Read a pretty convincing argument that he should be batting leadoff. He hits a ton of groundballs but has a good OBP. Cure for his DPs and sets the table, sounds perfect to me.

Yunel gets on base a lot, so he would be productive at the top of the order.

I think the Braves expect him to develop more power, so they want him hitting 6th.

We have a lot of good hitters in this line-up, so we should get pretty solid production out of them.

I'm banking on Escobar, McClouth, and Chipper to pick up the slack when Prado, Heyward, and Glaus start slumping.

I feel like Escobar is getting comfortable, he's hitting the ball hard most of the time, even when he makes outs, and he's improved his BA significantly over the last 20ish games.

I like the top of the order as it is, so unless Bobby is willing to move Chipper out of the 3 hole and use Heyward there, I'd prefer Prado leading off and Esco in the 6 hole.

We need to have strong people toward the bottom of the lineup right now because that's where we suffer. I like Escobar where he is, when he is focused. However, as we see he gets distracted or over confident and starts making bad throws or hitting bad balls. When he's on, he's on though. Poor McLouth... still under .200 this late in the game is pretty darn sad. Never thought I'd say this but I'm interested to see how Diaz does when he comes off the d/l.

Prado and Blanco fanning Medlen with the towels after he got that RBI and then run was just priceless.

Strasberg had 14 Ks today. Got to watch out for the Nats. They got a good pitching staff now. Man, the NL East is just loaded with pitching this season. And that's with Javier Vasquez going to the Yanks.

Heyward tied it, but Medlin got hurt.

Yes! Wagner for the save.

Medlin has some kind of shoulder strain. Hopefully it's not too serious.

Medlen.

Him too.

That was a hard game to watch, not "fun" as Chip Caray called it. So stressful. Just when we get the lead it's taken right back. Those kind of games are annoying to watch. Can't even enjoy the lead. I'm sure I'll be pounced on for saying this, but what is with Heyward and all the strikeouts lately? And he's not always swinging at good pitches; that's something I can move past. He's swinging at balls in the dirt, almost like what McCann does when he doesn't have his specs on. Yes, I know he's a rookie and it's his first time facing certain pitchers and blah blah blah... but it is a little worrying.

Listening on the radio, the announcers have said a few times that it seems like Heyward is not 100% and playing through some kind of minor injury. I dunno, figure he'll be alright.

Yeah I mean I hope the best for him, I do want him to do well. S/O's just kill me. Not as bad as hitting into double plays, but close.

Thayer, give it up. Terrible gimmick.

Well, KK going for his 9th loss tonight, oops, mean 1st win he-he. It's weird, Lowe is 8-5 with a 5.04 era, KK's is 4.91. Just don't seem fair. That's all right, I got a feeling he's getting that first W tonight.

I don't think KK can lose them all, so I'm going to start martingaling his starts.

If we catch Strasburg when Washington comes to town June 28-30th, that would be a sick game to plan a get together around imo.

I'm definitely going to watch him pitch and a couple other guys mentioned it in the MLB thread.

Please don't let SS own the Braves for the next x years.

They need to go ahead and trade him to the Yankees now

Nats can have Strasburg...we'll take Hanson, JJ, Huddy, Medlen, Teheran, Vizcaino, Delgado etc etc

Also Heyward's thumb is obv hurting him. It seems like his whole approach at the plate has changed because of it...when was the last time he hit the ball the other way? Anyway I hope Bobby finds him a day or 2 off here soon.

I'm pretty sure every team in baseball would take our young pitching (rookie contracts or minor leaguers) over their own.

I'm not a fan of letting Heyward play through an injury, but Cox is an old-school guy and he likes to do **** like that.

Hopefully he gets over it soon, or Cox gives him some time off. I would hate to jeopardize his potential by letting him play with an injury.

Pretty sure I'd want Strasburg right now over any pitcher on my team.

Pretty tough to argue against that, fortunately the Nats have a long way to go before Strasburg can become the nightmare pitcher that you have to face twice in a seven game series.

Amen to that.

Hah, I was all set to say RAYS but then I realized I'd somehow overlooked the parenthetical.

I agree about J Hey. Get the kid some rest.

Damn! Don't hurt Heyward, McOut.

damn, either could have had a fairly routine running catch