Wrigleyville: The Nats schooled the Baby Bears yesterday, 13-5 and that makes two wins in a row. Shocked? This wouldn’t be the first time the Nats played well against the sluggies. Back in late April, the Nats took two of three from the Cubs, with John Lannan turning in a stellar performance (I was in section 128 for the game and he was masterful). He was as masterful yesterday, even if the line didn’t show it: the wind was blowing out at Wrigley and Lannan was touched for five earned runs in six-and-a-third. It could have been worse: he might have been Jason Marquis (I still can’t get past the idea that Marquis remains with the Cubs — as a sixth or even seventh starter. Why isn’t he in Texas? Or Baltimore?).

In the midst of this stinking run (the Nats are 14-23 since July 22), Nats fans can fall back on the fact that the Cubs (or anyone for that matter) would love to get a guy like Lannan and would trade more than a few prospects to put him on the mound. Which is the best reason to keep him and to look to next year — when (if the Nats have any kind of hitting at all), the young lefthander will be odds-on to be much better than .500. That is to say: a premium pitcher, the kind (with Balester) you can build a rotation around.

If Lannan continues to grow he will be a one of those unique pitchers — a lefthander with stuff who can dominate a game. He damn near does now. I wonder if Bowden knows what he has?

Victory, Defeat, Profits: Baseball and softball have been taken out of the Olympics, despite providing some of the most entertaining amateur contests in the history of the games. The U.S. won bronze in baseball and the U.S. women were upset by the Japanese in softball (a phenomenal game). But the most entertaining game was the Cuban-South Korean tilt, which provided a South Korean upset. It was a nail-biter: the Cubans had the bases loaded in the ninth with one out and grounded into a double play.

So why take both sports out of the games? IOC President Jacques Rogge (who berated Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt for celebrating his 100m and 200m wins — because, apparently, he can’t abide having black athletes celebrating), says that when major league players agree to be a part of the games the IOC will review their ban:  ”We have Federer, Nadal in tennis. We have the best cyclists. Rinaldinho is here in football. We want these guys in the game. We’re not saying its an entire Major League team, but we want the top athletes here at the Olympics.”

So much for amateur athletics. So much for the joy of victory, the agony of defeat. So much for up-close-and-personal. The Olympics are about profits — putting bodies in the seats, putting eyes in front of the television, and putting money in the bank. Exhibit A: In wake of the war in Bosnia, Olympic athletes asked the IOC to help them start a fund to rebuild Sarajevo. The IOC said ”no.” After all, the IOC isn’t a humanitarian organization. Rogge, a one-time yachtsman for Belgium, waves all of this off. “We’re a sporting organization,” he says, “not a political organization.”

The Big Train: For anyone following “Baseball Tonight’s” all-time franchise listings, the biggest surprise came on the night of July 31, when Tim Kurkjian (et.al.) announced that Kirby Puckett had outpolled Walter Johnson as the fan’s pick for all-time Twins franchise player. I suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise: baseball fans rarely remember two generations back — and Walter Johnson (who pitched in Washington twenty years) isn’t that well known except among the die-hards. But Kurkjian (a graduate of Walter Johnson High School) got it right: “Walter Johnson is the greatest pitcher to ever play the game of baseball.” I’ve got nothing against Puckett, but let’s review the bidding.

Johnson won 417 games, of which 100 were shutouts. What is most shocking is that “the big train” actually completed more games than he won — 531 (vs. 417). How can this possibly be? I think what this means is that even the games he lost were so close it was counter-productive to remove him. He was all the Senators had. He won over 30 games a season twice in his career, over 20 twelve times (including ten in a row) and notched over 3500 strikeouts. He led the majors in strikeouts for 60 years, until Nolan Ryan passed him. And here’s the punch line: the Kansas farmboy was a Senator. In the twenty years that Johnson pitched, the Senators finished first twice. In 1912 and 1913, Johnson accounted for roughly one-third of all the Senators’ wins. In 1911, the Senators were pathetic. They won only 64 games. But Johnson was brilliant; he won 25 of them. His ERA that year was 1.90. He once pitched 369 innings without giving up a home run.  Ty Cobb said he had the most powerful arm in baseball.

Johnson went into the Hall of Fame with Christy Mathewson in the Hall’s inaugural season. He was clearly better than Mathewson, but there are still those who argue that he was only the second best pitcher in history — behind Lefty Grove.

Nonsense.

Injuries, especially to a pitching staff, make teams scramble to plug the holes. The Red Sox, four games in back of the Rays when the evening started and licking many wounds in their starting rotation, are not immune to this fact. So it was that the wonderfully-named Charlie Zink found his way atop the hill in Fenway for his first major league start tonight against the Texas Rangers. It was a performance he won’t soon forget.

Zink toiled in the minors for six years after being signed as an undrafted minor leaguer in 2002. The 28-year old knuckleballer looked good this year going 13 - 4 with a 2.89 ERA for the Sox Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket, RI. The kid came recommended by none other than Sox great Luis Tiant so on Monday the Red Sox, having put knuckleballer Tim Wakefiled on the DL, ignored Zink’s pedigree (did I mention he graduated from the baseball powerhouse Savannah College of Art and Design?) and plopped him in the midst of a pennant race. But how bad could it be; the kid already had his own Wiki page.

The game began in a way which, if it were written for Hollywood, would have been laughable: the Sox posted 10 runs in the first inning including not one, but two, three-run homers by David Ortiz. The Sox offensive barrage offered up a new definition of the term “breathing room” for the uninitiated Mr. Zink. Now, it was up to him.

Having been untouched in the first Zink got rattled a bit in the second, giving up two runs but — given the pad — it was forgettable. You could almost hear Ortiz in the dugout approaching Zink afterward: “Forgehedaboudit man.” In the third and fourth Zink was on a roll: three up and three down in both innings. The kid might have something here.

But, in the fifth, the knuckler betrayed him. The first seven batters he faced went: double, ground out, single, single, double, double, double and then, he was done. Texas scored eight that inning to tie the game and the improbable appearance of the no-longer a kid from Carmichael, CA had ended. His final line for the night: 4.1 innings, 11 hits, 8 runs (all earned), one walk and one strike out. His ERA was 16.62.

Overall, a poor outing — one which might very well be his last in the majors — but for a few innings Charlie Zink lived a dream; Fenway Park in a pennant race with a 10-run lead and 38,000 people cheering his name.

Put Up Your Dukes: Our friends at Federal Baseball weigh in on the Elijah Dukes-Manny Acta dust-up on Tuesday night, even going so far as to show a clip of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon agreeing that now is the time for Dukes to go. What? Already? Listen, the Boston Red Sox are having fistfights in their dugouts for God’s sake and the World Champion Yanks of Billy Martin’s years couldn’t stand each other. So who the hell cares? Maybe a little dust-up will do these guys some good.

MLB.com, meanwhile, puts all of this down to “dugout miscommunication.” Of course, that explains everything — and nothing. Every baseball tiff (and every war, come to think of it), is about miscommunication. Still, there’s a story here somewhere, so here’s the scoop so far. Apparently (although this is just one version of the story), Dukes thought that Acta had not properly congratulated him on his double against the Pirates in the top of the ninth (followed by the Lastings Milledge home run). He was miffed. Others, unreported others, believed that Acta was angry with Dukes for overly celebrating after Milledge and Dukes had crossed home plate. This would not be the first time — or so the story goes — and Acta lost his temper, confronted Dukes in the dugout and read him out.

Dukes does not take these things lightly, of course, so after the game, he refused to high-five Acta during the traditional on-the-mound handshake. Acta gave a sly and cynical smile to this and kept on walking, but this was an act that was not bound to please. After the game there was a closed-door meeting between Dukes, Acta and GM Jim Bowden to clear that air. We can only imagine.

So what happened? The Washington Post blog on the Nationals had this exchange between Acta and reporters:

Q: Can you expand at all on what happened in the dugout yesterday?

MA: No, that’s yesterday’s news, and I don’t read yesterday’s paper. It’s over with. What happens in Pittsburgh stays in Pittsburgh. We talked it out after the game, and we’re cool, we’re fine.

Q: So does the decision to have Elijah back in the lineup emphasize what you’re talking about - that it’s over?

A: That had nothing to do. I’m never going to do something against my club because of whatever happens on the field. That had nothing to do whatever happened yesterday. He’s our right fielder.

So there you have it. Now you know as much as we do. Which is exactly nothing.

Complete Games: I watched the Nats lose to the Bucs tonight in Pittsburgh, then switched over to watch Ryan Dempster pitch the Cubs’ first complete game of the season, against the Braves. The Nats have not had one yet, but have come close. I thought that John Lannan had pitched one, but stats don’t lie — he went 7.1 against the O’s in a gem, while the up-and-down Jason Bergman went a full 8 against the Diamondbacks.

I only mention this because the other night I was checking some stats on the Baseball Reference and was curious about Sandy Koufax’s pitching record. I was always confused about the way sportwriter’s viewed Koufax. There was no question that he was a dominant pitcher, but he was not dominant over an extended period of time — like, say, Walter Johnson (21 years, 417 wins), or Christy Mathewson (17 years, 373 wins) or even Bob Gibson (17 years, 251 wins). Koufax, in comparison, pitched for only eleven years and had just 165 wins.

But here’s the difference. For a short time in those eleven years, Koufax absolutely defined pitching. The Cubs got their first complete game tonight. In 1965, Koufax threw  27 complete games. He did it again the next year, in 1966. Twenty-seven complete games. Koufax was brilliant but, in my opinion, Bob Gibson was better.

In 1968, when Gibson went 22-9 for the Cardinals, he pitched 28 complete games. The other great pitcher on the staff was Nelson Briles. The number three starter was Steve Carlton, who would later be traded to the Phillies for Rick Wise. Gibson’s ERA in 1968 was 1.12. He threw 304 innings, and gave up 62 walks. He allowed 38 earned runs during the entire season. In his World Series career, Gibson won seven games and lost two. Backed by Gibson’s pitching, the Cards won the Series in ‘64 and again in ‘67.

But here’s the thing that gets me, and that no stats book will show. In 1968, Gibson’s manager never made a visit to the mound to talk to Gibson — or to bring in a reliever. The pitching coach did, but never to take him out.

The difference between winning and losing to Milwaukee on Monday afternoon (the Nats lost 4-3 in 11 innings) was the inordinate number of strike outs chalked up by the Brewer’s pitching staff. Fifteen times the Nats batters trudged back to the dugout after having whiffed. With a total of 41 at-bats the entire day, the home town team k’d more than a third of the time. Not a stat to be proud of to be sure and one that shows how little help the pitching staff received on the day. Milwaukee wasn’t much better — 12 stike outs in 39 at-bats — but they won.

Both the guys swinging the bat well and those who aren’t all contributed to the high K total today. Harris, Boone, Dukes, Flores, Bergman and Langerhans all had two apiece. And in a key two-inning stretch with the momentum going the Nats way after they tied the score in the bottom of the eighth, Milwaukee reliever Carlos Villanueva recorded five strike outs in his two innings of work. You can’t do much with that.

Another problem with Washington was it’s seeming inability to work the count. For instance, in his two innings of work Viallanueva only threw 27 pitches - 19 for strikes. Thirteen pitches per inning may seem high, but it’s not when you consider the five strike outs. I should also mention that Villanueva had a 6.30 ERA going into today’s game. The Nats made him look like he was a contender for the Cy Young. Milwaukee starter Ben Sheets had an equally easy day. Eighty-six pitches (61 for strikes!) over six innings including six strike outs. I wish I’d counted how many first-pitch swings the Nats had throughout the day. Whatever it was it was too many.

The theme for the day should have been: Take A Pitch!

Diamond Nuggets

Ah, the joys of the conession stand at Nationals Park continue. In the top the of the second inning today I had to get a large-sized drink for my pint-sized daughter because the medium-sized cups didn’t have any lids. Plenty of medium-sized cups. Just no medium-sized lids. Wouldn’t you think you’d order one with the other? How does that happen?

At least a few times at the park today it was announced on the video screen that during the game on June 4 against St. Louis, the Nats will do a cross-promotion to advertise the Discovery Channel’s newest offering, the PlanetGreen channel. A well-placed source tells me the first pitch will feature a green ball and bat. Presumably the team, which has made quite an effort to make the ballpark “green” sees this as a great way to further its reputation in that area. But a green ball and bat?! Maybe I misunderstood and it’ll be a ceremonial first pitch. Stay tuned.

The Washington Nationals finally got untracked tonight — scoring six against the Atlanta Braves. While the team of Carpenter and Sutton extolled the virtues of Ryan Zimmerman’s eighth inning double down the rightfield line, it was John Lannan who once again provided all the Nats needed. Lannan tossed a seven inning shutout with four strikeouts. This was not the eleven strikeout wonder of his previous no-decision outing (his fastball was not diving in on righthanders as much as it was last week), but it was a beautifully pitched game nonetheless.

Lannan is fasting becoming the ace of the staff — the undisputed Nats Number One Pitcher on a staff without an ace. The only other contender is Tim Redding, who has pitched well (as he did several nights ago in a losing effort), but who lacks the catch-em-looking stuff that Lannan has shown. Later, on “Baseball Tonight,” the team of John Kruk and Buck Showalter (sans Steve Phillips — thanks be to … ) idenitified the league’s aces and came up with the usual top-of-the-line dominators: Santana, Zambrano, Peavy, Webb, and one or two others. (I still believe there’s no better pitcher than Webb — the class of both leagues.) Lannan is certainly not in that company, but for a ballclub that’s not supposed to have any pitching, Lannan is “exhibit number 1″ of an ace-in-the-making — and if he keeps pitching the way he did in his last two outings, he’ll be on the Kruk-Showalter list by the end of the season. So for all of the Nats’ troubles recently (and they are formidable), Lannan is evidence that not all is amiss along the Anacostia. Then too, as I keep saying, there’s always this guy — who is on the way:

N.L. Predictions

Yeah, yeah, I know: who does predictions after 15 games? Well, I got behind in my posts. So sue me. Anyway, I won’t look at the standings. I promise. Like Arizona is the best team in baseball?! Please. Although it would be interesting to see Mark go apoplectic if they did win the division - again.

East

Phillies – Grant is the Phils, Hepburn the Mets

Mets – After Johan there’s no depth in their chart

Braves – Glavine and Smoltz run out of gas

Nats – They battle the fish for bottom of the barrel

Marlins – When your “ace” has a lifetime ERA of 4.98 you’re in trouble

Central

Cubs – If they don’t win in this division Lou throws a clot

Milwaukee – Prince helps ‘em make a run

Stros – Too many converted relievers in the rotation

Pirates – I don’t see it

St. Louis – Pujols has 360 total bases but it don’t mean squat

Reds – The year’s dog-bites-man story

West

Dodgers – In a dogfight to the end, Torre helps L.A. celebrate its 50^th anniversary in style

Padres – Good pitching and a strong lineup make L.A. sweat

Dbacks – They know how to win but fade in the stretch

Rockies – A good lineup won’t make up for little pitching

Giants – A Bonds-less team with Zito and a decent lineup = 80 wins

So, three and eight. Not good. And certainly not fun. After Wednesday night’s game Ryan Zimmerman said that despite the losses the team has “played good baseball.”

There’s something to be said for optimism. And it is early. At the start of the season Zimmerman, this being his third in the bigs, said he wants to be a team leader. You don’t lead anything by preaching gloom and doom. Just ask Walter Mondale.

But the home team has added two losses since Zimmerman’s pronouncement. So, what’s there to be optimistic about? I poked around the stats page after tonight’s loss to Atlanta and came up with these:

Milledge is hitting .289 and Guzman, in the leadoff slot, is at .294. Plus, Nick Johnson is healthy and hot, batting .286 and slugging .514. Which, of course, means they should trade him for some pitching as soon as Dmitri gets back in the lineup.

Speaking of pitching, Tim Redding has pitched just 11 innings but he’s only given up one run. Matt Chico’s ERA is a respectable 3.72 and his strike out-to-walk ratio is 3 to 1. His line on Friday night was:

IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO

8.0 5   1    1      1     3

That’s what you call a hard-luck loss.

Of their eight losses four were by one run which means they in most games but haven’t gotten the timely hit.

To be sure, they have pitching problems. If they get to .500 this year most people will see that as progress.

But now, in the season’s infancy, the legs are strong, the warm weather approaches and all things are still possible.

OK, the John Patterson era is over. It’s time to look seriously at what the Nats are going to do about their pathetic pitching staff.
Here are some of the options –

1) Sign someone off the junk heap. Candidates include:
- Rag-arm Jeff Weaver
- Human dough-boy David Wells
- Meatball specialist Rodrigo Lopez

Not a pretty picture.

2) Suck it up with Odalis Perez and Tim Redding

3) Make a deal.

Let’s not kid ourselves. As much as we’d like to unload the anemic Felipe Lopez, we don’t have much to offer. As much as I loath to suggest this, my friend Mark makes a good case for dealing our most valuable pitcher – the Chief.

A curious coincidence occurred a week ago when, on successive days, stories ran in major national newspapers about the height of a leg kick by a pitcher fighting for the fifth spot in the rotation of a NL East team.

In New York, the Times ran a piece on Orlando Hernandez and how, after a career chock full of high leg kicks, El Duque will now forgo his trademark windup for a more traditional delivery. The reason? Hallux valgus. That’s bunions to you and me. No, really. Bunions.

Evidently, when he lifts the heel of his right foot off the rubber during the high-kick version of his delivery it has caused a bunion to develop. Presumably, the lower leg kick causes less lift on the right foot, thereby resulting in less pressure and reduced risk of bunions. Personally, I think that bunions are common in 66 year olds and it’s more a function of age than foot stress. O.k., so he’s 50. But still, age is probably catching up with him.

There is also some question about whether Hernandez can maintain, with the new windup, the deception and effectiveness the high leg kick has afforded him in the past. Mets Skipper Willie Randolph declared that it won’t have an impact on the deceptive nature of his delivery. We’ll see.

The next day the Post published a story about Matt Chico who, at the behest of pitching coach Randy St. Claire, reverted to his high school-era delivery that included a high leg kick. Why the Diamondbacks had him jettison that style wasn’t explained but with the new delivery Chico said he felt like his old self. Hopefully it’ll help him improve on a mediocre rookie year.

Almost on cue Manager Manny Acta noted that the new windup “gives him more deception.” Take that, Mets.

It’ll be fun to follow the story lines this year and see if both guys adjust to their new form. As an experimental control we can watch how Dontrelle Willis – now of the Detroit Tigers – will do this season.

He’s had a high-leg kick since he came up in ’03 and will continue to use it this year. Both Chico and Willis will have to do some pitching to match El Duque’s .581 lifetime W/L percentage.