Another dissapointing close-enough-to-win loss. And here's the thing. We've been frustrated with Felipe Lopez all season. But there's a difference between frustration and downright - please don't make me have to cheer for this person. With Felipe, it's just frustration. We're upset because we do believe he has potential, but he continues to dissapoint us....not just at the plate. The former All-Star talks about his desire to win a Gold Glove someday but we have yet to see that kind of energy and purpose on the field. But lately, in addition to struggling at the plate -- he's been ending important momentum building rallies and making costly errors.

"There's a lot of inconsistency in his approach. He gets into a good groove and then he falls back into the other one, just a down period." -- Manager Manny Acta

This is not to say that we've given up on Felipe. In fact, perhaps the opposite. I told the girls we should all be pulling for someone who really needs it...they'll let you know who they choose, but my choice is F-Lop. It worked a little bit on Monday night (he had a hit and a diving stop), but I fell asleep and our Short Stop fell apart. Same sort of thing Tuesday night -- started the game with two hits (thanks to hustling) and a stolen base. But later, he grounded into a double play and made the 7th inning error that changed the game.

Frustrated but pulling for him to get out of this. He's my pull-for-him-like-crazy project for the rest of 07.

The Good Stuff?

How about Tony Batista's pinch hit homerun?

Saul Rivera continues to dominate hitters reaching his 70th appearance of the season.

Bergmann wasn't perfect, but we can live with 3 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings -- if you forgive his error, not a bad appearance at all.

"It was a battle the whole time. I really didn't have good command of my off-speed stuff, but the fastball was there when I needed to go to it," Bergmann said. "The slider was not very good. My curveball was up. I'm just not hitting my spots with those pitches, which were treating me really well during my rehab assignments. But the fastball was there and I'm very happy that I had that." - Jason Bergmann

What Else?

Fall ball for a newly-clean-shaven Jesus Flores!

A feature story on Manny Acta by Tim Brown

A timely debate on Felipe by Barry at Nationals Journal

Bob & Don want fans to rally around a Gold Glove bid for Austin Kearns. We're game.