Nats Enquirer

Oh, Bleep.

 

(Photo of TV/MASN by Nationals Enquirer staff. It's never a good sign when Nationals Head Trainer Lee Kuntz is on the field; even worse when he's walking Ryan Zimmerman off the field.)

Hello, Hammy?

Ryan Zimmerman departed tonight's game against the Rockies after (apparently) aggravating his sore hamstring on a seventh inning double that was thisclose to being a go-ahead HR.

Or was it just a cramp?

"It was a cramp, it wasn't the same leg as the previous injury...so...hopefully it was a cramp...I say it was a cramp. Hope it wasn't a pull of some type. But he definitely felt something."
(Jim Riggleman, via MASN/postgame press conference, 4/21/2010)

"It felt more like a cramp than anything..." (Ryan Zimmerman, via MASN, 4/21/2010)

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Olsen Smoked

 

(Photo of TV/MASN by Nationals Enquirer staff. Bad things always seem to happen after Steve McCatty pays a visit to the mound.)

"We've had some outstanding performances, and we've had some ones that our pitchers are feeling like 'I don't know what's wrong with me.'"
(Jim Riggleman, via Nats Insider, 4/20/2010)

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Rockies 10, Nationals 4: Scott Olsen and Tyler Walker get lit up for 10 runs in 3 innings, but at least some lucky Nationals fans got a free T-shirt out of the deal.

Zim (3-5, HR, 2 RBI), Guz (4-5, 1 RBI) provided too little, too late firepower. It was over after 3.

Speaking of firepower: Adam Dunn (0-4) keeps on struggling. Sure, the 14 walks are great, but that .279 SLG ain't gonna cut it. On an unrelated note, Adam Dunn tells the Washington Post there's "nothing going on" with his contract extension.

Stan Kasten unavailable for comment about the Invasion of Rockies Fan at Nationals Park last night.

Our condolences to the family of Keli McGregor, and the Rockies organization.

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Rockies Fan Invades Nationals Park

 

(Photo by Nationals Enquirer staff. After conquering Philadelphia, Stan Kasten has set his sights on selling tickets to Nats games in Denver?)

Nationals Park was overtaken by a lone Colorado Rockies fan on Tuesday night. The photo above captures the debauchery. Sort of like Opening Day, but just on a much, much, much, much smaller scale. Plenty of good seats still available.

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Craig Stammen: Unlikely Silver Elvis

 

(Photo of TV/MASN by Nationals Enquirer staff. Craig Stammen earned the honor of wearing the Nats' Silver Elvis wig for his performance on Monday night. During a fourth inning jam, he didn't look long for the majors.)

"It's just a whole different ballgame - to manage, to watch - when your starter's out there relatively deep in the ballgame."
(Jim Riggleman, via Nats Insider, 4/19/2010)

Nationals 5, Rockies 2: Craig Stammen's bus to Syracuse got a flat tire on the Beltway on it's way to pick him up during the 4th inning. Somehow, Stammen escaped that bases loaded jam and made it through eight mostly solid innings.

Unfortunately, nobody was there to see it: 11,623, good for the smallest (announced) crowd in Nationals Park, and franchise, history. Somewhere, Peter Angelos is smiling.

Stammen's line: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5K, 100 pitches - 65 strikes. Just a little better than his last start in Philly.

Hey, nice night for Big Willie Harris: 2-4, HR, 4 RBI.

Not in a million years did we think the Nats would be 7-6 13 games into the season.

Meanwhile...

Somehow Ron Villone snuck under the radar and re-signed with the Nationals.

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Adam Dunn's hockey mentality.

With both the Nats and Caps seemingly cruising to victory at this hour, we thought it might be appropriate to post the above video from CSNWashington.com: At Saturday night's Caps game, Adam Dunn, decked out in a John Deere cap and Longhorns polo, talks to CSN Washington's Michael Jenkins about baseball and hockey. 

It's hard to hear everything clearly because of all the noise in the background, but did Dunn just say he's surprised to see that they play hockey on skates; that he'd always thought they just ran really fast around the rink?

Speaking of CSN Washington, Mark Zuckerman's got a nice piece up over there about Jason Marquis' struggles. Turns out Marquis will start on Friday as scheduled. No skip, or trip to Syracuse or behind the barn as discussed in some circles.

Speaking of Marquis, the headline writers over at Nationals.com are at it again. Get a load of this:

Marquis trying to be too perfect on hill

Starter admits to not letting natural athleticism take over

 Problem solved!

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Commemorating the Great Natinals Uniform Fail of 2009.

(AP Photo. April 17, 2009: A night that will live in infamy for the Washington Natinals Nationals. )

Remember the Natinals!

The Nationals honored the winners of the 28th Annual Washington Informer Spelling Bee at Nationals Park in a pre-game ceremony before yesterday's Nats-Brewers Game, almost exactly one year to the day of the Great Natinals Uniform FAIL of 2009. Why couldn't they have held the ceremony on Saturday!? Natinals Anniversary Commemoration Fail?

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Marquis Gruesome*

(AP Photo. Jason Marquis registered maybe the worst start in the brief history of the Washington Nationals on Sunday. And that's pretty amazing when you think back to some of the stiffs who have taken the ball to start a game for this team since 2005.)

"I want my $15 million back."
(Ted Lerner, via Nationals Enquirer, 4/18/2010)

"I just don't have a feel for anything right now. I can't make my pitches. ...I need to find that answer quick."
(Jason Marquis, via MASNsports.com, 4/18/2010)

"Jason is definitely healthy. That's the first thing I asked after he came out of the game. He is down in the dumps, of course, on how he performed out there today."
(Jim Riggleman, via Nationals.com, 4/18/2010)

What's Wrong With Marquis?

Brewers 11, Nationals 7: If Riggleman had left Jason Marquis in the game, it's possible that the Brewers might still be batting in the top of the first with no outs right now as we speak, up 156-0.

Huh, so THAT'S why the Rockies left Jason Marquis off the postseason roster last year.

His line: 0.0 IP, 4 H, 7ER, 1 BB, 2 HBP. Make that 0-3, 20.52 ERA, 2.88 WHIP; in 8.1 IP over three starts. Even Daniel Cabrera wasn't this bad.

Silver lining: The Nationals didn't also sign Doug Davis in the offseason.

Hey, good for the Nats for making a game out of it, anyway. They almost pulled it off.

What now for Marquis? Pitch him Friday? Skip a start? Something else?

*with apologies to the former Expos player/Nationals first base coach.

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Ryan Zimmerman talks hockey, hammy.

Video above from CSNWashington.com. No signs of rust for Ryan Zimmerman in his triumphant return to the lineup yesterday after missing a week with a sore hamstring. And after the first period of last night's Caps playoff thriller, Zim told CSN Washington his hamstring is feeling "85 or 90%".

Oh, and in case you missed Friday night's post-game interview with Josh Willingham on MASN where he has to keep shushing his son (who clearly wants the interview to be over with), it's available online here on MASNsports.com.

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Liv-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.

 

(AP Photo. Livan Hernandez waves to the crowd as he makes his way to the post-game buffet following a complete-game masterpiece against the Brewers Saturday afternoon.)

"You never think it's going to be a nine-inning shutout. You're not going to feel good every day. But I felt very good today."
(Livan Hernandez, via MASNsports.com, 4/17/2010)

6-5. 6-5? 6-5!

Nationals 8, Brewers 0: Seems like old times: A complete game shutout for good ol' Livo. Make that 16 scoreless innings across his two starts in 2010.

Vintage Livo today. Nats Triple Play nailed it:

You haven't lived until you've seen a big fat guy lobbing baseballs into home plate and making major league hitters look silly.

But did Livo actually wear the Silver Elvis wig?

(The Nationals Enquirer would like to extend a big, big thank you to MASN for the invite and hospitality at the Second Annual MASN Blogger Day. Thank you.)

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Batting cleanup...Alberto Gonzalez.

(Photo of TV/MASN by Nationals Enquirer Staff. First inning: Adam Dunn, seen here about to say a word that starts with "F", was ejected for throwing his helmet and saying bad words after his check swing on a 3-2 ball was called a strike.)

"Our team's deep, man. When Ryan's not in there, I mean, it matters. But we've got guys that can fill those spots pretty adequately."
(Adam Dunn, via MASN Sports.com, 4/16/2010)

.500 Again.

Nationals 5, Brewers 3: No Zim, no Dunn, no problem. After Dunn's ejection in the first, the lineup resembled something out of a late-March split squad spring training game.

But a big three run eighth is enough: Maybe Prince Fielder should've been given a chance to wear the Silver Elvis wig after the game after butchering Adam Kennedy's game-winning "single"?

Good stuff from Lannan (7 IP, 7H, 2 ER, 3BB, 5 K, 1HR, 14-2 groundouts-flyouts).

More gas on the fire from Blowtorch Brian Bruney; a save by Capps with an assist from Burnett in the 9th.

Meanwhile...

Baseball Jesus decided he didn't want to pitch at 7:05 last night in Harrisburg, so he decided to make it rain and caused a power outage at Harrisburg's Metro Bank Park. Roughly two and a half hours later, Strasburg decided he was ready to go; overpowered the New Britain Rock Cats then changed his mind 2 1/3 innings into his start and made it start raining torrentially again.

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