I hope they decide to keep Barajas. I'm not all that impressed with our other options behind the plate. They can go ahead and let Velez go without me shedding a tear.

Ellis has some upside, but is definitely not ready to be the every day starter. Hopefully Kershaw likes Barajas. Something tells me if Kershaw likes him, he'll stick around.

I know it's not going to happen, but I'd love to see Ted Lilly go away. The only pitchers that gave up more HRs than him the the National league were a Cub and an Astro, and they've got a good excuse pitching where they do. Lilly just can't keep the damn ball down.

W...T...F?!??! That was unexpected. Yeesh, lost focus a couple outs early there.

Yeah, that was kind of messed up

I can't really blame Guerra for being a little unfocussed. 5 run lead in the 10th inning of the second to last game of the season, the closer can't be thinking he'll be throwing any pitches. He's mind was no doubt half way back to the hotel when the bullpen phone rang.

So at this point, it's possible we could have two playoff games on Thursday to fill the wildcard spots. That would be fun.

And in other news the Nats finished below 500 again this year, but on the bright side they were below 500 by the slimiest of margins a clear improvement over last year.

I think the blame lies squarely with Hawksworth, who took his time getting to first on that ball hit to Loney. That lack of hustle lost us the game. We should never have needed Guerra.

Nobody ever needs Guerra. But sometimes Guerra can't be avoided as he is simply the continuation of politics by other means.


(I'm feeling odd today.)

What the heck.

I don't watch much baseball on TV, I prefer it on the radio and when I do watch on TV it is the local A's broadcast.

But I thought I would check out the Boston game on ESPN. What the **** is up with the superimposed strike zone? I had to change the channel it was so annoying.

Who the heck would like that thing, it adds no useful information and just distracts. I'm not opposed to digital enhancement, the first down and line of scrimmage lines for football is about the best TV enhancement ever. But that conveys something useful.

But it isn't hard to tell if the ball was near the strike zone. Beyond that all that matters is what the umpire calls. Ugh. It's enough to turn me into George Will.

If anybody does watch regularly, does the strike zone shown adjust to the batter? Does it reflect the fact that the strike zone is a cube and not a square? Does it adjust for the fact that the center field camera is not centered correctly for simply drawing a line around the strike zone?

The only time I watch ESPN coverage is when they show the Dodgers, which was very little this season. And that thing annoyed the crap out of me, almost as much as their coverage team.

I have no idea how accurate it is and if they adjust for all possible factors.