Dmitri cleared to play baseball again...

Updating yesterday's story, Jim Bowden said that Dmitri had been cleared to play ball and will be heading to Florida today.

While CNN and Fox were staking out Joe Biden's house, HalfStreetBlues was over at the Young compound and got this EXCLUSIVE PHOTO of Dmitri heading to Florida...

Don't worry guys, someone is taking care of your bats...

During the Nationals homestand, (during which they were 0-6 and outscored 17-49) there was this interesting picture on the cover of the free Nationals Inside Pitch.

You'll notice that the picture includes the bats of Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young. I guess since they aren't using them, the photographer thought he could.

The $10 million tandum is off for the rest of the year.

According to CBS Sportsline, Nick Johnson had season-ending surgery on his wrist on June 24. For now, he's just chillaxin' in California with the fam... Apparently, some folks believe that he will be ready to play by spring training...That's a bet I'm willing to take.

(As an aside, at the end of the year, Johnson will have missed 332 games in four years with the Nationals.)

And, Dmitri Young has been out since July 19. Originally, the intent was that he would get his diabeties (read: fatness) under control then go to Florida for rehab and eventually join the team. That's not going to happen. According to Acta, he's still in DC, because, according to Dmitri's agent, he's still too sick (read: fat) to travel.

This begs the question: What's the award you get when you're back to sucking the season after you win Comeback Player of the Year?

Nats Backing Away From "The Plan"

Nationals Farm Authority has an excellent analysis of this year's Nationals draft. It's a must read for any Nats fan. What NFA confirms is the worst fear of every Nats fan. Namely, that after two years of being told to buy into "The Plan", it is now clear that the organizaiton itself has no intention of following it.

According to NFA's analysis, the Nats spent about $5 million on this year's draft class, or roughly $3 million less than they did on last year's. And this is while letting our #1 pick go over a $700k difference in asking price. Furthermore, while the Nats cut their budget for draft picks, bottom-dwelling teams like the Kansas City Royals spent $10 million on their draft class. For you math majors at home, that means the Royals spent DOUBLE on their draft class than we did.

So the implication is clear. The Nats aren't going to spend money on their major league roster, AND they're not going to spend money on their minor league roster. Great news for all of us.

What Willie Doesn't Want You to Know

On behalf of Halfstreetblues.com, I'd like to apologize to our readers. You visit this site expecting to hear the truth about the Washington Nationals, and instead, you are getting spin. Since the early days of this blog, our own Willie the Groundskeeper has kept a list of the "3 Worst Nationals" -- and since the early days of this blog, he has refused to acknowledge the obvious and continues to leave Austin Kearns off the list.

Like Kearns apologists everywhere, Willie wants to overlook the poor state of things in right field at Nationals Park. And like Kearns' fans everywhere, I'm sure he weeped in his Cheerios this morning when he read that Austin has finally been dropped to 7th in the batting order. According to the Washington Post, Acta said that Kearns is "in a little bit of a funk right now." Really???? I never would have noticed.

For the year, our former 'clean-up' hitter is batting .218 with 6 home runs in nearly 300 at-bats. He's also struck-out 61 times, to go with his meager 32 walks. Are we being unfair to Austin for pointing this out? After all, reporters and team officials are quick to point out that he's a "gamer" who is always "working hard."

Of course, he's also batting .159 against lefthanders (and he's not a platoon player). He's batting .204 with runners on base, and .200 with runners in scoring position. Yessiree, that's good production from a #4 or #5 hitter.

Let's all look back to that cold February day last year, when our esteemed General Manager Jim Bowden announced the 3-year, $18 million deal to keep Austin in Washington. Here's what Jim said:

"He's only 26 years old. His best years are ahead of him. This is a player that is very strong, he has an ability to drive in runs, move the runners over, hit the ball out of the ballpark, and like I said, his best years are ahead of him."

Well said, Jim. Well said...

Disturbing...

This is the most disturbing piece of news I've seen in a while...

And what's more troubling, last night Jim Bowden dispatched front-office assistant José Rijo to Puerto Rico to see if they could sign him (and then get some money on the back end).

CC Getting a work out in Milwaukee...

Our friends at Wrigleyville23 got some love from the big boys on their analysis of the Brewers working Sabathia to the bone. He's thrown north of 1,000 pitches in his 9 starts, some of which have been blowouts.

McCain to announce VP on August 29.

According to The Politico, Senator McCain will announce his choice for VP on Friday, August 29.

The timing makes sense because it is the day after Sen. Obama will give his speech accepting his party's nomination.

Half Street Blues likes this guy:

Aaron Doesn't Give a Crow...

Crow and his agent think a good college baseball player deserves $4 million.

Too bad nobody else does

I'm with the Nationals on this one. (Assuming Bowden is telling the truth.)

The WashPo was told of the end of the negotiations at around 1:00 am. Here's what they say:

Randy Hendricks (Crow's agent) said in an e-mail early this morning that the Nationals offered $3.3 million, nothing higher. "We said no,"Hendricks wrote. "We would have signed for $4.0 million, and made them that offer. They said no."

Bowden provided a different account: Just 20 minutes before the deadline, Crow dropped his demands to $4.4 million, more than the $3.2 million bonus Baltimore gave to the fourth pick, Brian Matusz, the first pitcher taken.

"At the end of the day," Bowden said, "we stepped up and went to $3.5 million in an attempt to sign him, and unfortunately we couldn't get it done."

The team also included a major league contract as part of its final offer.

According to the Post, Aaron will be pitching for the Fort Worth Cats.

UPDATE: You Dead Dog blog writes an open letter to Jim Bowden and Aaron Crow. Apparently he hates both of them - Aaron only slightly less.

What the hell?

Watching Olympic baseball (USA v. Cuba). They are going in to the 11th inning tied 3-3.

And in accordance with Olympic rules, beginning in the 11th, the batting team STARTS THE INNING with runners on first and second, no outs, and they can start with any batter in the line-up irrespective of who made the last out.

This has now become SillyBall.

Belliard to join Manny in Hollywood?

That's the rumor.

They say there is a trade being worked out.

I say, "deal".

So much for respect...

It was just a week ago - just 7 days - the amount of time it took for the good Lord to create the Heavens and the Earth (and rest for a day) for the Nationals to go from threatening to be respectable to sucking again.

You'll remember that when we last talked about respectability, we learned your grandmother is not respectable:

But I thought that the Nationals, then-winners of 6 games that week, were into something good.

Boy was I wrong...

The Nationals of late have been worse than before. The past two games they looked(to paraphase Former NASCAR Chief Fred Thompson) "like a monkey f-ing a football."

The pitching has been awful, the infield has booted balls (or let them go through their legs), and everyone has just been throwing the ball around like a bunch of little leaguers.

Oh...and they still can't hit a curve ball.

Since the post on respectability - where we learned that your uncle also isn't respectable...

The Nationals are 0-7, have been outscored 49-11, and have been shut out 3 times. They are back on pace for 104 losses, and must win 19 of their remaining 40 games (READ: Not going to happen) to stay out of the 100-loss club.

As reference here are the final records for the past four seasons:

Nationals '07: 73-89
Nationals '06: 71-91
Nationals 05': 81-80
Expos '04: 66-94

Nothing to Highlight from Last Night

One of the more absurd things the Nats do before home games is show "highlights" from the previous night's game. Yes, this is an old tradition, but the Nats take it to a new level by showing them from games in which they LOST! They have the opportunity tonight to kill this practice because no self respecting franchise would show clips from last night's game.

Sadly, I realize that Lastings Milledge continuing his hit streak with a solid single up the middle will give them something to air. I also think Ryan Zimmerman made a nice back handed snag in warmups and Austin Kearns hit a ball just short of the warning track in BP so maybe there is more to show than I thought.

But seriously, think about it, when they show those clips, if someone didn't see the game the inevitable question they ask is, "So what was the score, did they win?" And it's embarrassing to have to relay, that no, in fact, they did not win.

So Mr. Video Guy, take the day off, because after a game in which the team gets blown out 12-0, one in which the pitcher was walked with the bases loaded, I don't think the fans would mind having that one minute to themselves. In that time they can dream about the free agents we could sign this winter, enjoy being in a Michael Phelps-free zone for a brief time, or wonder why that big red tent is blocking the view of the Capitol.

$50 million squandered...(and I'm not just talking about the Nationals)

Nationals owner Stan Kasten and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty at Opening Day bet

who can blow through $50 million faster. Surprisingly, Fenty won.

(Notice that the Mayor did not wear a baseball hat for the occassion.)

Mayor Fenty is admitting that his jobs program for DC kids is a disaster and cost the city taxpayers $50,000,000 over the past three months.

Holy Crapola.

According to the DC Examiner, the program paid youths to work, including many who never did and others who didn't work much.

Compare this to the Nationals payroll. Not too dissimilar. The Nationals most expensive player didn't work at all this year, and three of the next four spent (or are spending) considerable time not working.

So while I'm expecting that my Nationals tickets will go up next year to pay for Bowden's blunder, I can probably assume that my parking tickets will continue to rise to pay for Fenty's fiasco.

Bowden begs for his job...

The Nationals Enquirer has a post of Jim Bowden begging to keep his job.

Don't forget to vote in our poll. Flanders thinks Lenny Harris has to go.

And here is a pretty well written and intelligent piece on the Adam Crow goings-on...a little MLB Econ 101.

Live Blogging from my couch...Manny - Please don't put Ayala in...

Sorry to join late. Just got back from Restaurant Week dinner at Finn & Porter...Fancy.

Riveria has got some good stuff - he needs to throw more strikes though.

And Manny, please don't put Ayala in...

Riveria just hit a guy to let a run in. Bases loaded.

Glad to see that Acta is arguing something...will he get thrown out? He's wrong, it hit Easley in the helmet.

Having said that, it's good to see him out there. Fighting for his team.

Lenny Must Go

Willie the Groundskeeper's post on respectability was right on target. There is another word the Nats should learn: accountability, something they lack as long as Bowden/Acta/Harris have jobs. I realized Harris has not been properly listed on the popular "I Could Have Done No Worse..." feature on the blog so to make up for it I humbly suggest that the feature be renamed "I Could Have Done No Worse......Although Still Better than Lenny Harris."

Caption: Lenny Harris drives two aspiring Washington Glory members to soccer after teaching one the Willy Mo Pena method of pitch recognition and the other the Felipe Lopez system of working the count.

See the new Milli Vanilli

From China.

"The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression."

Even if she can't sing...

And another thing...I can't tell what she's trying to communicate with her fingers in this picture...is she a Blood or a Crypt?

(for those of you who grew up in the 80s - here's the original Milli Vanilli lip syncing a song that you used to dance to.)

UPDATE: I think I owned the cas-single of this.

Even Manny Agrees that Ayala Sucks...

Nice pick-up by Bottomfeeder noting that Manny Acta conceeds that Ayala is really bad...

"We can't even hide him now," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "He comes into situations like this and he's just not making pitches."

U-S-A....U-S-A...

Good morning USA!

Jason Lezak, the anchor in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay pulled off the fastest split in the history of mankind to bring the US the gold.

Click to watch the race.

A concerned Michael Phelps looks on as team anchor Jason Lezak jumps into the pool.

Ayala Sucks.

In case you missed today's game - let me sum it up for you:

Score is tied going into the bottom of the 13th.

Luis Ayala came into the game. (I could end the post here...)

Ayala pitched to left fielder Gabe Kapler who was 0-6 on the day.

Senor Ayala throws a ball, two strikes, another ball then Kapler homered to left off the foul pole. Game over.

Ayala drops his 8th game.

He stinks like poop. His ERA is now over 6.

And this...another example of something that I Could Do No Worse Than...

I could do no worse than Luis Ayala.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, and he's making $1.7 million this year...

What is respectable?

Great - The Nationals are hot. They took two from the Rockies yesterday and look to continue their winning ways in Milwaukee this weekend.

And if the Nationals were 5 games over .500 instead 27 games under these wins might matter. Heck, if the Nationals were going into this weekend 57-58, they'd only be 5 games out of first.

But our team isn't 57-58. No, they're 44-71. And that's after winning 6 of their last 7. (Which by any means is a hot streak.) So, we come to an inevitable question: What is respectable?

What do the Nationals have to accomplish this season - or at least in the remainder of the season - to be respectable. And I don't want any of this Manny Acta, "as long as we continue to improve," crap.

Whatever. This isn't recess. We keep score.

To start - we need to try to define what "respectable" means. So I looked it up in dictionary.com: worthy of respect or esteem; estimable; worthy or of moderate excellence; fairly good; fair.

Well, we've got a long way to go before we get to "moderate excellence".

Then I checked the interweb to see if I could find some examples of respectable things and some of examples of not-so respectable things...believe me you can.

For instance...

• Here's a respectable grandma. Here are some not-so respectable grandmas.
  


• Here's a respectable female firefighter. Here's a not-so respectable female firefighter.
  


• Here's a respectable wet t-shirt contestant. Here's a not-so respectable wet t-shirt contestant.
  


• And finally, here's a respectable human being. Here's a not-so respectable human being.
  
  

Now that we got that cleared up...

There are 47 games left in the season. Now at 44-71, they are back on pace to win 62 games (who would've thought that would be a good thing?)

If the Nationals can keep winning 6 out of every 7 (which they won't), they would finish 84-78.

But even if there are able to play .500 ball the rest of the way (which they probably won't), they'll get to 67-95. Which isn't very good - but at least gets them out of the 100-Loss Club.

So, I think respectability can be had at 65 wins.

If they do that, they will have played better than .500 baseball from their low point on July 31, when they dropped to 36-70.

Granted, it will be only 1 game better, but it's still something - and they would have done it during the last two months of the season. A time when last place teams are expected to roll over for playoff contenders.

It will show that their young team is growing and finding ways to win 21 of the remaining games. It will bring fans back out to the stadium - because they'll be a chance to see a competitive night of baseball.

And, it will show that our team has heart.

The Nationals have given up on a lot of games this year. It would be nice to see them fight it out down the stretch, and maybe spoil a few parties in September.

Memo to Packer Nation: WE DON'T CARE

To: Packer Nation

From: Football World

Subject: Your self-loathing and Brett Favre

We don't care. Really we don't.

And we know you don't believe that.

But that's okay. We just felt that someone needed to tell you.

You have become the Red Sox Nation of football and, to be blunt, this whole Brett Favre thing is just like "Manny being Manny."

And just like you didn't care about Manny and thought the whole episode was overblown - well, sorry, but that's how the rest of the world sees your little spat. (Except of course, Chad Pennington.)

This whole soap opera has played out on the various sports networks to a point where we can understand why you actually began to believe you were the center of the Sports Universe - but we don't want that to confuse you. You're not. And neither is Brett Favre.

Most football fans have our own football teams that we cheer for now (that aren't the Packers). You might be surprised to learn that there are now 32 teams in the NFL. A lot changed when the NFL merged with the AFL in 1970 (you can read more about that here.)

And let's face it - we don't like to hear it either - but the Patriots are still the best team in football.

Sure, Big Football will do what it can to over-hype every interception that Aaron Rodgers throws (is that his name? Honestly, we had never seen him until Justin Timberlake hugged him at the ESPYs. Some of you may have missed it because it was on cable.) Sorry we digress, back to my point... Big Sportsmedia will bloviate about Rodgers' failures and love over all of Favre's success.

But nobody will really care.

Except for Fantasy owners - and that will only last as long as it takes to see if their running backs got into the end zone on third and goal.

We're sorry if this stings a bit.

But, Football World is bigger than Green Bay and, dare we say it, Lambeau Field. So now that Favre is headed to New Jersey I'm sure thousands of Cheese Heads are crying in their Milwaukee's Best today - but believe us...nobody else is.

We're all glad that reruns of Family Matters won't be interrupted by footage of a Packer fan protesting the team's ownership or burning a #4 in effigy.

And with that, we need to get going - have to check on how Chris Johnson is doing today.

Note: Favre in Jets uniform photo credit to Andrew Arvan cribbed from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E

According to the British newspaper, "The Telegraph", Britney Spears is being cast as a "killer lesbian stripper" in an upcoming Quentin Tarantino film

In the movie she'll be pleading that she's "not that innocent."

I'm unashamed to be the last (straight male) Britney fan in the world.

Paris for POTUS...

On the heels of a presidential ad with her likeness, Paris Hilton responds with a political ad of her own.

"I'll see you at the debates bitches."





UPDATE: AP reporting behind the scenes of the shoot that Paris memorized all her lines, shot it in a few hours, and did it for free.

What does two cents buy you?

We know that it costs $180.50 for some chicken fingers at Nationals Park, but for just 1/9,025th of that you can be the high-bidder for a Paul Lo Duca bobblehead.

According to the seller, it was "given out at dodger stadium on may 31st 2002 the outside of the box is a little beat up, but it has never been opened".

I guess hisnherstuff finally decided that it was time to unload this piece of memorabilia. Their dreams of Lo Duca making the Hall of Fame were dashed when the Worst Team In Baseball released him.

When this was given out, Lo Duca was a fan favorite in L.A. and had just come off his first full season as the starting catcher. It also happened to be his best season...

In 2001, Lo Duca hit .320 with 25 home runs and 90 RBIs. When he left the Nationals he was batting .230 with 0 homeruns and only 12 RBIs.

(FYI - hisnherstuff is also selling a Ron Cey bobblehead, although it's a bit pricier, already fetching $5.50 with 12 hours left in the auction.)

What would you buy with $180.50?

How about this?

Chicken fingers are among the most enjoyed

snack foods in the U.S. That's probably why
the vendors at Nationals Park have decided

to charge nearly $200 for a single serving. Yum.

On Saturday night, I got a note from a fan of HSB who was enjoying the Nationals come from behind win against the Cincinnati Reds. She called it "the most exciting baseball game" she had ever been to, and was even surprised to find herself emotionally engaged in the game.

However, the joy of the experience came to a crashing end when she checked her bank account this morning to find that she had been charged 19 times for her chicken finger basket. I guess the profit margin on the $9.50 chicken finger basket (no drink included) isn't quite enough to pay the bills.

She called the Nationals this morning and left a message - no word back.

She also called the bank that holds the debit card.

The bank's representative said that she had "never seen double-charging to this extent." She also said that the vendor attempted to bill the account several more times, but the bank shut it down after 19. The bank is contacting the Nationals and, in the meantime, T.D. Banknorth has issued a "Fraud Alert" for Nationals vending.

Here are some other things you could buy with $180.50:

A lovely prom dress

this awesome wig

96 long stem rose candles

Or beach volleyball lessons

Favre Farce

Half Street Blues has been refreshingly Favre-Free these past few weeks, and I am sorry to disrupt that with this post.

When Brett Favre does retire for good (and he has to eventually) my wish is that at the press conference every single question from the media will be about when he will be back or what his outlook for the upcoming season is.

Think of it- Favre in tears, management talking about his legacy and every question would be a variation of : "So when will you be back?" "How long until you change your mind?" "Do you think you will actually make it to the airport before you have doubts?" The ENTIRE press conference full of questions like that. It would be endlessly entertaining and probably not far from the truth.

To see Favre exasperated and throw his arms in the air would be well worth it. He'd consider the press conference a waste of time, which is what all the coverage has been these past few weeks anyhow.

Sorry, have to go, the head baggage handler who was about to go on shift when Favre's plane landed in Green Bay is about to be interviewed on CNN.

Nationals Sweep!!!

Our Washington Nationals swept the visiting Cincinnati Reds over the weekend! The bats were working and defense was good and - more importantly - everyone (fans and players alike) are talking about the team's energy (and here and here and here).

This is what fans were looking for - excitement.

Noone expected to make the playoffs this season. Hoping for a .500 season was probably a stretch.

But we wanted some heart. Some effort. Some moxie.

A reason to come back to the park.

Maybe now, we've got something to cheer for.

Let's Go Nationals!!

What's worse than a Jim Bowden team? Another Jim Bowden team...

The Nationals have taken two in a row from the Cincinnati Reds. That's good stuff. The Young Guns are making it interesting for a couple of days.

Unfortunately, I didn't make the game - was doing my first Fantasy Football draft of the season - so we'll leave it to Dave at bottomfeeder.com to give us the skinny.

Bring Back Livan!!

Ex-National and fan favorite Livan Hernandez just got cut by the Twins.

The Nationals should sign him to play first base.

Hell, he'd walk in to the starting job and with a better bat than half the team.

July 2008 - A month to forget

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen...but Louis Armstrong at least seems empathetic.




The Washington Nationals went 5-19 (.208) in the month of July and after watching last night's game, there doesn't seem to be much hope for improvement.

• They begin the month of August having lost 9 in a row and three games into a 20-day stint of consective games.


• Their two best (READ: marketable) players (I guess) Guzman and Zimmerman are day-to-day; and possibly worse - although no one dare speak it.


• Two sub-par veterans were just let go.


• The manager and GM suck.


• The younger players haven't stepped up.


• Injuries have plagued the team.


• And the view from my seats has gotten worse...
  

New Political Ad - "The One"

I actually like this one. Just don't know if it ties it up neatly enough at the end.

Acta as the Tin Man - no heart...

If there's one thing that Jimmy McGinty taught us, is that you gotta have heart...


Compare this:

"[M]anager Ron Gardenhire stormed off the field following his latest ejection, he punted his cap high over his head and back onto the turf. The emotional exit fired up his Twins and sparked them to a four-run inning..."

Result: Twins were down 4-3 entering the inning, get four runs in the 7th, win the game 10-6.

Current Record: 60-48; 1/2 game out of first in the AL Central






With this:

"I'm not a believer in rallying the troops or anything."

Current Streak: Lost 9 in a row

Record: 38-70; worst in the world.