Blog post

September 2, 2006 [LINK]

Nationals rebound -- finally

Livan Hernandez is a fine pitcher, and trading him away to the Diamondbacks was a big mistake, I think. Nevertheless, his weak spot was on display in his first game against the Nationals since being traded just over a month ago: He just doesn't know when to quit! He can pitch six or seven solid innings without breaking a sweat, but he tends to "hit the wall" in the eighth inning. That's what happened tonight as Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns got home runs off Livan, thereby edging ahead of the D-backs 4-3. It was Zimmerman's 18th home run, so he's still a strong contender for rookie of the year. This marks the first time the Nats have won three in a row since late July, and each time they won by a single run. They beat the D-backs 7-6 earlier today, and prevailed over the Phillies 6-5 on Thursday night, both of which were extra-inning games. The Nats are 6-5 in extra inning games this year and went 4-5 in such games last year. Today was the second double header in Nationals history; they split a double header with the Phillies just over a year ago. On the down side, attendance has been less than 23,000 at the last three Nats games. All the rain associated with Hurricane Ernesto (which forced a postponement of last night's game until today) probably had something to do with the low fan turnout. That plus the Redskins.

The mail bag

Mike Zurawski sends word that the Athletics have given up on San Jose as a possible relocation destination, and that the Twins are now assured that their new stadium will get built. The Hennepin County Board of Supervisors approved the financial package needed to start construction, on an alarmingly close 4-3 vote. Reminds me of the D.C. City Council... See startribune.com. Also, I got an anonymous tip about some photos of Oakland Coliseum in the early years, including one that is under construction. In the other one, you can see the outline of a football gridiron that with the end zones near home plate and center field, rather than in right and left field as has normally been the case.

There's more mail to get to, but I've been putting in overtime preparing for the Next Big Thing in this Web site...