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When Frank Howard was racking up league-leading home run totals for the Senators, there was never reason for fans to chant "Sign Frank Howard!" night-after-night at RFK Stadium. Free agency was still several seasons away, and the reserve clause kept Hondo in a Washington uniform. Not that he couldn't have been traded; the Cleveland Indians tried, in vain, to get big Frank, but never seemed
Congratulations to the Phillies for once again winning the National League Eastern Division title. And, a pat on the back to Phils' GM Ruben Amaro Jr. for acquiring Roy Halladay last December for Cliff Lee and a package of prospects. Halladay is arguably the best right-hander in the NL and an almost certain Hall of Famer ten-plus years down the road. The Phillies' run of
Relievers with double-digit win totals stand out like a sore thumb. When Phil Regan was toiling for the Dodgers in 1966, he won 14 games and was nicknamed the "Vulture" for picking up the spoils the starting pitcher left behind. He also had 21 saves that year as the Dodgers won the NL pennant. Roy Face was an incredible 18-1 for the 1959 Pirates, all
Most of you don't remember the 1960 World Series, but it's fresh in my mind. I was a student at Belvedere Elementary School in Fairfax County. Our principal, Agnes Yeager, was retired military, and a big baseball fan. As a matter of course, the weekday World Series' games would be piped throughout the school over the sound system, not in an oppressively loud way, but
It's hard for me to view Stan Kasten's resignation - effective at season's end - as anything other than the first step toward his replacing Bud Selig as the next commissioner of baseball. Stan's resume is ideal for the job: running two MLB teams, an NBA franchise and an NHL team - some simultaneously - and a law degree to boot. He's far more qualified
The debate over the use of maple bats is alive once again, after the impaling of the Cubs' Tyler Colvin by a shard of a teammate's bat while he was running down the third base line. Colvin's injury ends his season, but obviously, it could have been much worse. We all know the story: maple bats are harder than ash, and while there's only anecdotal
I'll go out on a limb here and describe tonight's top of the fifth inning at Nationals Park as the ugliest half inning in memory since the ballpark opened three years ago. There's no way to sugarcoat it - this one's squarely on the players. From Livan Hernandez's pitch location to his tardiness in covering first after Adam Dunn gloved Brian Bogusevic's infield single -
Over 35-plus years in this business I've spoken with, oh, I don't know, a couple hundred big league pitchers, both current and former - Some Hall of Famers, some All-Stars, some cup of coffee guys, the whole gamut, so to speak, of righties and lefties. And somewhere along the line I've asked every one of them the same question: "Did you ever had a day
Let's see here: 3 innings, 76 pitches, 45 strikes, 9 hits, 3 rockets, 5 earned runs... Not a memorable evening for Jordan Zimmermann in Philadelphia. The Nationals were hoping this was the night where Jordan put it together and showed his comeback from Tommy John surgery was complete, but that's yet to happen. His outing tonight, coupled with the Nats' announcing that lefty Ross Detwiler
I'm a little confused on the Nyjer Morgan suspension. The release I got from the Nationals states that the entire original seven-game suspension relating to the ball-throwing incident in Philadelphia was rescinded, but the eight-game suspension relating to the brawl in Florida would stand. Yet, some of the other reports I've read state that the suspension was for the Marlins' set-to AND his running into
Is it possible that MLB has found something of a mitigating nature in their investigation of Nyjer Morgan's suspension-related activities? I'm hard-pressed to come up with a reason why it's taking so long to make a ruling. The first suspension, related to his hitting a fan with a tossed ball the last time the Nats were in Philly, could disappear if the affidavits of some
If you don't hit, you rarely score, and you mostly lose. Since the current six-game reversal began, the Nationals have gone 35-for-188, a .186 batting average. Not real productive, but you knew that already. It's easy to sit back and look for someone to blame, but hitting doesn't work that way. The Nationals have run into some outstanding efforts by opposing starting pitchers - Derek
I've heard from many of Ron Menchine's friends and fans since reporting his passing on Saturday. For those of you who've asked about his funeral arrangemehts, the information is as follows: There will be no services. Ron didn't care much for that type of formality. He asked to be cremated and have his ashes scattered across the Chesapeake Bay. Among his final wishes was a
Nats GM Mike Rizzo joined Johnny Holliday and I on "Nats Xtra" this afternoon. He spoke mainly about the recent improved performance of righthander Jason Marquis, but I had to ask him about what figures to be a major off-season decision. Is re-signing first baseman Adam Dunn a dead issue at this point? "No, it's certainly not a dead issue" he said. "We realize we
Ron Menchine, the last radio "Voice of the Senators," has died at the age of 76. I knew Ron well, though not during the years he was in the Senators' radio booth at RFK. I got to know him in 1974 at a dinner party in suburban Philadelphia, and his passion for baseball even then was palpable. He introduced me to the Society for American
It remains a mystery. What happened to the Canadian baseball fan after the work stoppage in 1994? I had the opportunity to speak with filmmaker Ken Burns this morning. His 18 1/2 hour opus Baseball was first broadcast in September 1994, with the expectation, he says, of being watched during the stretch drive of the various pennant races. Instead, "we were the only game in
Nyjer Morgan's hearing regarding his potential 15-game suspension is Friday morning. I'm guessing he'll end up with less than that, perhaps half that many or less. He's gotten a lot of support from Phillies' fans regarding the ball-tossing incident. Heck, the guy who was hit by the ball now says he regrets being bullied into filing a complaint. The whole incident seems, in retrospect, much
Danny Espinosa's big league debut over the past few days reads like one of those kids' novels from the 1940's and '50's: complete fiction. His 6 RBI game today was something Nationals' fans will remember for a long, long time. Walking around the concourse to the MASN set in the seventh inning took a lot longer than usual today. Every 50 feet or so someone
It's amazing that so many fans seem to think that stealing bases when you're down by double digit runs is somehow breaking one of the game's unwritten rules. When you're up by a bunch you don't steal; when you're trying to come back - with 5 innings left to play - it's a calculated risk and nothing more. If the runner in question is Adam
I won't pretend to know what's happening with Nyjer Morgan this past week. His on-field behavior, at times, has bordered on the bizarre, and he's the only one who knows why. Running into Florida catcher Brett Hayes Tuesday night - and getting tagged out - was a play that bore a strong resemblance to Pete Rose bowling over Ray Fosse to score the winning run
