Seattle (37-35) @ Washington (35-37)

[Jeff23]

Ackley showing his speed!!!! Another kid thats gonna be a stud!

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

I forgot it was an early game today.

I'm at work, so time to load-up ESPN Gamecast.

EDIT: Nice batting order we threw out today. Too bad we are facing Nolan Ryan for the Nationals.

[Sweezo]

Hate to see Pineda come out of the game but he's almost to 100 pitches and the M's have to keep his innings down if he has any chance of making it through the entire season.

There is no reason for Figgins to ever play again. Christ. He's had enough opportunities.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean any--OH WAIT, Wedge agrees with you...

"He's just not going to get as much playing time. He knows that. He wants to get going more than anybody. I want him to get going more than anybody, but he's in between right now. That's not where you want to be. We'll pick our spots to get him in there, and hopefully he can start heading in the right direction."

And more Wedge on Figgins: "He has to be honest with himself, and he has to be the one who does it. We've had all the conversations. He's been there, done that before. He's going to have to dig deep and fight through this thing. You can't get through this in a passive manner. You have to fight through this to get out of it. It's not easy. He's neck deep in it right now, and he's going to have to fight through it. We're going to give him all the support we can try to give him, and go from there."

Pieguero is also trash. If a right-hander is going, use Carp.

Yep, but Carp's got to get something going too. He's got a low batting average, isn't hitting for power, and walks every once awhile. That's...the same thing Cust does, but less effectively.

[Sweezo]

Jesus...a 1-0 loss in the bottom of the ninth inning. What an absolutely **** series that was.

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

Who gets swept by the Nationals? Christ. This team is pathetic. Worst offense in the history of baseball.

[Rafael122]

Who gets swept by the Nationals? Christ. This team is pathetic. Worst offense in the history of baseball.

Wish you guys luck the rest of the way, the rotation is really good but you guys can't hit worth a damn. Why didn't your GM take Rendon?

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

Pretty sure they were worried about Rendon's health, and they were really high on this pitcher.

.....or our front office just doesn't know what its doing. Both sound about right.

[Sweezo]

Who gets swept by the Nationals? Christ. This team is pathetic. Worst offense in the history of baseball.

Riggleman's doing good things in Washington. I think he has a chance to lead that team to--

aaaand Riggleman just resigned for some reason. Bizarre.

[TTown]

What a ridiculous series. Started off ridiculous, and stood pat the rest of the way.

I watched until Pineda went out, then had to switch to radio. Did Adam Kennedy trying to throw out the runner at 3B in the 9th look as stupid as it sounded?

[TTown]

Oh, and who gets swept by the Nationals? We do... every single time we've ever played them

We're 0-9 lifetime against the Nats. That's OWNAGE.

[Bulltalk]

In this 3 game series, our starting pitchers (Fister, Bedard, and Pineda) gave us a total of 21 innings and gave up only 1 earned run. And we lost all 3 games. You can't ask for more out of your starting rotation. Pathetic.

The handwriting is on the wall. We're going to have to trade for another bat if we want to compete for the division title this year.

[Sweezo]

PS> When I look at Figgens, and think about our hitting woes, it's still irks me that we didn't take Rendon. I know what Hippie said, but...God it seemed like a no-brainer to me.

As much as I wanted Rendon, having been able to pay attention to Hultzen a bit since we drafted him, I'm excited to see what the kid can do. He was operating between 94-96 tonight and whatever his breaking pitch is [slider? curve?] no one could hit it.

Sure, we need offense, but I can't say I'm disappointed in seeing young arms like Walker, Paxton, Hultzen and Campos coming up.

[Bulltalk]

PS> When I look at Figgens, and think about our hitting woes, it's still irks me that we didn't take Rendon. I know what Hippie said, but...God it seemed like a no-brainer to me.

As much as I wanted Rendon, having been able to pay attention to Hultzen a bit since we drafted him, I'm excited to see what the kid can do. He was operating between 94-96 tonight and whatever his breaking pitch is [slider? curve?] no one could hit it.

Sure, we need offense, but I can't say I'm disappointed in seeing young arms like Walker, Paxton, Hultzen and Campos coming up.

I'd trade Hultzen today (throw in Franklin too) for a strong bat. It's all about making the playoffs and going for a title. Isn't it? Our starting staff is World Series champion caliber right now. If we resign Bedard, we could have this staff together for at least the next three years. Meanwhile, we have the WORST hitting team in the major leagues.

[TTown]

We definitely need to strive for balance, there's no question about it. I've liked what I've seen from Hultzen, too; I think we may have made the right pick there. If management is serious about contending in the coming years, I think we'll simply address LF, 3B, and SS via free agency.

Bedard's been great, but he could literally blow out his shoulder and miss the next 18 months at any moment. If he makes it through this season, negotiations with him are going to get REALLY interesting. He's going to want to get paid, and based on performance he deserves to get paid, but I think everyone within the organization is scared straight over that shoulder. I know he likes it here, but IMO there's a good chance we ask him to take a hometown discount and he walks for a better deal. Hultzen's a strong option to replace him, to keep this rotation at an elite level.