Down On Half Street: In the midst of this nasty ten game skid, there is some good news – at least we don’t have Felipe Lopez to kick around anymore. We can leave that to Tony LaRussa. (Then too, Ryan Langerhans is still here — so thank God for that.) The former Cincy all star shortstop is now the NL’s designated journeyman, hitting 8 for 29 in his last ten games with the Redbirds, and .400 in his last seven. Don’t get too upset: he once hit the hell out of the ball with the Nats, but then reverted to form, battling mightily to keep his average above .240. Nats fans are undoubtedly frustrated with the strike out rate of his replacement, Emilio Bonifacio. But at least Bonifacio has a future. Lopez didn’t.

Let me make this clear: I would rather eat shards of broken glass than see Felipe back at second.  

The latest victim of the Nats’ “rebuilding” movement is Luis Ayala, who was unhappy with his middle inning role. Jim Bowden apparently believed that Ayala didn’t have much of a future with the club — something that any Nats fan could have told him after watching Ayala pitch in July. Mets fans have noticed. Mets Today had this question: “So why did the Mets give up someone with a pulse for this train wreck?”

Actually, it’s not that hard to figure out. Mets GM Omar Manaya used to be the GM for the Expos and saw a lot of Ayala — that is to say, back when Ayala was actually good. The Mets farm system is stocked with former Expos (guys that Manaya drafted). So New York is “Expos North” in the same sense that Washington is “Cincy East.” (Hey, seriously, I can’t wait to see Pokey Reese with the big club. Man, that guy is good! He’s hitting a torrid .169 with the Clippers.) Then too, in spite of the howls from fans of the “Amazins” (gag) the acquisition of Ayala is not a bad idea. The Mets are coasting effortlessly in first place and have only the Phillies to fear. And Ayala has a 3.7-something ERA against Philadelphia. 

So here’s the theory: Ayala is being counted on to salvage the Mets from a sure-sweep by the Phillies during the first week of September, when Chase Utley and company come into Shea for a key three game series. I will watch every minute of it. I will cheer mightily for the “Fightin Phils.” And I will watch closely as, in the middle of the 7th inning, everyone in Shea rises from their seats and screams lustily and in unison: ”Why the hell did we fire Willie Randolph?”

Shea South: It takes a long time to build a tradition and the Nats have only just started. I made note of this aloud during last Thursday’s loss to the Metropolitans, the Nats seventh loss in the row. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that there were more Mets fans than Nats fans in the stands. We (I was there with me droog, Tom) were surrounded: the four guys behind us sported tattoos and digital cameras, going on and on about how beautiful Nationals Ballpark was — too bad, they said, that we had such a lousy team. Mmmmmhmmmmm …

And did you know that the Capitol is right over there. Yeah, so hey, that was pretty impressive seeing that. “Hey, don’t get a beer now,” one of them told his buddy in the bottom of the fourth, “the president’s is about to run.”

The good thing about being a last place team, I told them, is at least you don’t have to suffer through an end-of-season collapse. Surprisingly, they were amused. Tom noted that the one thing about Mets fans is that they have a sense of humor. I agree, but then, they had better — because here come the Phillies.

Good luck Luis.

Tics: Speaking of which. During the recent Phillies series, my son asked me if I remembered the name of the Phillies outfielder who had such a terrible “tic.” A Phillies fan nearby answered the question: “Oh, you mean Jim Eisenreich,” he said. Yeah, that’s the guy. I always thought that Eisenreich was a hell of a hitter, when he wasn’t standing in the outfield talking to himself. Eisenreich’s tics (although, admittedly, that’s a pretty bad word for it) got so bad (and were the subject of so much comment — much of it unsympathetic), that he had to leave baseball for nearly three years, between 1984 and 1987. He was diagnosed and treated for Tourette syndrome. 

Eisenreich had a fifteen year career and was named the Royals’ most valuable player in 1987. After his retirement he and his wife set up a foundation in Kansas City to help children with Tourette’s. He’s more than an interesting man. He was the first recipient of the Tony Conigliaro Award, which is given each year to a ballplayer who has overcome a significant personal problem. Eisenreich now travels around the country talking about the disorder and raising money to help children who have it.

You know, I have this theory that the structure of baseball lends itself to the development of peculiar behaviors or the deepening of them – just take a look at Nomar’s little bat ritual, or check out “Jimmy Baseball’s” subtle at-bat head shake. Like I said, it’s only a theory, and does not apply to a guy like Steve Phillips. Phillips does not have Tourette Syndrome, he’s just naturally incoherent. 

The Other Manny: Baseball fans were treated to what ails the Brew Crew on August 4, when first base slugger Prince Fielder shoved pitcher Manny Perra during a game with the Reds. The tape of Fielder’s explosion was featured prominently on “Baseball Tonight” and played over and over on Milwaukee television stations. Baseball veterans weighed in: this kind of thing happens all the time, analyst John Kruk intoned: if you think this is bad you ought to see what happens off camera.  

Yeah, right.

As dugout fights go, the Fielder-Parra sparring match was modest: the Martin-Jackson confrontation of the ’70s was far worse, as was last year’s Zambrano-Barrett faceoff and the Ramirez-Youkilis contretemps earlier this year. In each of these cases, the main event was explained away by manager’s who preferred to keep the troubles in-house. Viz: Terry Francona told the press that the Manny-Kevin love fest was ”no big deal.” Brewers manager Ned Yost was even more outspoken when talking to the press about the Fielder-Parra face-off: ”If you want to know what happened or what transpired — blow-by-blow or what words were said — I’m sorry you’re not going to know. It’s private, it’s between us, and it’s not a big deal. And it’s not the first time it ever happened, and it won’t be the last.” 

Not going to know? Yeah we are. According to Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sports writer Haudricourt (I will include the expletives he left out), Parra was headed to the locker room after giving up six runs when Fielder took exception to his retreat: “We stayed out there and watched your shit. You can stay out here and watch our shit.” It didn’t help that Parra baited Fielder when he nearly swiped him with his warm-up jacket on his way down the bench.

The problem is the Brewers are known for this kind of thing. The Fielder-Parra dust-up took place one year and two days after Yost became involved in an altercation with Brewer catcher Johnny Estrada and infielder Tony Graffanino — who were then (post-season) shipped out of Milwaukee. The Brew Crew was 8 1/2 games in front of the Cubs at the time, but in the wake of the Yost incident the bottom fell out of the Brewer’s season. Doug Melvin defended Yost, but a large portion of the Milwaukee fan base wondered if Yost’s volcanic temper was a good fit for the team. The doubts have only escalated since then – and now there’s a growing “Fire Ned Yost” club in brewtown. (I won’t say that I predicted this at the beginning of the year, but I did.) Let’s be clear: the problem in Milwaukee is not Fielder or Parra, it’s Ned Yost. He makes bad in-game decisions and he’s even worse in the club house. At least a part of a manager’s job is to keep the peace — not stoke the fires.

Of course Milwaukee management isn’t going to get rid of Yost in the middle of a pennant race, but if the Brewers don’t make the wild card, Yost will be gone in the off-season — as well as about $15 million of Brewers’ payroll. That is to say: this is their last shot for awhile. There’s accumulating evidence that even Milwaukee’s front office is tiring of Yost, and for good reason. Yost has a habit of saying the wrong things and, after awhile, you have to conclude it’s because he can’t control his mouth. Evidence of this came during a Yost interview on the end-of-July series with the Cubs, a must-win four game confrontation that could have showed-up the Baby Bear’s inability to win on the road. “Seriously, what this is is a dress rehearsal for September.” 

Exactly. The Cubs took the series by a combined 31-11 score. 

So if the Nats want to do baseball a favor they can stick a fork in baseball’s version of John McCain: they can take the three remaining games with the “Crew” at Miller Park and end the Brewers’ vain run for the Central Division crown. In fact, I’ll make this prediction now. The Fielder-Parra fight can mean only one thing. The Milwaukee Brewers are finished.

Well, it has been one week since “the trade” that sent Manny Ramirez from the Red Sox to the Dodgers in return for one Jason Bay of the Pirates. So, it must be time for the deep analysis that a handful of games will allow. But first, the results of an unscientific poll taken over the weekend in the heart of Red Sox Nation (a.k.a. Worcester, MA) about the departure of Senior Ramirez:

“See ya, Manny.”

After seven years of “Manny being Manny” the joke grew stale. The perennial whining about being traded, the showing up late for Spring Training and the goofy antics in left field could be, and were, ignored - for years. But this year those relatively minor irritants had given way to actions far more distressing: failing to visit the guys at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a trip to the White House as World Series Champions, slugging a 64 year-old traveling secretary and, sitting out of games with a rare knee injury otherwise known as Mannyitis. Manny didn’t care who he hurt or dissed with his actions and so, the Sox no longer cared about Manny. It was worth the $7 million the Sox gave the Dodgers to take him plus parting ways with Brandon Moss and Craig Hansen (who went to Pittsburgh) to get Manny out of Boston. That’s how poisoned the atmosphere had become in the clubhouse. It was akin to a celebrity divorce where one partner says to the other: “Just take the Malibu house and go away.”

So how’s it gone since the trade? Well, Manny is on fire in Dodger-land (I guess his knee is o.k.). He’s hitting .625 with three dingers and five RBI. But Bay is no slouch either, hitting .429 with one home run and six RBIs before tonight’s game. Plus, the kid has shown he can play defense as demonstrated on Sunday by gunning out Oakland’s Mark Ellis trying to stretch a single. And as far as The Nation is concerned, well, they gave Mr. Bay four standing ovations his first night wearing the red and white. Manny who?

O.k., time to address Mark’s slam that the Sox seem adept at trading future Hall of Famers - the implication being that this was another dumb move by the Sox. No doubt the Sox have been ham handed in the past: Speaker was traded at the age of 27 having never hit below .309 as a starter and after refusing a pay cut in 1916; Ruth was just 25 but had already amassed a 89-46 record as a pitcher to go along with his (at the time) .289 average when he was sold to the Yanks - the result of bad investments by team owner Harry Frazee. But Clemons was 34 when traded to Toronto only to have his career extended by steroids. Fisk, who wore a Red Sox cap when inducted into the Hall of Fame, was 33 when sent to Chicago and not many would have bet he had 13 more years in him.

But to the point about Ramirez; the reason why dumping Manny was the right move is because he was a pain in the neck. It doesn’t matter what he does the rest of his career - he wouldn’t have done it in Boston. For whatever reason he had become the photo next to the word ‘malcontent’ in the dictionary. And at $20 million this year and probably more for the next several (agent Scott Brosius wants $100 million over four years) it would have been stupid to keep him.

That said, let’s look at what some of the best hitters in the history of the game have done after their 36th birthday (Manny will be 37 next May) as a possible guide to what we can expect from Manny over the course of his next contract. Using a list of what the 10 best hitters ever, according to Ted Williams, did from age 37 until their retirement, it’s unlikely the Red Sox will get less with Bay than they would have with Ramirez. To wit:

Player             Ave. after Age 37

Ruth                        .277

Gehrig                    N/A

Foxx                      .268

Hornsby                .316

Dimaggio              N/A

Cobb                      .347

Musial                  .290

Jackson, Joe        N/A

Aaron                   .270

Mays                   .255

Ramirez is no doubt a future Hall of Famer but is he Rogers Hornsby good? Or Ty Cobb good? Heck, if he’s as good as Ruth was from age 37 to 40 he’ll be in great company but won’t be doing anything Jason Bay can’t do for a whole lot less money.

The Sox got the best Manny had to give and won two rings. Which raises the question: When do you get better when dumping a Hall of Famer?

When his name is Manny Ramirez.

Down On Half Street: The Nats told us that Emilio Bonifacio and Alberto Gonzalez would bring speed and defense to the Washington line-up, in the apparent hope that we might thereby overlook their troubling deficiencies at the plate. No such luck. Neither Bonifacio nor Gonzalez have had consistent success in stroking the ball for singles (let alone doubles or triples) in the majors — until, that is, their arrival here. Bonifacio is hitting a stellar .294, while Gonzalez has lately been hitting well beyond his official .231. Now then, let’s talk about their “speed.” 

Both have been caught stealing once: Bonifacio in Cincinnati on Sunday (by the weak-armed David Ross) and Gonzalez (though, for some reason, the box score does not show it) on the same day. In both cases it wasn’t even close. To note the obvious — stealing bases involves more than speed and “Gonzafacio” have yet to show they have mastered the art. They had better. Barring a sudden surge of power (let’s call it a “Willie Harris moment”), the Nats will have to figure out how to come up with a 70 percent-plus success rate that makes stealing worthwhile – and that put singles hitters in a position to score. Good teams steal in excess of 90 bases each year and the really good teams have a better than 80 percent success rate. The Nats are currently at 48 stolen bases for 2008 and have been caught stealing 26 times. Not great, not good …

Deplorable.

The Nation: Manny Ramirez joins the long list of Red Sox (where hall of famers go to get traded) who just couldn’t make the grade in Boston and, alas, had to be traded away (or let go) because they just didn’t ”fit in.” Boston’s nationwide reputation as upholders of good citizenry, Puritan morality and fair play have a history of this, choosing to keep the peace, even if it means getting rid of great ballplayers. Let’s see: Tris Speaker was sold to Cleveland to teach him a lesson, Babe Ruth (who just wouldn’t behave) was sold to the Yankees because he wanted too much money, Carlton Fisk (that whiner) decided he’d rather play for the White Sox (the Bosox failed to postmark his new contract correctly), and Roger Clemens was let go to the Blue Jays because he was in his “declining years” — which lasted nine seasons.

Now, in case you haven’t noticed, Manny is being “Gammonized” — which is the attempt to scuff-up a player that you’ve been busy shining to a glowing hue for years. The Red Sox had “no choice” but to make the trade, Gammons wrote in the wake of the LA deal, “because there was no chance — none, zilch, nada — that Boston could make the playoffs with Ramirez on the team.” Okay, I get it. I mean really, how stupid can the Dodger’s be? Even Tommy Lasorda was upset.

As The Deadline Approaches: There is a common notion now abroad among baseball analysts that, at least during the dog days of July, the baseball world is divided into two kinds of people — “buyers” and ”sellers.” These words are used to denote whether a team is contending or not and, therefore, whether it will shuck itself of unwanted contracts, underperforming players, or stars who can bring in a bevy of new prospects. And so it is that Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting that Jon Rauch has drawn interest from the Rays, Red Sox and Diamondbacks.

But here’s the real shocker: Rosenthal is also reporting that Jim Bowden is taking a close look at the Rockies Matt Holliday. 

Holliday is a veteran slugger, a team player with post-season experience and affordable. Holliday is signed through next season and he’s still young, with seven to ten years of good baseball ahead of him. But, while the willingness of Jim Bowden to trade Rauch for  prospects might be understandable, giving those same prospects (or virtually so) back to Colorado is more than a little puzzling.

Still it’s possible to forge an intriguing model for how this might work. After all, the Nats are competing in the same market as the Rockies, who are dangling reliever Brian Fuentes to the same teams – the Rays, Red Sox and D-Backs. My hunch is that the Rays are more in the market for Xavier Nady than Holliday and might prefer Pittsburgh’s Damaso Marte to either Rauch or Fuentes. Then too, it seems unlikely that the Rockies would trade Fuentes to the Snakes, a division rival. Yet, the Rockies are known to covet a number of Arizona prospects so  . . .  so Rauch goes to Arizona and the D-Back’s prospects go to the Nats, who then package them for  Holiday.

Or Not: The Rockies are known to be in the market for young players to round out the core that got them to the 2007 World Series. There’s only one piece missing: starting pitching. The Snakes might have sinker-baller Brooks Brown available, as well as RHP Hector Ambriz and Barry Enright, who the D-Backs think is the pitching equivalent of Ryan Zimmerman: he’s ready for the big leagues now. But the D-Backs would never trade these guys to Colorado and it seems unlikely the Snakes would send them to DC if they believed that Jim Bowden would turn around and send them to the Rockies for Holliday.   

But this begs the question. Why would the Nats be willing to give up prospects for Matt Holliday, when every piece of evidence we have is that the Kasten-Bowden tag team is doing everything they can to stockpile the young and unproven? There are three reasons:

– so long as Zimmerman, Balester, Lannan, Flores and Milledge are not included in any deal, everything is on the table. I would include Elijah Dukes and Garret Mock, very tentatively, in that mix;

– Now that interleague play is finished and the “Battle of the Beltways” is history, the Nats need to put people in the seats. Holliday could do that. And bringing Holliday in would silence those critics who claim the Lerner’s are more interested in padding their own pockets than providing a winner.

– Holliday provides a veteran presence in the clubhouse and in the outfield that is lacking. Milledge and Dukes could use someone like Holliday to show them how to play the game.

So if you really want Holliday, but getting prospects from Arizona and then trading them to Colorado is out of the question, what do you do?

Talk To The Nation: Bowden is considering trading Cristian Guzman to teams who need a shortstop. The line forms behind the Red Sox, who just put Julio Lugo on the 15 day DL. The Nats could trade Guzman (a “rental”) and Rauch to the Nation (where life with Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima is an adventure) and then ship some of those prospects to Colorado. The Nation gets a reliever and shortstop; the Nats get prospects and Holliday.

Nor should we discount the impossible. A 2009 team of Zimmerman, Guzman (who would return for a new contract), Milledge, Flores, Lannan, Balester, a healthy Johnson and Matt Holliday begins to look like a team that can win some games. 

So Jim: pull the trigger.

The Fanbase: Recent numbers reported by Dan Steinberg in his sports blog reflect a woeful story. MASN’s Nat’s numbers have dropped precipitously over the last year — so that now there are only 9000 households in DC who tune into Nats games, a figure that is down 43.5 percent from last year. Steinberg’s firebell warning was in response to an article on baseball television ratings that was written by SportsBusiness Journal reporter John Ourand, who notes that TV numbers for baseball games are down all over the country. Except, of course, for select markets.

MASN’s viewer ratings are, in fact, more than disturbing; they could be pointing to an overall trend that would reinforce those critics who have always claimed that D.C. is simply not a baseball town. Even so, amidst this piece of bad news there is some good — modest though it might be. Nats fandom, for one, continues to support the team; attendance numbers are good, particularly considering the on-the-field product, and support for the team (an intangible) is growing. The NATS are sixteenth in attendance, averaging over 29,000 fans per game. The NATS are ahead of the first place White Sox and Rays, the second place Marlins, as well as the A’s, Rangers and Twins.

While it’s true that a continued poor showing of the on-the-field product could bring those numbers down next year, the Nats can be justly proud of taking the necessary first step in building a loyal following: the city has built a beautiful ballpark in a soon-to-be-booming neighborhood with a commitment to finding good young ballplayers. There are skeptics, but I believe the commitment. So … I am simply unwilling to follow the advice given by Ian Koskie, over at NationalsPride, who says he will not renew his season tickets. He gives eight reasons: reckless call-ups, unfulfilled promises, widely available individual game tickets, inability to give away excess tickets, sheer boredom, MASN HD, constant extortion and no hope.

Ian can make his own decisions and he has a right to, but I’ve made mine. I will be renewing my season tickets. Here’s five reasons why:

1. Fulfilled promises: The Nats promised they were going to build a team from the bottom-up, with young players who were committed for the long haul. They’ve kept that promise by putting Ryan Zimmerman, Jesus Flores, John Lannan, Collin Balester and Lastings Milledge on the field. They’re good ballplayers, not castoffs — and they could form the nucleus of one of the National League’s better franchises.

2. The Team Cares: I saw the D-Backs play the other night on MASN (I am one of those 9000 households). They looked like they didn’t care. Chad Tracy Buckner’d a ball in the 7th inning that he should have had and Micah Owings took himself out of the game. I have seen some pretty poor play in the 17 games I have gone to at Nationals Park, but I have never seen the team concede a game. I have never seen Manny Acta lose focus. So here it is: as long as they give a shit, so will I.

3. MASN: Don Sutton and Bob Carpenter are very, very good announcers. I like Sutton (I don’t like his love affair with Austin Kearns, but hey — he has a right) and the in-studio commentary of Johnny Holiday and Ray Knight is first rate. Ray Knight knows his stuff and I get the sense there isn’t a mean bone in his body. You want lousy announcing — go to Cincinnati or St. Louis or listen to a White Sox broadcast. They’re just plain awful. It’s like listening to NFL analysis: it’s all about character and leadership and “smash-mouth” competition. Waddabunchacrip. Not with Sutton, et. al. They think it through. Byron Kerr and Debbi Taylor are better than average, and I like Phil Wood. He’s clearly a fan who ended up behind the microphone and he talks like a fan. These people, it seems to me, are dedicated to doing the best they can. Someday, they’ll be rewarded with tens of thousands of viewers.

Or would you rather go back to the days of Ron Darling?

4. Nationals Park: I was standing outside the 1st Base gate one night (inhaling my lousy habit) and I started talking with another fan. Here’s what he said: “Isn’t this great?” and I nodded. “You know,” he said, “maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I just have to. These guys got this right. What a stadium — what fun it is to be here.” That’s right: this city can’t even build a decent convention center, but somehow they built a ballpark. Nationals Park is just a great place to watch a game. And the people in the stands are beginning to realize that. You ever been out to watch a Redskins’ game? I have. Once. I won’t go again.

5. Grow Up: What did we think would happen? I’ve been a Cubs fan since 1962. You know what that’s been like? If you’re a Cubs fan you regularly blame the drought on black cats and errant foul balls. But the truth is, for thirty of those years, the Cubs were owned by people who just didn’t care. No Cubs fan will say that out loud — but it’s true. So you learn to be a baseball fan, to root for the game, to appreciate a good play. And that’s what I’ve learned to do. The wins will come to the Nats. It’ll take a while. But they will come. And when they do, I’ll be in the same seats that I have now rooting for this team. Because that’s what being a fan means.

Now then, back to the sarcastic unfair criticism.

Ronnie Belliard’s walk off home run in the bottom of the 12th won the “Battle of the Beltways” for the Nats. The ten-year MLB veteran took a 1-2 pitch deep after Orioles’ reliever George Sherrill pitched around Dmitri Young, putting him on first base to pitch to Belliard. Belliard’s blast shocked those who had stayed at Nationals Park through extra innings — as it seemed the Orioles had the game all but wrapped-up.

The Belliard homer allowed the struggling Nats to take two of three from the O’s — but as impressive as the win was the interest generated by the three-game “Battle of the Beltways.” The three games drew over 115,000 fans. The bad news (that Lastings Milledge was being sent to the 15-day DL) was tempered somewhat by the promotion of AA-Harrisburg outfielder Roger Bernadina, who got his first major league hit in his first at bat. The Nats head south for a tussle with the Fish for three games before heading back to Cincinnati for a four game series against the Reds. (The Marlins are a game-and-a-half out of first, and dead last in attendance. And I don’t care what the standings say: these fish stink. Which means, of course, that they’ll probably win the series. Because that’s exactly what happened the last time they stank.)

Peripheral Greats: Tom noted that I am always talking about “PGs,” leaving it to me to explain that PGs are “peripheral greats” — a distinctive class of ballplayer who could have been, might have been, should have been, but never quite was . . . . great. Like all such categories a PG is hard to define, elegantly flying in the face of VORPs, OPS’s and the like. Even so, like pornography, you know a peripheral great when you see it — or him. One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that many MLB PG’s are power-hitters-in-waiting. They are at about .260 or so (or slightly higher), and have middling career spans (but are rarely regulars), and when they leave the game a collective groan of disappointment can be heard. They are lovable good-guys: players you can never cheer against and that you keep hoping will somehow, someday . . . arrive. Here’s one now:

Tom supposed that Willie Horton was probably a PG, but in looking at his numbers (325 career home runs) he was probably too good to be peripheral. But in studying Horton’s years with the mighty Tigers of the late ’60s and early ’70s, I noted that one of his teammates definitely fit the description. Gates Brown is definitely at PG: in his first major league at bat (as a pinch hitter) he hit a home run. Tiger fans were ecstatic — here, finally, was a great player who could hold down center field and compete with the likes of Yaz and Reggie and an emerging Charlie Finley A’s powerhouse.

Alas, it was not to be. Gates was a good hitter, a fine hitter, but not a great hitter. And the promise of power of his first at bat was not realized: he hit 84 round-trippers in thirteen seasons. Then too, like most PGs, Gates was a tad on the heavy side. The official statistics put him at 5-11, 220 — but he looked a lot heavier than that. Brown admitted that he was once caught unprepared by his manager, who called on him to pinch hit. Because he was in the middle of eating two hotdogs (and was embarrassed), he decided to stuff them into his uniform. When he hit a double he was forced to slide into second base — and got up with buns and mustard splattered across his front. Mayo Smith, his manager, fined him $100.

Brown retired in 1975 after a good, but not great, career — all of it spent with the Detroit Tigers. He is, in my book, the very definition of a lovable near-great. A clear head-of-the-class, go-to-the-front-of-the-line PG.

The Washington Felipes: The Nats’ blogosphere is filled with talk of the impending trade of Felipe Lopez to the Baltimore Orioles, but we saw little evidence this weekend that Manny Acta was showcasing Felipe’s talents. Lopez was used as a pinch runner on Sunday, went 0 for 4 on Saturday, and got an inning’s worth of work in on Friday. Hardly a marquee performance. Felipe’s in Manny’s doghouse and my bet is that he’s there to stay. Elijah will tell him and probably already has told him: it is no fun, man, in that doghouse. In all of these Blog reports it is never exactly mentioned just who the Nats think they will get for Lopez. Oh yeah: “prospects.” Prospects? What prospects? Prospects we got — it’s a team we need. I think that Ian Koski over at National’s Pride has this exactly right: it sounds as if Manny has has made up his mind and that he’s given up on Felipe. That’s too bad, because sooner or later (like when the next guy shuttles off to the Mayo Clinic), Manny will need him.

While this blog is ostensibly about the Nationals and the MLB in general, sometimes the definition of what’s worthy of inclusion has to be stretched.  Last night’s final game of the College World Series and, indeed, the entire post-season run of the Fresno State Bulldogs merits not only mention but kudos as well.  Never before have the phrases “CalState Fresno” and “National Baseball Champion” been uttered together. 

Over the last several weeks Fresno State has flown completely under the radar of the national sports media while completing a triumphant out-of-nowhere run to the national championship.  Last night in Omaha, Nebraska Fresno beat Georgia in the Battle of the Bulldogs, 6 – 1.  

Fresno was a baseball backwater and needed to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament just to get into the nationals.  Like the better known NCAA basketball tournament, 64 teams compete for the baseball championship.  Unlike March Madness, there are 16 regions in the college baseball tournament.  Were the baseball tourney set up in a manner similar to basketball, Fresno would have been a 13-seed; the baseball equivalent of Siberia.

Naysayers might claim they got lucky and had a relatively easy tournament.  Not so.  Fresno had to beat North Carolina (seeded second nationally) twice and Arizona (seeded third nationally) twice in addition to other baseball powerhouses Rice and, the last to be vanquished, Georgia.    

The Bulldog’s victory is lesson, and a beacon of hope, to all who yearn for a championship.  Or, in the case of the Nationals, a .500 season.

Last night’s 14-inning win by the Nats over the Rangers was important for several reasons. First, it broke a three-game skid and provided a win to a franchise that badly needed one. Up until last night the ol’ town team had gone 5-12 in June. Ugh. Second, it was a great night for Elijah Dukes who had five hits, including the game-winner. Its good to see Dukes succeed. He could be, along with Zimmerman, the future non-pitching nucleus of the team. After his dust up with Manny in the dugout a week ago a five-hit night is just what the doc ordered.

What was also interesting was Christian Guzman’s performance. Guzman is having a hell of a year, hitting .312 (45 points above his career average) and piling up 141 total bases in just 75 games (that’s more than he had in 142 games in ‘05). Given his great performance at the plate thus far, not to mention a 12-game hitting streak which was snapped yesterday, last night he went 0 for 7. Just one of those nights that everyone has at some point in their career. As it happens, that 0-fer display is the first of the bookends mentioned in the title of this post. The other is provided by one Cesar “Cocoa” Gutierrez.

You don’t know any Cesar Gutierrez? Do not fret. No one else does either. But one Sunday night 38 years ago today he had a game which few others have matched. His line in the box score looked like this:

Player          AB     R     H     RBI     TB     BB     K

Gutierrez     7       3      7         1         8       0       0

Yes, he went 7 for 7. This most improbable of feats - something that only two other players have accomplished in the last 52 years - was achieved by a lifetime .235 hitter who never hit one out of the park.

Gutierrez was playing his first full season with the Tigers after having been sent there by the Giants toward the end of the ‘69 season. He joined a team coming off a World Series championship year and shared the clubhouse with guys who I watched with dread when they came to Fenway: Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Mickey Lolich and Denny McLaine.

The Tigers were in Cleveland that day and they had won the first half of a double-header 7 - 2 but Gutierrez didn’t play in that game. For the nightcap, he replaced Ken Szotkiewicz at shortstop. Szotkiewicz was a weak hitting infielder - even compared to Gutierrez - and was benched for the evening tilt by manager Mayo Smith. As it turned out, the 47 games Szotkiewicz playied for the Tigers that year would comprise the entirety of his career.

Few of the 24,000 people who attended that night in Cleveland would have imagined the game they would enjoy - save for the fact that the Indians lost. The Tigers pushed a run across in the first but Cleveland opened up with five of their own in the first and added another in their half of the second. Detroit matched the score with four runs in the third and, after some back and forth scoring in the ensuing innings, tied it at eight-all in the top of the eighth when Gutierrez singled to right. In all there were 34 total hits in the 12-inning game and the Tigers won it 9 - 8 on a homer by Mickey Stanley. Gutierrez followed Stanley in the order that night and supplied his seventh hit but was erased trying to steal second.

Gutierrez would play a total of 135 games that season but just 38 in 1971. Then, he was done. A total of 223 games stretched over four years. But on one night in Cleveland, Ohio the kid from the coastal town of Cabimas, Venezuela was perfect.

Diamond Nuggets

One of Gutierrez’s teammates that June night was Willie Horton whom I should have added to the list of Tigers I hated to see enter Fenway. He was a career .273 hitter who hit with power. He played 18 seasons and had almost 2,000 hits. A heck of a career. Perhaps one of those “peripheral greats” Mark talks about.

Down On Half Street: Now we know about Garrett Mock; but despite his struggles, his latest (and first) outing as a Nat hasn’t changed my high expectations. Don Sutton had him right: he thinks too much. I had a kid like this in Babe Ruth baseball. All he did was throw strikes — until he was about 14. Then suddenly the light went off and he became a puddle of water. It looked like that today with Mock: in the first half of the fifth (as he got closer to being the winning pitcher-of-record) he started nibbling on the corners, walked some batters …. and bang, he was done.  It was almost as if he suddenly realized that he was in the big leagues and that if he just, well, started to act like a big league pitcher he would have a chance to stick.

Still, the stuff he has (a good cutter, curve, slider and change-up), his “athleticism” (gag) and a little seasoning and he’s a good number two or three. Jimmy made a good deal –Livan to Arizona for him and Matt Chico. This is only the beginning for Mock. If he stays healthy (that’s an issue — he’s had shoulder bursitis, a knee problem, and blisters), he’ll only get better. I like it that he’s 6-3, 240.

The collapse of the Nats bullpen against the stinking Giants has been a sight, I must say. You could have heard a pin drop when Manny visited the mound in the third inning on Friday to have a short chat with Jason Bergman. I’ve never seen Acta more angry. I love to see this:

The one good thing about the 10-1 blowout was that it gave me some time to walk around the stadium and take in the sights. I went out to the Red Loft and stood in the SRO section. Pretty interesting: I don’t think anyone I saw there (all under 30, it looked like) knew there was a game going on. But a whole bevy of guys were keeping score on the porch in Centerfield, at least 10 or fifteen of them, watching the game intently. I wonder if this is some kind of trend I don’t know about.

Juan Marichal: Sutton allowed as how Tim Lincecum (now 8-1) was well within the tradition of great Giant pitchers “like Juan Marichal, et. al.” … and so I started to think about that. Marichal brings back memories of the 1965 pennant race. In a summer of increasing brawls (see below), there was no more brawling summer than the summer of ‘65 and there was no more famous fight than the one between Marichal and Johnny Roseboro, the Dodgers’ catcher. We live in an era when the Yanks and the Bosox hate each other and that seems to have gone on forever. But no one hated each other more than the Dodgers and Giants. And I hated them both.

Anyway, in the midst of the ‘65 pennant race, on August 22, Marichal knocked down the Dodgers’ Ron Fairly and Maury Wills. Koufax, who was on the mound, refused to retaliate, but when Marichal came to bat, Roseboro threw the ball back to Koufax a little too close to Marichal’s nose. Marichal ignored Roseboro, but when the Dodger catcher did it a second time, Marichal clubbed Roseboro in the head with his bat and the benches emptied. Marichal opened a cut on Roseboro’s head that had to be closed with stitches, and all the newspapers showed blood pouring down poor Johnny’s face. The Giants seemed large unsympathetic, while the Dodger fans squeeled like pigs and the Congress threatened hearings. I swear, that’s how bad it got. The Dodger’s thought Marichal should have been arrested, if you can imagine that.

Marichal was suspended for eight games. Roseboro and Marichal wouldn’t talk to each other for years and fans speculated that the hold-up in Marichal’s being elected to the Hall was his unwillingness to make up to Roseboro. Eventually, they became friends — and Marichal was elected soon after, in 1983. For the record: Marichal was 22-13 in ‘65 and the Giants finished second. The Dodgers (Koufax, Drysdale, Osteen, Podres) beat the Twins in seven games in the World Series that year.

The Nation: My buddy Dwilly: you remember him? Here’s Dwilly –

Well, anyway, my buddy Dwilly sent me a rather smug email a couple of weeks ago suggesting that the fact that the Sawx had signed starter Bartolo Colon had solidified their rotation. I had to admit, he had a point. Colon was a wizard with the Belinski’s where (in both 2004 and 2005) he proved nearly unhittable. His shoulder and elbow healed after nearly two years of nagging pain. So the Red Sox took a chance on Colon — and were rewarded with three quality starts.  But his last left something to be desired: against the Mariners on Saturday, Colon lasted five innings and committed two errors. Still, I admit, he’s a hellofagoodpickup …. and if he can pitch like he did in May, the Nation will be happy.

So you will notice that in “Emerging 8s” (that’s a post on centerfielders I wrote last week, you remember that, right?), I did not mention Coco Crisp. There’s a reason for that. I told Tom …. here’s Tom …

(this is probably old by now, but I have to set the scene), anyway I told Tom two years ago that Coco Crisp was not the Coco Crisp that he thought he was — and that if the mighty Indians of Cleveland were willing to part with him (to the Red Sox no less), there was probably a good reason for that. In fact, there is a good reason for that — he’s not that good. His power numbers are anemic (eight and six homes runs in Boston over the last two seasons), and his stolen base numbers for the same two years (22 and 28) are bare compensation. Don’t tell me he’s good defensively, hell, I’m good defensively. What really bothers me is that the Slugs considered trading for him and putting him in Centerfield. I kid you not.

But the one thing about Coco, apparently, is that he’s not afraid to fight. The best video of the tiff is here, and it’s worth seeing.

Ivy Leaguers: Instead of getting Coco Crisp, the Cubs picked up Jim Edmunds. The Cubs GM said that the Edmunds trade was a good one, because it didn’t cost the club anything. But it sent me to my bed for a full day. It also denied me, and thousands like me, of one of my pet hatreds. Worse: it deprived Carlos Zambrano of someone to throw at. ”Watch out Jim, here it comes,” the fans behind home plate would yell at Edmunds. How bad is it? Edmonds’ first hit as a slug was a double and the Wrigley faithful booed him. Jimmy has figured this out: when Carlos started throwing things around the dugout in LA yesterday, Edmunds started walking down the bench — getting as far away from him as possible. Good idea.

One of Slugdoms favorite fan razzes is now lost to all time. “Hey Jim, where are my chicken wings?” This refrain is chanted by the bleacher bums in centerfield at Wrigley everytime Edmunds appears. Jim, you see, left his wife to marry a waitress from Hooters. That’s right. Hooters. Smart guy, huh? He’s notorious. Before leaving St. Louis, Jim styled himself a restauranteur and opened “15″ — a “high end” eaterie cum disco. “15?” That’s his number with “the Redbirds” don’tchaknow. It looks like something he’d do and I’m sure it’s all the rage for those high end dudes down in St. Louie land, where they love their three day old lobsters, their Chicago-killed beeves and their Budweiser. “I’ll have the Salmon and a Bud Light, please, and tell Jim if he has a minute to come on out here and bring that pretty little button Charlene with him.”

A sportswriter passed all of this, this, this … bad blood … off the other day, by saying that after Jim had got his stroke back and put a couple of homers out of Wrigley, “all will be forgotten” and the Cubs faithful will open their arms wide and welcome Jimmy-boy as one of their own.

Guess again.