Old Reliables Lift the Nats – The Post
A night after partying with MissChatter and DC Sports Chick at Jay-Z’s 40-40 club for the Alfonso Soriano “induction,” the Nationals found inspiration to take the best team in the league 3-2. The man of the hour doubled, his 40th (making him the first 40-40-40 man) and scored a run. Another milestone came in the form of Ryan Zimmerman‘s 100th RBI. By the way, where was he Thursday night, no word or photos of him? The winning run though, came from nice guy Austin Kearns, who hit a solo shot in the 7th.
On the hill the Nats got a solid 6 2/3 from Pistachio, who gave up only two runs and scoreless relief from Saul Rivera, Jon Rauch (who apparently skipped the party too), and Chad Cordero.
More from The Wash. Times: Doing it by the numbers
Boxscore – ESPN
Looking Beyond The Bottom Line – The Post
Boswell has a very interesting column on Frank Robinson getting his due. He compares Robinson’s managerial abilities to a lifetime .270 hitter who played for 14 seasons; not a bad comparison. What I found most interesting is the relatively paltry salary that Robinson has received during his tenure with the franchise, only $600,000, low by today’s standards. In that time, the value of the franchise increased $150 million.
Boswell suggests wants to see two things happen if when Robinson is relieved of duty 1.) He takes it with dignity 2.) the team offers a 10-year personal services contract for $300K per annum. I could see #1 happening more than #2, but the way things with D.C. baseball, I just don’t see it happening.
O’Connor, Perez to get chances – The Wash. Times
Mike O’Connor (3-7, 4.72 ERA but with a 1.64 ERA in three appearances since rejoining the club) and Beltran Perez (6 IP 0 R in his first start) will stay in the rotation for the last week of the season. While they have certainly earned their shots, who else would pitch?
Logan Works To Get Better From Left Side – The Post
CF Nook Logan, the latest “he’s not Ryan Church” is trying to improve on his lefthanded hitting. So far, he is at .320 this season, but he needs more work.