Sweeping up-Baseball edition

Been busy lately with a flurry of end of the season baseball games and some extra work,so have fallen behind a bit on things here.
Baseball may be down to one or two possible Frederick Keys playoff games,but work sure won't be as I begin another gauntlet of work (didn't I say that I would never do that again?) that will not see me have an off day again until September 14th.
I'll try to use two posts today to sweep things up and then be caught back up as we begin the chase.

I haven't seen many Pirate games on the last road swing,so I haven't spent a ton of time on them.
I did see two of the Brewer games and yesterday's loss to the Cubs.
I'll start again with the weekend series against the Nationals.

Neil Walker continues his hot hitting as Walker smacked four homers in five games.
Walker admitted that some of his shots would not have been homers in Pittsburgh,but that's the way it goes sometimes......

Pittsburgh did bring up John Bowker from Indianapolis.
I always liked Bowker as a Giant,but he never truly had a full time chance there.
With his lefty pull power,Bowker might surprise some fans over the last month,if the Pirates give him plenty of at bats...

With the Nationals on the horizon for the weekend,a few notes on the Nationals.

Wonder if the Nationals fans that thought Nyjer Morgan was the steal of a lifetime last season after obtaining him from the Pirates for Lastings Milledge still feel that way?

It is ironic that Milledge was the player that carried behavior baggage before the trade and Morgan was the solid citizen.
Morgan's recent behavior makes one wonder if there isn't something more than just his down season going on privately and that doesn't have to be anything illegal either.

I have written in the past that I was not a fan of Rob Dibble's work doing Washington Nationals games on MASN with Bob Carpenter,so I cannot say that I am disappointed in Dibble not doing this weekend's (or any others from now on) games against the Pirates.
That said,firing Dibble for stating his opinion on Steven Strasburg's mentality before Strasburg was found to be headed for Tommy John surgery was wrong.
Dibble's statements were on XM Radio,not a Nationals broadcast,but even so the firing drove home this point-teams want infomercial pitchmen,not honest opinions.
Dibble wont be missed,but I will give him credit for being unafraid to express his personal opinions,which what he is supposed to be paid for....

With just a few games to go,here is hoping that Potomac (High A) and Harrisburg (AA) can make their leagues playoffs.
Those teams add cards to the collection,while the options in those leagues (Wilmington and Bowie) are finished for the season..

I plan on being back later with a non-baseball cleanup

Photo Credit
Morgan-Wilfredo Lee-AP Photo