Forever Young

Woody Williams of the Houston Astros has always been a somewhat above average major league pitcher. With a career 4.16 ERA and 1.32 WHIP, he's someone that you can occasionally use on your fantasy teams if you're in hopes of getting some wins. Unfortunately, he's not someone you can really count on in the long term, mostly due to the fact that he has problems giving up the long ball (295 of them in his career coming into last night's game). For five innings last night at RFK Stadium, Williams mastered the Washington Nationals, only allowing a run on three hits. In the bottom of the sixth, Ronnie Belliard hit a one out single to center, and Ryan Zimmerman followed with a bunt single. Then it happened... the inevitable if you've followed Woody Williams' career - Dmitri Young deposited a 1-0 pitch into the right field seats, giving the Nats a 4-2 lead. For Williams, it was his league leading 22nd homer allowed - not a category you really want to be leading the league in... For Young, it was his 9th homer of the year, boosting his RBI total to 52 and his batting average to .339. The remarkable comeback continues for "Da Meathook." In his 53 games since bottoming out with a .224 batting average on May 7th, Young has hit an AMAZING .395 (77/195) with six homers and 38 RBI's. Yes, the Oxnard, CA native is back in a big way, and it's nice to see... hopefully he can continue to lead the Nats to victory! Speaking of which, Carlos Lee would homer off Jon Rauch in the top of the 8th, but Chad Cordero would come in and close things out in the 9th as the Nats held on for a 4-3 win.

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