The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Yesterday the Nationals got a 6-4 win over Florida to grab 3rd place in the NL East. They're the first team from DC to finish as high as third since 1945. Michael Morse capped off the win with a three-run homer in the 9th. The hit boosted Morse's average to .303 and was his 30th homerun of the season.

fabe wrote:Yesterday the Nationals got a 6-4 win over Florida to grab 3rd place in the NL East. They're the first team from DC to finish as high as third since 1945. Michael Morse capped off the win with a three-run homer in the 9th. The hit boosted Morse's average to .303 and was his 30th homerun of the season.

The '69 team ("teddy ball") finsihed with a winning record; last winning previous team was about 1952 or '53.

This team looks good. They are young, and only a strong hitter away from being very good...if Espinosa and Desmond can hit, say, .275. No, I keep telling other Nats fans, it is not good that Espinosa hits 20 HR if he strikes out about 150 times.

Also, Bob Allison set the rookie HR record, with about 30 in 1959, when he was rookie of the year. Espinosa might have broken a Montreal record fro rookies, but DC is not Montreal. (Just a pet peave...tired of hearing Carpenter and Santangelo talk about Montreal records.)

welch wrote:

fabe wrote:Yesterday the Nationals got a 6-4 win over Florida to grab 3rd place in the NL East. They're the first team from DC to finish as high as third since 1945. Michael Morse capped off the win with a three-run homer in the 9th. The hit boosted Morse's average to .303 and was his 30th homerun of the season.

The '69 team ("teddy ball") finsihed with a winning record; last winning previous team was about 1952 or '53.

This team looks good. They are young, and only a strong hitter away from being very good...if Espinosa and Desmond can hit, say, .275. No, I keep telling other Nats fans, it is not good that Espinosa hits 20 HR if he strikes out about 150 times.

Also, Bob Allison set the rookie HR record, with about 30 in 1959, when he was rookie of the year. Espinosa might have broken a Montreal record fro rookies, but DC is not Montreal. (Just a pet peave...tired of hearing Carpenter and Santangelo talk about Montreal records.)

Well we do have strong hitters. We have Morse, Zimmerman, Werth, Ramos, Gomes and Bernadina (more of a stealer but he still gets on base with good hitting). I didn't actually see Bernadina for a while and no one talked about him so I assumed he got injured. But he came back and didn't make much of a splash and didn't even play defense.

I've never seen Espinosa as a strong hitter but he's good on defense. I also didn't like that they put Morse in the outfield. I always thought he was a great 1st baseman.

Bernadina got sent to AAA for a while.

It looks like he's a talented hitter, though not great, and an acrobatic fiewlder who makes too many rolling and diving catches that ought to be routine plays.

I saw Werth play CF one day game, while sitting up in the 300 / 400 level. You miss things lower down, and at night games, because the ball vanaishes in the lights.

Werth is a classy fielder...makes all the right moves, circles the ball just like my old "how to play baseball" textbook said.

They need a hitter. Espinosa / Desmond = one player, but they can;t afford both unless boith begin to hit like Jeter and Cano.

In fact, that's the measure of the distance the Nats have to travel: when 2B/SS hit more like Jeter and Cano, the team will be really good.

(Eye-popping stat: Espinosa K'ed about 160 times last season; Desmond 140. Cano and Jeter, "old, broken-down" Derek Jeter, each struck-out about 100 times.)

As a long suffering Rangers fan. I can feel what you are going thru. Even thou the last 2 season didn't end the way I wanted them to. I remember when I was just hoping to smell a playoff game. Keep the faith.

flamethrower wrote:As a long suffering Rangers fan. I can feel what you are going thru. Even thou the last 2 season didn't end the way I wanted them to. I remember when I was just hoping to smell a playoff game. Keep the faith.

We will. Some of us have been Nats fans since Clark Griffith ran the team. If nothing else, we are stubborn. Have to be to survive both Nats and Redskins from, say, 1955 through 1968.

Memory.

Introductions:
Batting 9... Catcher... Paul... CasanOOOOOva...

Ah, but I remember a muggy night in July or August, with Pascual taking a no-hitter into the 8th, when Bob Allison hit a line-drive 2/3 of the way up the left field bleachers. What a sound! And the straight-line that didn't start dropping until the ball had cleared the fence, oh, about 400 feet out in left-center. That and the cigar smoke...a blue haze around the lower grand-stand from all the cigars.

Just a little bit before my time. But, I bet RFK was a great place to watch Baseball in. Just too damn bad the Senators had to move twice. I hate the fact that my favorite NHL, and MLB teams were originally someone other than my areas.

flamethrower wrote:Just a little bit before my time. But, I bet RFK was a great place to watch Baseball in. Just too damn bad the Senators had to move twice. I hate the fact that my favorite NHL, and MLB teams were originally someone other than my areas.

You are the proud owner of stolen goods, and someone elses broken dreams...

Enjoy.

RFK was a far better baseball stadium than a football stadium...

But, had it been otherwise, there would have never been that iconic video of the fans in the metal endzone stands bouncing to the sound of "We Want DALLAS! We Want DALLAS!"

I think RFK/DC Stadium was the best of the modern dual-purpose stadiums. Compare to Oakland or the defunct Cincinatti and Philadelphia places. Or Shea, come to think of it.

Even a good soccer stadium...the fans bouncing in the metal roll-in seats, mid-field or left-center depending on your point of view. I admire the DC United fans who never sit down...

Somewhere, Clark Griffith is playing cards, saying to Bucky Harris, "This Strassburg kid isn't Mr. Walter Johnson, but he'll do", and Harris has said that Bryce Harper is going to hit like Sam Rice and Goose Goslin put together.

Getting closer and closer.