Who's On First?

[rookie_rick]

Looking good..You doing really well with a below par team hope you can make the playoffs and give the Nats a world series

Good Luck

[JoeRudi26]

loving this dynasty lz477, like redsox said before i never posted but have been following, but i will start to post now...this is a really clever idea i really like this dynasty

but i have a question...how do you get our standings in the MLB to look like that?

Sorry to hijack Iz, just tryin to help a brutha out.

MetsReyes777 -

MVPSavReader

It's a wonderful tool.

[MetsReyes777]

good looks jo you always help everyone out thanks dude

[lz477]

Sorry to hijack Iz, just tryin to help a brutha out.

MetsReyes777 -

MVPSavReader

It's a wonderful tool.

No problem "joe"...I appreciate you helping "mets" out.

[lz477]

June 1st

Game 54: Dodgers (23-28) at Nationals (30-23)

Nationals Stay Patient To Down Dodgers

Left: George Lombard was caught stealing twice Wednesday Right: Travis Smith pitched eight shutout innings on his way to his seventh victory.

The Nationals defeated the Dodgers for a second straight day thanks in part to the continual display of patience from the Washington's hitters. Los Angeles starter Derek Lowe threw 110 pitches through 5 1/3 innings, striking out nine hitters and walking eight, while giving up four runs and six hits in being charged with the loss.

Chris Coste hit his first homerun in more than a month, an upper deck shot in the first to give the Nationals an early 1-0 lead. Lowe then held Washington scoreless until the sixth when he walked George Lombard with the bases loaded and gave up a two run single to Augie Ojeda to give the Nats a 4-0 lead. Lowe then struck out Travis Smith, before injuring himself on the final pitch to Smith. Los Angeles announced after the game that Lowe strained a muscle in his right rib cage and would miss at least his next two starts.

Washington's last run came in the seventh when Andy Tracy homered for the second straight day to put the Nationals up 5-0 for good..

Smith, the Nationals starting pitcher, was the extreme opposite of Lowe on the mound, displaying one of his strongest outings of the year, pitching eight shut out innings, giving up five hits and striking out five to pick up his team leading seventh win.

"All of my pitches felt good today," Smith remarked about his performance. "I felt like I was releasing my two-seamer perfectly, giving me a nice break and my change-up felt smooth and natural." "I just felt good out there today."

The Dodgers and Nationals will meet again tomorrow night for the final game of the three game set. Brad Penny (5-4) is scheduled to make the start for L.A., while Washington will counter with Masumi Kuwata (2-0).

Boxscore LAD 0 - WAS 5

League News

Brewers , Tony Graffanino (3B) out 46 days with fractured ankle.

Giants, Tyler Walker (RP) out for season with torn knee meniscus.

Braves , Joey Devine (RP) suspended 8 games.

[lz477]

June 2nd

Game 55: Dodgers (23-29) at Nationals (31-23)

Washington Can't Walk Away With Series Sweep

Left: Rafael Furcal slides safely into third with his second triple of the day. Right: Danny Ardoin hit a long fly ball just foul with the bases loaded in the seventh.

Despite inducing nine walks over six innings from Dodgers starter Brad Penny, the Nationals failed to come away with a third straight win over Los Angeles Thursday night. Over his six innings of work, Penny also struck out ten and gave up three runs off five hits on the way to his sixth victory of the year.

Meanwhile, Masumi Kuwata who has been nothing short of amazing since his call up from the minors a month ago, struggled for the first time this season. Kuwata gave up five runs, only two earned off eleven hits over 5 2/3 innings of work.

Los Angeles scored three runs in the second when Penny singled in Russell Martin, before Rafael Furcal hit a three run triple. Washington missed a scoring opportunity in their half of the inning when Chad Mottola was thrown out attempting to go back to third when he ran through a stop sign by third base coach Tim Tolman and tried to correct his mistake by going back third. He got just far enough down the line where Dodgers first baseman, Nomar Garciaparra was able to cut off a throw from center fielder Juan Pierre to catch Mottola before he was able to get back to the bag.

L.A. right fielder, Matt Kemp left in the third inning after colliding with Nationals shortstop Augie Ojeda while breaking up a double play. An MRI after the game revealed a torn right shoulder muscle that will keep him out for the next two months.

In the fourth, Ojeda drew a walk on four pitches with the bases loaded to allow Mottola to score Washington's first run of the game. Rather than pinch hit for the pitcher, Nationals manager Manny Acta left struggling stater, Kuwata in the game to hit for himself, who then struck out to end the inning with the bases loaded.

"People will second guess you," Acta said after the game. "That's part of the job and I understand that." "I've said it before and I'll say it again, hindsight is always 20/20, but at the time I felt that Kuwata still had some gas in the tank and I wasn't prepared to take my starter out that early in the game." "Plus, Masumi hasn't been too shabby with the bat this year and I thought he might be able to make something happen in that situation." "Unfortunately for us he didn't," Acta added. Despite striking out in both of his trips to the plate, Thursday night, Kuwata is still hitting .364.

In the sixth, Penny laid down a scrifice bunt to score Andy LaRoche and Furcal followed that with his second triple of the game to score Martin and Penny. Furcal would finish the day 4-5, with four RBI, two triples and just a homerun shy of hitting for the cycle.

Penny left in the seventh after surrendering five straight bases on balls allowing Washington to score it's second and third runs of the game. Ray King relieved Penny, striking out Andy Abad and Danny Artdoin and getting Jolbert Cabrera to fly out to end the inning. Ardoin did give the home crowd something to cheer about in his at bat, hitting a long fly ball to deep left, just foul before striking out on the next pitch. A homerun would have given the Nationals the lead.

Los Angeles added another insurance run in the top half of the ninth on a Garciaparra single to left field to score Furcal and Andy Tracy smashed his third homerun in as many days in the bottom of the ninth, but that wouldn't be enough as the Nationals would eventually fall to the Dodgers 7-4.

Washington will welcome the San Diego Padres to town tomorrow to start a three game weekend series. Clay Hensley (6-1) is scheduled to make the start for the visiting Padres in game 1, while the Nationals will counter with Chris Michalak (5-2).

Boxscore: LAD 7 - WAS 4

[lz477]

June 3rd

Game 56: Padres (33-20) at Nationals (31-24)

McClain's Sac Fly Wins It For Nationals In Final Frame

Left: Marcus Giles ties the game 1-1 with a homerun in the sixth. Right: George Lombard scores the winning run on Scott McClain's sac fly.

The Washington Nationals pulled out a 3-2 win over the Padres in the bottom of the ninth Friday, when George Lombard laid down a bunt single, stole second, advanced to third on a single by Augie Ojeda and scored on a sacrifice fly from Scott McClain.

Ojeda got Washington on the board first in the second inning when he singled to knock in Chad Mottola and give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.

San Diego nearly tied it in the fourth when Doug Clark threw out Adrian Gonzalez at home trying to score on a Khalil Greene single. Clay Hensley, starting for the Padres got into trouble in the Nationals half of the fourth when he walked the first two batters he faced and started the inning off with 10 straight balls. He righted himself after that however, striking out the next two hitters and induced a week ground out from Ojeda to end the inning. Hensley would finish the day with seven strikeouts, three walks and just two hits and one earned run allowed over his six innings of work.

Marcus Giles' solo homerun tied it at one apiece in the sixth and Todd Greene hit a pinch hit homerun of Nationals starter Chris Michalak in the seventh to give the Padres a 2-1 lead. Michalak exited after the seventh with two runs off eight hits allowed, while striking out two.

In Washington's half of the seventh, Doug Clark hit an RBI single that scored recent call-up Chris Heintz to tie the game 2-2. Heintz, who made his first start of the year finsihed the day 2-4 with a run scored.

Washington first baseman, Andy Abad, who entered the game in the seventh to pinch hit for Michalak, left the contest in the ninth when he injured his wrist while making a diving stop on a double play throw in the dirt from second baseman Jolbert Cabrera. The Nationals plan to make an announcement about his injury before Saturday's game.

Andy Tracy, who originally started the game at first had moved over to third when Chris Coste was taken out in the double switch that brought Abad into the game, moved back to first to finish the inning. Abad was replaced in the line-up by McClain, who knocked in the game-winning run in the next half-inning. Lombard scored that run with Scott Linebrink on the mound, but the run and the loss were both charged to Cla Meredith, who was removed earlier in the inning after giving up the bunt single to Lombard.

Before Friday nights game, Washington signed (OF) J.C Muniz to a minor league contract to 3 years at 400K. The Nationals also made a trade with the Cubs, sending (OF) Mark Little to Chicago in exchange for (3B) Mike Kinkade. Kinkade was expected to replace Little's spot on the Triple-A Columbus roster.

Boxscore: SD 2 - WAS 3

League News

Dodgers trade (2B) Luis Maza to the Braves for © Corky Miller.

Braves trade (2B) Felipe Lopez and (1B/OF)Craig Wilson to the Cardinals for (LF) Eli Marrero and (SS) David Eckstein.

[philliesphan18]

Nice win! How far back are you from the Braves?

[lz477]

One game back.

[philliesphan18]

One game back.

That's awesome! Hopefully you'll catch them soon.

[lz477]

June 4th

Game 57: Padres (33-21) at Nationals (32-24)

Padres Pounce On Nationals

Left: Danny Ardoin gave Washington the lead with a grand slam in the first. Right: Brian Giles ties the game in the sixth with a perfectly placed single to right.

San Diego needed just two big innings to hand David Wells his eighth win of the year.

The Padres scored three runs in the first inning thanks in part to four errors by the Nationals infield. The first defensive mistake Washington made in the inning was when Adrian Gonzalez hit a liner that deflected off pitcher Marty McLeary. Chris Coste, attempting to make a play from third, threw the ball past Scott McClain at first, allowing Marcus Giles who had singled earlier, to score. Gonzalez would later score on a bad throw from Jolbert Cabrera, who was charged with an error after making a catch deep into the outfield grass on a Khalil Greene pop up, then throwing over the head of catcher Danny Ardoin. Jose Cruz, Jr. then hit a two-out bloop single to score Mike Cameron, who doubled and advanced to third on another throwing error by Cabrera.

The Nationals struck back quickly in their half of the inning however, loading the bases with two singles and a walk before Ardoin hit a grand slam homerun to give Washington a 4-3 lead.

All was quiet until the fifth, when the Nationals loaded the bases again, but were only able to score one run, despite putting runners on every base with no outs in the inning. Padres third baseman, Kevin Kouzmanoff made a great diving stop on a hard grounder off the bat of Chad Mottola allowing only Cabrera to score and Washington was shut out for the remainder of the inning.

Greene hit his sixth homerun of the season in the sixth, then Brian Giles tied it 5-5 with a perfectly placed single over Coste's head later in the inning. San Digeo then took the lead in the very next at bat, when the other Giles, Marcus hit a hard liner that Washington second baseman, Luis Figueroa had trouble handling allowing Terrmel Sledge to score. The hit was one of four for the younger Giles on the day. Adrian Gonzalez singled in the next at bat to give the Padres the 7-5 lead and enough to pick up the victory despite Joe Dillon's seventh inning homerun. Coste did give San Diego a scare when he hit deep fly ball after Dillon's homerun, but Cruz Jr. pulled it in at the warning track.

Before Saturday's game, the Nationals announced first baseman Andy Abad would miss the next two weeks with a sprained wrist. Abad injured his wrist in the ninth inning of Friday night's contest when he made a diving stop on a throw from second baseman, Jolbert Cabrera to force a rally-killing double play. Washington placed Abad on the 15 day DL and replaced him on the roster with injured starting pitcher, Jason Simontacchi, who had been on the DL for a month after he suffered an arm fracture when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of Chicago Cubs third baseman, Aramis Ramirez back on May 6th. Though activated, Simontacchi will not be available to pitch for the next few days and will most likely make at least one rehab start in Columbus before he will officially be back with the big club.

Boxscore: SD 7 - WAS 6

League News

Tigers, Sean Casey (1B) out 104 days with fractured ankle.

Mets trade (2B) Mark Kiger and (LF) David Newhan to Angels for Robb Quinlan and (RP) Chris Bootcheck.

Yankees sign (RP) Felix Heredia for 3 years at 800K.

[lz477]

June 5th

Game 58: Padres (34-21) at Nationals (32-25)

San Diego Seals Series With Seven Runs

Left: Joe Dillon homers in the eighth to provide Washington with their lone run. Right: The Padres celebrate their series win with a victory Sunday.

San Diego scored seven runs for a second straight day to secure the weekend series win over the the Nationals.

The Padres scored all the runs they would need in the third. San Diego loaded the bases after Washington second baseman, Jolbert Cabrera, was pulled off the bag by an errant throw from third baseman, Chris Coste. Adrian Gonzalez then hit a two run single to put the Friars up 2-0. Mike Cameron followed that with his sixth homerun of the season, a three run shot just over the right field wall. Khalil Greene left in the inning after attempting to break up an inning-ending double play while sliding into second. An MRI after the game proved negative and the Padres announced he would miss the next week with a sprained wrist.

Jake Peavy handled the Nationals offense with little trouble, exiting in the eighth after giving up a Joe Dillon homerun and an infield single to George Lombard. Peavy finished the day with one run allowed off five hits and eight strikeouts over 7 1/3 innings.

San Diego scored two more runs in the ninth to go up 7-1. More than enough for Cla Meredith to close out Washington in the bottom half of the inning to give the Padres the victory.

"We've dropped a couple of games, because of just flat out poor play here lately," Nationals manager Manny Acta said after the game. "We've got to get back to what got us where we are right now and that's solid contributions from the team as a whole." "We've got to get back to the basics and do the little things right to get us back on track," Acta added.

Washington will take the day off Monday and start a three game series against Pittsburgh in D.C. starting Tuesday.

Boxscore: SD 7 - WAS 1

League News

Athletics trade (LF) Charles Thomas, (SP) Seth Etherton and (SS) J.J. Furmaniak to Red Sox for (2B) Scott Youngbauer, (SP) Pat Mahomes and (3B) Andrew Pinckney.

Athletics, Nick Swisher (OF) out 23 days with tendonitis of achilles.

Tigers sign (RF) Derek Nicholson for 3 years at 100K.

Tigers sign (RP) Randy Choate for 3 years at 800K.

Reds sign (FR) Ruben Rivera for 3 years at 200K.

[lz477]

Week 9 Standings and Stats

Player of the Week

Travis Smith

W, 8IP, 5 H, 5 K's vs Dodgers.

[philliesphan18]

Only a half game back o' da Braves!! Nice job Iz!

[lz477]

June 7th

Game 59: Pirates (25-34) at Nationals (32-26)

Powerful Pirates Pound Nationals

Left: Jack Wilson laces an RBI double in the second to score the first of manr runs for the Pirates. Right: Shawn Chacon was brilliant against the ailing Nationals bats through six plus innings.

Pittsburgh took advantage of the Nationals recent slump to pound out 26 hits and 10 runs off the struggling Washington club. The Nationals meanwhile managed only two hits and no runs.

Pirates starter Shawn Chacon held the Nats to just one of those hits over six innings of work before exciting in the seventh, when he felt a slight strain his leg on his first pitch of the inning. After being checked out by a team specialists and a negative MRI it doesn't look like Chacon will miss any time. Chacon finished the day with four walks and seven strikeouts and just the one hit over his six innings of work. Damaso Marte relived Chacon in the seventh and pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two, before turning it over to Yoslan Herrera, who gave up the other Washington hit over his two innings of work, striking out one.

Chad Mottola and Doug Clark were responsible for the Nationals only two hits and Mottola even managed to reach base two other times when he walked his first two trips to the plate. Washington was unable to string together anything significant to score any runs however, to prevent from being shutout for the third time this year.

On the opposite side, every Pirate starter collected at lease two hits and six of them had at least three hits. Freddy Sanchez and Jason Bay each had four hits in six at bats and Bay scored three runs, though neither managed to knock in any.

Nationals starer, Travis Smith lasted five innings giving up four runs off twelve hits while striking out two. He had no comment about his rough outing after the game. Smith's relief wasn't much better as the Nationals bullpen gave up an additional six runs off 14 hits over the final four innings. Jeff Harris was hit extremely hard giving up four runs off eight hits in just two innings of work.

Nationals manager Manny Acta, was obviously frustrated by his teams recent performance saying, "Rough, very rough." "That's about as nice as I can be right now." "Our pitchers aren't making good pitches, our defense isn't giving our pitchers any support and our offense isn't doing anything to keep us in it," Acta remarked. "Teams are going to go through many rough patches in a season and this is one of ours." "What we've got to do now is stop the bleeding as soon as possible so we don't fall any farther than we already have."

Washington will see if they can turn their recent poor play around when they meet the Pirates for the second game of a three game series tomorrow. Pittsburgh lefty, Zack Duke (2-6) and the Nationals, Masumi Kuwata (2-1) will take the hill for their respective teams.

Boxscore: PIT 10 - WAS 0

League News

Mariners trade (SP) Brad Thomas to Pirates for (RF) Adam Boeve.

Rangers trade (LF) Todd Donavan to Tigers for (RF) Michael Hernandez

Mets trade (SP) Adam Bostick II and (1B) Wil Cordero to Royals for (SS) Angel Berroa and (SP) Joakim Soria.

Cardinals trade (2B) Aaron Miles to Diamondbacks for (SP) Juan Cruz.

Giants, Matt Morris (SP) out 89 days with torn rotator cuff.

[lz477]

June 8th

Game 60: Pirates (26-34) at Nationals (32-27)

Washington Drops Fourth Straight

Left: Jason Bay hits an RBI triple in the third. Right: George Lombard goes deep with two outs in the ninth.

Zach Duke was solid for the Pirates, pitching eight innings of five hit one run ball, while striking out four and walking one. Masumi Kuwata, making the start for the Nationals, was hit hard for a second straight start, giving up seven earned runs off eleven hits, while striking out and walking one over six innings, on his way to his second consecutive loss.

Pittsburgh first got on the board in the third when Chris Duffy scored on Jason Bay's triple. The Pirates added two more in the fifth on Jolbert Cabrera throwing error. Xavier Nady came around to score in the sixth when he doubled and scored on Ronny Paulino's sac fly after he advanced to third on a Jose Bautista grounder.

Bay left in the seventh after colliding with Augie Ojeda, while trying to break up a double play at second base. The injury seemed minor and Pittsburgh team officials said they don't expect their left fielder to miss any time. The Nationals managed to get on the board later in the seventh when Danny Ardoin hit his 13th homerun of the season, then George Lombard added his second long ball of the year in the ninth, but it was too little to late as the Nationals dropped their fourth straight, losing 9-2.

Despite leaving in the seventh, Bay led the Pirates offense going 3-4 with three RBI. Duffy was also 3-4 and scored 2 runs, as did Nady, Duke and Freddy Sanchez.

Washington and Pittsburgh will wrap up their three games series tomorrow. Ian Snell (1- is scheduled to make the start for the Pirates, while Chris Michalak (5-2) will be on the mound for the Nationals.

Boxscore: PIT 9 - WAS 2

League News

Astros sign © J.B. Tucker for 3 years at 100K.

[lz477]

June 9th

Game 61: Pirates (27-34) at Nationals (32-28)

Washington Pulls Out Squeaker Against Bucs

Left: Xavier Nady makes a leaping catch off the wall to rob Jolbert Cabrera of an extra base hit. Right: Andy Tracy ties the game with a homer in the sixth.

Chris Michalak and the Nationals finally got the better of the Pirates and put an end to their four game skid by beating Pittsburgh 3-2, Thursday. Michalak held the Pirates to just two runs off eight hits over seven innings, but Chad Paronto picked up the victory by pitching a scoreless eighth inning before Washington took the 3-2 lead that Lee Gardner would hold in the ninth to pick up his 18th save.

Despite the loss, Pittsburgh led for the majority of the game thanks to six innings of five hit, two run ball by starter Ian Snell and a solo homerun by Chris Duffy in the first. Washington did load the bases in the third, but were unable to score until Andy Tracy hit a solo homerun to tie it in the sixth and Danny Ardoin followed that two batters late with a homerun of his own to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead.

Pittsburgh then tied it in the seventh when Ronny Paulino scored on a single by Nick Green, but the Pirates rally ended there as Jack Wilson was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Doug Clark, when he also tried to score on Green's single.

In the eighth, Damaso Marte, who pitched a scorelss seventh exited after walking George Lombard. Matt Capps came on to relieve Marte and preceded to give up a double to Chris Coste, then an RBI single to Chad Mottola to plate Lombard, but like the Pirates that rally ended there as Coste was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Xavier Nady attempting to also score on Mottola's single. Though Capps was on the mound at the time, the run and the loss were charged to Marte, his first of the season.

"We finally got that monkey off our backs and hopefully we can keep it off," Nationals manager Manny Acta said about the Nationals victory. "Like I told the guys back in spring training, no matter what team your on, you're going to go through some growing pains and you're going to go on streaks, both good ones and bad ones. "Right now we're trying to get out of one of those bad ones before it gets any worse," Acta added.

Washington will travel to Minnesota tomorrow to begin two weeks of inter-league play, starting with the best team in the American League, the Twins this weekend, before heading back into town to take on the Orioles next week at Camden Yards.

Boxscore: PIT 1 - WAS 6

[lz477]

June 10th

Game 62: Nationals (33-28) at Twins (40-19)

Silva Silences Washington's Bats

Left: Minnesota starter Jose Silva allowed just two hits and struck out 14. Right: Andy Tracy show his frustration after striking out three times in four trips to the plate.

Michael Cuddyer got the Twins on the board early with a three run homer in the first and Minnesota didn't look back, holding on for the 4-0 shutout of the Nationals Friday night.

Minnesota starter Jose Silva gave Washington a rude welcome to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, limiting them to just two hits in 7 1/3 innings of work while striking out 14, before leaving in the eighth with a strained lower back. The Twins announced after the game that Silva would likely only miss one start with the minor sprain, which is good considering the dominant start Silva has had this season. With the victory, Silva is now 9-1 on the year with a 2.08 ERA.

Other than Cuddyer's three run shot in the first, Nationals starter Marty McLeary was pretty solid, giving up just one other run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jason Bartlett. Sila was too dominant for the Nationals hitters unfortunately, and McLeary was charged with his fourth loss of the year.

The only other bit of excitement in the game was when Minnesota reliever Juan Rincon hit Washington shortstop, Augie Ojeda with a pitch after giving up a single to Joe Dillon in the eighth. Jim Crowell retaliated in the next half inning by beaning the Twins second baseman Luis Castillo. Both benches were warned, but nothing else ensued.

The Nationals and Minnesota will play game two Saturday when a pair of south paws, Stephen Randolph (3-2) for Washington and Johan Santana (7-3) for the Twins will toe the rubber for their respective teams.

Boxscore: WAS 0 - MIN 4

League News

Brewers sign © John Purdom for 3 years at 100K.

Padres sign (1B) Ryan Finan for 3 years at 100K.

Padres (RP) Trevor Hoffman suspended 9 games.

[philliesphan18]

Ouch man, you're on a cold streak.

[lz477]

June 11th

Game 63: Nationals (33-29) at Twins (41-19)

Washington Jumps On Santana to Tie Series

Left: George Lombard puts Washington on the board with a homerun in the second inning. Right: Stephen Randolph outpitched Johan Santana to get his fourth win of the year.

The Nationals evened the series up with the Twins Saturday, by getting to Minnesota staff ace, Johan Santana and forcing him out of the game after just 3 2/3 innings of work, giving up six runs off four hits, while walking four and striking out four.

Washington scored all six of their runs off Santana on just two swings. The first came off the bat of George Lombard in the second inning when he homered over the right field wall with two runners on. The other three runs came courtesy of Luis Figueroa, who doubled with the bases loaded to give the Nationals a 6-0 lead and chase Santana from the game. Scott Baker came on in relief for Minnesota and struck out the next two hitters to get out of the inning and ended the day with 5 1/3 innings of one run work.

Stephen Randolph meanwhile, held the Twins to just one run off five hits over seven innings, before turning it over to Bryan Corey who gave up one run off one hit over the last two innings to secure Randolph's fourth victory of the year.

Both of Minnesota's runs came courtesy of the long ball, with Rondell White going deep in the fifth and Jason Bartlett on Corey's first pitch of the game in the eighth. It was all too little too late for the Twins however, as Washington came out on top 7-2.

Before Saturday's game, Washington optioned starter, Jason Simontacchi down to Triple-A Columbus to make a rehab start. To fill his spot on the roster, the Nationals called up outfielder Pedro Swann from Columbus.

"We want Jason to get at least one start in Columbus before we make a decision on what we'll do next," Nationals GM, Jim Bowden remarked about the move. "We're fortunate to have the problem of too much good pitching, with Masumi (Kuwata) stepping into Jason's spot in the rotation with several strong starts." "Manny told me he liked the idea of having Pedro on the roster, just to give him a little more speed of the bench, though we do expect the move to be only temporary," Bowden added.

The rubber match for the weekend series will be tomorrow afternoon. Washington will send Travis Smith (7-3) to the mound, while the Twins will counter with Francisco Liriano (5-4).

Boxscore: WAS 7 - MIN 2

League News

Royals sign (RP) Chris Demaria for 3 years at 900K.

[lz477]

June 12th

Game 64: Nationals (34-29) at Twin (41-20)

Washington Hangs On To Win Series

Left: Travis Smith, who pitched a complete game shutout walks off the field in the eighth. Right: Rondell White scales the wall to rob Scott McClain of his second homerun in the ninth.

It was the Expos against the Senators Sunday, with the Washington Nationals, wearing the uniforms of their former Montreal predecessors defeating the Minnesota Twins, donning the cloth of the old Washington Senators of yesteryear. The Senators played in D.C. from 1901-1960, before moving to Minnesota in 1961 and becoming the Twins. Of course many who are not new to the game recognize the Expos, who played in Montreal from 1969-2004 before the franchise moved to Washington and became known as today's Nationals.

A solo homerun off the bat of Scott McClain was all the offense the Nationals would muster, but it was all they would need to take game three of the three game series against the Twins, Sunday afternoon.

McClain's blast came in the second inning off Minnesota starter Francisco Liriano. "I was looking for one pitch and I got it and put good wood on it, simple as that," McClain commented about the homerun pitch.

Liriano was solid from then on, ending the day with seven innings of work, giving up one run off seven hits, while walking one and striking out five. The Nationals Travis Smith was even better, going the distance for his first complete game shut out of the year, giving up just ten hits and striking out two.

Washington got some bad news in the third when Jolbert Cabrera injured his left shoulder sliding into second for his ninth steal of the season. After the game, the Nationals announced Cabrera had a torn muscle in his shoulder and would miss close to two months.

"That's yet another big loss we're going to have to overcome," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "We lost Jason (Wood) a few weeks ago and we were lucky to have Jolbert to step right in and perform as solid as he has." "Now we're going to have to find someone else to fill his spot for the next couple of months," Acta added.

Washington wasn't the only team to lose a player to injury Sunday, as Minnesota's second baseman, Luis Casitllo exited in the fifth after he was injured sliding into second trying to break up a double play. The Twins announced after the game that Castillo strained a muscle in his right forearm and would probably miss a couple of weeks with the injury.

The Nationals nearly added to their lead in the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out, but fail to score off Juan Rincon. Washington also failed to score in the ninth, when Rondell White robbed Scott McClain of what would have been his second homerun of the day.

White then led off the bottom of the ninth with a single, but was caught off base when Jason Bartlett hit a hard line drive two batters later, that Luis Figueroa caught and and tossed to first to end the inning.

The Nationals will take Monday off and head back to the east coast to play the Orioles in Baltimore for three games before heading up to Canada to take on the Blue Jays in Toronto next weekend.

Boxscore: WAS 1- MIN 0

League News

Giants sign (1B0 Carlos Rivera for 3 years at 100K.

Royals sign (LF) Jacob Cruz for 3 years at 200K.

[lz477]

Week 10 Standings and Stats

Player of the Week

George Lombard

.300 AVG, 2HR, 4 RBI, 4 R, 3 BB for the week.

[lz477]

June 14th

Game 65: Nationals (35-29) at Orioles (29-35)

Orioles Overtake Rival Nationals

Left: Ramon Hernandez hits his eighth homerun of the year in the third. Right: Chad Bradford no-hit Washington the final three frames to pick up the save.

Chad Mottola prevented Baltimore from scoring on a double by Miguel Tejada in the first inning, when he threw Brian Roberts out at the plate. That prevented the Orioles from scoring in the first, but Baltimore would get plenty more chances after that and would walk away with an 8-1 thrashing of their National League rivals, Tuesday night.

In the second inning, Chris Gomez singled in Jay Payton to give the Orioles their first run. Baltimore added two more in the third and fourth on a two-run homerun by catcher, Ramon Hernandez and an RBI single by Melvin Mora and a throwing error by Matt Erickson that allowed Brian Roberts to score. Later in the inning, George Lombard threw Miguel Tejada out at the plate trying to score on a single by Hernandez.

Washington finally got on the board in the sixth, when Doug Clark homered to left center off Steve Trachsel. Trachsel finished the day with one run giving up off four hits and three walks and three strikeouts over six innings. Chad Bradford no-hit the Nationals the last three innings to pick up his first save and insure Trachsel would pick up his fifth victory.

Washington starter, Masumi Kuwata was hit hard in his five innings of work, giving up five runs off 13 hits, before stepping down for reliever, Jeff Harris. Harris didn't fare much better giving up three runs off seven hits in just three innings.

The Orioles capped their scoring in the eighth thanks to two bad defensive plays in a row. Baltimore loaded the bases on an error by shortstop Augie Ojeda, who made a bad throw to Matt Erickson at second base on what should have been an easy double play. The Orioles then scored on a bad throw from third baseman Chris Coste and ended the inning with three more runs added to the scoreboard.

Washington and Baltimore will meet again Wednesday night, when Chris Michalak (5-2) will toe the rubber for the Nationals, while the Orioles ace, Eric Bedard (4-7) will go for the home team.

Monday night, former Nationals starter, Jason Simontacchi made a rehab start with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers, against the Richmond Braves. Simontacchi, who had been out since early May with a fractured arm, was solid in his start throwing 7 2/3 innings and allowing no runs off seven hits and striking out eight in picking up the win. No announcement was made about whether or not Simontacchi would make another start in the minors before being called back up to the big league squad.

The Nationals also called up Howie Clark from Triple-A Columbus, Monday after placing Jolbert Cabrera on the 60 day Disabled List. In 11 games with the Clippers, Clark was hitting a robust .417 with 4 RBI's.

Boxscore: WAS 1 - BAL 8

League News

Pirates (RP) Matt Capps out 57 days with forn knee meniscus.

Rangers (SP) Robinson Tejada out 10 days with inflamed left elbow.

Astros trade (CF) Mike Rodriguez to White Sox for (RP) Paulino Reynoso.

Orioles sign (1B) Tommy Everidge for 3 years at 100K.

[spicybanana]

nice... tied for first with the phillies. i see the mets are coming back though... better watch out for them :)

[MrDudleyDoWright]

Week 10 Standings and Stats

Player of the Week

George Lombard

.300 AVG, 2HR, 4 RBI, 4 R, 3 BB for the week.

This MVPSavreader you are using??