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CBS Washington's Most Valuable Blogger Awards 2011

http://washington.blogger.cbslocal.com/most-valuable-blogger/vote/sports/

MVB Voting Open

The finalists have been announced. Vote for your favorites.

VOTE *Federal Baseball* "Most comprehensive round-up of Nats news, daily."

You can vote once per day for some period of time.... "One vote allowed per category per day."

*Federal Baseball* - An unofficial Washington Nationals Support Group.

Washington's Most Valuable Blog is *Federal Baseball* VOTE NOW!!!

and the lonely cry, "CINTRON!!!" ............was heard no more...

http://www.dcdoubleplay.com/20110524-alexcintron-retires/

posted by zach.myles

   "May 24, 2011 will go down as a sad day in Washington Nationals history as former infielder Alex Cintrón has decided to hang up his cleats.  San Diego Padres Triple-A broadcaster Tim Hagerty (Tucson Sidewinders) reported the news via his Twitter account."

   "Cintrón played 21 games with the Nationals during the 2009 campaign and will go down as one of the worst statistical players to ever wear the uniform. In 26 at-bats, he only mustered two hits (both singles) and struck out seven times."

    "To his credit, his horrible season certainly helped the organization’s effort to earn the league’s worst record that year and eventually draft pitcher Stephen Strasburg with the #1 pick."

"Message from Elijah Dukes" - MLB.com's Bill Ladson's Blog.

"I really want to tell the fans of DC, Jim Bowden and Mike Rizzo thanks a lot for helping me out in many ways. I really grew up a lot because of those two guys. I also want to give a hug to Harolyn Cardozo and Willie Harris for the time that I needed people the most. A special thanks to them."

Thank you, Elijah Dukes. I don't think the Nats gave you the chance on the field that you deserved. -a friend of Dukes

By Zach Links [November 14

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/rosenthal-and-morosi-on-willingham-hardy-wedge.html

Washington is drawing strong trade interest in left fielder Josh Willingham, but may not be willing to part with him, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  Willingham turned in a slash line of .260/.367/.496 with 24 HRs in 502 plate appearances in 2009.

The post identifies the Braves as a team that likes the 30-year-old, but says that they have concerns about his back and are less than enamored with his defensive play.  Willingham, they suggest, might be a better fit in the American League where he can be a DH.  Earlier this month, Tim took a look at Willingham and other left fielders that could be dealt.

SANTO DOMINGO (Licey.com) .- Los Tigres del Licey forces continue to build an already strong team and for the weekend is expected to include on the roster for a player already in the country: Elijah Dukes.

  Dukes back with the Licey, with whom he played in the 2007-08 season, and it is expected that the prospect now the Washington Nationals to contribute to the national champions.

  The enigmatic outfielder arrived on Tuesday and took batting practice Wednesday. He is scheduled to debut this weekend, reported blue Licey.com management.

  Dukes saw action in 107 games with the Nationals in 2009 and had a .250 batting average with eight homers and 58 RBIs.

  According to projections, Dukes accompany the Licey to the end of the 2009-10 season.

via www.licey.com

Rizzo talks about offseason, Harper, Dukes

http://therocket.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/10/rizzo_talks_about_offseason_ha.html

   "Rizzo believes Dukes has found a home in right field with the Nationals. Rizzo said Dukes is a guy who can drive in runs, but needs make adjustments at the plate. Dukes has only eight home runs entering Saturday's action against Braves. Rizzo has a theory as to why Dukes has struggled to hit home runs. 

"A number of advance scouts are scouting him well. Opposing pitchers pitch him very tough. He needs to learn to make adjustments," Rizzo said."  

http://www.thenatsblog.com/minors/minors/brewing-home-grown-talent-what-the-nats-can-learn-from-ben-sheets.html

Sheets and Strasburg both hold the distinction of striking out 20 batters in one Division I college baseball game, and of course they both hold the distinction of being anointed the savior of a franchise much in need of saving.

Both young starters pitched for team USA and both were considered at that time, essentially MLB ready.

Today however, the two stand very much apart in their careers, as Strasburg was just introduced into the league, and Sheets is currently on the outside looking in. Yet another shoulder surgery in the 2008 offseason left Sheets without a team for 2009, and while he will likely be back someday, neither he nor the Brewers will find the form they had in 2008 for a while.

Sheets arm troubles came from years of over work in a time when he should have been developing. By the time the Brewers needed him to be the Cy Young caliber pitcher he was, his arm was already on the fritz. The Brewers were in a bind in the early part of the decade and they needed their phenom young stud to pitch in the majors, whether that would result in success or failure.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/nationalsjournal/2009/08/whats_left_of_the_expos.html

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http://masnsports.com/2009/07/nats-recall-dukes-sosa-from-aa.html

After the game tonight, outfielder Elijah Dukes and right-handed pitcher Jorge Sosa were called up from Triple-A Syracuse.

Dukes, who was demoted in June, was hitting .288 with three homers and 10 RBI in 19 games for the Chiefs. He walked nine times and stole five bases while only striking out eight times.

Sosa was 1-2 with a 2.79 ERA with three saves in 20 games, four starts, for Syracuse. He struck out 53 and walked in 13 in 48 1/3 innings.

In seven big league seasons, with four different teams, Sosa is 40-49 with a 4.67 ERA.

The List: RBI < (HR x 2) By Dave Sheinin |  July 8, 2009

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/baseball-insider/2009/07/rbi.html

"To pull it off, you need to hit almost exclusively solo home runs (all 10 of Willingham's are of the solo variety), and you need to perform poorly with runners in scoring position (Willingham: .180/.293/.220)."

   This may be part of my indifference to Hammer......His normal stats don't look bad, but he's not contributing when it counts...

Hey, we need a list. A glossary of the more obscure and less obvious for the casual reader and a repository of the clever references contributed by the DC Faithful, so they will not be lost in the avalanche of the thread commentaries..... [Inspired by the Ryan "Don't call me Mendoza" Zimmerman entry, a derivative of the soon to be universally accepted DCMR and the hysterical DCCT.......]

 Promote your pet faves, steal from others, add to the history and flavour of FB and to the Greater NatsTown blogoplex......

Best Blogs in Washington?

http://blog.letteddywin.com/2009/04/07/washingtonian-best-blogs-in-washington/#comments

"Of the eight sports blogs that made the Washingtonian’s list, this was the only one devoted to the Nationals. And we’re obviously a novelty pick. Nobody comes here for coverage of the team."

Ran across the above, which led to the below..........

The Nationals Blog Review: A Viewer's Guide for 2009

By PennSkinsFan | April 6, 2009

http://dcprosportsreport.com/2009/04/the-nationals-blog-review-a-viewers-guide.html

PRIORITY READING

Federal Baseball:  The most comprehensive blog for the Washington Nationals on the web.  If you are a die hard Nats fan, you already know about this site.  If you are a casual fan, get to know it.  In fact, subscribe to the RSS feed.  You are not going to get one story per day from these guys.  Debate threads, tons of stats, polls, commentary and more.   In our opinion, this is the best all around pure Nats coverage blog out there.   This is a true comprehensive Nats site with tons of franchise info.  We just need to hunt them down for a link exchange.  And we will.  Archives:  Back to 2005, birth of the franchise.

Discussion Forum: NO    Allow Post Comments:  YES   Active Commenting: Absolutely 
RSS FEED/Facebook:  YES  RSS, Facebook
Updated Daily:  YES    Weekly?  YES
Multiple Writers:  YES
Link Exchange Partner with DC Pro Sports Report.  NO 
Rank:  *  *  *  *  *   

This will be unfair and incomplete.... The FLA-WASH-SEA roster railroad has discontinued service to CIN, but maintains a one-way route to ARI...

ST stats mean nothng. What will the regular season bring? Who will be left standing on Mayday?

Milledge,  .217, .270 OBP, 1 dbl, 1tpl, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 4BB, 14K

Bonifacio, .282, .330 OBP, 4dbl, 3tpl, 0 homers, 13 RBI, 6BB, 17K

Endy Chavez, .514, .537 OBP, 4dbl, 1tpl, 1homer, 9 RBI, 4BB, 2K

F. Lopez, .362, .426 OBP, 4dbl, 0tpl, 1homer, 8RBI, 6BB, 8K

Chico Harlan updates:

"Alex Cintron will not start the year on the 25-man roster. Acta said after today's game that the infielder is bound for Class AAA Syracuse.

  This means that either Kory Casto makes the team, or the Nats go with a third catcher. Indications are, the Nats take the third catcher."

   I've been advocating for the 3rd catcher, if only for the late inning substitution/PH options. I'm not crazy about Bard and Kory is a sentimental favourite, but out of options.

According to Chico Harlan in Nationals Journal, Martis is the 4th starter and "Don't call me Ryan" is the 5th and starts in Syracuse until April 19th.

Optioned Collin Balester to Syracuse.

Assigned Jose Castillo and Corey Patterson to minor league camp.

Javier Valentin declined his assignment to minor league camp, and became a free agent.

And WMP placed on waivers (the unconditional release thing)

   "In a bizarre scene this morning in the clubhouse, Pena received the news, quickly made the rounds in the clubhouse, shaking hands, leaving behind a full locker, and departed without comment. "I'm not talking," Pena said."

 From Nationals Journal comments under: Lots Of Walks, No Runs

  "Lastings....what can I say...I really tried not to be just looking for negatives but they were everywhere....before the game he as Anderson H, Guz and Zim and Josh W and Nick were stretching, he was standing with his thumbs in his belt. It you could just tell someone was going to say something and sure enough Strength Coach walked up to him and got in his face.....pointed to his legs and encouraged him to do what was expected....he did a few stretches and jogged away to OF where he put his thumbs back into his belt and stood for 10 minutes....During the National anthem he was the only player not to take off his doo rag hat.......Again last one out and last one in between innings but some running...it was better......Warm up throws between innings was just amazing....Josh W was throwing BB's on a line to him and he would toss a side arm rainbow that bounced to Josh or land at his shoes....you could just tell each time Josh would throw it back harder.....just amazing he does not get it at ALL.....Routes to the ball hit to him were just as bad or worse really than last year. One ball hit to Right Center Langerhans moved nicely in and made an easy play out of it....Lastings took several steps back before coming in....Next ball to Left Center could have been caught with a good jump but Milledge froze and then ran a zig zag pattern and picked it up on the second hop. Runner going around second even coaxed a throw before stopping.....Lastings throw from shallow Left Center bounced so many times before it got to 3rd base it was rolling when Belliard got it..........At bat he took several pitches but also swung at some bad ball that bounced in front of the plate....not much improvement to be seen.......So I did try but to my eye on game one.....same old Lastings.....I will give him a clean slate next game.....but what Acta sees I do not know."

Posted by: JayBeee | March 15, 2009 4:06 PM