It's the Lineup?!?!

After handing out a Hero award, I didn't have to wait long at all to hand out a Goat one. Jesse English claimed it, in spite of Tyler Walker making a late run at it.

Why not Batista, who got the loss?

The reality is that the real goat yesterday was the lineup. (You could also argue that Mike Pelfrey, whom I thought pitched very well yesterday, won this game.) Batista gave up one run. The lineup had two chances to get that back. In the top of the fifth, the heart of the lineup went meekly 1-2-3. In the top of the sixth, we had Willingham on third with one out, and neither Pudge nor Desmond could score him.

In the end it made no difference, because Bergmann and English gave up two hits that increased the Mets' lead to two runs, then Walker came out with a flamethrower and an entire P-O-L dump to put the game out of sight.

I'm looking at the Nationals' lineup with some concern now. It's not really working, and it doesn't help that Kennedy is in a funk. This was supposed to be our strongest piece, and it's just not helping.

"If I were a Nats fan, I'd be embarrassed"

So wrote someone in the comments on the MLB Trade Rumours' report of the signing of Ivan Rodriguez for 2009-10.

Stuff and nonsense, I say! This is one of my favourite players of the current 'era' of baseball. I haven't got time to research it now, but he's made comments in the past (specifically when he was with the Tigers) that have led me to believe he's a thoughtful catcher who will work well with young pitchers.

Call me delighted, not embarrassed.

Projection numbers from CHONE:

           AB   R   H   2B   3B   HR   RBI   BB  SO  HBP  BatAve   OBP   SLG  DEF
Rodriguez 428  48  107   21    2    9   45   19  82   2   .250   .285   .371    3
Nieves    257  23   64   12    1    3   29   18  45   2   .249   .303   .339   -5

DEF is a projection of defensive ability, where 0 is average.

EDIT: Brian Oliver, at Nationals Farm Authority, whose blog I have inexplicably left off my list in spite of visiting it most regularly since 2005, is less impressed.