I'm no French major

"'The Americans? We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came here for,' [French swimmer Alain] Bernard said."

Then the U.S. Men's 4x100 freestyle relay team, led by Jason Lezak (NOT Michael Phelps!) broke the world record by more than 4 seconds and beat the French dirtbags to win gold.

So I need a little bit of help from the French majors (or anyone who can use an online translation device). How do you say "loser" in French? How about "second place?," or even "karma?"

Since I am a history major, I do feel confident in adding Bernard and his relay mates to a very long list of French people who have failed throughout history.



Yes, that IS necessary. USA ALL THE WAY!

Edit-Here's a link with the video of the race

Fun Friday

I'm sitting in Panera once again. They have amazing iced tea. So good that I have gone through 4 cups of it in the last half hour. But anyways...

According to Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News (via MLBTR), "Speculation around the Nationals is that vice president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo is positioned to replace Jim Bowden as general manager." Not exactly big news, but it's refreshing to hear it come from non-Nationals bloggers (I'm looking at you, Steven on Capitol Hill).

It's really tough for me be excited about this team right now. Don't get me wrong, I love the guys, their energy and their winning habits (6 of the last 7? OMG!!!). But all of my excitement from the "New Nats" (or as my blogger friend the Scholastic Scribe would probably call them, the "Gnu Gnats") is drained by how angry I still am toward the management. We need to spend money and we need to sign our draft picks. Sadly, all I can do is say "meh" and try and move on. But if August 15 comes and we don't have all 5 of these draft picks signed, I'm gonna go nuts. Fire Bowden, Kasten, The Lerners, etc.

Was anyone else as immensely amused by this as I was? A Tecmo Bowl matchup of Milledge and Dukes? That's awesome! So awesome that I spent the last hour playing Tecmo Bowl on my laptop here at Panera. That would probably explain why all of the 30something yuppies are staring at me.

Nothing else is really happening. The Olympics are on tonight, and anyone who knows me knows that I am obsessed with them. If you see someone dressed in red white and blue chanting "U-S-A! ALL THE WAY!," it's probably me. If anything exciting happens today, I'll probably give my thoughts then (cough ODALIS TRADE?!?!?!?! cough). If not, I'll be back on either tomorrow or Sunday.

A few more quick things

I just wanted to point out some things I've read about this evening before I go to tonight's part of the "Maybe Next Year" series. (Edit-I'm going to hold off until tomorrow night to do the pitching staff and Monday night to do the bench. That way more people will see it. And I'm sleepy).

Ken Rosenthal (via MLBTradeRumors.com) had some interesting things to say tonight in his "Full Count" video: The first thing that jumps out in the video is the headline "Matt a Nat?" At first glance, I was like...Matt Morris? Matt LeCroy? (I certainly hope not) Nope, Matt Holliday. I know your first reaction is probably "WHAT?" I'll leave it to MLBTR to explain:

Rosenthal names the Nationals as an "intriguing dark horse," saying they've been checking up on Holliday. They like the idea of having him for '09, and could even entertain signing him long-term.

It's interesting to see the Nats' name pop up here. I'd certainly like Holliday as a National if he could be aquired at a reasonable price. His home/road splits are pretty drastic over his career, although less drastic over 2007-08 (and I certainly hope Bowden notices that...although my faith is low because of his expectations that guys that come from the Reds and the GAP will hit better in DC), but he's still put up decent numbers on the road over his career. In a quick search, the only semi-asking price I've found for Holliday was David Price of the Rays. We certainly don't have any pitching prospects of his calibur (yet), but I would be interested to see what else we would have to include with Milledge/Dukes/Kearns (because one of them would have to move in return). FireJimBowden put up an interesting top 10 Nationals trade values list tonight-I'm guessing (since we lack true superstar prospects) that we would have to move at least 2 off of the list for Holliday (plus another prospect). Would something like Milledge+Martis+Rhinehart/Montz be enough? I doubt it. Would it even be worth it? I doubt it. I'm still not sold Milledge will cut it as a starting ML outfielder (has the bat for center, but not the glove and has the glove for the corners but not the bat), so I wouldn't be reluctant to dealing him. But are the prospects worth giving up for a guy whose numbers may or may not be totally inflated by Coors Field (we know they're somewhat inflated, but do we know how much)? All are interesting questions. I'd like to see what you guys think in the comments.

The other rumor was one we've heard similar stuff about before, but with a bit more in terms of being specific. We all know Jon Rauch has been gathering interest around the league, but Rosenthal finally named some names. Again, I'll leave it to MLBTR to wrap it up:

Jon Rauch is a hot commodity, drawing interest from the Rays, Red Sox, and Diamondbacks. His price will exceed that of Brian Fuentes, since he's under team control through 2010.

As usual, I'm wondering how much the Nats could get for Rauch. He's signed incredibly cheap for a good closer (or even an established reliever). Makes me wonder whether it's worth it or not to deal him...but I guess being the worst team in baseball with a good closer is like being a cow with a tuxedo...might look good, but still pointless. Wait till a team gets desparate and milk the top prospects out of them. Stick Hanrahan at closer. He's got the stuff to close in the Majors.


In other news, Manny Acta is reshuffling the pitching rotation to the following:
1) Tim Redding
2) John Lannan
3) Odalis Perez
4) Jason Bergmann
5) Collin Balester

Works for me

Zimmerman starts his rehab stint Monday for the P-Nats (against the Salem Avalanche) and continue there Tuesday. Then he's off to join Columbus in a 4-game home series against the Indianapolis Indians.

Buried inside this article on the Columbus Clippers' official website:

While some minor league players are anxiously awaiting to see if they will get the opportunity to play for the US, other players are turning to their native countries for the chance to represent their homeland in the Olympics. Rumor has it that Yurendell de Caster will play for the Netherlands and might be joined by Clippers’ teammate Shairon Martis.

Canadian Pete Orr was planning on heading back to Canada to help his country in the race for the gold. He had already gotten permission by the Washington Nationals and was ready to go, but due to some injuries at the major league level received a call-up on July 8th.

“This trip to the major leagues could affect Orr’s eligibility for team Canada,” said Scott Leo, play by play announcer for the Clippers. “It was pretty much a sure thing that he would be on their roster, but now it will be interesting to see what happens. I think Canada is supposed to release their final roster this Saturday, so we will all be curious to see if Orr’s name is on it."

I'm not sure how I feel about de Caster and Martis playing in the Olympics. Sure, they deserve the chance to represent their country (well, sorta), but these are two guys that need to be in the Majors come August. Orr really only needs to be around if the Nats dump Fail-ipe or trade Guzman or Belliard (which is entirely possible). If both Orr and de Caster are gone, the Nats would be seriously shorthanded in case of an injury. And Martis has to be a favorite for Odalis Perez's starting spot when he gets traded (not if, but when). It just doesn't make sense from a personnel standpoint go let these guys play, no matter how bad we are or how much they want to play for the Netherlands.