Washington Posting

Brad Peacock continued his rise from obscure origins on Saturday afternoon–he was a 41st round draft choice in 2006–as he struck out ten over six innings, winning his sixth game. Peacock posted 14 Ks in his prior start and those eye-popping numbers have brought the Nationals 23-year old right hander a little extra attention. He is pitching at Harrisburg, PA for now, but his 2.13 ERA and 66-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 48 innings may earn him a mid-year bump to Syracuse if whatever light has gone on for the young man continues to burn bright.

Bryce Harper hit his 10th homer in Hagerstown yesterday and is on a pace to reach 35 home runs in his first professional season unless the competition at higher levels slows him down. The question is whither goest Harper? The most common wisdom has him earning a quick promotion to Potomac and Washington’s high-A affiliate.  Others believe he will play the first half in Hagerstown and appear in the Sally League All-Star Game alongside Manny Machado.  Then he will jump to Harrisburg to see if he can handle the competition at that level as an 18-year old.

Harper is not the only prospect opening eyes in Hagerstown.  Blake Kelso, tagged as a utility infielder, has kept pace with Harper’s batting average that now stands at .365. Kelso is right behind Harper at .355. More impressive has been right-handed pitcher Robbie Ray who has looked extremely sharp in his first three starts.  After promotion from the Nationals rookie league team, the 19-year old Ray has posted 17 Ks to one walk, and a 0.53 ERA over his first seventeen innings. He signed for $800,000 as a 12th round pick in the 2010 draft. The money lured the left-handed, Tennessee high schooler away from a commitment to the University of Arkansas, a perennial SEC baseball front-runner. Money well-spent by the Nationals so far.

The big club set offensive records against the Orioles on Friday night, scoring more runs than at any point since moving from Montreal in 2005. Behind six home runs–also a club record–the Nationals pounded Baltimore in inter-league play, 17-5. Danny Espinosa and Jayson Werth found the short right- and left-field walls in Camden Yards appealing as they launched three and Espinosa missed his second of the night by inches as he settled for a triple.

The explosion came after the team failed to score a single run in two games against the New York Mets. They wasted fine pitching by Livan Hernandez  who lost 1-0. Livo’s record now stands at 3-6 despite a 3.64 ERA. The Nationals team batting average stands at .229, dead last in the NL even after the 19 hits Friday night in Baltimore. Which makes carrying Matt Stairs as dead weight even more difficult.

A fine hitter through out his long career, Stairs has looked ever day of his 42 years so far in the 2011 season. He is 2-for-26 but that has not kept him out of the lineup. He was the starting DH in Baltimore and batted fifth where he stranded five base runners. He was the only person in the lineup who failed to scratch in the 17-run game where Washington poled 19 hits as a team. He is posted as the DH again this afternoon, batting fifth.

On Friday Stairs was ostensibly batting in the place of pitcher Jason Marquis who sports a hefty .333 batting average and has three RBI. Stairs has hit in the middle of the order as a starter and come up in numerous key situations with runners aboard and still has yet to drive any Washington base runner across the plate.

Roger Bernadina followed up one of the great catches of the season with one that just made you cringe. Losing his footing as he approached the wall on a Matt Wieters drive, Bernadina tripped over his own feet and had the ball strike him squarely in the glove. He lost the ball as he fell awkwardly against the wall. Bernadina did manage to atone with the bat, garnering a key single in the go-ahead rally and later adding a two-run homer.

For all the hype of inter-league play, the Friday night game between Washington and Baltimore had a paid attendance of only 24,000. It is easy to find villains over the course of the season, but Bud Selig doesn’t seem to be able to manufacture them, unless of course he adds another wild card team. Then he will have done so for many fans who eschew the loss of post-season drama in the name of television revenues and owner profits.