Nationals Inquisition

Well, this was supposed to be a posting about tonight’s Potomac Nationals vs. Salem Red Sox game, but Mother Nature decided to pull down her skippies and nectarate all over Prince William County. The game has been postponed until tomorrow where they will play a seven-inning double header. The Bobblehead give away scheduled for tonight will be made up on Sept. 6th. This blasted storm is a sloth-moving system that stretches from northern North Carolina to Pennsylvania. (Special thanks to long time reader, Sue, for getting on our asses for sloppy reporting.)

This sucks because it is the second Potomac game in a row that the NQ has tried to make and it has been rained out. It sucks even more because tonight was John Lannan Bobblehead Night and I couldn’t wait to put John next to my Teddy Roosevelt Bobblehead and the shrunken head I found in a seedy bar bathroom in New Orleans. To top off this wickedly horrible night– it was also fireworks night at Potomac. Poop. I like pretty lights and gunpowder.

So you aren’t going to get pics and a report from the Potomac game tonight. So instead, we are just going to post this photo of Stephen Strasburg and Kevin Bacon a la Footloose. Mama-DangerNat watched the Introduction Ceremony yesterday and informed me that Strasburg really looks like a young Kevin Bacon with facial hair. Mama knows best. She’s right.

It will be interesting to see if they get the second Nats vs. Brewers game in tonight, but after a 7-2 spanking last night– maybe it won’t be so interesting after all.

Ugh. My night is shot.

The NQ promises to make it up to you tomorrow. We’ll have some very interesting material for you then.

Wait, is doughiness a word?

dough·y (d)

adj. dough·i·er, dough·i·estHaving the consistency or appearance of dough.

Damn, I guess so. It’s close. Anyways, you know it’s a slow news day when several media outputs are reporting on the weight of Nats prospect Chris Marrero. Here is what Rotoworld had to say about it and here is the Nationals Journal. More importantly, here is what Marrero had to say about it all:

“I was heavy,” Marrero says today. “I didn’t get fat, I just got really really strong. I came into 2008 at, like, 235 or something with 11 percent body fat. But I lost a little bit of my agility.”

“It’s tough to eat right in the minors,” he says. “To keep your weight and eat in the minors is tough. We’re eating pizza every night after games, or whatever we can grab. You know, you get out of a game at 11 o’clock and everybody is hungry. The restaurants aren’t open. So either you eat what [they have in the clubhouse], or you call Domino’s.”

Marrero says he is now at 225 pounds, where he wants to stay, and he has fully recovered from a broken fibula. He is scheduled to begin the season in either Single-A Potomac or AA Harrisburg.

In his defense, when the NQ met him a few months ago, the kid was huge. Not so much in fat, but in just big beefy, I’ll-Kick-Your-Ass muscle. We don’t see this as being a major Dmitri-Young-like problem in the future, especially with the work ethic Marrero has. Go back down memory lane and check out this killer article from the Washington Post on Marrero and his rise to Nats prospectdom.

However, I know how he feels. Sometimes I blog on the NQ until 11pm or midnight and I am just famished. All the restaurants are closed so I either have to kill and eat a couple of my staff or order Domino’s.

You have to make hard choices when your a Platinum Blogger.

Shockingly, as the final games of this horrid 2008 season are played, the Nationals teeter on 100 loses, and the bad reports on team moral continue to be a hot topic in the Natosphere, I have some positive, feel good stories on my desk to report.

Nationals.com reports that Nationals prospect Chris Marrero is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a broken right fibula and torn ligaments in his ankle. He is so far ahead, he currently is in Melbourne, FL swinging the bat and taking grounders. The Nationals hope that Marrero will be able to see some game action as soon as early October in the Instructional League.

“He’s doing well and progressing at a pretty good pace,” said Washington’s farm director Bobby Williams. “He’s not game-ready yet but he should be during the middle part of the instructional league. He’s just getting his legs under him now, getting used to being on his feet again.

“His ankle isn’t 100 percent yet, so he’s still not able to play in games. But he continues to progress and take ground balls and swing in the cage. Each day he gets a little better and a little stronger, and he feels more comfortable on it and is able to trust it. He’s tentative at times, but he has to trust it and know he can do the things he did before.”

Marrero sustained the injury during a June 18th game with the Potomac Nationals that ended his season and caused him to miss the playoffs and championship that the P-Nats later won. He finished his shortened season .250 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs.

This is excellent news. Marrero is considered one of the Nats top prospects and can inflict heavy damage with the bat. Couple that with his dedication, humbleness, youth, and love of the game and you have a National of the future. Hands down. The Nationals want this kid to succeed. A near guarantee to be a fan favorite.

Eh, I feel weird. What is this? Positive feeling? So that is what it feels like…it has been so long it seems.

The NQ wants to deliver a giddy congratulations to the Potomac Nationals for capturing their first Mills Cup in dominating fashion over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, 8-2 last night. They are the first team in franchise history to win the Carolina League Championship since 1989 when they were the Prince William Cannons. They are also the first Washington affiliate to win a championship and also the first team in franchise history to win both division half titles.

Check out the full game write up at the P-Nats Official Site and this nice piece from Fredricksburg.com.

Congratulations again, to all in the organization that made it possible.

Now go party like lunatics!

(Screengrab from potomacnationals.com)

There Are 108 Stitches in a Baseball, originally uploaded by B Tal.

The NQ definitely needs to go to more P-Nats games because we don’t have a good file of Potomac Nationals pictures. So we posted a baseball instead. I know, it makes little sense in these parts.

Last night it looked bad for the P-Nats. In the ninth inning with two outs, they looked like they were about to drop behind in the race for the Championship 1-2 to the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Potomac was down 7-4 in the 9th.

There must of been some sort of strange ceremony or worship to Gods unknown to us in that P-Nat dugout, because a few moments before the game was supposed to be over, Jhonatan Solano hit a three run home run to tie the game and then Michael Burgess walked in the 10th inning to bring in the walk-off walk and a Potomac 8-7 victory.

I can’t imagine the amount of goats and children they sacrificed after the game in the locker room to thank their Gods, whoever they might be. The Potomac Nationals are now only one victory away from the Mills Cup, the championship, bragging rights, free drinks all off season, and women for studding. First pitch is tonight at 7:05pm. Can the P-Nats do it?

Find this out and more on the next…Nationals Inquisition!!!

Charlie Manning, originally uploaded by Scott Ableman.

It is a well known fact, especially among those who try to ignore it, that Shea Stadium is the litter box of the MLB. Literally. The place is infested by scraggy, nasty, stray cats and I am not talking about Team Choke East fans, I’m talking felines. They just moved into the stadium and made themselves comfortable from the surrounded ghetto that Shea sits in. Mets fans must love it because their new field, Citi Field, is oddly shaped like a bed pan.

I mention all this because I wouldn’t be surprised if pitchers from both teams contracted toxoplasma gondi from being in that NY environment because both team’s pitchers, with few exceptions, absolutely sucked. So it was left up to the offenses and in the end, the Nats just couldn’t finish off Team Choke East as they dropped the first game of the series 10-8.

Reliever Charlie Manning was the culprit this game as he allowed Carlos Beltran to take him yard for a 2-run bomb and then Carlos Delgado added another bomb, his second of the night, in the sixth inning. Manning no doubt was feeling the effects of the toxoplasma:

“I went out there and tried to be aggressive, and I left some balls over the plate in those situations,” Manning said. “I let our team down by giving up those two bombs. There is nothing much I can really say. I made bad pitches.”

It is depressing when the Nats lose to Team Choke East because it’s like losing to another loser team because you know whether it will be at the end of the regular season or in the playoffs, Yankees Lite will choke. You should be beating up on these bums.

But Team Choke East will choke. Last night’s game was evidence enough that this isn’t a championship team. If you get into a slugfest with the worst team in baseball and can’t dominate, your not going to go far in the playoffs. The Nats can take that home and rest easy on that knowledge. Now it would be great if they could take the rest of this series and play the spoiler again.

Potomac also lost last night so the Championship series is tied up at one. This sucks. Now I am really depressed.

I’m going to go pop a few Paxil and go do a few laps in my money bin. They say exercise lifts the sagging soul.

Like the Nats, the NQ took the day off yesterday. Other than the Nats activating Dmitri Young, not much happened news wise anyways.

The Natosphere has plenty of other blogs that are completely dedicated to the reporting of news like this, but we thought it was worth mentioning that the Nats Single-A team, the Potomac Nationals, are in the Carolina League Championship Series against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Atlanta affiliate). Last night, the P-Nats took the first game of a five game series, 15-0. Holy Christ.

Luis Atilano pitched a jewel and now has 11 scoreless playoff innings for the P-Nats and stud prospect Michael Burgess blasted a grand slam.

Knowing that one of your team’s minor league teams have achieved all this is exciting. It gives you chills for the future. It’s sort of like climbing the ropes in gym class with you going all Rambo on the rope knowing that at the other end is the whole cheereleader squad completely nude, waiting for you, with a nice big steak.

Yummy!

Ryan Zimmerman, originally uploaded by indiepepe.

Ryan Zimmerman, the Big Z, the ole’ Zimmerkid, finally started his rehab assignment last night in Single A Potomac Nationals action. He went 2 for 5 with two doubles as DH in the P-Nats 8-6 loss.

The third baseman has been out for two months nursing a sore left shoulder. Zimmerman will pick up the bat tonight in Salem with the P-Nats and then head on over to Columbus and party with the Clippers on Thursday.

There is a hope that when Zimmerman finally returns to the Nats line-up it will invigorate the team and it’s performance will improve. If there is one thing we learned from Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin is that one man can’t do it alone and bat nipples are not as sexy as originally thought.

Zimmerman will no doubt make the ladies swoon though. Like this one.

Potomac Nationals, originally uploaded by mikemorones.

The Potomac Nationals became the first Washington affiliate since the team arrived in DC to make it to the post season yesterday as they beat Winston-Salem 5-3 and clinched the Single-A Carolina League’s Northern Division first half title. Their record at this posting is 39-25.

The P-Nats probably threw Gummi Bears and sprayed canned Pepsi around to celebrate their title since Potomac probably doesn’t have the fine champagne and caviar that the Major League team has access to. The sad thing is, it’s going to be awhile before we see the big team celebrate anything at this rate.

But this is a sign that the building up of the farm system is beginning to work. Really, the teams in the Washington farm system are not doing all that bad. Then with the added signed players the Nats picked up in this year’s draft, it hopefully can only get better. The future is looking bright.

Congratulations to the 2008 Potomac Nationals. You guys give all Nats fans hope.

“YOU ARE THE WIND BENEATH MY WINGS….”

Okay, I stop now.

Still a wet-snowy day…, originally uploaded by Jeroen Pool.

Well, I finally get a chance to jump on a computer and do a little report.

The NQ was supposed to be at Potomac tonight taking in a P-Nats game, but it got rained out. So then I headed over to Springfield Mall to visit my favorite baseball card shop Short Stop Baseball Card Shop. They have a lot of great Washington Nationals baseball cards at decent prices. Apparently they are about to blow up that mall so Short Stop is closed.

I cried into my hands. What a bummer on both counts.

But I am currently watching the Nats take on Team Choke East on HD TV and just watched Jesus Flores rip in two RBIs and then Odalis Perez get one of his own to make it 6-3 Nats. Beautiful. The Litterbox seems a bit empty too. Not a whole lot of people there and what the heck was with that Nats fan looking like a drunk Woody Allen in yellow glasses? Weirdness abounds.

The NQ has got a lot to talk about and we shall hunt down that dirty monkey possibly as soon as tomorrow night. We will be traveling back to headquarters soon, but definitely will be back on schedule on Wednesday.

Until then my loves…don’t take the cyanide without me.