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Phil Wood: It's time for baseball to use technology to make sure umps get it right
Phil Wood
Updated: Fri, May 17, 2013
Major league owners held their quarterly meeting in New York last week and were briefed on the topic of expanded instant replay in the game, which may begin as early as next season. Ex-manager Joe Torre, now MLB's executive vice president of baseball operations, said owners were "updated" on...
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Phil Wood: Nationals backup Tyler Moore is too good not to get more of a chance
Phil Wood
Updated: Fri, May 10, 2013
Just before Opening Day, I used this space to opine that the Nationals should think seriously about making converted pitcher Micah Owings their righty-hitting backup first baseman/outfielder/pinch hitter in 2013. Owings had signed a minor league contract last winter and turned in an impressive...
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Phil Wood: Nationals fans proving D.C. is a baseball town after all
Phil Wood
Updated: Sat, May 4, 2013
According to Major League Baseball, the Washington Nationals sold 509,006 tickets during the month of April. They played 16 home games last month, for a per-game average of 31,813. That figure ranks them 10th overall out of 30 teams. You can do the math yourself, but here's the bottom line: At...
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Phil Wood: An overdue honor for D.C. baseball legend Sam Rice
Phil Wood
Updated: Fri, Apr 26, 2013
On September 18, 1934, Sam Rice played his final major league game. Wearing a Cleveland uniform, he went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs in a 9-6 win over his previous team, the Washington Senators. He retired with a .322 average and 2,987 base hits, just 13 shy of the 3,000-hit club. His...
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Phil Wood: It's too early to make a judgment on Nationals' Dan Haren
Phil Wood
Updated: Sat, Apr 20, 2013
When the Nationals opted not to make right-hander Edwin Jackson a qualifying offer of $13.3 million for 2013, it meant three things: First, they knew he really wanted a multiyear deal and weren't prepared to offer him one. Second, if he accepted their offer, he might not be any better than he...
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Phil Wood: Ian Desmond's rough start on defense for Nationals is nothing to worry about
Phil Wood
Updated: Sat, Apr 13, 2013
On April 3 against Miami, in the second game of the season, Ian Desmond made a throwing error. The Nationals won the game 3-0. On April 5, in a 15-0 blowout loss in Cincinnati, Desmond made a fielding error. The next day, in a 7-6 victory, he made two more errors, one fielding and one...
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Phil Wood: Nationals catch a break with Wilson Ramos' recovery
Phil Wood
Published: Sat, Apr 6, 2013
Prior to Wilson Ramos tearing his right ACL going after a passed ball last May, he had started 24 of the Nationals' 33 games behind the plate. The other nine starts were made by his backup, Jesus Flores. Ramos, who'd caught 113 games in 2011, was clearly the starter, a job he'd been projected to...
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Phil Wood: Reliever Henry Rodriguez has a chance to become a 'monster' for Nationals
Phil Wood
Updated: Fri, Mar 29, 2013
A half-century ago, a right-handed relief pitcher with the Boston Red Sox named Dick Radatz was nicknamed "The Monster." At the time, he was more associated with the word "monster" than the left field wall at Fenway Park. Radatz was big -- 6-foot-6, 230 pounds -- and could throw the ball...
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Phil Wood: Nationals' Micah Owings changes it up for one more swing
Phil Wood
Updated: Wed, Mar 27, 2013
VIERA, Fla. Years before anyone heard of Frank Howard, another ballplayer came to mind whenever the name "Hondo" came up. Right after World War II, the baseball world was abuzz with stories of Clint Hartung, the "Hondo Hurricane" from Hondo, Texas. Hartung had impressed every scout who had...
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Phil Wood: Nationals having a low-stress spring
Phil Wood
Updated: Fri, Mar 15, 2013
VIERA, Fla. Spring Training No. 9 for the Washington Nationals has less than two weeks left here on the outskirts of Melbourne, Fla., but make no mistake about it, it's a decidedly different environment in and around Space Coast Stadium. In years past, the chatter in the stands revolved far...