I received a "Nationals Insider" e-mail late last night from the 11-11 Nationals and it included:

1) Included in the e-mail was a link to preview to tonight's game. Let's see, from this preview, I've learned that Hernandez (2-2, 5.34 ERA; 1-0, 3.86 ERA vs. Mets this season) will be making his sixth start of the season. This start is against the 11-11 Mets and RHP Jae Seo (1-0, 1.50 ERA in 2005, and against Washington), and the "Player to Watch" is Jose Guillen, whose average has fallen below .300.
From the game preview: where to find tonight's game: Internet: MLB.TV, GamedayAudio, Gameday, and Official game notes; Television: NYM: FSNY, WAS: WDCA-20; Radio: NYM: 660AM (English) & 1280 (Spanish); WAS: Z104FM & WFEDAM (which is 1050AM).

2) Wilkerson's Diary as told to Bill Ladson. This will apparently be a monthly diary.

3) Other Headlines, All the News; Upcoming Schedule; Sights and Sounds; Stats 101 - Wilkerson and Patterson are hot; and Trivia.
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Not included in the e-mail is something about the weather. The current weather forecast calls for an 80% chance for rain during the day (with a high of 60° F) and a 60% chance for rain during the night, game time (with a high of 55° F). The forecast just calls for rain during the day, but thunderstorms at night.
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In other news, don't forget to vote for the All-Stars (first link under Links section, and here).

Guzman had 2 hits in 3 AB to raise his average to .203 in the most recent game from .184).

Church had 1 hit in 3 AB (with 1 walk) and raised his average to .158 from .143.

Oh, and two pitchers continue to sit at the top of the batting average list.
1. Eischen batting 1.000 (1 hit in 1 AB)
2. Ohka batting .429 (3 hits in 7 AB)
And Patterson remains the only pitcher on the team with an extra-base hit (1 double).

Well, I was somewhat joking when I stated earlier that I would probably miss the rest of the game after I left to commute home. I checked the television when I got home, but could not find the game, and I checked the radio. The radio kind of worked in the car, but the station was not hearable in the house. In the end, the only reason that I found out what happened in last nights game is because the person that used my season ticket happens to live in the same house as me (the Nationals lost a close game; though I did not find out about the Nationals wearing the practice jerseys until I looked at a recap of the game at the Nationals website; ESPN's recap (though ESPN did not call the uniforms practice jerseys)).

I somewhat understand the problem with the TV coverage, but what is the problem with the radio coverage? Why is the radio station for the Orioles games a lot easier to hear in more places than the radio station for the Nationals games (other than the obvious point that the O's have been around longer and had the chance to pick a strong enough radio station)? I can barely hear the AM station on the car radio, and can not hear it in the house, except in one room. The FM station seems to only rarely broadcast the game, so that particular option does not always work.

Well, let's see what the recap notes. Loaiza matched his strike-out career high (striking out eleven). Robinson let Loaiza enter the ninth after throwing 105 pitches, but Loaiza could not get an out. Interesting note, according to Castilla, the batters did as badly as they did (or at least he did) because it was very hard to read the ball as it came towards the plate because of the shadows at the plate due to the 4:35 start time.

Well, the Nationals are back to .500, and are 11-11; oh and the GM's contract was extended until the end of the season; and the Nationals are ranked 15th on the ESPN MLB Power Rankings; and that Boswell column that I received in an e-mail still is not up on the Washingtonpost.com website (strange, it appears Boswell wrote two completely different Nationals columns for April 27th); Armas' rehap continues in the minors, as he pitches his worst game of the year.

And I'm stuck at work. Oh, and the Nationals are not losing yet after the top of the first. It is now the middle of the first, according to the ESPN GameCast. Still the middle of the first. I think something might be wrong with my computer, how can it still be the middle of the first? This is the first time I've used GameCast with a high speed computer. Very informative, and great list of information. Start of Nationals batting half of the inning! Oh, and I just noticed that they decided to place Church back in the number 2 hole. Knew he had to play because of Johnson's injury, but didn't expect to see him up there again.

Wilkinson Walked! Wilkinson Walked! Ok, I'm going a little overboard here. I need to leave in about 17 minutes, so I need to get as much baseball as possible from the computer before I leave as I will probably miss the rest of the game trying to commute home. And 2 balls to Church, oops, right after I wrote that, strike one from foul (my mistake, I was reading the list wrong, the first pitch was a strike, not the third; though I don't recall that red glowing strike circle while the two green circles were glowing).

Ok, that's confusing. I wonder what happened. I read:
"R Church Walked.
B Wilkerson picked off first."
I wonder how Wilkerson could get himself picked off, especially with Church not creating an out.

And Vidro is struck out swinging, though Church's name is now on third. Apparently he went over on a throwing error. This is a lot more confusing trying to figure out what is going on than being at the game. Good thing I'll be at the game Friday.

Once again, the risk of improving his RISP (runners in scoring position) stat caused Guillen to get an out instead of an RBI. End of first inning. At this rate, I might "see" maybe part of the top of the second inning before I have to go.

That's strange, the picture for Loaiza shows him wearing a White Sox hat. Are the White Sox playing the Phillies or are the Phillies playing Washington? Oh, that's an interesting stat that I can't see at the game. Below the pitcher's picture is the pitcher vs. batter stats. Oh, and Thome grounded out. Ok, I was wrong, the Utley just filed out, so maybe I will be able to "see" the bottom of the 2nd inning. Darn. Michaels singled to right field. 2 balls 2 strikes to Palanco, and I have four minutes before I have to leave. I won't be able to "see" the bottom half of the inning after all. Oh good, Palanco struck out looking. Now if they could quickly switch to the bottom half of the inning before two minutes are up.

Start of Inning! Oh good, I'll get to "see" the start of the bottom half of the second inning before I have to leave. That "Start of Inning" thing ESPN uses to mark the start of the bottom half of the inning is a little confusing. Ok, they said start of the inning, but nothing happened, and now I have to leave.

Go Nationals!

AA: Harrisoburg Senators (currently 10-8 and 3rd in the standings)
Official Website (next game: April 29th vs. Akron Aeros)
Roster for AA: Harrisonburg.
Current Stats for AA Harrisonburg Senators.
Media Guide, containing 2004 stats and more.
None are on the 40 man roster.

A (Advanced): Potomac Nationals (7-11 and last in their division; last game hit 5 home-runs, won 9-0; April 28th's game is dollar night and it is currently 68 F in Woodbridge).
Official Website.
Roster.
Stats.
That E Chavez you might see on the stats, and who has played 16 games on this team hitting just .250 and with an on base percentage of only .297, is not Endy Chavez, but Ender Chavez.

A: Savannah Sand Gnats
Offical Website. (Their website actually has something of a player profile for the players, though not career stats; May 2 is Mullet Madness Monday ("Wear your best Mullet or wig"))
Roster.
Current Stats.

SS (short season?): Vermont Expos (season not yet started)
Official Website.

R: GCL Nationals (Season: not yet started)

Interesting examining the Washington Nationals' minors.

AAA: New Orleans Zephyrs:
Official website: http://www.zephyrsbaseball.com/

Current Stats for all AAA minors (the individual method did not work))

On 40 man Nationals Roster:
1B Larry Broadway (Career Stats)
3B Brendan Harris (Career Stats)
OF/CF Endy Chavez (Career Stats)
Chavez needed to raise his OBP by 4 percent, from .318 (according to Boswell). In AAA, Chavez's current OBP is .380, with an AVG of .302, though only 4 SB. Maybe it is time to season Church some more in AAA, and promote Chavez.

RHP Travis Hughes (Career Stats)
RHP Josh Karp (Career Stats)

Not on 40 man Nationals Roster:
C Hector Ortiz (Career Stats)
C John Wilson (Career Stats)
SS Jason Bowers (Career Stats)
SS Wes Carroll (Career Stats)
DH?/2B/3B Dan DeMent (Career Stats)
Multipostion Rick Short (Career Stats)
OF Matt Cepicky (Career Stats)
OF Tyrell Godwin (Career Stats)
OF Jeffrey Hammonds (Career Stats)

RHP Roy Corcorn (Career Stats)
RHP Chad Durbin (Career Stats)
RHP Sun-Woo Kim (Career Stats)
RHP Brian Powell (Career Stats)
RHP Dan Smith (Career Stats)
LHP Matt White (Career Stats)
LHP Ed Yarnall (Career Stats)

Major Leaguers, In minors:
RHP SP Tony Armas (Career Stats)
RHP Antonio Osuna (Career Stats)
RHP Claudio Vargas (Career Stats)

How did those call-ups handle the minors?
RHP Jon Rauch (Career Stats; Minor League Stats; Major League Stats)
Well that didn't work. They seem to have removed Rauch's minor league stats.

Another article popped up on the Nationals.com website, this time about short-stop Guzman. Guzman says that he is sorry for his poor play and thanks Robinson for letting him play. Guzman notes that he hasn't adjusted to hitting in a new league yet.

It now appears that Nick Johnson might not play Friday's game, according to a report on Nationals.com.

Johnson Quote:
"It's frustrating," said Johnson, who is batting .301 with seven RBIs. "I'm going to get some treatment. It's not that bad, but it's pretty sore."

Ok, finally changed the top from orange to red. Don't think I need to change any of the other colors.

1 other game entry can be found on another blog.

Well, the Nationals have won another game, and I'm now 4-3 at the games (I have not been to all the games), and the Nationals are 11-10 (5-4 at home) and tied for third in the division (the Nationals website recap of the game here).

I expected this game to be something of a pitching duel, with the best Nationals pitcher facing off against the pitcher with the most wins in the National League (Leiber). Well, Patterson ended up giving up one run in the top of the first, but the Nationals came back quickly in the bottom, scoring one run when Nick Johnson extended his games hit in streak to 16 by hitting his first home run of the season. Unfortunately, Johnson also continued his seasons where he gets injured streak by injuring himself at the plate later in the game. Wilkerson moved to first base, and non-hitting Ryan Church moved to CF. After that little fun, both pitchers shut down the offensive until the 5th inning, when Wilkerson hit the first ball into the upper deck at RFK "in 34 years", scoring Patterson (who had hit his first career double, or multi-base hit) to increase the lead to 3-1 (that link is to the ESPN recap of the game). Patterson remained in the game until the seventh when Majewski came in for the final seventh inning out.

Johnson's injury - bruise above left knee, out at least until Friday (the Nationals had Thursday off anyway).

The Nationals Loaiza (0-1, 4.74) will face the Phillies Brett Meyers (1-1, 1.71 ERA) later today at 4:35 pm at RFK. As it is something of a day game, I'm taking the day off, and once again missing a Loaiza start, the only Nationals Starter I haven't seen yet this season (of those that have started, which doesn't include Tony Armas).

The Nationals first home game, ever, was an exciting experience. US President Bush showed up to throw out the first pitch. A local music "legend" sang the traditional seventh inning "Take me out to the Ball game" song, and then one of his own. Celebrities galore strolled along in front of me, one sports caster ended up sitting on the ledge in front of me, and a political celebrity walked by and said something like "good game" around the 8th inning.

Since I arrived around 4 or 3 hours early, none of the problems that I've heard about due to delays caused by security hindered me. I arrived at the gate I've since used most occasions to enter the stadium, walked up, through the metal detector and then into the stadium. No one in front of me, and no one behind me.

It was great that the Nationals exist, and won their first game. It is even better that the stadium spectator attitude has changed. That first game, a large number of people seemed to want to walk around being seen, instead of watching the game (which, due to my seating, caused them to walk in front of me, blocking my view of the field; the seating is a lot closer than I expected, and lower).

Well, that's what I might have written if I had thought about starting a blog back on April 14th (and if I had written it then, I'd have more actual baseball in the entry).