Dunn On Waivers: Please Continue Breathing

Adam Dunn was placed on waivers by the Nats this afternoon. OH MY GOD!

No. Stop.

When people refer to the "trade deadline" in baseball, they usually mean the non-waiver trade deadline, or July 31st.  On or before this date, teams can trade players to their hearts content (pending league approval) without sending the player through waivers.

From August 1st through August 31st, players must pass through revocable waivers.  (Since players must be on the active roster by August 31st to be eligible for the playoffs, not too many trades are going to happen after that date.)  That means, since it is after August 1st and before August 31st, Adam Dunn has been placed on revocable waivers.  Meaning that if any team tries to claim Dunn, Rizzo can say "nope" and pull him back. In all likelihood, that's exactly what he'll do.

However, if Dunn passes through waivers and none of the 29 other teams claim him, he is then eligible to be traded just like he was before July 31st.  Kapish?  Doesn't mean Dunn is going anywhere, but Rizzo is continuing to explore his options, and why not?  That is his job, after all.

I hope you've enjoyed our Baseball 302 lecture on trades this afternoon.  I'd say this stuff is a bit to advanced to be considered a 101 class.  And now I've realized I've spent too much time thinking about the number I just gave this fake class.  Ok, so you stop worrying about Dunn and enjoy the Nats (Olsen) and the D-Backs (Saunders) tonight, and I'll stop spending so much time on meaningless banter.

Pudge Hits 300; Dunn Ties Pujols; Blown Ump Call Doesn't Affect Outcome

The Nationals took on the Diamondbacks and won the game with barely a hitch on Monday night in the heavily protested State of Arizona.  As a matter of fact, in the bottom of the 1st inning, there was a large sign displayed in left field protesting Arizona's immigration law that is currently in limbo pending further court action.  It was only a brief delay.  But on to the actual game.

Ivan Rodriguez became only the 5th catcher in MLB history to hit 300 home runs in a career.  He joins the likes of Mike Piazza, Carlton Fisk, Johnny Bench, and Yogi Berra.  That's some elite company for the future Hall of Famer.  Congrats to Pudge, and it's nice that the milestone was reached in a Nats uniform.

Adam Dunn crushed his 26th home run to right-center field off of Rodrigo Lopez.  That ties him for 2nd place in home runs in the NL with Cardinals' 1st baseman Albert Pujols.  Dunn is just 1 behind league leader Joey Votto, who is day-to-day with a "tweaked" wrist.

Finally, for this series with the D-Backs, the Nats get to enjoy the umpiring of Joe West, Angel Hernandez, and their simply dreadful staff.  (Read my previous post on the crew from earlier this season here.)  It shouldn't surprise anyone that there was a blown call at 1st base on a Willingham infield single.  The 1st base umpire (anyone have a name, was it Schrieber?) blew a call where the Hammer was safe by more than half a step.  It wasn't close in fast motion, let alone in slo-mo.  Riggleman argued the call, to no avail.

Luckily for the Nats, the blown call didn't affect the income despite the fact that they were unable to score a run after the 3rd inning for the millionth time this season.  Livan had a great start, throwing only 91 pitches in 7 1/3 innings.  Sean Burnett was on the rubber for the last 5 outs, earning him his 1st save in 2010 and only his 2nd career save.  He did it in 19 pitches, and didn't allow a runner on base, while striking out 2. 

All in all, it was one of those games that you watch and say, "Hey, this is a real baseball team."  The Nats hope to continue to be a real baseball team on this 7 game road trip visiting the Diamondbacks and the Dodgers after taking 4 of 6 at home against the best teams in the NL East, the Phillies and the Braves.  Continuing the success will be up to Scott Olsen on Tuesday as he faces a new D-back, Joe Saunders, who was acquired from the Angels in the Dan Haren trade.  It should be an exciting matchup.

What Will Be Done Without Dunn?

Many are predicting that today begins the final 4 days of Adam Dunn in a Washington Nationals uniform. I am not convinced, because no one seems to have any insider information on an actual deal in the works. But nonetheless, it's still possible. Adam Dunn's value is high, and he wants a lot. Should the Nats trade Dunn? Let's explore that for a minute:

Dunn's 2 years in Washington have been among the best of his career. His career average is .251. In 2009, he hit .267, the highest of his career. This season, he's even higher at .278. He's still on pace to hit around 40 home runs once again. His defense at 1st base is much improved. He's made a few extremely impressive defensive stops.

On the other end, Dunn is already 30 and will be 31 in November. He wants at least a 3 year extension and would prefer 4 years. With a 4 year contract, Dunn would be under contract until he's 35 years old. Not generally the prime of a power hitter's career. He's been a passable fielder, although not a great one. There are other guys currently in the organization that could probably replace the defense. But is there anyone that can replace the massive void in the lineup that would result in losing Adam Dunn?

• Michael Morse: Obviously Morse is the guy most likely to replace Dunn at 1st. Morse is listed at 6'5", only an inch shorter than Dunn. The infield has grown accustomed to having a big target over at 1st, and Morse fits the bill. You're trading a left handed power bat for an unproven right handed bat, and Morse is still only 2 years younger than Dunn. Still, there's no arguing, especially among Nationals fans, that Morse shouldn't have an opportunity to play. This could be his best shot to prove himself. He is batting .345 in 2010, after all.

• Adam Kennedy: Kennedy has gotten plenty of opportunities at 1st base coming in for Adam Dunn as a "defensive replacement" in late innings. Kennedy is almost half a foot shorter than Dunn. He's not a power bat, although he would keep a left handed bat in the lineup. Not to mention, Dunn's fielding % at 1st base: .994. Kennedy's at 1st base: .986.

• Chris Marrero: He's worth bringing up. He's a Jim Bowden signing that was another "(insert position here) Of The Future" player. In this case, it was 1st base. In his 5th season in the Nationals farm system, Marrero has had his first full season in Double A Harrisburg. So far in AA, Marrero is impressing. In 2010, he's hitting .291 with a .347 on base percentage and has hit 13 home runs. He has a .985 fielding percentage at 1st this season with 13 errors. Maybe this numbers improvement has given Rizzo & Co. some hope and think that a guy like Morse could hold 1st base until Marrero is ready. Weirder things have happened, and a guy can dream...

I was going to spend time exploring "are you kidding me?" guys like Alberto Gonzalez, but I figured Adam Kennedy was enough of a joke for one day, so I'll move along. So all of this begs the question, should the Nationals trade Adam Dunn? Basically, the team should offer Dunn a 3-year contract. He probably won't accept 2 years and 4 years is too long for a guy his age. Unless the Nats think they can transform the pitching rotation or get a few game changers with the Dunn trade, it is not a worthwhile transaction. If you can't re-sign Dunn, you definitely can't afford to go out and get a Prince Fielder or someone in the off-season.

The fact of the matter is, if the Nationals legitimately plan to compete in the NL East any time soon, they need to re-sign Adam Dunn. As always, I'd love to read your comments and thoughts, whether you think I'm right or ridiculously far off base.

J.D. Martin's Strong Start

Let's start with the obvious stat from Wednesday night. For the first time in the history of Nationals Park, a player has hit 3 home runs in one game. That guy, fittingly, is Adam Dunn. (Soriano did it in RFK in 2006.) Dunn got his curtain call, and maybe a reminder to Rizzo and Kasten: Re-sign this guy!

Now let's go on to another great story of the night: J.D. Martin. J.D. Martin came into this game 0-4. Talk about a deceptive, meaningless stat. If you only look an inch further, Martin hadn't gotten more than 2 runs of run support in any of his 4 decisions. Well, tonight Martin got some run support, and as much as the bullpen tried to give it away, they couldn't do it. Martin got the win.

After 7 starts, J.D. Martin has posted a 3.35 ERA; he's struck out 26 batters and has only walked 5; he's gone 5 or more inning in 6 of his 7 starts. It's easy to look at wins and losses and say, "wow, that guy's a bad pitcher," and I've been guilty of that. I was shocked to see that Craig Stammen was sent down to AAA before Martin to make room for Strasburg. Turns out, if I had really investigated the stats, even at the time, I would have been wrong.

I don't know that Martin can be a solid rotation guy for the Nats long term. Only time will tell. I can tell you one thing, though. Even if the stars align and Jordan Zimmermann is ready to be the number 2 guy next year behind Strasburg, and even if Ross Detwiler is ready to go, and even if Jason Marquis comes back to All-Star, 15 win form... wow... that's a lot of if's people. If, and it's a big if, J.D. Martin ends the season with the stats he has right now: an ERA in the 3s, and a 1 to 5 walk to strikeout ratio, he very well could end up in the Nationals rotation in 2011.

The Nats could only hope for a bottom of the rotation guy that could be as consistent as... J.D. Martin has been half way through this year.... Talk about lines you never thought you'd type.

Is Adam Dunn on his way out?

MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the Chicago White Sox are interested in trading for Adam Dunn to help jump start their terrible offense (the one that swept the Nats just over a week ago).

Well, according to Adam Kilgore at the Washington Post, there was a White Sox scout at the Nats/Braves game on Tuesday. Read into that what you will. In the game, Dunn went 0 for 5, with 3 strikeouts. Ouch. Now, I'm certainly not speculating that he blew his performance because the scout was there. However, Dunn is a smart guy, and I'm sure he knew that a scout was in the crowd. Maybe it was nerves because of that. Who knows? But one thing is for sure, Adam Dunn does not want to leave DC. He definitely doesn't want to leave DC to become a DH somewhere in the American League. He likes fielding, and he is getting better at it.

As someone who watches the Nats day in and day out, I acknowledge that the team is going to be dealing, not getting, star players this season. They're not good enough to contend, yet. But I, along with many people that I've spoken to, have become attached to the idea of Adam Dunn as a Washington National. I love seeing him play for the team, and I would like to see him stay with the club for several more years. Without him, Zimmerman has no power protection, and the Nats simply have no raw power on the team.

That said, realistically, Dunn's trade value is high right now and may be dealt before the July 31st deadline. One thing is for sure. If the Nats trade him, they better get someone good. If it's to the White Sox, it needs to be a front line starter. Mark Buehrle, perhaps? I know, I'm dreaming. Gavin Floyd AND another player? Maybe. 3 AA prospects? No longer going to cut it! Adam Dunn is one of the few quality power hitters in baseball today, and giving him up for prospects is an insult to him and to Nats fans that hope for a competing team in the reasonably near future.

Remember, stars usually aren't dying to sign contract extensions with a mediocre ball club like the Nats. This could be an opportunity that the Nats can take advantage of the situation. If they don't, they need to get something good that will produce today for the team. Not in 2, 3, 4, or more, years.... At some point, it's not going to be about building young guys, it's got to be about landing guys that are good NOW to push the team over the edge.

Nats Drop Another: Season on Life Support

The Washington Nationals lost another game on Thursday afternoon; they were swept by the Detroit Tigers in a 8-3 loss. Nats fans all around were excited for the promise of this season early. Strasburg was going to come up at some point, the team was 5 games above .500 a month into the season, they were competing with every team.

Then, all of a sudden, the offense stopped scoring. The pitching stopped getting outs (with a 2 game Strasburg exception). The defense's errors skyrocketed. The fun atmosphere in the clubhouse seemed to decrease, which have a tendency to happen when you start losing. But it begs the question... what happened to the Nats from April and May?

Starting with the good, the Nats as a team have the 2nd most saves in all of baseball with 22. This is a more important stat than people realize, because it means when our closers get the lead, they keep it most of the time. Unfortunately, the closers aren't getting the lead too much.

The Nats bats haven't been doing it lately. To be clear, they're not bad. They're just not good, either: 13th overall in batting average, 15th in home runs, 18th in RBI, 16th in hits. A strong showing of mediocrity. I posted earlier about the Nats struggles to score runs, and they're on a skid now with the same problem. Although Adam Dunn is certainly doing his part. He's hitting .288 with 16 home runs (2nd in the NL). He's hit homers in 6 of his last 9 games.

The pitching is what you'd expect from out rotation as well, and using a 2-game old rookie as your "stopper" for losing streaks isn't going to cut it for long. Strasburg can't do it all, as much as we all would like to believe he's the Baseball Messiah of the 21st Century. The Nats are 18th in ERA, 21st in WHIP, and 29th (ouch) in strikeouts.

So I think what it comes down to is: the Nats aren't very good, but they're not terrible, and that's what we're seeing in their 31-36 record. They'll certainly move closer to .500 again this year, and then they'll fluctuate back down. But one thing is for sure. As disappointing as their performance has been this month, they're record puts them at 21st out of 30 teams in the MLB. A far cry from where they were last year at this point in the year (dead last, in case you've forgotten that pain). And they'd have to have an historic losing streak in order to get back to where they were last season.

There is hope for Nats fans, in the long run. This is a marked improvement over the last two seasons 205 losses. As I predicted, the Nats have just come down to earth, and it is so hard to watch now because they were playing so well. It's hard when you're frustrated to feel good about this year, but just remember where they were just one year ago.

The future of Washington's rotation, SS, is pitching tomorrow against Gavin Floyd to try to be the stopper yet again in only his 3rd MLB start. The Nats are expecting another great crowd, so stay tuned to see if Strasburg can stay relatively perfect this year. Eventually, he's got to blow one, right? Right? I hope not...

Stephen Strasburg: Exceeding Exceptional Expectations

It's the top of the 7th inning. The crowd has been standing for a few minutes now. The cheers are booming; the crowd in awe. All eyes are on every single pitch. A spontaneous "Let's Go Nats" chant starts in the upper deck and makes its way around the entire park. The Blackberry's are put away; cameras are flashing. This playoff atmosphere wasn't for the playoffs at all. It was for the Washington Nationals who were 4 games below .500 entering Tuesday night, and the kid who has lived up to exceeded every unreasonably outrageous expectation: Stephen Strasburg.

Everyone knows about the outing by Strasburg by now, but it's worth repeating. Strasburg pitched 7 innings of 4 hit, 2 run baseball. Oh and he didn't walk a single batter. Oh, and he struck out 14 Pirates. You may be saying to yourself, wow, when's the last time a pitcher did that in his debut? The answer: 1971 when J.R. Richard struck out 15 for the Houston Astros. Yea, 29 years ago.

Strasburg did his 7 innings of work on 94 pitches. The last time someone got 14 strikeouts on less than 96 pitches? Never. In the history of Major League Baseball. Never ever. (Thanks to @AdamKilgoreWP for the stat.)

Strasburg's first strikeout of the night was against Lastings Milledge on 3 pitches. The die hard Nats fans ate it up. The crowd erupted. After Strasburg gave up a 2 run home run to Delwyn Young in the 4th inning, he retired the next 10 batters in a row. 8 of those 10 batters were struck out. Delwyn Young's home run came on a Strasburg change up after he threw two in succession.

In the 7th inning, Young was Strasburg's 13th strikeout victim of the game. On 3 fastballs. 98 mph. 98 mph. 99 mph. He learned from that mistake. After the game, Pittsburgh's Ronny Cedeño said, "His change-up is like 89-90-91 miles an hour, man. That's hard to hit." That it is, Ronny. Especially after seeing a 99 mph fastball.

And then, there was the offensive comeback. The Nationals heart of the order was just that. Zimmerman, Dunn, and Willingham all had home runs, with Dunn and Willingham's back-to-back in the 6th to shoot the Nats ahead of the Bucks 4-2.

Washington never looked back, scoring another run in the bottom of the 8th. The Nats Clipp'd n Saved for Stephen Strasburg's first career win and Capps' 19th save on the season. A comeback that Capps desperately needed after blowing 3 of his last 4 save chances.

As a lifelong baseball fan, I have never been to a game that was so exciting with such an electric crowd. It is a game that not only Nationals fans, but baseball fans, will remember forever. Strasburg summed it up perfectly himself on MLB Network last night after the game. After he got 3 shaving cream pies to the face, he was asked if the cream stung. His response: "A little bit, but it's the greatest feeling in the world." For us, too, Stephen.

Adam Dunn Talks Strasburg, Lincecum, Nyjer's Tantrum, and Golf

The Nats are obviously in San Francisco for the 2nd of 3 against the Giants, and the club gets to face reigning 2 time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. The Nats lost last night after Livan had a rough bottom of the 5th that started with a Todd Wellenmeyer "duck fart" single with 2 outs. I swear, that's what he called it. The Giants went on to sore 4 in the inning, and the Nats couldn't recover. It was Livan Hernandez's first loss of the year to someone that wasn't named Jimenez. Tonight, Luis Atilano gets to face the Cy Young winner Lincecum. Talk about a mismatch. Hey, even a blind squirrel gets a nut every once in a while.

Today on the Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio, Adam Dunn talked to Scott and Ryen about Lincecum, the Nats .500 record, last year's bullpen, Nyjer Morgan tantrum, free golf clubs, and yes, Stephen Strasburg.

When asked how he is going to go about facing Tim tonight, Adam responded simply, "Swing hard in case you hit it." Hopefully Adam heeds his own words and doesn't strike out looking more than once. I know, I'm being optimistic.

When asked about the Nats exciting .500 season this far, Adam responded, "It's where we thought we would be.... We're gonna score runs, we just gotta hold them under a touchdown." Maybe a bit of a jab there to the starting pitching that has floundered a bit lately? I support it. The only two guys that have held their weight (joke kinda intended her) have been Hernandez and, surprisingly John Lannan since his return. Of course Scott Olsen is on the list, but he's on the DL now, so I'm not including him. DL is a killer for starting pitchers all too often to be excited about Scott's return.

In what is a stupid journalistic question, co-host Ryen Russillo asked "Are you underrated or overrated as a player?" To which Dunn responded, "Oh overrated, no doubt." Love the sass on the WTF question. He was also asked about how much better this year's bullpen has been than last year. After giving due credit to the "7th, 8th, and 9th inning guys," Adam said what we all know, "That's [the bullpen] what killed us last year."

Of course the guys asked Dunn how much flack Nyjer Morgan got after his 5 year old poutfest in center field that caused an inside-the-park home run. Adam: "He's such an emotional guy and you don't wanna crush him... He takes the stuff personal, in a good way, I'm not trying to say he's sensitive.... He was on suicide watch that night man." Nyjer returned ready to play the next game, so maybe he needed the embarrassment that game.

On a cool note, Dunn got a free set of golf clubs from Callaway for hitting a 471 foot blast of a home run. Apparently, Adam plays golf and when asked how far his drive is, he said only about 280, to which he added, "I'm a finesse player, dude."

And of course, Stephen Strasburg.

SVP: "What's the first thing your gonna say to this young pitcher when he gets called up...?"

AD: "Just be as good as you're supposed to be.... No, I wouldn't tell him that.... He's a good kid. I learned a lot about him in spring; he's gonna handle this well. He is what he is. Really good."

On when he'll be coming up, he said, "I'm hearing next homestand, but I haven't got the official report." Well when you do Adam, let us all know, would you? I have about 41,888 friends that would like to be there for it.

The Inevitable Happens: Nats Lose Heartbreaker 8-6

Last night's game was bound to happen. At the time, I was a bit too frustrated to objectively blog about it, so I've put it off until this morning.

Scott Olsen looked great again last night, although his outing was shorter than you'd like to see from your starter when your bullpen hasn't been great (minus Clippard and Capps who both needed a day off). Well that day off didn't come for Clipp, or Bruney, or Walker, or Batista, or Slaten. The Nats used 5 relievers in 3 2/3 innings that give up 6 runs and cost the Nationals the game.

It wasn't all bad, so let's go there first. The offense looked dominant again. In the top of the first inning, Adam Dunn hit a 3 run home run (Guzman and Zimmerman scored) for his 7th on the year. In the 5th, Ivan Rodriguez got yet another RBI hit to score Guzman and Zimmerman again. The next batter, Ian Desmond, scored Willingham on a single and before you knew it, the Nats were up 6-1 in the 5th and looked to be well on their way win #19 on the year and 2 games up on the Mets. Then... the bullpen happened.

Tyler Walker, the new #39, came in with 1 out in the 6th and got the next two batters, although he let the runner on third come home, but that earned run went to Olsen. It was not 6-2 going into the 7th. And then Doug Slaten came in for the 7th, gave up a hit and a walk, but got out of the inning with no more runs on the board. The Nats were rolling and looked to have it locked up. And then, as it has happened too often this year, Brian Bruney came in to just ruin the game.

Bruney entered the game in the top of the 8th inning, and in yet another outing failed to retire a batter. Bruney threw 7 pitches to 3 batters, and all of them got on base. Two solid hits by Jason Bay and David Wright, and a throwing error charged to Desmond on an Ike Davis ground ball. That scored Jason Bay. And that was it for Bruney. He failed to retire a single batter and for the 4th time in his last 6 outings, he gave up at least 1 run. This is not the job of someone you're paying $1.5 million to be the "set up guy." Then it was Clippard's turn to try and save the day.

Clippard came in inheriting runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Clipp struck out Jeff Francoeur and looked to be on his way. Instead, on the next batter he left a pitch over the plate for the new-found power hitter Rod Barajas who crushed one to deep left that hit off the wall for a double. It scored both runners on base, so Clippard let his 10th inherited runner score in 16 opportunities. Not the best situation for your #1 set up man to be in. Alex Cora then hit a bunt single moving Barajas to 3rd, Angel Pagan then singled to right, scoring Barajas and blowing his 5th save on the season.

Just to remind you, if you've already forgotten, the Nats entered the 8th up 6-2! It was now 7-6 and the Nats were losing. An epic bullpen meltdown, made possible by none other than the Brian -Gas Can- Bruney. Clippard then gave up another double, scoring Pagan and putting him in line for his first loss of the year. Miguel Batista came in to relieve Clippard (yes, this was the 3rd reliever on the inning, with only 1 out). He immediately intentionally walked Reyes to get the double play in order. Fine and good. Except, then he walked the next batter, Jason Bay, with the bases loaded. That's right, walked in the run. He then struck out David Wright and got Ike Davis to fly out, ending the painful 8th.

There would be no offensive heroics this time. The Nats (Rodriguez, Willingham, Desmond) went in order in the 9th to end the game and move back into a tie for 2nd in the NL East with the Mets.

Today's afternoon game to end the series at Citi Field will really show if the Nats are able to come back from such a meltdown. I know I've used meltdown twice in this post, I simply can't think of another word to describe last night's game. Craig Stammen will try to reverse the momentum of the 8th inning to move the Nats toward another win.

Livan Hernandez Looks to Continue Domination

Well Livo is back and going for his 3rd win against Hi My Name is... Tom (Gorzelanny). While Gorzelanny is 0-2 and Hernandez is 2-1, it may not be as easy as it looks for the Nats. First, the Nats bats have cooled significantly in the last week or so. And not that they're not getting hits, but they're having trouble capitalizing off of their hits. Second, the Cubbies have gotten hot over the last week, even in the cold Chicago climes. In Gorzelanny's first three starts, his offense gave him almost no run support (although in his second start he left after taking a line drive to the shoulder). The Cubs offense may be ready to do just that.

Hernandez looks to come out and have basically the same type of outing he had last time out against the Rockies. Unfortunately, he pitched against Ubaldo Jimenez, who just came off of a no-no the start before. He was hot. Ideally in this start, he'd rather not give up 2 big flies to lose the game, but at Wrigley Field for a night game early in the season, home runs probably won't be a huge issue. We all saw the driving wind keep in at least 2 home runs last night. Hernandez will continue working to keep is ERA below 1.00, that's right: 1.00, after 4 starts.

The fact of the matter remains: Livan Hernandez looks as good as ever. He has given up 2 runs in 24 innings pitched. It doesn't get any better among starters in the league. He obviously can't keep this type of production going for the entire season, but the longer he can keep this going, the longer the Nats can stay viable until they get some injuries taken care of.

On the injury note, Pudge is back (woot!), but Zimm will remain out, and I would venture a guess he'll be out until the team goes to Florida. However, if the club loses tonight, don't be surprised if Riggs takes his chances on the day game being a bit warmer for Ryan's hurt hammy. The Attorney General gets the start tonight to give Adam Kennedy a night off, only his second of the season.

Note about the lineups to end the post: Both Josh Willingham and Adam Dunn haven't had a day off all season. This is Game 21. At some point, Riggleman will be sure to look for a day off for both of them. However, don't look for it anytime soon as long as the Hammer is still on fire at the plate (1.000 OPS; with team leading 18 BBs) and while Dunn is finally swinging a decently hot bat.

1. Tony Plush, 8
2. Ian "We Need to Get This Guy a Nickname" Desmond, 6
3. Guzzie, 4
4. Big Donkey, 3
5. Hammer, 7
6. Pudge, 2
7. J. Max, 9
8. The Attorney General, 5
9. Livo "I Swear I'm 35" Hernandez, 1

Jim Bowden's Leather Pants & Carpenter's Jinx (Game 17)

Well, he did it again. I kid, I don't truly believe in the "jinx" concept. But, why tempt fate? You don't say "no-hitter" during a no-hitter. You never, ever do it. I'm looking at YOU Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. This time around, our buddy Bob Carpenter (who I do genuinely like, I'm just on a mini rant) decided to say "The Washington Nationals are in their 5th error free game." The next inning: error. The inning after that: error. Then, an error in the 7th. Baseball commentators now don't have the same respect for the unwritten rules of announcing that guys like Harry Kalas and the always under-the-influence Harry Caray. On a much funnier note, Carpenter caught former Nats infielder Ronnie Belliard singing to his bat in the clubhouse. Hearing Bob sing "I love you" was just priceless.

Now, to the actual game...
(As an aside, Jim Bowden should take a celebratory lap around XM Headquarters on his segway with the success of Atilano, Dunn, and Clippard this evening. Thanks to @AdamKilgoreWP on the Twitter for the inspiration.)

Luis Atilano looked good. Period. 6 IP, 1 run on 5 hits and 2 errors behind him. He also had a strikeout and ended with an 1.50 ERA in his first ever MLB game. He threw an incredible number of first pitch strikes, got a lot of ground ball outs, and got out of the few jams he got in with negligible damage. He even swung a good bat, making the opposing pitcher, Haeger, throw a lot more pitches than you'd generally like to throw to the opposing pitcher. This is exactly what you want to see from the guy who's probably going to be replacing your $7.5 million starter for at least a few weeks. My hat is off to Luis.

Adam Dunn's freezing cold HR streak is over, for his 2nd and 3rd home runs of the year. His first hit the TOP deck in right field. That, my friends, is a blast. His second (thank you, Jerry Crawford for the 2nd RBI on that homer) was a high drive to the Scoreboard Pavilion. His batting average is still a cool .204, but his on-base percentage is a sexy .386.

In one of the most bizarre baseball plays Capitol Baseball has ever seen, Willie Harris gets the epic fail of the evening. In the bottom of the 8th inning, with the bases loaded and 1 out, Willie Harris goes up hacking on a 3-0 pitch from a guy who couldn't hit the strike zone if it was the size of a blimp. He runs to first, and reaches safely on a fielder's choice force out at home. He then decides to walk off of the field of play, and into the dugout, violation of Rule 7.08 Subsec. J, and is called out. I don't have any idea what was going through Willie Harris' head, maybe he thought there were 3 outs? Maybe he thought... I don't even know. But it was boneheaded, and he certainly won't be getting the Silver Elvis wig this fortnight.

Finally, the quick rundown of other notables from Game 17:

• Tony Plush has twice as many triples (4) on the year as doubles (2), and one of each of those tonight. That's just... wow. The man is a sports car with legs.
• Tyler Clippard has turned into "Set-up Man Extraordinaire." He's the Nats wins leader (3-0), meaning he keeps the team in games to allow for big comebacks; he's appeared in 8 games, pitched 13 2/3 innings, has 2 holds, and 18 Ks. He's become the true rock of the bullpen early on.
• Pudge left the game early with lower back tightness. Hopefully it's nothing, otherwise, the Nats going to be really hurting behind the plate.
  

Stay tuned this weekend for the first post with images from Capitol Baseball's seats in Section 409.