If you grew up watching baseball in the 1990’s there are certain images that will be branded in your mind forever.

Ken Griffey’s silky smooth swing and backwards hat sticks out as the epitome of what every young ball player wanted to be.

Utility middle infielders had a whole different meaning as string beans like Walt Weiss and Jeff Reboulet had careers.

Frank Thomas was the Big Hurt, Mark McGwire was Big Mac, and Randy Johnson was the Big Unit.

While most of the images from my youth are gone from the game, if not tarnished by scandal, the one that remains is the six foot ten lefty, Johnson. You can’t help but remember his flowing gold locks which trailed his 100 MPH fastball and his devastating slider.

Now his mullet may be trimmed, and his youthful ferocious demeanor may be tamed, but still he remains as a San Francisco Giants starter on the brink of history. Johnson will take the mound at Nationals Park Wednesday attempting to win his 300^th game, officially capping what has been an absolutely extraordinary career.

While today he is on the brink of the Hall, Johnsons early career had him labeled as more of a gimmick than a front line starter. Until the age of 26 he meandered around between Montreal, the minors, and Seattle, unable to find the consistency to be an everyday member of a rotation. Even his first three full seasons in Seattle were marred by mediocrity. While he was retiring batters at a high rate he also lead the league in walks each year.

He was an incredibly talented ball of clay that needed an artist to mold it. It wasn’t until August 1992 where he had a long conversation with pitching legend Nolan Ryan that he found the mold he needed. The Express showed the Big Unit the way and baseball was never the same.

Johnson went on to become a 10 time all-star and record a record five Cy Young awards within 10 years. He won four consecutive Cy Young’s between 1999-2002 while winning a World Series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In that World Series he recorded a record-tying three wins earning him a Co-World Series MVP award with Co-Ace Curt Schilling.

He ranks third all time with 4843 career strikeouts and is first all time in strikeouts per nine innings with 10.7. Johnson has lead his respective league in ERA four times, strikeouts eight, and he is the last pitcher to win the pitching Triple Crown; leading the league in ERA, wins, and strikeouts.

In 19 years in the majors he has recorded an ERA under four, 16 times, and an ERA under three, nine times. He has on his resume a no-hitter and a perfect game to go along with his two 19 strikeout and one 20 strikeout performances.

However the impact of Randy Johnson can’t be quantified in his eye-popping numbers. His sheer dominance can’t be seen by his ERA or his massive strikeout total.

One has to remember the helplessness opposing lefty’s felt every fifth day when he was scheduled to take the mound. You have to remember the terror that his early lack of control struck in batters for the next 10 years when he was one of the more accurate pitchers in baseball. You have to remember Larry Walker turning his helmet around and batting from the opposite side of the plate when a 103 MPH fastball whizzed past his head in the All-Star game. You have to remember the bird he evaporated and the ferocious intensity he displayed as a six foot ten Canadian with the hair of a redneck.

Randy Johnson should be appreciated both for the numbers he put up and the lore he brought to the game. In a time where everything turned out to be fake, the mythical giant who threw harder than anyone in history was genuine, lasting, and true.

So go to the game Wednesday night and tip your hat to the Big Unit. If he gets his 300^th against the Nationals I for one will not fret, but give him a standing ovation as he deserves it. To the giant who started his career with the Montreal Expos, may his 300^th career win come against his first franchise, now the Washington Nationals.

In anticipation for the upcoming series against the San Francisco Giants, The Nats Blog sat down with the top Giants blog, McCovey Chronicles. Here’s what they had to say: 

The Nats Blog: The Giants are holding their own in the NL West this year but are still 8.5 games behind the Dodgers, is the team currently living up to or failing to meet your pre-season expectations?

McCovey Chronicles: I was hoping for .500, but I guess I didn't realize how tantalizingly maddening it was to win as many as you lose. But I'd say they are who we thought they were.

TNB: The Giants have a great pitching staff but are currently last in the National League in runs scored per game, who needs to step up, and what moves to the Giants have to make to start bringing in the runs.

MC: Maybe Edgar Renteria isn't done. Maybe Aaron Rowand will have one of his every other good years. Maybe Travis Ishikawa will do something at all. But I wouldn't count on any of those happening. No one needs to step up, the Giants just need a new everything. Except for Pablo Sandoval. He's cool. 

TNB:  Randy Johnson has a chance to win his 300^th game Wednesday against the Nationals, what are your thoughts on having the legendary lefty on your team for his last hurrah?

MC: I appreciate the history, but it has very, very little to do with the Giants' franchise.

TNB: What moves do you see the Giants having to make wit the coming trade deadline to go from a .500 team to a competitor?

MC: Nothing I'd approve of. This isn't a team worth trading away prospects for short-term help.

TNB: What do the Giants need to do to be successful against the Nationals in this coming series?

MC: Hope the Nationals' pitching is even more wretched than the Giants' hitting 

TNB: What do the Nats need to do to be successful against the Giants in this coming series? 

MC: Realize that the Giants will swing at anything.  

TNB: Matt Cain is having an excellent year and is challenging Tim Lincecum for ‘ace’ status. What can you tell us about Matt’s year this year and why has he taken it to the next level?

MC: Same level, different year. He's been a little lucky with runners on base, and he's actually getting run support this year. But he's been good for a while, and he's the same guy he was last year.

TNB:  Favorite Giants memory?

MC: The Giants winning the 2002 NLCS before the strike cancelled the World Series.

Thanks again to McCovey Chronicles for contributing to The Nats Blog!

Bill Ladson reported today that the Washington Nationals are not likely to take a hitter with their number 10 overall pick in the upcoming First-Year-Player-Draft.

 The Nationals have already announced that they will be selecting phenom Steven Strasburg with their number one overall pick June 9^th, but had been relatively quiet on their intentions for their second pick in the first round.

According to Ladson, the Nationals don’t feel there is a position player in the draft from either college or high school who is ‘first-round-worthy.’

This of course means that the Nats, who are the first franchise in draft history to have two top-ten picks, will be selecting two pitchers to be the cornerstone of a future rotation that already boasts John Lannan, Jordan Zimmermann, and Ross Detwiler. While the Nats acknowledge their minor league pitching is strong while their hitting is weak, they also are firm in their position to draft the best player available, and in this case they believe it will be a pitcher.

Ladson lists a likely candidate for the number 10 pick as Chad Jackson from Kenesaw State University. Jackson is a hard throwing junior who throws from the right side. He is a groundball pitcher who also has recorded a good amount of strikeouts.

This season he has posted an 8-1 record with a 2.54 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 92 innings, earning the Atlantic Sun Conference’s Pitcher of the Year award.

Entering 2009 Jenkins was the number two starter for Kenesaw state behind top prospect Kyle Heckathorn, however through the course of the spring Jenkins has out dazzled and out performed his teammate and has passed him on most team’s draft boards. He is considered not too far off from the Majors and a workhorse who could contribute to a rotation as early as the middle of 2010.

There will be more to come on Jenkins later.

The Nationals could also target starting pitchers Garret Gould from Maize HS or Jared Mitchell from Louisiana State University. 

AAA Syracuse Senators-Collin Balester
Balester was expected to make the Nationals rotation entering 2009 after earning 15 starts with the big league club in 2008. The 22 year old former first round pick struggled in spring training and proved to the Nats management that he needed some more seasoning. However, to Balester’s dismay, the Major League rotation has been completely restructured since March and despite the call up of two other starters he still remains in Syracuse.  While he has struggled up north, his last three starts have been a good sign for the prospect. In his last 16 innings pitched he has allowed only 12 hits, two earned runs, four walks, and struck out eight. It’s starting to look like he may have finally figured it out and he may very well be the next call up we see for our rotation in Washington.

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Despite allowing only four hits, John Lannan could not keep the Phillies off the base-paths Sunday afternoon as the Nats fell to Philadelphia 4-2.

The Washington ace threw 106 pitches through five innings against the reigning World Champs, allowing only four hits. The lefty earned the loss however by giving up three earned runs supplemented by four walks and a homer. With the loss Lannan falls to 2-5 on the year with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP.

While Lannan’s pitches were missing bats, as evidenced by his seven strikeouts, they were also missing the plate. Only 61 of Lannan’s 106 pitches were strikes, which allowed runners to get on base, and the Phillies to capitalize on only four hits.

The Nats batters couldn’t figure out the slow moving Jamie Moyer, who at the age of 45 earned his 250^th career victory Sunday. Through six innings he shut down the Nats to only three hits and one earned run. The master of control allowed no walks and struck out four curly w’s.

The only National who could get any wood on the ball today was Josh Willingham who continued his hot streak, going 2/4 with two homers. Willingham attributes his recent success at the plate to receiving more consistent playing time, and I don’t disagree with him. In the month of May Willingham is batting .292/.407/.611 with eight homers. Oddly enough, however, all nine of Willingham’s homers this year have been solo shots.

The Washington Nationals have now lost 17 out of their last 20 games. 

Right now the club is on pace to go 44-118. This would give them the third most losses in a season in Major League Baseball since 1920. It would surpass them as the worst Washington team ever as the 1909 Senators went 42-110, and it would staple them as the official embarrassment of Major League Baseball.

This wasn’t supposed to happen this year. The club was projected by many outlets to be better than they were last year, most having them finishing the season with about 70 wins.

On paper the team got better. They signed an all-star outfielder who hits 40 bombs a year, they have their starting first basemen healthy for the first time in several seasons, and reaching the majors finally are three top pitching prospects who have more talent than anyone who has pitched in a Nationals uniform. The young hitters of the Nationals should only get better with age, and it seems like Cristian Guzman is in his prime.

Then why can’t the team win a game?

Right now the Nationals Pythagorean Over/Under is -5.3. This means that even with the Nationals allowing the most runs per game in the majors, 6.33, the club is underachieving. For those of you unfamiliar with the Pythagorean baseball theorem, basically It takes runs scored vs runs allowed and creates a logical record based on the two outcomes. Disregarding intangibles, the number is usually very accurate. So according to the theorem the Nats should be 18-30, a pretty large difference.

Is 18 and 30 good? No, its not. But we’ve all seen bad teams and this club is clearly not the worst there is. They are third in the National League in runs scored per game. They have stars in Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmermann, and for Christ’s sake they have four everyday batters batting over .300 and three getting on base at .400.

So what’s causing this team to underachieve? Well that answer isn’t as easy as what is causing them to lose ball games. To start the Nationals are fielding like a triple A team. Right now they rank first in the majors in errors with 48 and are on pace for 162 team errors on the year. Another obvious reason for the Nationals losing is their ineptitude on the pitchers mound. The starters are young and learning, the bullpen is just awful and despite their poor track record, they seemingly are jinxed in the 9^th inning.

So how does this happen, how does a team that on paper should be winning at at least a reasonably higher rate end up this bad? How does a ball club that invested in becoming better in the winter of 2008, become so much worse?

Two words: Manny Acta.

It’s hard to put much value in a manager in Major League Baseball. Most statisticians have proven that they really have a minimal impact on a winning ball club because most make the textbook decision regardless of the situation because it is almost always the right one. Often overlooked however is the importance of a manager on a bad team.

The Nationals, much like the Rays were in 2008, or the Tigers in 2006, are desperately in need of some sort of direction. Whatever the message is in the Nationals clubhouse is clearly the wrong one, it is causing unprofessionalism, poor performance, and quite frankly, choking.

To be honest it probably doesn’t matter what message is sent in the Nationals clubhouse, the most important thing however is that the message change. Regardless of anyone’s feelings for Manny Acta, the current plan is clearly not working. It is stale, it is dying.

The Nationals need a change, sooner than later.

The Nats dropped the first to games of the Philadelphia Phillies, losing 4-5 Friday night, and losing 6-9 yesterday. The club could not keep the reigning world champions from hitting extra base knocks all weekend as the Phillies combined for ten doubles, two homers, and one triple in two games at Citizens Bank Park.

It’s been an odd change of ways for the Nationals this series as for once it’s not their bullpen losing the game for the club, but in fact it’s their starting pitching that has been the cause for failure. It’s hard to say there’s a bright side to dropping the first two games of a series, but for the Nats it would have to be that their bullpen pitched 10 innings in two games with allowing no earned runs.

Game 1

Despite a late inning surge, the Washington Nationals couldn’t come back on the Phillies bullpen, falling 4-5 in the opener.

Ross Detwiler suffered his first set back Friday, pitching only four innings while allowing ten hits, five earned runs, and only recording two strikeouts. Whether this is just a road bump on the way to being a top shelf starter or a sign that the 23 year old needs to go back down for more seasoning isn’t clear. Like we have seen with Jordan Zimmermann Detwiler will have innings where he appears unhittable and then he will have innings where he can’t find an out.

The bottom line for both is they need to cut down on mistakes. A missed spot on a fastball here, and a hanging change up there wont get you into much trouble in the minors but in the big leagues it will lead to a gapper there, and a homer here. Personally I think learning under fire is good for these two young starters, as long as they keep their confidence. We’ve seen it successful before in Florida when they won the world series with that young pitching staff, but we’ve also seen it fail with pitchers like Jeremy Bonderman who never put it together.

The bats were pretty quiet in this game. The Nats combined for only six hits and four walks. The one bright spot was Josh Willingham who went two for two with a solo homer in the second inning to give the club an early lead. It wasn’t enough for the Nats however.

Game 2

Shairon Martis makes his living on the plate pitching dangerously but effectively. Unfortunately, Ryan Howard loves pitches over the plate.

The Phillies slugger went 2-5, including two bombs off Martis that still may not have come down. The first homer was a solid blow against the Nationals will who had taken a 3-0 lead in the previous top half of the inning, a promising lead for a team that desperately needed a win. The second homer however, a grand slam, completely took all the wind out of the Nationals sails as it gave the club a 6-3 lead that they would never look back on.  

When the Phillies weren’t smacking the ball around the park, they were running ramped on the base paths. Philly stole five bases off Wil Nieves with no one caught. This is the last thing the Nationals need, another way for opposing clubs to take advantage of our problem with making outs. 

One option the Nationals may be looking at which we haven’t discussed for their 10^th overall pick is an economically sound one. With Strasburg likely to demand big money with the first overall pick, they Nats have been considering taking a reach with the 10^th pick to get someone at a cheaper price. 

One player the Nats have been looking at in this capacity for the number 10 slot has been Brett Jackson, a centerfielder for the University of California. Jackson is a solid build at 6 foot 2, 210 pounds and he fields his position well. His arm is about average but he has a lot of power and pop in his bat. The left handed slugger projects to be an Aaron Rowand type batter according to The Sporting News.

The Nats Blog has learned however that Jackson was at the Giant's ATT Park on Thursday taking batting practice for the clubs front office. The word is that he absolutely impressed the Giants scouts so its possible the late rising centerfielder may find himself off the board before the Nationals can get him at 10th overall.

Despite trying to keep it a secret, San Diego State manager Tony Gwynn  has spilled the beans that the presumptive number one overall pick for the Nationals come June, Steven Strasburg will pitch tonight in the NCAA Regional tournament.

Strasburg will face the number two seed University of Virginia tonight and the game will be televised on Comcast Sports Net at 7 P.M. Check him out.

“We’re in a position of strength here in that we know,” Gwynn said in an address to the media on Wednesday. “When you need to find out, you’ll know… TV thinks they should know. Opposing teams think they should know. We don’t think they should know.  We’re doing what’s best for San Diego State.“

The Phillidelphia Phillies (25-20) welcome the Washington Nationals (13-33) for a three game home stretch as they try and regain first place in the National League East.  

It has been a three-year continual battle between the New York Mets (26-20) and the Phillies for first place in the division, usually causing a dramatic showdown late into the waning days of the season. It seems that in each case the Washington Nationals have played their own little role in this cat and mouse game, and it will be no different this week as the Nats are coming off a sweep by the Mets which catapulted them back into first place. The Phillies are looking for the same Nationals bump.

The Phillies come into the series coming off a very poor showing against the Florida Marlins (22-26), which saw them drop two of three. The club couldn’t convert with runners in scoring position (3 for 23 on the series) and had struggles with the bullpen. The fighting Phil’s wont fret however knowing that they’re going to face their favorite team in the league this weekend.

In the two clubs last meeting the Phillies hitting problems seemed to dissipate, as the team batted .327 while scoring 33 runs in only three games. In general the top of the Phillies line up has succeeded against the Nationals all year. Shane Victorino is batting .297 with eight runs and seven RBI, Chase Utley is batting .380 with 11 runs and six RBI, and even Jimmy Rollins who up until a few weeks ago was batting below .200 is hitting .350 with seven runs scored against the Nationals in 2009.

Pitching Match Ups

Friday, May 29
Ross Detwiler, LHP (0-0, 2.45) vs. J.A Happ, LHP (2-0, 2.60)

Detwiler has made his two first career starts quality ones. In his first start against Pittsburgh he recorded five strong innings with six strikeouts and no walks, he allowed two earned runs. In his second start against Baltimore he only allowed one hit through six innings, but he did walk four batters while striking out four. Everyone always knew Detwiler had the stuff to be a major league standout, but whether or not he has the head on his shoulders to not self-destruct is still in question. He will be facing J.A Happ who has just recently joined the rotation against the Yankees, allowing just four hits and two runs in six innings. This is his first career start against the Nationals, but he has pitched seven scorless innings in the bullpen against them.

Saturday, May 30
Shairon Martis,RHP (5-0, 4.86) vs. Cole Hamels, LHP (2-2, 4.68)

Martis is still struggling to find consistency. When he is on he throws strikes and is hard to hit, when he struggles he cant find the strike zone and his fastball gets slapped around. He is coming off one of his more difficult outings this season. Hamles is the reigning World Series MVP who is not having quite the season he had hoped to back up his charming 2008. His last outing was much more promising however, as he allowed only two earned runs in six innings against the Yankees. He is 2-0 in his last five starts with a 2.45 ERA, a sign he is turning things around.

Sunday, May 31
John Lannan, LHP (2-4, 4.11) vs. Jamie Moyer, LHP (3-5, 7.42)

John Lannan may want to take a deep look in to Jamie Moyer’s soul when the two go head to head this Sunday. They may very well be kindred spirits, and if Lannan is lucky, he may see his future in the 46-year-old starter. Lannan is very similar to a young Moyer, both use control, a solid curveball, and a little bit of smarts to get the outs that more athletic pitchers may be able to get with their skill. For these two, finesse is the name of the game.