The Nationals were holding their own against the Bronx Bommers in New York last night, leading the Yankees  3-2 going into the seventh inning.

As usual however, the Nats figured out how to lose. An Elijah Dukes misplayed fly ball, and a Mark Teixiera homer found the Nationals trailing again as they went on to lost 5-3.

Some notes:

-Starting pitcher Shairon Martis put up another good start last night. The righty pitched six strong innings, allowed four hits and only one earned run.

Once again for Martis, his main pitfall was his control as he allowed five walks.  This time he didn’t get punished for all the runners he had on base, however that is how Martis usually gets into trouble.

-Anderson Hernandez was the only Nationals batter who produced last night in a true hitters park. The slap hitting second basemen went two for three with a double and a homer, he drove in all three Nationals runs. The home run was only the second of Hernandez’s career 327 at bats.

-The Yankees left 15 on base, the Nationals only left 5

Manny Acta survived the Tampa Bay series and now will travel with the Nationals (16-45) as they head to New York to meet the Yankees  (36-27) in the new Yankee Stadium.

Acta’s employment status with the Nationals is rather surprising given the Saturday report from Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal that the skipper would lose his job within the next several days. Acta has lost all his games since, and even survived a day off after a road trip to Tampa.

Now he will lead his last place Nationals, armed with the worst pitching in baseball, into what has quickly become one of the best hitters parks in the game.

This could get ugly folks.

The Yankees are currently two games out of first place in the AL East behind the Boston Red Sox. However the club is bouncing back from a very rough April and early May in which they were forced to play without their star third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

Before Rodriguez’s return, the Yankees put up a 16-15 record, a disappointing performance considering the teams’ offseason spending spree. Since his return they have put up a 20-12 record, launching them into contention for the top of the AL East, and the second record in baseball.

The Rodriguez effect is coming out not just in the teams victories but in the his teammates individual performances.

Mark Teixiera
March and April: .200/.367/.371, 3 HR, 10 RBI
May: .330/.391/.748, 13 HR, 34 RBI

Derek Jeter
March and April: .287/.350/.457, 4 HR, 12 RBI
May: .321/.397/.473, 3 HR, 13 RBI

Surprising however is despite the apparent boost provided by Rodriguez’s return, the controversial slugger is not producing at his normal rate. Through 35 games he is batting .230/.386/.500 with nine homers and 26 RBI. For whatever reason, despite Rodriguez’s struggles, the Yankees appear to be playing better with him in the line up.

Rodriguez’s struggles are not that surprising given the star’s offseason. Before the team got to camp it was leaked that the slugger had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs during an anonymous 2003 survey of Major League Players.

After his admittance of the steroid use, and the media circus which accompanied it, Rodriguez was forced to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right hip to remove a cyst. The injury put him out for all of spring training and through April.

Today’s Pitching Matchup

Shairon Martis (5-1, 5.04) vs. CC Sabathia (5-4, 3.68)

Shairon Martis continues to baffle people; scouts that is, not batters. The thing about Martis is, he has no real out pitch, yet at the age of 22 he is a junkballing right hander. He has an ERA over 5, yet has a 5-1 record and puts out performances like he did Wednesday against the Reds. He walks more batters than he strikes out, he lets up lots of fly balls, yet he tends not to lose ball games. In his last 2 starts he has a 2.25 ERA and a .154 batting average against him.

Sabathhia had a rough start in the Yankee pin stripes, going 1-2 in April with a 4.73 ERA. He was able to rebound however in May, where he went 4-1, posted a 2.5 ERA and even recorded a shut out.

Sabathia bounced back though in June, his two starts this season have earned him no wins and a 4.80 ERA. 

16-year-old super prospect Bryce Harper enrolled in the College of Southern Nevada today, in an attempt to become draft eligible at the age of 17 next season.

Harper is jokingly considered the best thing since Stephen Strasburg, but in reality may be an even bigger prospect. Currently a catcher, Harper has the ability to play just about any position at a Major League level, and the bat to make even a steroid era slugger blush.

Harper was the cover story for the June 8^th, issue of Sports Illustrated, with a feature article entitled, “Baseball’s Chosen One.”

The article reveals an array of eye-popping story’s and accolaids that if they weren’t true, would read like a list of Chuck Norris facts.

-Bryce Harper hit the ball five-hundred seventeen feet, sorry five-seventy.

-When Bryce Harper was 12 he played a tournament with 250 ft. fences, he went 12 for 12 with 11 homers and a double.

-Bryce Harper scored six times this season from second base on wild pitches.

-At the age of 16 Bryce Harper has a faster bat speed than Mark Mcgwire

-Bryce Harper has a 96 MPH fastball, does volunteer work, and has a 3.5 GPA

-Harper is advanced as A-Rod and Ken Griffey Jr were as seniors when he is only a sophomore.

The list goes on and on…

Now Harper will go where no one has gone before and test the age limit within the United States for the Amateur Draft. It is his, as well as his ‘advisor’ Scott Boras’ belief, that he will become eligible to play after one year in Junior College.

If he becomes eligible it is more than likely that he will land the number one overall pick, which will almost certainly belong to the Washington Nationals for the second consecutive season. This would give the Nationals the distinction of landing the two biggest draft prospects in possibly the history of the draft, over the course of two seasons.

With the prospect the Nationals signing two of these prospects in a row, it may add another dimension to the Steven Strasburg contract negotiations. Boras, Harpers more than likely future agent, will certainly use Strasburgs contract to set the bar for next year’s negotiations with Harper. This could mean back-to-back record breaking bonus’s.

While both contracts loom, the possibility of drafting these two players back to back more than make up for the potential downside.

As sports illustrated said, it’s like drafting Lebron James and Dwight Howard in back to back years. 

Jordan Zimmermann returned to the rotation yesterday after missing his last start and put forth arguably his best start of his young major league career.

The young righty pitched five strong innings, striking out six and allowing only one earned run on four hits. Despite Zimmerann’s strong outing however the Nationals lost 7-3 to Tampa Bay.

It was the sixth inning where everything unraveled.

Jason Bergmann came on and let up two homers; a three run blast to Ben Zobrist and a two run blast to Gabe Gross. Jesus Colume came to ‘relieve’ Bergmann and gave up two more runs off of a double by Evan Longoria.

The Nationals bats didn’t help the poor bullpen performance. The Nats only recorded seven hits, two for extra bases and only managed to get two earned runs across the board.

While our series preview spoke to the Rays excellent defense, they recorded two errors yesterday in a winning effort. For the Nationals to have any chance against a quality team like the Rays, they need to take advantage of defensive mishaps, any mishaps really, to give themselves an advantage. At this level of baseball it is a gift to receive opposing teams errors, we just can’t afford to let them go. 

After dropping two out of three to the Cincinnati Reds at home, the Washington  (16-42) Nationals will make the trip south to kick off interleague play and face the Tampa Bay Rays (31-31).

The Rays can offer something to the Nationals that few teams can, a blueprint.

When the Nationals finish this year with the worst record in baseball, which they are overwhelmingly likely to do, they will have done so two years in a row. The only reward for that is the first overall pick in the draft for a second season in a row.

The only other team to do that in MLB history is the Tampa Bay Rays in 2006 and 2007.

In 2008 the Rays were in the World Series.

So what changed for the Rays from 2007 to 2008? The Rays had excellent young pitching talent that had finally arrived, they made some gutsy moves including trading top prospect Delmon Young.

On top of player personnel moves the Rays hired Joe Madden and made the all-important commitment to defense.  

Sound like a good blueprint? Seems to me it could work just fine for our ball club.

While the Rays had dominant success in 2008, they have had a little trouble getting off the ground in 2009. Last year’s ace, Scott Kazmir, struggled early and then hit the DL. Closer Troy Pericval has an ERA over 6, and stars like B.J. Upton, Carlos Pena and Pat Burrell are struggling to keep their batting average above .250.

There is reason to believe for Rays fans however.

 Sluggers Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist are setting a solid pace while Carl Crawford is having the best hitting season of his life. 2007’s number one pick David Price has joined the club and in four starts has a 2.37 ERA and 26 strikeouts in only 19 innings.

The Rays will look to get their line up started against three Nationals rookie starting pitchers.

Pitching Match Ups

Criag Stammen (0-2, 6.45) vs. Matt Garza (4-4, 3.55)

Stammen goes for his first win of the season, and of his career, tonight in Florida. While Stammen’s stuff has looked solid, it hasn’t been consistent, often allowing him to make mistakes which lead to big innings. This would be a great time for him to break out.

Matt Garza came to Tampa Bay in the Delmon Young trade as a fizzled pitching prospect that never really figured it out. Now, at 25, it seems he has finally grasped the game mentally in order to utilize his great physical assets. He has now risen himself to one of the better starting pitchers in the American League, and likely this teams Ace.

Jordan Zimmermanm (2-3, 5.71) vs. Andy Sonnastine (4-6, 7.00)
 

Zimmermann missed his last start due to Elbow soreness.  A scary sign to say the lease for the Nationals, especially after the Shawn Hill saga. Zimmermann claims to be fine however, as he looks to continue to work on consistency and cutting down on mistakes which produce runs.

Sonnastine has been by far the worst pitcher for the Rays his year. He is a contact style pitchers who can be effective when batters are missing, but not when they’re squaring up on the ball. May inevitably lose his starting spot once all starting pitchers are healthy.

Ross Detwiler (0-3, 5.06) vs. James Shields (5-5, 3.36)

Detwiler continues to show great talent and little consistency, as most of the Nationals rookie pitchers do. He was able to get through five innings against the Reds this week with allowing only three runs and five hits. He needs to focus on not walking batters and not making mistakes up in the zone.

James Shields is another pitcher for the Rays who may be one of the better starting pitchers in the American League but not  necessarily this teams ace. He has been very good the last three years, however, finishing each year with under a 4.00 ERA. 

Second Round Jeff Kobernus-UC Berkeley
 

With the first pick in the second round, the Washington Nationals selected an athletic utility infielder, Jeff Kobernus from California University.

At six foot two, 195 pounds, Kobernus has a long lean body with very fluid movement on the field.

Kobernus was used a primarily a second baseman in college, though he played all over the infield. With his height he is not your prototypical second baseman, but that has not stopped players like Chase Utley from playing there. He has the athleticism and the range to someday convert to shortstop if that is the direction the Nationals chose to take, however it is unlikely.

Kobernus has a very quick bat. He batted .341 for the Bears in 2009, his junior season. He also hit 14 doubles, 8 homers, and stole 20 bases. In his career at Cal he batted .324.

Scouts project Kobernus to develop into a Major League number-two hitter. While they think he only projects to have average power once he develops, scouts think that he is likely to someday be a starting second baseman in the MLB.

Opinion: The Nationals need middle infield help, especially in the future. Anderson Hernandez isn’t more than a current fix to that problem. Kobernus has a chance to be a solid major leaguer in the next several years in the mold of an Adam Kennedy. The Nats filled a needed hole here, just like they did with their second overall pick. Kobernus goes along with the evident strategy for the Nats yesterday, draft players who can help, soon.

Third Round Trevor Holder- Georgia
  

With their fourth overall pick the Nationals surprised many by drafting Trevor Holder, a senior from Georgia University.

In 15 games started this year Hoder went 7-5 with a 4.48ERA. in 92 IP Holder struck out only 72 and walked 30.

Opponents batted .260 against him last season.

Holder has a low 90’s fastball to combine with average off-speed stuff. 

While he faced solid competition in the SEC, Holder’s stats leave much to be desired. He was expected to be drafted in about the 10^th round.

Opinion: This pick made little sense, so I’m going to put faith in Mike Rizzo that he knows something now one else does. Holder never had a ERA below 4.00 his entire career at Georgia, and doesn’t seem to have major league stuff.

Other picks:

4^th Rd. Anthony Morris, RHP, Kansas St.
5^th Rd.Miguel Pena, RHP, La Joya HS
6^th Rd. Michael Taylor, SS, Westminster Academy HS
7^th Rd. Andrew Weaver, RHP, Georgia
8^th Rd. Roberto Perez, SS, Dorado Academy HS