Shuffle #72 (October 3, 2015)

Because – The Dave Clark Five

Paper Thin – John Hiatt

Piano Man – Billy Joel

Heartbreaker – The Crystals

Something About You – The Four Tops

Sunday Girl – She & Him

Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry

Bring Me Some Water – Melissa Etheridge

Plastic Flowers – Don McMinn

What About Me – Lake Street Dive

Havana Daydreamin’ – Jimmy Buffett

Spring Fever -- Orleans

September 27, 2015 – Phillies 12, Nationals 5 – Nationals Park

http://m.nationals.mlb.com/news/article/151934548/nats-stung-by-big-9th-in-loss-to-phillies

 

Attendance: 28,661

Game Time: 3:02

Weather: 69 degrees, cloudy

Wind: 6 mph

Umpires: Home Plate - Bill Welke, First Base - John Hirschbeck, Second Base - John Tumpane, Third Base - James Hoye

Seventh-inning stretch song: Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson f/ Bruno Mars

 

Quite a Fan Appreciation Day, in the wake of the Nationals fragging their manager

 

Aaron Harang actually pitched well for the Phils, going 6 innings and only allowing back-to-back dingers in the second by Desmond and den Dekker … Gio blanked Philadelphia through 5, before exiting with the dreaded “Gonzalez pitched to 5 batters in the 6^th” (3 singles followed by 2 bases-loaded walks) … Nats retook the lead with 2 in the bottom of the seventh, but it quickly vanished half an inning later, when Casey (“I think I underachieved a little bit”) Janssen served up a two-run tater to Jeff Francoeur … Papelbon recorded the final out of the eighth, which meant he was in the dugout for the fateful tussle with Harper … Pap was sent back back out for the ninth and gave up a two-run shot by noted slugger Andres Blanco (10 HRs in 800+ major-league at-bats), as the Phils put up an 8-spot … in addition to the promotional item of the day (red Nationals gloves), I snagged one of the caps that they were tossing into the Red Porch area in CF after the game ended

Let the inmates run the asylum

Perhaps the only positive aspect to yesterday’s little Papelbon-Harper scuffle in the Washington Nationals’ dugout is that it diverted attention from the club’s deeper problems. These are best demonstrated by a column in yesterday’s Washington Post, in which several Nats players anonymously stab their manager in the back with a week still left to go in the season.

 

Regardless of the job Matt Williams has done as manager -- and it's been far from perfect -- what does this say about the character of the team and its “veteran leaders”? If you’re unhappy about your boss, there are plenty of professional ways of dealing with the situation. This is clearly not one of them, and is the sort of thing that damages the organization both with the fans and in the eyes of quality players or other staff that the team might like to add.

 

Matt should take the high road and resign right after the season, apologizing for the team's failures and his contributions to them, and thanking Rizzo and Harper for their support. He should be thankful to be out of such a toxic environment.

 

Rizzo (assuming he still has a job after his inspired addition of Papelbon at the trade deadline) should then convene a meeting of the gutless wonders and let them pick their own manager for next season. That way, if they tank again the way they did for both Davey and Matt, they will have no one to blame but themselves.