Planetary Nats Blog

I wore my red last night, the same Nats pullover that I wore for the exhibition game against the Orioles, opening night against the Braves, and the next game against the Phillies in Philadelphia. I really think it made a difference, because there wasn’t much from the Nats performance last night that would lead you to believe that there was something about them that was substantively different than on any previous game.

After a six-run second, I imagined two possible outcomes: one where Shawn Hill took command of the game, and stifled the home team, finally cruising to a lopsided something-to-one score, and the second where the Nats would slowly desanguinate themselves, and finally bleed out at the end of the game.

Lastings Milledge steals second in the second inning of last night’s game

The second scenario was much closer to reality, and were it not for an emergency transfusion by Jon Rauch in the ninth, my fantasy would have become a nightmare-come-true.

The second inning was spectacular – lots of disciplined strokes, and the resulting runs. But the key to the Nats success in the second is found in the box score, for as soon as R. A. Dickey left, so did the Nats mojo, suggesting that the explosion was more about poor pitching than good hitting.

Hill was good enough, but were it not for the good fortune of the second inning, it would have been just another disappointing outing for him. There was a noticeable lack of ground ball outs, something one would hope to see with Hill on the mound.

After the second, the Nats hitters reverted to old forms, with Milledge, Dukes and Pena all swinging for the fences at every at bat, hoping to tack on an insurance run. However, I believe this was actually a counterproductive strategy. Bullpens tend to be more fragile when they are pitching with runners on base, and the Mariners (with the help of Nats batters) were effective at keeping the basepaths empty.

The good news is, the Nats nicked the Mariners bullpen last night, and with J. J. Putz on the DL, a return to (or perhaps more correctly, a new visit to) a disciplined approach at the plate could lead to a victory tonight.

The Mariners are eerily like the Nats. Kick ‘em while they’re down

(by the way, I have pictures from the game, but I need to get them from my camera to the computer… I’ll work on that later and post them to this entry)

I watched the game last night. It was bad. Really bad. Terrible. I begged, “Make it stop!” It was so bad that when I was chatting in the PlanetNJ chatroom when Elijah Dukes came up in the 8th inning and someone asked what people thought of Dukes - at that moment Dukes hit into a double play – I answered, “I am liking Dukes pretty well right now, he’s not prolonging my agony.”

But it was just one game.

The thing is, nothing is really any different than it was before last night’s game. The Nats are still not hitting. Starting pitching is still a strength, despite Chico’s performance last night. We might point some fingers at Colome, except that he hadn’t pitched since Friday night in Baltimore. When was the last time a Nats reliever went six games between appearances? Did I mention that the Nats are still not hitting?

[506, a reader/participant from "Nationals Journal" points out that our position players actually hit pretty well last night:

Lopez, 2 for 5, 2 doubles, 1 K
Zimmerman, 2 for 4, 1 RBI
Young, 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
Milledge, 2 for 4, 1 K
Flores, 3 for 4, double]

I might have predicted that the Nats would lose last night. In fact, I did predict it. I just didn’t tell anyone. Matt Chico isn’t Shawn Hill, and that’s probably good, if for no other reason that Shawn Hill has a bum arm. But, he’s also not the same quality pitcher as Shawn Hill, and to me, Hill missing a start meant a loss. I hoped for a different outcome, but it was not to be. The bottom line is that last night’s loss was about pitching… and for the most part, our starting pitching has not been a problem this season.

Over the past several weeks, there has been considerable rumbling among ‘The Constituency’ for the firing of both Lenny Harris and Jim Bowden. I would point out that last night’s game does not make the argument for either of their firings more compelling. I have been critical of Lenny Harris in that position, but my reasons have more to do with the fact that I think it is inappropriate for the Nationals to provide on-the-job-training for a MLB-level hitting coach more than with Harris’ performance… And his performacne is not something that I am in the position to evaluate. The external indications are not good, but the magic of that position occurs in the clubhouse, and I am not privy to the goings-on there.

As for Bowden, many will point to his comments yesterday as indication that he’s not the man for the job. I don’t think you can take much of what Bowden says to the press to be very meaningful. The personnel operations of an MLB team are inherently secretive, and I think it is safe to say that anything that Bowden might say is vetted and filtered through the “appropriate for public consumption” filter. Bowden isn’t going to divulge anything of substance to the public that either does or does not indicate his fitness for the job.

These are tough times, but mainly because we have higher expectations. I would point out that while Chico’s performance last night was abysmal, the overall quality of his pitching this season is no worse than we came to expect last year… and this year we have five starters that are performing better than he is. That’s progress.

Just relax!

Jason Bergmann is a Stud.

I fantasized to myself, in about the fifth inning, that he’d allow a baserunner just before Hamels came to the plate, just so that the Phils would pinch-hit for the pitcher. Bergmann would erase the runner, and the pinch-hitter, be into the bullpen, and then cruise to victory.

There are two things wrong with that fantasy. The first is, a team should never put themselves into a situation (if they can avoid it) where they have to get into the opponent’s bullpen just to get a run. The second is, that scenario was just the one that beat the Nats last night.

Don’t get me wrong… in terms of entertainment value and excitement, the game was definitely one of the better ones to watch this season, and Bergmann appears to be ALL THE WAY back (which is good, because who knows about Shawn Hill). But I didn’t shut down my MLB.TV yesterday evening with a sense of ‘warm and fuzzies’.

It is hard to know from watching last night if the Nats’ impotence was their bats or Cole Hamels. But even if you throw out last night’s performance, one is hard-pressed to see signs of life in the Nats’ hitting game. I find that a bit disturbing, mostly because the hitting issues appear to be systemic in nature, rather than just slumps. There are a few bright spots, both in terms of games where they hit well as a team, and individuals who seem to be hitting consistently. But for the most part, the team is starved for offense, and Guzman, Flores and Dmitri can’t carry the team (especially since they aren’t batting adjacent to each other).

The Nats are very fortunate that their starting pitching is doing so well. Chico Harlan was effusive in his praise for the Nats’ rotation in this morning’s gamer, and I am inclined to agree – the Nats’ starters have been more than most expected. The hitting is a problem… and it’s more than a slump.