet the National never quit despite blowing several late leads and won it in the 14th.

After a loss yesterday they were losing late before Danny Espinosa homered in the 7th and the Nats held on to a 2-1 win.

They could have easily been swept and nobody would have batted an eye.
The team could have wandered into Chicago in a daze and nobody would have been surprised.

Instead they showed some guts and not only stayed above .500 but are now just 3 games in the loss column out of a playoff spot.

Davey Johnson, a man who was ACTUALLY screwed by two organizations after leading the Reds and Orioles to the LCS and getting let go, is getting into a good situation:

A tough young club who doesn't quit.

Their old manager did, but not the team.

Hey great win, Jim! Jim?.... JIM?!

I admit that I haven't been kind to Jim Riggleman on the pages of Sully Baseball.

I questioned the reasoning of dumping Manny Acta for Riggleman and his less that sterling resume.

And I thought he was doing baseball a disservice when he benched some of his starters in critical stretch run games.

Well now he has the Nats playing on a roll and they have crawled back up to .500.

And what does he do?
He quits.

Now there are already articles being written in his favor and who knows? Maybe the Nationals organization IS a mess.

But I'm sorry. Why should the Nationals offer Riggleman more years? Even with the team above .500 now, he's been a big league skipper over 12 different seasons. In the 11 ones before this one has a grand total of 2 above .500. He seems like a solid baseball lifer, but does 1 game over .500 before July constitute a lot of leverage?

And with this dramatic series against the Mariners (another team he managed since 2008), you'd think that the Nationals would be trying to ride some momentum.

Instead they have to answer questions about a manager who quit on the team. (Sorry, that's what he did.)

He said to the media "I'm not Casey Stengel."

No kidding.

And if the Nationals put up a good record for the rest of the season, it will make the Nationals decision to not retain Riggleman look even smarter.

Don't worry... he'll be an interim manager someday. Hey, he's 22 years younger than the Marlins new manager!

Biggest double take of the night

I saw the Mariners were cruising to a win in Washington and I was writing in my head a new post. It would be about the Mariners potentially not going away.

I had it all mapped out.

I gave my kids a bath, and I glanced at the score. It was 5-1 Mariners in the bottom of the 9th.

I dried my kids off and I saw the Nationals won 6-5 in the 9th. Wilson Ramos hit a 3 run 2 out bottom of the 9th walk off homer.

And now the Nationals are only 4 games in the loss column out of a playoff spot.

Maybe I should have prepared a NATIONALS post.

No instant replay is ruining a wonderful game in Phoenix

The Nationals and Diamondbacks are playing a wonderful and riveting game in Phoenix. (No really! They are!)

Roger Bernadina hit a ground out and the throw beat him to first in the 11th.
He was called safe.

In less than 20 seconds two angles were shown that the throw beat the runner at first.
The inning was extended and now Washington has the lead.

And as I type this the Nats hit a grand slam to give the team a huge lead.
The inning should have been over.
The pitcher made 3 outs. No fielder made an error. And yet he had to make FOUR outs.

Isn't it worth 20 seconds to let the correct team win?

A wonderful game has been ruined.

Hope you idiots who are against instant replay love that blown call.

Coolest game of the night... Marlins and Nationals?

Seriously... what more did you want in a game?
Extra innings... late inning rallies...




Roger Bernadina made a jaw dropping full extension snow cone grab in center field that is a lock for SportsCenter highlights for years to come.





Then Omar Infante scored the winning run with a bizarre and brilliant slide, putting his hand around catcher Wilson Ramos' tag.

What more do you want?

Teams other than the Marlins and Nationals?

I can't help you with that.

Don't blame me for blowing Anibal Sanchez's no hitter

OK, I feel a LITTLE bad about writing a post about Anibal Sanchez and pitchers throwing no hitters while he had a no no after 6.

But in the post I NEVER said that Sanchez was throwing a no hitter. I just said there were a lot of pitchers throwing no hitters late into the game and had a picture of Sanchez.

Alas almost EXACTLY after I posted it, Laynce Nix of the Nationals hit a low line drive that Mike Stanton couldn't catch, ending the no hitter.

I DIDN'T DO IT!
I didn't jinx anything!

(Then why do I feel badly?)

Welcome to the Nationals Mr. Perez

He is a lock to win 15 games with the Nats!
And he will be a bargain at $414,000 for Washington (and just $12 million for the Mets.)

I guess the Nationals found a drawer with $126 million in it

This is one of those strange moments in sport where the collective wisdom of the entire baseball community all has a single opinion of something... and when it will inevitably come true, there will be a "WE TOLD YOU SO" ringing so loud through the land that windows will vibrate.

In 2006, Jayson Werth was an injury prone outfielder who played for the Blue Jays and then the Dodgers. He missed the entire 2006 season after surgery to his wrist.

He was 27 years old. He had only once played more than 100 games in a season. (He had NEVER played 105 games in a season.)

His numbers were ordinary except for a glimpse of things to come when he homered twice in the 2004 Division Series for the Dodgers. I remember seeing one of the homers and thinking "Jayson WHO?"

And now, after 6 full seasons (and parts of 2 others) in the bigs, he is signed for seven years.
The next time he hits .300 will be the first time in his career.
The next time he drives in 100 runs will be the first time in his career.
The next time he finishes in the top 5 in On Base Percentage, Slugging, OPS and total bases will be the first time in his career.

He's had one truly terrific season... his walk year.

Any alarms going off yet?

Plus he is in his 30s and guess what? The age when sluggers get BETTER when they reach their mid 30s are over... and he'll be paid like an elite player when he is in his LATE 30s.

Jason Giambi is giggling somewhere.

I know Werth does all the things right and he is a good teammate blah blah blah.
All that has so much more value (note I didn't make the Werth-Worth pun) when you have MVPs on the team and Cy Young candidates in the rotation.

Kevin Millar was a remarkable cog in the Red Sox wheel... but they had Papi, Ramirez, Damon and a batting champ in Bill Mueller. It's easier to be the "heart and soul" when other people are supplying the firepower.

Now he will be the heart and soul of a franchise whose biggest star is Stephen Strasburg and he isn't playing in 2011.

If they had $126 million to throw around, why not get into the Cliff Lee sweepstakes?
Or Prince Fielder?
Or spread that money around and make improvements.

Or stick it in a drawer and wait to spend it when they... oh I don't know... can put a winning product on the field.

Instead the Nationals tried to make a splash. Well bellyflops make splashes too.

As for Jayson Richard Gowan Werth... I don't blame him.

He's won a ring and contributed big time for it in 2008. He has 13 post season homers and a career .987 playoff OPS. He hit 7 homers in the 2009 postseason alone.

And he was a huge part of one of the best Philadelphia sports teams ever. And if they start to go south in 2011, people will blame it on Werth's departure.

Why not cash it in?
Why not say "Hey, for the next seven seasons, I am going to make so much money that my grandkids will be able to support THEIR kids on it"?

And oh yeah, he should be receiving a thank you note from Carl Crawford.

Werth is off the market but setting the bar high and who is courting Crawford? The Angels, the Yankees and the Red Sox... no big spenders.

THE RANGERS DID IT! Mariners and Nationals... you are on the clock

The Texas Rangers are going to the World Series.
Those words look strange being typed out.

I honestly thought they would never make it in their history. But here they are.

And I am thinking about Washington for several reasons.

The Rangers WERE the second version of the Washington Senators before they moved to Arlington.

The team currently in Washington, the Nationals, are one of only two franchises to never had made the World Series.

The other also plays in Washington... Washington State. The Mariners.

The Nationals got to within one game of the 1981 World Series when they were the Montreal Expos.

The Mariners made it to three ALCS berths and getting to Game 6 in 1995 and 2000.

But alas no pennants.

So you are on notice, Mariners and Nationals.
Everyone else has made it in BUT you. All of the original franchises have won at least one World Series.

The Nationals franchise has been around since 1969. The Mariners showed up in 1977.

The Expansion of 1961 and 1962 gave baseball the Mets (who won the 1969 and 1986 World Series and the 1973 and 2000 pennants) the Astros franchise (who won the 2005 pennant), the Angels franchise (who won the 2002 World Series) and now the Texas Rangers.

The expansion of 1969 gave us the Nationals franchise, the Padres (winners of the 1984 and 1998 pennants), the Royals (winner of the 1985 World Series and the 1980 pennant) and the Brewers franchise (winner of the 1982 pennant.)

The 1977 expansion introduced the Blue Jays (winner of the 1992 and 1993 World Series) and the Mariners.

The 1993 expansions brought the Marlins (winner of the 1997 and 2003 World Series) and the Rockies (winner of the 2007 pennant) to the show.

And finally the 1998 expansion sparked the Diamondbacks (winner of the 2001 World Series) and the Rays franchise (winner of the 2008 pennant.)


Put together a pennant winner and get off this board.
If the Rangers can do it in the sweltering heat, then your team can do it.

Your road to the pennant starts...... now!

Oh come on! Let Livan finish the game!

Hey Nationals Manager Jim Riggleman, I've got a bone to pick with you.
Livan Hernandez was pitching tonight and also hitting quite a bit.

It was a game against Atlanta so it has playoff ramifications for both the Wild Card and the NL East... just not for the Nationals.

The Nats don't have a lot to play for this year anymore. They are trying to avoid 90 losses and probably will reach that total anyway.

But don't blame Livan Hernandez. He's had a nice year (even if the win loss record isn't sterling) and tonight got an RBI double and a homer and threw 8 shutout innings for the win.

So why didn't you have him throw the 9th, Riggleman?
Seriously, was getting an inning of work for Sean Burnett so important that you couldn't let Hernandez get his third complete game of the year?

Don't you see how awesome the symmetry of that would be?
Livan Hernandez hits an RBI double, a homer and throws a complete game shutout. That is total domination of the opponent.

Instead it is merely a win.
Crazy managers don't know to humiliate the opponent when they have the chance.

Adam Wainwright continues to show his amazing generosity

Once again, Adam Wainwright could have taken all momentum of the Cy Young award, put it under his wing and make it his to lose.

Instead he lost his 3rd straight chance to win his 18th.
His ERA jumped from 2.18 to 2.30 and he only lasted 5 innings against the Nats and the Cardinals have fallen to 4 games back in the loss column.

Aces are supposed to face sub par teams and STOP losing streaks.

Instead Roy Halladay, Ubaldo Jimenez, Chris Carpenter and Tim Hudson are all still hanging around with Cy Young ambitions and you are keeping their hope alive.

Man... he is nice, isn't he?

Tony LaRussa should be trying to Restore the Cardinals to the Pennant race

Call me nuts, but maybe the time Tony LaRussa spent coming up with a speech for Glenn Beck's dopey little promotional stunt could have been used in a more productive manner:

Like how about a game plan against the Nationals.

You know when you are the prohibitive favorite to win the division with the best 1-2 punch in the rotation in all the National League and a guy who seems hell bent to win his third straight MVP and you are LOSING ground to the Reds and Phillies... maybe promoting a Fox News talk show shouldn't be priority one.

Oh yeah, the Nats won 14-5... the Cardinals pitchers are letting up an average of 9 runs a game to the Nationals.

Maybe they should have Glenn Beck write THAT on his chalk board.