What, they’ve already played? I had no idea, honest!

Davey and Rick Eckstein have provided more complicated explanations. but that’s my impression. Davey has talked about getting his hitters to be more aggressive, but that doesn’t mean swinging at the junk. Seems to me they expect that, as he matures, Harper should get more patient more consistently. Which is a scary thought.

Incidentally, I don’t want to be accused of ECB (East Coast Bias). Why hasn’t anyone out there manned up and admitted that Lew Wolff is a genius?

The A’s rotation now looks worthy of a playoff contender:

McCarthy 3.10
Anderson 0.64
Parker 3.72
Milone 3.73
Griffin 2.26

Parker and Milone are both tiring, as they’ve exceeded their previous career highs in IP. Anderson has yet to experience the “rubber arm” stretch common to TJ returnees. Meanwhile, this streak of great starting pitching (7+ IP for the starters) has produced a rested bullpen, so important for the stretch.

…and it was Joe West’s crew, shocker. The call was correct, he offered at the pitch, but there was no reason for the umpire to do anything but let Phillips walk away (which is what he was doing).

Somebody needs to put the power of the umps in check. They just do and say whatever they please with no consequences.

The Cards were pissed off at themselves, most specifically Matt Holliday.

When he flubbed the catch in the first inning that let two runs score, and afterwards the camera showed the look on his face, I said to my wife that the next time he comes to bat, he’s going to hit the ball like it said something bad about his momma.

David Freese beat him to it in the second. But when Holliday crushed one in the third, it seemed to take the wind out of Mr. Zimmermann’s sails.

However, it was unreasonable to expect the Cards’ offense to lay dormant 5 consecutive games. The result was probably the worst starts of the season for Jordan Zimmermann and Kyle Lohse. In the end, the Nats’ bellpen faltered, and Jason Motte had a no-drama save.

One of those characteristic Young Mr. Harper plays gave the Nats the lead in the 6th. Ryan Zimmerman singled with Jayson Werth at 2B and Harper at 1B. As Werth scored, Zimmerman wa picked off between first and second. Harper having advanced to third. As the throw to second was made to catch Zimmerman, Harper broke for the plate, beating the high throw.

Meanwhile, the Phillies continue to show how good a spoiler you can be if you have good starting pitchers. So the Nats remain up by 6.5 over the Braves, and 2 percentage points ahead of the Reds for NL #1 seed. Strasburg vs. Westbrook this afternoon..

A few select souls from down on the farm will begin to arrive next week; the notochord trust released some kind of statement or other explaining why they’re waiting a couple of extra days before springing the kids from purgatory but I can’t read Feesh press releases any more this season. After six months of acclimating to Slobbering Ozzie’s gnarled Espanglish, the clarity of Chihuahua bureaucratise clashes with my Buddha-nature.

By the way, lest folks up in the frozen north think it’s just the Feesh who are surfing the rotten karma this season, the Dolfeens team plane backed into another plane on the ramp in Tejas after yet another pre-season loss, damaging it beyond flyability, and Team ’72 didn’t get home until the wee hours of the following morning. I sense a disturbance in the Farce.

Speaking of which, I see that the Gnats did something to piss off the Cardinals. What was that about, Gnats fans?