NATS WIN 2 OF 3 IN HOLLYWOOD, BUT ZACH DAY IS UNHAPPY
D.C. 5 L.A. 2
A Short Night for Nats’ Day; Chavez, Hammonds Called Up – The Post
I didn’t see or listen to the game, but I do know that complete game is almost always a good thing. LIVAN! went the distance and the Nats won the rubber game of the series.
Also is interest is talk from Frank Robinson about Zach Day. The skipper says that Day, “thinks I hate him.” Day did not go on record disagreeing with that assessment. Pitching coach Randy St. Claire, thinks Day may benefit from a change of scenary and he does not mean bullpen. GM Jim Bowdenhas got to be licking his chops, though he denies he is shopping Day. This could get very intersting. The Wash. Times has a whole article on Day’s struggles.
More from The Wash. Times: Hernandez comes through for Nationals
More from ESPN.com: Boxscore
Focus increases on RFK field woes – The Wash. Times
Playing baseball and soccer on the same field is problematic at best and thus far bad for both sports in practice. Allen Lew, chief executive officer of the D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission, thinks the worst is behind us. He and other RFK officials are using the current downtime to fix the mound and figure out other issues. D.C. United is not happy with the way the field is mowed for one thing.
New Order, New Faces In Lineup – The Post
Brad Wilkerson was given the day off, Inning-Endy Chavez played and the Nats still won. Weird. Oh, and the Mets lost their protest of Saturday’s night game.
Jim Bowden – Dealing with pained relief – The Wash. Examiner
Another column by Bowden, as told to John Keim.
Live Discussion – Barry Srvluga – The Post
Everyone’s favorite Nats beat writer hosted another chat yesterday. It was not his best, for one thing he mentioned a couple of Nats blogs, but missed many more. I think the moral of that story is to have a short URL. He did take the time to answer one of my questions though:
Pentagon City, Va.: Any idea why Cristian Guzman has started getting on base lately? Has he been taking more BP, working with the hitting instructor, etc.? After he threw away that Atlanta game, I hoped that was him bottoming out.
On the flipside, what is going on with Brad Wilkerson, is there anything to be concerned about with him having trouble hitting lately?
Barry Svrluga: Guzman’s work ethic hasn’t been questioned by this team like it was in Minnesota, and even during his slump, he would hit in the cage after games, just taking out frustration. I talked to him the other day about all this (still trying to get a story in the paper, but there’s been too much news), and he felt really bad about the slow start.
Hitting coach Tom McCraw and Robinson believe Guzman is simply being more selective and not swinging at pitches in the dirt, as he did when he was struggling. Now, the hitting streak’s up to 11 games.
Yes, there’s concern about Wilkerson, who broke an 0-for-20 skid with a double last night, but that was it. He said he’s trying too hard to go the opposite way with balls. Are they concerned about his funk long-term? No. He’s too good a hitter, but right now, he’s just streaky.
Chris Needham over at Capital Punishment had a couple of great rants yesterday that you must read, both TV related. Once again, Nats fans are getting the shaft.