WHEN EMMANUEL BURRISS WAS FASTER and better than everyone he played as a member of the Wilson Tigers high school baseball team, enough people took notice that he landed a Division I scholarship.
Burriss raised even more eyebrows playing for Kent State in Ohio.
Yet it was the 2005 summer in the prestigious Cape Cod League, in which he shared playoff MVP honors, when the D.C. native caught enough scouts' eyes that the San Francisco Giants made him the 33rd overall pick in the 2006 draft.
"That was the turning point," remembers father Allen Burriss of the pivotal summer.
And this weekend, the proud dad can watch his son play in the city where he grew up when the Giants visit the Washington Nationals for a four-game series.
"It looks like it's really going to happen," Allen said Wednesday.
Continue Reading "Local Giant: Burriss Is the Pride of the Tigers" »
THE ONLY THING CAPABLE of slowing down Jesus Flores this season has been a vicious foul tip straight into his face mask. And even then it took two of them off the bats of Arizona hitters to drag Flores from the game.
Opposing pitchers haven't been able to keep the Nationals' second-year catcher down. Nor has Washington's front office, which as recently as April wanted to keep him in the minor leagues, convinced that the 23-year-old needed more seasoning.
A Rule 5 draftee, he hit .244 in spot duty last year. The Nationals wanted him to play every day this year but figured the only place that would happen would be in Triple-A Columbus. They signed free agent catchers Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada to handle the big-league pitching staff.
Flores took the decision in stride but didn't necessarily agree that he wasn't ready for the majors.
Continue Reading "Big Shot: Nats' Flores Is Hard to Keep Down" »
LADIES, BEFORE SITTING smack-dab in the middle of a Nationals Park center field row — between two big bubbas downing their fifth Ben's Chili Bowl half-smoke — at tonight's game, be smart. Spring 30 bucks and head to the Rooftop Party Zone at Nationals Park Garage B at 5 p.m. There you'll find the Ladies Night Out and Home Run Happy Hour.
Aside from game admission, you'll score comped manicures, massages and yummy eats. Happy hour specials accompany live music. And the best part is you'll have a chance to drool, er, meet Nats players. No word yet whether Ryan Zimmerman will give pedicures. Hey, a girl can dream!
THE NBA FINALS will pit two of the league's most storied franchises and long time rivals against each other, and the Stanley Cup Finals has turned into a matchup more reminiscent of men against boys. In the interim, the Nationals are coming off of an up and down month of May, including the sidelining of superstar Ryan Zimmerman with a sore left shoulder.
Join Express' Ian Herbert and Matt Swenson, to discuss the eventful weekend that was in the world of sports, and what to look forward to this summer on the calendar.
MAYBE THEY CAN PETITION to use aluminum bats.
While that may be a dangerous proposition, Washington hitters have been anything but threatening with their wood bats this season.
Entering Thursday's game in San Diego, the Nationals had the worst team batting average in Major League Baseball (.234). That dipped to .232 when runners were on base, accounting for the fourth-lowest run total (208) in the majors. None of their middle-of-the-order players was hitting over .257. No one had more than eight home runs. The list of frustrations goes on and on.
All of those stats combine to put pressure on the team's pitchers to be nearly perfect. While the Nationals' staff has been respectable, any team with a 4.43 ERA is going to need a little help to put wins on the board.
"I've just got to go out there and do my job. I've got to throw up zeros no matter what," starter John Lannan said. "The hitting will come around. You really don't think about it that much [on the mound]."
FOR THE MOMENT, THE NATIONALS are built on hope: Hope that bats and arms develop and arrive in the majors the next few years to support — or even carry — the young players already in D.C.
In a way, John Lannan represents both the Nationals of the present and the future. He's good enough to take the hill right now, but Washington sees every fifth day as an investment in the club's future.
Lannan — a 23-year-old starter who impressed enough during spring training to earn a call-up the first week of the season — is scheduled to make his 11th start of the season Thursday night when the Nationals wrap up their series with the Padres at Petco Park.
Like the team itself, Lannan (4-5, 3.57 ERA) enters the game riding a string of up-and-down performances. Two were fantastic. Two were rough. And the rest were somewhere in between.
Continue Reading "Next Nats: Lannan's Future Is Now ... and Later" »
AS POINTED OUT in this space earlier this week, our Washington Nationals are rather boring to watch.
In other words, the team that can’t draw fans to its new stadium lacks a certain juice.
Rather than treating the problem like the weather — which we always lament but never do anything about — I come here offering a solution so obvious that it's too good to be true.
Washington should sign Barry Bonds.
No one has more juice than Bonds — well, other than Roger Clemens — even if it's not the juice the Nats are openly craving.
D.C. has always been a soft landing spot for over-the-hill stars, whether theyre named Moses Malone, Michael Jordan or Deion Sanders.
It makes sense for Bonds, too. No athlete needs good lawyers more than baseball’s home-run king, and no city has more lawyers than the nation's capital.
And Bonds would fit right in with the halfway-house gang already here. Imagine a one-two punch of Bonds and Dmitri "Da Meat Hook" Young. Brandon Webb would be shaking in his cleats.
Fans would turn up, at least until the Redskins' season. Everyone loves a freak show, and it would be interesting to see which is bigger: Bonds' ego, head or flaxseed oil collection.
The jury is still out on the slugger's courtroom woes, but a verdict has been reached here.
The Nats would still be bad, perhaps even worse than before, with Bonds. But fans would have an easy target to needle the rest of the season.
Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images
TO FULLY APPRECIATE JUST HOW GOOD Jason Bergmann has been in his last two starts, you have to consider just how putrid he was in his three starts last month.
In 12.1 painful innings, he allowed 16 earned runs — a futile display that contributed to an elongated early season losing streak that stripped the Nationals of their spring training optimism and got Bergmann demoted.
"We'd lost nine in a row when I got sent down, and that feeling in the clubhouse is never fun," Bergmann said. "Now that I've come back, there's still work to be done, but I'm pleased, so far, with the results."
In two starts since returning from the Columbus Clippers, the right-hander has thrown 14 shutout innings — seven apiece in a 1-0 victory over the Mets last week and in a game the Nats eventually lost 1-0 to the Phillies on Tuesday.
Continue Reading "Back Up: Bergmann Builds His Confidence" »
IS IT POSSIBLE that the Washington Nationals have already had their highlight of the year?
Willie Harris' thrilling game-saving catch in left field last Thursday against the Mets was about as good as it gets. For at least that split second, the monotony that defines this year's Nationals was gone.
Reality returned up north in Baltimore, where taking one of three from another rebuilding team was considered an accomplishment.
And you wonder why the Nats struggle to draw fans to a new stadium.
Yes, few franchises have had this sort of trouble achieving sellouts in the first year of a new ballpark. Yet, few teams made as little an effort to field a winning team as the Nationals, who are back at their new home this week to face the Phillies and Brewers.
The future is most certainly not now, so forgive fans for being patient about buying tickets — they are waiting for a competitive squad.
This city has shown it will cheer for a winner. The Capitals, who became the talk of the town in April, were among the NHL's worst in attendance until they turned around their fortune in January.
There is plenty more to do in the nation's capital than watch a boring team.
Harris' catch drew our attention for a brief moment. The Nats will have to do the same for an entire season to fill their beautiful stadium.
Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post
THEY ARE SEPARATED BY a 45-minute drive, but unlike the Yankees and the Mets, or the Cubs and the White Sox, the Orioles and Nationals are each separated by at least a few good years from being the best teams in baseball. When the Orioles host the Nationals for three games starting Friday, the talk's not going to be about bragging rights, but instead about which team is in better shape for the future. Express breaks down five key positions to see who is closer to fielding a winning team.
» STARTING PITCHING:
The oft-injured but long-on-potential Shawn Hill starts for Washington in the series opener, while the most intriguing matchup may be Sunday's matinee between John Lannan and Jeremy Guthrie, left — two guys who could be part of their respective rotations for a long time. The Nats staff has four starters with ERAs under 4.00, but their staff will probably change significantly over the next few seasons as young pitchers make their way up. Baltimore's major league-ready staff looks better right now. Edge: O's
Continue Reading "Better Off: Who's Looks Better Long Term, Nats or O's?" »
Addison Road
