Austin Kearns can't hit

[sportsfan882]

This guy is really a bad hitter.  He takes the same stupid swing at every pitch no matter if it is a fastball or changeup.  I've never seen a player hit so many slow rollers or ground balls to the left side of the infield.  Why he continues to bat 5th on this team is beyond my understanding.  I know we just signed him to an extension so he is here to stay but he really has to fix his swing because right now he along with whoever is playing in CF is killing this team offensively. 

[UMDNats]

He'll have some great hits and some crazy-bad swings. He's just never consistent. He's got RFK warning track power, hopefully that means HRs in the new ballpark.

[Ericas Nats]

yeah acta should have pinch hit for kearns in the 9th with belliard.

im sorry but i had no faith with kearns for the last out..

[Evolution33]

He'll have some great hits and some crazy-bad swings. He's just never consistent. He's got RFK warning track power, hopefully that means HRs in the new ballpark.

His power is opposite field which is next to impossible in RFK. He rarely hits a ball all that well that he pulls and even his homers he does pull are barely over the wall. RFK is death to players whose homer strength is opposite field. Kearns is streaky to begin with, but he isn't ever going to look great. He is just a good roll player who it will be nice to have when he have other players in the line-up.

[The Chief]

I've been saying that about Kearns almost since we got him, nothing new there.

[shoeshineboy]

I've been saying that about Kearns almost since we got him, nothing new there.

Well, he did have one hit and a great shot on the last at bat that was all you could ask for there. I too am frustrated with his Adam Dunn like same swing at everything regardless, so he needs work there if he is going to be truly effective higher in the order.

But let's face it. Zimmerman was the one killing this lineup offensively tonight. He was just death. I'd like to see them move Church to 3 hole and move Zimmerman back to 5th. But they won't do it because they want him to work this year to continue to develop in that spot.

[spidernat]

Wilson and Paulino hits jacks at RFK tonight but Kearns can't? 

[PANatsFan]

I'm more concerned that he can't catch a foul ball

[Nat of the Living Dead]

And we were so awed by his outstanding catch the other night in the outfield that made the Top Plays....

I agree.  He needs a bat work but he certainly can't be the only one blamed for horrid performance.  As someone mentioned before, Zimmerman has been killing us.  He has been almost just as inconsistent.  They both get pop and then go dead.

[natsfan1a]

I was also wondering why Belliard didn't pitch hit last night.

yeah acta should have pinch hit for kearns in the 9th with belliard.

[PANatsFan]

I'm more concerned that he can't catch a foul ball

Question: should Dmitri have been after this one? Was it just a lack of hustle by Kearns?

[Evolution33]

Question: should Dmitri have been after this one? Was it just a lack of hustle by Kearns?

That thing was very far from him. It was a heck of a run and a good effort to even get close. This guy in front of me was throwing a temper tantrum every time the Nats did something not to his liking, and when Kearns ran all that distance and the guy booed I turned to my father and said, "I would like to see that guy run that distance." He just smiled.

[shoeshineboy]

That thing was very far from him. It was a heck of a run and a good effort to even get close. This guy in front of me was throwing a temper tantrum every time the Nats did something not to his liking, and when Kearns ran all that distance and the guy booed I turned to my father and said, "I would like to see that guy run that distance." He just smiled.

He ran all that distance and it was a ball I am sure he believes he should have caught. Kearns has been a little gun shy this year with walls and potential collisions. I can't really blame him for being somewhat tentative, but he needs to get over that. One of the problems with running fullspeed like that at that angle is that when you hit the warning track area it is hard to judge how much ground you have before going into a rail. He definitely seemed to get distracted at the last second.

[PANatsFan]

Again, I blame this on the away team announcers   

[shoeshineboy]

Again, I blame this on the away team announcers  

I'm actually surprised people aren't blaming Lenny Harris for everything that is going wrong considering he was given so much credit for everything that went right.

[Ericas Nats]

Again, I blame this on the away team announcers  

why do you say that????

[PANatsFan]

Still haven't got the quote feature down. I blame my calling it lack of hustle on Kearns' part on the call by the away team announcers (Pirates broadcasters are serious homers.)

[tomterp]

That thing was very far from him. It was a heck of a run and a good effort to even get close. This guy in front of me was throwing a temper tantrum every time the Nats did something not to his liking, and when Kearns ran all that distance and the guy booed I turned to my father and said, "I would like to see that guy run that distance." He just smiled.

Young had no play.  Kearns had a play, but it looked to me like about halfway through his long run, he slowed some, then turned on the jets too late at the end.  I believe that if he had run full out the entire distance, he could have made the play easily just short of the rail. 

[Evolution33]

I really wasn't paying that much attention because that guy a couple rows in front of me was banging his hat on the seat in front of him already. It was pretty funny to watch. Everytime a National would swing and miss at strike two he would go nuts. It didn't matter if they got a hit next or what. Strike two seemed to be more important to him than anything. He was a middle aged guy and really should have had more composure, which is what made it so funny.

[spidernat]

I really wasn't paying that much attention because that guy a couple rows in front of me was banging his hat on the seat in front of him already. It was pretty funny to watch. Everytime a National would swing and miss at strike two he would go nuts. It didn't matter if they got a hit next or what. Strike two seemed to be more important to him than anything. He was a middle aged guy and really should have had more composure, which is what made it so funny.

So that was you sitting in front of me! 

[shoeshineboy]

I really wasn't paying that much attention because that guy a couple rows in front of me was banging his hat on the seat in front of him already. It was pretty funny to watch. Everytime a National would swing and miss at strike two he would go nuts. It didn't matter if they got a hit next or what. Strike two seemed to be more important to him than anything. He was a middle aged guy and really should have had more composure, which is what made it so funny.

People like that demonstrate quite a level of ignorance of and lack of appreciation for the game. If players lived and died with every pitch, at bat, or game, they would all be in psychotherapy.

[wpa2629]

People like that demonstrate quite a level of ignorance of and lack of appreciation for the game. If players lived and died with every pitch, at bat, or game, they would all be in psychotherapy.

Sounds like the idiot who sits behind me at Maryland games shouting obscenities at 19 year old kids for missing free throws - I just couldn't stand it anymore, so at one game, I turned around and said - I'd like to see your fat *ss out there - cracked up everyone in my section and shut him up ... for a little while ...

[The Chief]

Sounds like the idiot who sits behind me at Maryland games shouting obcenities at 19 year old kids for missing free throws - I just couldn't stand it anymore, so at one game, I turned around and said - I'd like to see your fat *ss out there - cracked up everyone in my section and shut him up ... for a little while ...

Seriously.  Just attending baseball games in person makes me appreciate how incredibly hard it is to judge a ball off the bat, much less get into a position to catch it, often while in full sprint.  Anyone who boos their own players for missing a play as difficult as the foul that Kearns missed better be in the HOF.

[2k6nats]

Seriously.  Just attending baseball games in person makes me appreciate how incredibly hard it is to judge a ball off the bat, much less get into a position to catch it, often while in full sprint.  Anyone who boos their own players for missing a play as difficult as the foul that Kearns missed better be in the HOF.

HOF?  Hall of Fame?

[The Chief]

HOF?  Hall of Fame?

Yeah, I meant it differently than you read it.  I just meant somebody better have some steep baseball credentials of their own to boo their own player for something like that.