(AP Photo via DayLife. Daniel Cabrera made Nationals history exactly a year ago today.)
On April 30, 2009...
Daniel Cabrera set a team record for wild pitches in a game (four).
...the back-end of the bullpen was in shambles: Joel Hanrahan had already flamed out by this point, replaced by a Closer by Committee of Kip Wells and Julian Tavarez (gack!)
...The Nationals started the day with a 5-15 record. They ended the day with a 5-16 record after a loss to St. Louis which featured a 5-run, 9th inning meltdown by Mr. Tavarez, who inherited a 4-4 game.
...Online sportsbook BetUS.com set the Odds on First MLB Manager to Get Fired in 2009: a fellow by the name of Manny Acta was installed as the favorite, at 2/1 odds.
...The Washington Times had a Sports section staffed by real live humans, with Thom Loverro serving as de facto ombudsman for NatsTown. On this day in particular, Loverro reported on Jim Bowden's first day as an on-air personality for Fox Sports Radio in Los Angeles:
The guy who left the dead fish to rot in the safe-deposit box and skipped town - you know, the general manager who built the Washington Nationals' bullpen - is on the rebound.
(Thom Loverro, via the now defunct Washington Times, 4/30/2009)
The point of all this is not to dredge up negativity for negativity's sake, but to give thanks for April 30, 2010. What a difference a year makes. Required reading: head over to Capitol Punishment this morning, and give thanks for Clip-n-Save. Don't know if it'll hold up over the long haul, but we'll take it. The view is pretty nice from up here:
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"The point of all this is not to dredge up negativity for negativity's sake..."
Yeah, right...
Posted by: Anonymouse | April 30, 2010 at 04:47 PM
Ok, it was a little bit for negativity's sake. We're not really sure how to react to this winning - it's been a while.
Posted by: The Nationals Enquirer | April 30, 2010 at 08:50 PM