Sunday, September 5, 2010

Morgan Shows Fighting Spirit With Nats:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Morgan shows fighting spirit with Nats

By Kevin Mitchell - Vernon Morning Star

Published: September 04, 2010

Local hockey fans may remember Nyjer Morgan, recruited out of California by the Vipers' Troy Mick. Morgan ended up with the Junior B Enderby Kings and scored twice and pocketed 20 penalty minutes with the WHL Regina Pats in the 1999-2000 season.

He then attended Walla Walla College in Washington State for baseball and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 33rd round in 2002. He has loads of close friends here and spends a few weeks visiting Vernon each off season.

Morgan, a 30-year-old outfielder with the Washington Nationals, was given an eight-game suspension for three incidents this week: charging the mound and inciting a bench-clearing brawl with the Florida Marlins on Wednesday night, taunting Marlins fans on Tuesday, and unnecessarily running into St. Louis Cardinals catcher Bryan Anderson last Saturday.

The suspension will be in addition to the seven-game ban that Morgan is currently appealing for throwing a ball at a fan in the stands in Philadelphia on Aug. 21.

The Nationals will probably release Morgan at the end of this season, but his roadrunner speed and defensive talents will make him attractive to some other team. He's doing all these wacky things out of character so hopefully the Nats give him a second chance.

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