Lots of impressive swings tonight…some from All Star Josh Hamilton…Hamilton hit a record 28 homers during the first round of tonight’s Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium.

…Some from Ryan Zimmerman, making his first rehab start for the Potomac Nationals in Salem, VA.  Ryan, the DH, went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and a run.  Potomac lost 8-6.  Detwiler started, but received a no decision.  We’re thrilled that Ryan’s on his way back.

News came this morning that the cause for Wily Mo Pena’s shoulder pain will require surgery.  He has a small tear and impingement in his left rotator cuff, as well as, fraying of the labrum in his left shoulder.  Surgery will take place within the next week or so. 

Meanwhile, Nats Farm Authority says that outfielder Alex Escobar was released from Columbus. 

Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge are both on the disabled list as well.  Austin Kearns just recently returned to action after over a month on the DL.

This weekend’s series against the Astros started favorably for the Nats.  The boys of summer belted out ten runs and held the Texans to a shutout. The 10-0 victory was the largest margin the Nats have won by so far this season. Tim Redding finally earned another win, his first since May 19th.  Steven Shell came out of the bullpen and was solid pitching three shutout innings and earning his first career save.

The Nationals started their offense early when Ronnie Belliard hit his first homer of the night after Flores reached first base on a single.  The Nats quickly led 2-0.  Astros starter Oswalt was taken out after the first inning with a hip injury, but the Nationals’ bats stayed hot for the rest of the night. The Nats scored again in the 3rd when Kearns and Guzman hit back to back doubles.  In the 5th, the Astros loaded the bases by intentionally walking Kory Casto.  Jesus Flores, who is steadily working his way out of a slump, hit a two RBI single to put the Nats up again.  That brought hot-hitting Ronnie Belliard to the plate.  Ronnie then hit his second home run of the night and the 100th of his career, to clear the bases.  The Nationals fans were loud and Belliard took a well deserved curtain call.  The Nats capped off the night with a two run shot from Austin Kearns, who is looking much better at the plate after coming back from the DL.

Friday’s victory was much needed.  It proved that the team is much better than they have been playing.  Hopefully the win is a sign of good things to come after the All Star break.

While productive offense launched the Nats to victory on Friday, poor defense on Saturday caused the Nats to fall 6-4 in game two against the Astros. Two errors and two unearned runs put a win out of reach for the team. Starter Colin Balester pitched just 4 and 2/3 innings giving up six runs, 4 earned. Errors, from Belliard at third and Guzman at short, gave the Astros a comfortable cushion.  The worst mistake though, came in the fifth inning.  With one out and runners on the corners, Lo Duca fielded a grounder close to the first base bag.  He touched the bag for an out, but then didn’t throw the ball to third to try to get Berkman who had a big lead, or tag Carlos Lee who was on his way back to first base. Lo Duca could have easily tagged Lee for the third out, but with Lo Duca confused, Lee reached the bag safely.  Berkman then scored a batter later, giving the Astros a bigger lead.

The Nationals played small ball with singles, bunts and sac-flys to score early, but with silly baseball mistakes their efforts weren’t enough.  They tried to rally in the 6th when Willie Harris led off the inning with his 5th home run.  The Nats then loaded the bases with one out.  Jesus Flores was hit by a pitch and all of the runners advanced to put another run on the board.  The guys had a chance to at least tie the game, but struggling Wily Mo Pena grounded into a double play to end the inning.  That was the most disappointing at bat of the night.  After that, the Nats couldn’t mount a comeback.

Given WMP’s struggles this season, trade rumors are circulating about picking up Matt Holliday. Holliday is headed to the All Star game with a .337 average.  He’s 28 and signed through next season on a two-year, $23 million contract.

On Sunday, as fans baked in the afternoon sun, the Nats took off for All Star break early.  Perez pitched pretty well for 6 innings.  He gave up 3 runs, including a home run to Wigginton in the 2nd inning.  He did strike out 6 while only walking one - Wigginton.  Manning gave up another 2 runs in 2/3 of an inning, but Colome, Ayala and Rauch finished the game without a problem.

To Houston’s twelve hits, Washington put up just 5.  Only Wil Nieves hit for an extra base with a double off of Backe.  Backe walked four in his seven innings of work but never allowed the Nats to put runs on the board.  With the 5-0 victory, they took two of three from the Nats before beginning the All Star Break.

A busy weekend of games prevented a full discussion here about the alleged Jim Bowden-Jose Rijo investigation by the FBI.  Nats Farm Authority and Fire Jim Bowden were actively updating and synthesizing reports, while the Post, the Times, MLB.com, The New York Times, the Associated Press and ESPN each had their own take on the situation.  In summary, ESPN says Bowden and Rijo are suspects.  Bowden has and Rijo will meet with FBI investigators but both claim not to be suspected of wrongdoing.  Sports Illustrated revealed that the investigation focuses on the 1.4 million dollar bonus given to Esmailyn “Smiley” Gonzalez in 2006.  Gonzales, heralded as a future star for the organization, is hitting .394 in 17 games this season with the Gulf Coast team.  At the time of the signing, Gonzales made it clear that he was signing with the team because of his special relationship with Jose Rijo, according to Bill Ladson, writing in 2006.  Kasten and Bowden said:

“…there were opposing teams who tried to sabotage them from signing Gonzalez. They would not name the organizations in question, but Kasten said the Nationals are considering taking the matter to the league office. “I don’t know how I’m going to react,” Kasten said. “I wanted [our front office] to keep their eyes on the ball and get the deal done [with Gonzalez].”

We’ll all continue to watch this unfold together.

Also frustrating this weekend were comments made by Mark Lerner about his take on building a successful team. Harper at Oleanders and Morning Glories echoes our sentiments, especially with regard to the Johan Santana criticism.  Since when did wins and losses for a pitcher mean much of anything?  Santana’s doing his job and doing it well.  It’s especially disconcerting that he chose that example because we’ve got a decent rotation that has battled throught the first half remarkably well without a lot of wins or run support to show for it. 

In other news, Bowden was awarded Sports Illustrated’s First Half Worst GM in the National League Award for constructing a team that has “one, maybe two, legit starting position players.”

Ryan Zimmerman begins a rehab assignment tonight with the Potomac Nationals.  He’ll play two games in Salem, VA with the P-Nats before joining the Columbus Clippers.

We want to extend our deepest sympathies to the families of Michael Feiock and Joshua Stoll, the two victims of the Nats Express accident on Friday night.  The Post has a touching story about the two young men.  Stoll was to wed his high school sweetheart this September. 

Nationals’ President Stan Kasten:  “The most important thing I can say is how badly we all feel about this horrible tragedy, and again expressing our thoughts and prayers for the families of those involved.”

The Nationals are coming a long way with the Spanish broadcasts and the LosNacionales website.  On Saturday, they again reach out to the Latino community by honoring the ten hispanic players on the roster, as well as the coaching staff and Manny Acta.

From the Nationals:

WASHINGTON NATIONALS HOST HISPANIC HERITAGE NIGHT

The Washington Nationals will host Hispanic Heritage Night on Saturday, July 12 when they host the Houston Astros at 7:10pm. The organization will recognize Hispanic culture and honor Hispanic players’ contributions to the game of baseball. The Nationals have 10 Hispanic players on their Major League roster, as well as three coaches and the only Dominican manager in Major League Baseball in Manny Acta.

The Nationals will honor their Hispanic players and coaches in an on-field pre-game ceremony that will include a flag presentation. Flags from Curacao, Netherlands Antilles (Roger Bernadina); the Dominican Republic (Manny Acta, Ricardo Aponte, Jesus Colome, Cristian Guzman, Wily Mo Peña and Odalis Perez); Mexico (Luis Ayala); Puerto Rico (Felipe Lopez, Jerry Morales, Wil Nieves and Saul Rivera); and Venezuela (Jesus Flores) will be presented by the respective players.

Nationals fans may enjoy music by the Verny Verala Project; a Latin band led by Verny Verala, an arranger, composer, singer and flutist who teaches at Bell Multicultural High School; prior to the game in the Center Field Plaza from 4:30 pm until 6:50 pm. The band will be accompanied by Salsa and Cuban rueda dancers from Saoco, winner of the 2007 Salsa Dance Group of the Year in Washington, DC. The Saoco dancers will also perform on the dugouts during the middle of the third inning. El Zol radio personality Pedro Biaggi will throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Nationals Spanish Béisbol Network broadcaster Luciano Rodriguez will provide PA announcements in Spanish and the team will show videos of Hispanic baseball greats, including Rod Carew and Juan Marichal.

So, here we are.  Half a season down with little hope in sight for tolerable baseball anytime soon.  Nobody’s watching on tv, the park is filled with casual fans and tourists, progress with draft picks has been slow, the Lerners are waging a financial battle with the city and there’s just not a lot to feel good about.  But, if you visit wevegotheart.com, you should get a little more heart and a little less doom and gloom.  I suppose.  Perhaps it all started when fans shot down the idea of playing the song regularly at the new park at the beginning of the season. 

We were joined by a special guest on Wednesday, a beloved professor who taught each of us as much about Aristotle and James Madison as he did about living a full life and having an impact on those around you.  A lifelong Red Sox fan, on Wednesday, he again taught us something new.  After prying with questions about the team, players, prospects and front office, he made the observation that we needed to change our attitude a bit.  He was a new source of enthusiasm, a light in the otherwise dark fanbase in despair.  Throughout the game, he was optimistic while we tried to pull him back to reality.

The oddest part of this pleasant learning experience came later.  This professor is by no means a fountain of optimism when it comes to trusting in political systems and citizens.  Pretty words, nice speeches and promises for a better tomorrow don’t inspire this sober mind. 

So, to see him inspired and enthusiastic that this last place team could turn a double play and properly execute a hit and run baffled me.  When I pointed out the discrepency in his life philosophy, he said, “that’s baseball,” the one thing that allows him to live outside of reality, if only for a few hours.  There’s some magic in setting aside the numbers for a night and believing it could be better.

And it was.  Wednesday brought about a desperately needed shut-out win for the Nationals.  And for the first time, in a long time, I was able to put it all in perspective.  You blog, you watch, you rush from work to get there in time, maybe you get soaked in a downpour or sit through a three hour rain delay, or maybe its 100 degrees and you spend more than you should on 5 bottles of water.  It takes a toll on your sanity.  You’re bound to get angry from time to time.  You care too much.

With that out there, here’s what happened last night.  The Nats battled.  They lost the end game but they battled back twice, which is more than we’ve seen all season.  The Diamondbacks battled too.  We saw a beautiful game from Bergmann, seven quality innings in his pitching duel with Dan Haren. 

When the bats came alive to rally in the 9th, fans stood up and hoped for the best.  A Lopez walk followed by consecutive singles for Casto and Guzman loaded the bases for Austin Kearns.  We think Manny unwisely wasted Willie Harris as a pinch runner for Casto.  Both Lopez and Casto scored easily when Austin Kearns’ hard grounder was bobbled by Mark Reynolds.  With Guzman, the winning run, on second - Young and Flores couldn’t get it done.  Wily Mo reached first on another error by Reynolds to load the bases.  With the winning run now just 90 feet away, Acta allowed the struggling Bernandina to hit for himself.  He battled through nine pitches but eventually grounded out to end the inning.  

With a tie to protect, big Jon Rauch took the mound.  He got the first two outs quickly, but things fell apart just as quickly.  Two singles and two doubles later, the Diamondbacks were up by 3 and Mark Reynolds had made up for his 2 errors.  Normally, I would have been dejected, impressed with the 9th inning rally and ready to call it a night, but I tried to believe, for a change, that we might come out fighting.  Sure enough, Pete Orr led off with a double.  After Lopez grounded out, Willie Harris singled to score Orr.  The gap was closing.  Guzman singled then Kearns doubled and advanced to third on the throw.  The game was again tied, but the winning run was on third base with only one out.  Fans again went crazy.  Tony Pena was pulled for Chad Qualls.  After Dmitri was intentionally walked, he was replaced by Wil Nieves, probably to prevent the double play ball.  Flores made contact but right to third base where a quick toss home to Montero caught Kearns out at the plate.  WMP ended the inning with a grounder, stranding two men on.  The rally fell short yet again.

Ayala came in and hit Ojeda on his second pitch, an omen almost worst than walking the lead off batter.  Ayala fielded Young’s sacrifice bunt well for the first out, but gave up a double to Stephen Drew which scored Ojeda.  He intentionally walked Hudson to face Conor Jackson.  Though Jackson singled, Harris’ throw to Flores beat Drew home for the second out.  Ayala still had one RBI base hit left in him and he gave it to Chad Tracy.  Worst of all, the two runners who scored off Ayala reached base by getting hit by pitch and intentionally walked.   While he’s struggled mightily this season, this loss is certainly not all his fault.  There’s enough blame to go around.  For one, Bernadina and Flores both left 5 runners on base and Young left 3.

As a sidenote, fans really gave Angel Hernandez a tough time throughout the final innings, booing and yelling Balk at every Diamondback’s pick-off attempt.  It was fun.

And the game was fun.  There are tough losses and there are times when you leave knowing everybody gave their all.  Last night, we lost a hard fought battle, which is worlds better than being shut out.

Tonight, we begin a series with the Houston Astros against Roy Oswalt, who missed his last start (7-8, 4.60 ERA).  Tim Redding takes the mound for the Nats.

 In our next interview for the Women in Baseball series, we talk to Pam Gardner, President of Business Operations for the Houston Astros.

Houston Astros President of Business Operations Pam Gardner knows a thing or two about the different paths life offers us.  Pam, who is in the midst of her 20th season with the Houston Astros organization, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a degree in Vocational Rehabilitation.  From there she had her sights set on law school. In order to pay for law school, Pam worked in the mailroom at a PR firm in Chicago.

While working in Chicago, Pam discovered her love for marketing, advertising and public relations and decided to put the law school dream aside. “I just started moving up in the company.  I never left and went back to school. I stayed there; I was there for about 10 years.  When I left I was Vice President of the Entertainment Division and we did mostly PR for sports and entertainment, Broadway theatre that kind of thing.” 

After working in Chicago for more than a decade, Pam made the move to Houston, for personal reasons.  She sent her resume to the Astros on a whim, and was rewarded with a new job in the baseball industry. “They happened to have a job opening in Advertising, so I took a step backwards and started as Director of Advertising.” That was 1989. Pam worked through an organizational shift in the mid-nineties when Drayton McLane bought the club. “When he bought the club in ’93, I was there; he inherited me.  So, luckily, I was one that he decided to keep and I started just moving through the ranks to other jobs.” Since then Pam worked her way steadily through the organization, and was eventually named President of Business Operations, the position she currently holds.   

Since joining the Astros, Pam and the organization have both been successful. In 2006, Pam became the first female executive induced into the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame. That followed Pam’s 2005 recognition as one of the 20 most influential women in sports.  In addition, Pam was included in a special exhibit in Cooperstown honoring women in baseball.  There’s no doubt that Pam works hard, but she does so with an understanding that working in baseball is not just any job.

“It’s a tough lifestyle for men as well, in the office side of baseball, because there are very long hours.  I always tell people it’s not a job; it’s a lifestyle. You are in at 7:30 in the morning.  On game days, you’re home at midnight and you’re back at 7:30 in the morning.  Weekends, and it’s all the time.  It’s a time commitment.”

It’s a time commitment that Pam embraces to the fullest.  There is no typical day for her; she juggles just about everything on the business front. “I put out a lot of fires.  It’s a lot of crisis management, day to day.  And I don’t mean huge horrible things, but it’s just day to day issues that you have to deal with.” Through it all though, she understands the importance of the personal side of running a business also.

“One thing I do everyday is try to walk the building, try to see everyone that works there.  We don’t have a big staff; we have one of the smaller staffs.  I like to touch base with people, check in and get the pulse of the place.”

In 2000, Pam spearheaded the advertising and marketing efforts for both the team and the new ballpark in its inaugural season. It was a challenge to convince the city that a new ballpark would be a blessing to Houston. “We had a tough time passing the legislature to get a new stadium, so it went to a pubic vote.  We won the public vote 51% to 49% so it was that close.  And so, I think, when we got there, it was like ‘oh my gosh.’  That was the biggest challenge or hurdle you could possibly deal with.” Once the stadium was built and the inaugural game was played in March of 2000, the challenge was worth it.  Minute Maid Park was a success. During that time, Pam also led the development of the new logo and uniform design and implementation plan.

For Pam working behind the senses is the perfect fit for her personality.  She is happy doing the planning, organizing, all of the leg work really, that makes a baseball team successful because for her the reward is “being affiliated with something really magical.”  Understanding the magic of the sport maybe made the challenge of working to get a new stadium built a little less stressful, because in the end, Pam knew that a new ballpark would really be an asset to the city.

“The beautiful thing about baseball parks anyway is that no two are alike.  There are different dimensions and everything is different.  And that’s the beauty of ballparks.  So I think it has to fit your city.  And if it does, then all the other pieces will come together.”

Pam, a mother who cherishes the memory of teaching her six year old daughter to score at a game, recognizes the importance of reaching out to female fans, especially mothers by preserving the family atmosphere at the ballpark.  The Astros have a strong female fan base, nearly 50%, which is partly a result of a conscious outreach effort. 

“Women are the gatekeepers.  They gate-keep where the family goes and where the family’s money is spent.  And they decide if the family is going to go to a movie that day or a baseball game. It’s Mom that decides that.  And also, we always say that baseball’s an eating sport.  You know it kind of moves along slow.  Not for me, I love every nuance of the game.  But you can visit, you can knit, you can go up and get something to eat, so it’s great for that.”

She credits Major League Baseball for trying to attract more women to the sport, but admits that organizations need to do more work reaching out to women to develop front office talent.  The Astros worked hard to recruit talented women and today women comprise half of their management team.  But across the industry, “there are some days when you feel like there are not a lot of you out there.   It really is still a male dominated industry.”

Challenges, Pam admits, come with the territory, but with maturity and a good work ethic, women can succeed in the baseball world.

“I think the biggest challenges was for me when I was younger, trying to overcome those that didn’t want me in the club, and I just decided one day I was going to stop doing that and just do my own thing, and those things too would sort themselves out.  Those that didn’t have time for me would stay over there anyway and that’s how things worked out.  I think early on, it was a challenge for me personally but as I got older, I realized it’s just a part of maturity and life and you deal with it.”

But make no mistake about it.  For all the challenges of being a woman in the industry, there are “a thousand people waiting for these jobs.”  Because they are widely coveted, Pam offers this importance advice on landing one.   

“Take any job you can to get in the door.  Have a good sense of self.  Be professional.  Dress how you want to be treated.  Don’t do anything to embarrass yourself, your company or your family and you’ll be good to go.  Get an internship if you can.  Then work your tail off.”

More than anything else, Pam appreciates that baseball touches the community in important ways.  “We play everyday, so the players are in the middle of the community.  And they touch the community; they are just a piece of life.”  So too is Gardner, who sits on the Houston Area Women’s Center, a center for abused women victimized by domestic violence and sexual abuse.  “You can be connected with the community in a different way.   So when you get more women into the industry itself, then that follows along too.”

The rewards much outweigh the long hours and hard work required to be successful in the industry.  For Pam, baseball is special.  It touches lives and the greater Houston community.  It brings families together and represents “an average slice of America,” on the field and in the stands.

Many thanks to Pam for taking time out of her busy schedule to meet with us.

The Nats finally scored some runs for starting pitcher John Lannan, and he got a much deserved victory last night.  The Nats shutout the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0.  The Nats hadn’t shutout an opponent since May 19th. More importantly, last night’s win put an end the team’s six game losing streak.

With the team’s struggles this year, I think we have all learned to appreciate the little things.  I was impressed with the Nationals defense last night.  Lannan allowed runners on base, with a few walks and some hits, but the guys behind him were solid, turning three double plays. Lannan once again, pitched a nice game going six no run innings. He threw 85 pitches, 42 for strikes. The outfielders looked solid also; I liked seeing Willie Harris in center field.  It was refreshing to watch a game with no errors. 

Arizona pitcher Owings was all over the place with the ball last night.  He couldn’t seem to find the plate to throw a strike.  He actually hit three Washington batters in the game.  Paul Lo Duca got nailed on the inside of his knee pretty hard, he didn’t look to happy about it, and even less so when he almost got hit again a couple innings later.  The Nationals scored their first run in the second inning thanks to Owings erratic throws.  After giving up a single to Young, Owings hit Belliard and Lo Duca with pitches to load the bases. Dmitri crossed the plate on a force after Kory Casto earned a walk.

The Nats held their one run lead until they added some insurance runs in the sixth inning.  Kory Casto, who was recently called back from Columbus to take Dukes’ place, had a great the game.  Kory played solidly in left field, and made a really nice backhand catch.  In the sixth inning Casto hit an RBI double to score Young again.  Kory also stole his first major league base last night.  Hopefully this kid is finding his groove in the bigs this time up.  Jesus Flores, who has been struggling offensively for the last couple of weeks, pinch hit for Lannan in the sixth.  On a 1-2 count Flores, found a good pitch and launched the ball about 380 feet into the visitor’s bullpen.  His three run shot put the Nats up by five.  A pinch hit homer has to be good for Flores’ confidence.  Flores is actually 3-6 in the pinch hit position this season, but I like seeing him behind the plate much better.

The bullpen of Hanrahan, Ayala, and Rauch held the D-Backs to a shutout, but it was the young guys, Lannan, Casto, and Flores that ensured the Nats victory. 

As expected, the Nats suffered another loss last night, in fact a major league-leading 11th shutout and dropped their record to 34-57.

Odalis Perez got tossed after home plate umpire Angel Hernandez called two balks on Odalis in the 3rd inning.  He had only faced 10 batters.  At least somebody besides Lo Duca has some fire these days.  The ejection may have took a toll on the bullpen, but it was a welcome sign of life from a lethargic team that has quickly put enthusiastic fans to sleep.   This team desperately needs leadership.  Someone needs to wake up and say, we’re better than this.  Because yes, there have been a lot of injuries, but we were better than the 100 losses we’ll collect this season.

And a quick note on Hernandez.  Some quick research reveals that he once ejected a “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” singer before the game.  He also has a history of holding grudges, which is exactly why Odalis was so upset.

In addition to the balks, the Nats had two errors last night, and both led to unearned runs.  Early in the game, Guzman couldn’t complete a throw to first.  The runner, Burke, would soon score.  Then again in the 6th, Bernadina misjudged Bobby Hammock’s fly ball to put another unearned Arizona run on the board.   On the other hand, Wily Mo and Lopez both made nice defensive plays.  WMP charged a short fly ball from Mark Reynolds in the 8th to end the inning.  Earlier in the game, Felipe Lopez dove full force to stop a grounder before rolling it into Guzman’s glove for the out.  Effort? Energy?  Yup, at least a little bit.

The bullpen held up nicely too.  Shell came in without much of a warm up and quickly issued a walk on 4 consecutive balls to Stephen Drew.  But, he got out of the third inning with no damage.  In his next two innings, he gave up 1 hit with 4 walks and 2 strike outs.  After that, Saul Rivera and Joel Hanrahan finished the game strong.  Manny was impressed with their efficiency.  Rivera faced 8 batters; Hanrahan faced only 6.  They did it on 50 pitches between them. 

Sure, the team faced the dominating Webb last night, who gave up 6 hits in 6 innings with 6 strike outs.  Several of those hits came off the bat of Austin Kearns.  Austin went 2 for 4 with a strike out.  He’s only been back for a week, but he’s batting .317 since his return.  We doubt his numbers will ever reach Bowden and Ladson level expectations, but he may be on his way back to a more tolerable mediocrity.  Young also had a good night (3 for 4 with a walk).  Kory Casto had a welcome return to Washington, after going back and forth to Columbus.  He had another big pinch hit, a double in the 5th off of Webb.

Tonight, Micah Owings (6-7, 5.15) faces John Lannan (4-9, 3.60).

Zuckerman’s chatting at 1 pm.  I’m starting to think he’s the only beat writer we should be listening to these days.