AP: Vidro Makes an Ass Out of Himself

[Senators2005]

Quoted from the Associated Press syndicated in newspapers nationwide   :

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The heart of the New York Mets' lineup made it perfectly clear Thursday it's possible to hit the ball over the wall at RFK Stadium. Over and over again, to all parts of the park.

Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Cliff Floyd homered in the first inning, and Carlos Delgado later tacked on a two-run shot, all off All-Star Livan Hernandez, starting the Mets on their way to a 13-4 win over the Nationals.

After Wednesday's defeat, veteran Jose Vidro renewed a complaint heard often from the Nationals in the second half of 2005: RFK's dimensions are too big, and that's hurting the home team.

Nationals manager Frank Robinson said Thursday he hopes his players aren't letting those sorts of thoughts affect them at the plate.

''If we're going to start complaining about the size of this ballpark and whatever now,'' Robinson said, ''we might as well pack in and go home, because if we don't, they're going to be putting us in a little white jacket and carrying us out of here.''

Even Vidro had to chuckle when asked about the irony of the Mets' barrage less than 24 hours after his comments.

''They did score a lot of runs,'' Vidro said. ''Why can't we do that in the same ballpark?''

[Senators2005]

And this little snippet from the New York Times from yesterday's game:

The confrontation between Mart?nez and Guillen was much more captivating than a beanball battle. After the Nationals loaded the bases in the sixth on a single, a walk and a bunt single, Mart?nez struck out Jose Vidro, who had homered in the fourth inning for Washington's first hit.

That meant it was Mart?nez against Guillen, with three runners itching to score and the Mets ahead by one run. With the fans chanting, "Pay-dro, Pay-dro," Mart?nez looked as relaxed as if he were eating an ice cream cone. Guillen looked anxious, as if someone had taken his cone.

Mart?nez took advantage of Guillen's eagerness by throwing a sinking fastball and getting him to chop a ball to shortstop. Immediately, Jos? Reyes thought it would be difficult to turn two. But Reyes charged the ball and made a quick throw to second. Anderson Hern?ndez was fearless as he ignored the runner barreling toward him and completed a nifty double play.

Mart?nez said it is those kind of situations where he separates himself. "You're going to see the best of me," he said.

For the first two games, the teams have simply played baseball. Mart?nez pitched beautifully, beating Guillen and the Nationals in a way that was surely as painful as a fastball in the ribs.

"When I'm O.K.," Mart?nez said, "I don't need to hit anybody."

[Senators2005]

And the best one yet in today's Post.  It appears Vidro and Taveras got into a bad argument in the hallway leading to the locker room.  Oh boy...this is ugly:

Vidro, Tavares Argue About Dimensions at RFK Stadium

By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 14, 2006; E09



Jose Vidro was quite clear. He feels RFK Stadium is unfair to hitters. He thinks the club should have moved in the fences during the offseason. He said so on Wednesday night. And he didn't back down yesterday -- not even from Washington Nationals President Tony Tavares, with whom Vidro engaged in a boisterous argument before yesterday's 13-4 loss to the New York Mets.

"I don't regret anything I said," Vidro said. "I speak for the ballclub. I meant what I said."

According to two club sources, Vidro and Tavares met in a hallway outside the home clubhouse in the hour or so before yesterday's game. The two men -- one the franchise's longest-tenured player, the other its outspoken president -- yelled at each other about the issue, in part because Vidro accused club management of not caring about the players, in part because he had done so publicly.

"They were in each other's faces," one source said. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the tension surrounding the issue.

Asked if he had a run-in with Vidro, Tavares said after the game: "I won't comment on that. I won't talk about personnel issues in public."

The issue first surfaced in the heat of last summer, when the Nationals -- who spent two months atop the National League East -- began to lose games, lose their lead in the division and then lose their cool about RFK. Players suspected that the power alleys, which were labeled at 380 feet, were much deeper, and a subsequent laser measurement performed by the club showed they were more than 395 feet from the plate. The club then put the signs that read "380" closer to the foul poles, away from the true alleys.

Now, with three home games gone in the Nationals' second season here, Vidro and some hitters appear discouraged by the ballpark, where they scored just six runs in three games against the Mets. To make matters worse for Vidro, the Mets hit four homers -- three in the first inning -- yesterday.

"I was like, 'Man, they're going to be all over me,' " Vidro said of his reaction to the homers. The Nationals hit one homer in each game of the series.

During the game, Tavares was asked what he made of Vidro's comments.

"What did you make of them?" he said. "I saw four home runs today. The other team didn't seem to have a problem."

When the issue arose last season, right fielder Jose Guillen was one of the most vocal opponents of the deep fences -- despite the fact that the dimensions helped Washington's pitching staff immensely.

"There was only one person that got vocal about it last year, one player I really heard about," Tavares said. "There wasn't an uproar of them telling us directly, 'We want them moved in.' "

Tavares said Major League Baseball prohibits fundamental changes to ballpark dimensions during the season. Cliff Floyd, one of the four Mets who homered yesterday, said such a predicament could have a lasting impact on the Nationals' hitters.

"It gets in your head," Floyd said. "You start thinking, 'Man, no matter what I do.' It changes your game."

That's exactly what Manager Frank Robinson doesn't want.

"If we're going to start complaining about the size of this ballpark now, we just might as well pack it in and go home," Robinson said. "Because if we don't, they're going to be putting us in a little white jacket and carrying us out of here."

[JMW IV]

After readng the article about the blowup with Tony T:

I really think Vidro's beef is just really about how the Team has been treated, and he's latched on to the Fence issue as a specific talking point.

I don't think this is really about the Fences.

but he's really just upset at the way the team as a whole has been treated the past 4 years, and what we are seeing is Vidro at the end of his rope about it.  He's made a point to be nothing but classy throughout the entire MLB Ownership Ordeal, and now his frustration is just starting to boil over, big time.

[tomterp]

Hasn't everybody just had enough of the shoddy treatment?

A new owner will have a great opportunity to make some improvements.  A few decent beer stalls here, a front office hiring there, and pretty soon momentum can change.  

At some point though, it would be nice if the players on the field would actually perform as if this was as important to them as it is to us.

Maybe it shouldn't be, but this IS important to me.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

amen brother

[The Chief]

Ownership announcement by next Friday, possibly.  The radio was cutting in and out so I can't be sure, but it sounded like they said Lerner group was back in the lead.

[Kenz aFan]

If the Nats pitching is gonna stink this year, then by all means, move the fences in and at least let the fans see some runs being scored. I'd rather lose 12-10 and 9-8 games than 8-3, 7-1, and 6-4 games 4 and 5 times a week. At least with the high scoring games, Nats fans would have a better chance of seeing their player's names on the league leader board. Right now they have to start looking from the bottom up.

As it is now, having the fences so far back is useless... If the Nats a good pitching, and scrappy hitters, I'd leave em deep, but the Nats have neither, so bring em in.

[Kenz aFan]

Ownership announcement by next Friday, possibly.  The radio was cutting in and out so I can't be sure, but it sounded like they said Lerner group was back in the lead.

Lerner is very close to officially bringing Stan Kasten and his minority partners on board with his bid. I think once that deal is struck and the announcement made, they can pretty much kiss the competition good bye.

[tomterp]

After readng the article about the blowup with Tony T:

I really think Vidro's beef is just really about how the Team has been treated, and he's latched on to the Fence issue as a specific talking point.

I don't think this is really about the Fences.

but he's really just upset at the way the team as a whole has been treated the past 4 years, and what we are seeing is Vidro at the end of his rope about it.  He's made a point to be nothing but classy throughout the entire MLB Ownership Ordeal, and now his frustration is just starting to boil over, big time.

And a quote from the Boz Post article this morning:

"But some players, like Vidro, who have strong feelings for Robinson, are sick of what they see as backstabbing by Tavares. So, on the surface, Vidro and Tavares may have been arguing about the distance to the RFK fences. But, on another level, they were yelling about the ways Tavares has undercut Robinson and the manager's barely suppressed anger.

"They were yelling about the shabby locker rooms at RFK and the players' cars that were broken into at RFK last season. They were yelling about the way that Tavares -- hired to be a company man by MLB to run the team "frugally" -- has done his job a bit too well and has, too seldom, been an advocate for the team's players and fans."