Welcome to K Street Mother F*$&#$

So, our starting pitching staff is tight.  Like, really stupid incredibly effing tight.  We are leading the league in ERA (1.75), Batting Average Against (.178),  innings pitched (61.2), and earned runs (12).  We are currently 2nd in strikeouts (57).  Our starting pitching staff is only allowing a hair more than an earned run a game. LOL.  They are pitching against major league hitters and doing that.  Not like some beer league team.  Official Major League players who get paid and everything.

The awesomeness extends to our relievers as well.  We are currently 4th in ERA (2.43), Batting Average Against (.200) and 2nd in strikeouts (41).

And as a whole staff we are first in ERA (1.99), Batting Average Against (.186) and Strikeouts (98). #KSTREET

In summation, we are tight.

Conversely, for as much as our pitching staff is awesome, our hitters are sucky.  Well, maybe not sucky....more like "completely average."  4th in OBP (.334), 10th in OPS (.673) T-14th in HR's (5), 7th in Batting Average (.247) and 10th, where it really counts....RUNS (39). 

 Fortunately for us, at the moment, an average of 4 runs a game has been more than enough to win games, but only because our pitchers are a modern day assimilation of a bunch of G-D Sandy Koufax's.   In a few words, this has to change, but for the moment, it has been enough.  Hopefully "enough" will continue to translate into wins.

 Where is the production Zim? Espi?  So far this season is like the exact OPPOSITE of last season offensively.  ZERO production from Desmond, ADHD LaRoche and Werth, and now they are carrying the team.

For the record, I am super proud of Desmond.  Guy was rough last year.  In fact we were calling him all sorts of names that mocked both his defensive and offensive ability.  And he is making me eat my words.  Good for you son.  Way to stand up to the big bad blogger who makes 1/250th of what you do.


 Also, I don't know who told Craig Stammen that if he lets a batter put the ball in play that we are shipping his ass back to Syracuse, but its working.  Dude somehow went from average long reliever to un-hittable. Maybe he's just Cincinattitude's ultimate kyrptonite.  Whatever, he had 9 K's in 4 innings against the Reds and won 2 of the games. Good. For. You.

But, so far, so good.  I think as a Nats fan you have to be really excited to see what this team is doing and how we are playing.  And if we are fortunate enough to ever get some good umpires, our record might actually be even better.

Also, Storen.  Please come back.  Lidge is scaring the shit out of me.

Big series next weekend as we take on the Dodgers who are currently 9-1 and again Matt Kemp is leading every human ever in ever offensive statistic ever.

Nats vs the NL Astros tonight at 7:05.

Lets Go Nats!

HIT THE BALL DUDES!!!!

Good Start....Kind of

"Hey man, has the season started yet?"

"Dunno."

As we all know, I am forever looking for ways to be realistic about our dear Nats standings.  Good or bad, I never want to trick myself into thinking we are better than we are,or vice versa.

With that being said, if the opening series against the Cubs was any indication, this year is going to be stressful; one filled with late innings comebacks and with each run scored before the 6th REALLY meaning something.

But coming into the season, we all knew that.  We knew that this team wasn't going to be a team (much like last year) where you can count on 5-7 runs a game.  Granted, we still don't really know what we have in 2nd year players Espinosa and Ramos, offensively speaking, but scoring gobs of runs doesn't seem to be our forte.

The Good: Strasburg and Zimmermann.  Both pitches 7 innings.  Both only allowed 1 earned run.

The Bad: If you pitch 7 innings of 1 run baseball, you should win the game. Period.  The only way you shouldn't get the win is if your team scores less than 2. (Which happened)  What scares me about this team is that offensively we either don't have the urgency or the talent (maybe both) to go out and let our pitchers feel comfortable with giving up a run or two.  If pitchers start thinking that they have to be perfect to win games, that can cause problems.  We can't expect gems from our pitchers every time they take the mound.  And we shouldn't expect them to have to throw a gem to get win.  Neither Strasburg nor Zimmermann got the win for their efforts.  That is not a good standard to set.

The Good: Team ERA. Even with Gio's rough (laborious) outting, our bullpen was able to hold strong and get the win.  In yesterday's loss the bullpen crumbled a bit, but again, we only allowed 4 runs.  In the big picture.  Not terrible.

The Bad: No early runs.  The earliest we scored runs all weekend was the 4th inning.  In the other 2 games our first runs crossed the plate in the 6th and the 8th.  Again, these are not good habits to get into.  Its nice that we know we are never out of games, but I would be much happier if we were able to give our starting pitchers some leads to work with.  By the way, at no point over the weekend did any of our starting pitchers have a lead. EVER.

The Good: Desmond (.429 OBP) and LaRoche (.462 OBP) are doing something quite uncharacteristic.  They are getting on base and currently carrying the team.  Which is not a great precedent and formula for success.

The Bad: Werth and Zimmerman (.231 OBP)  In fairness, Zimmerman should have had at least one bomb on Thursday but since a hurricane was blowing in from left, he had none and Werth is still searching for his first hit of the season.  At least he can talk a big game.  Also, .273 team OBP good for 21st in the league.  We should be on our knees weeping and thanking someone that we got out of Chicago with 2 wins.

The Good: IF ADHD LaRoche can continue to be productive (big IF) then the addition or Morse and Harper should do great things for our line-up. A Desmond-Espinosa-Zimmerman-Laroche-Morse-Werth-Harper-Ramos line up looks fantastic on paper. ON PAPER!  Also, like many have guessed, a good start for LaRoche could help us unload him if that is truly something the Nats want to do.  Might open up a left field spot for a Lombardozzi-type player (who I think would be a great 1-2 hole hitter in a line-up that desperately needs base runners)

Why am I not a MLB manager? I don't know.

The Bad: LaRoche, a notorious slow starter is our best hitter.

Sidenote: If this is how Gio pitches on the regular, I just won't watch his games.  He's a younger Dice-K.  Succesful, but everything is drawn out.  No quick innings, every batter goes to a full count.  It takes a toll on me.  I can't do it.

In Summation, SCORE SOME FRIGGIN RUNS MEAT!

Nats take on the un-defeated fighting Wilpons tonight at 7:10

LETS GO NATS!

NATSBALL'S BACK...ALRIGHT!!! - Backstreet Boys

So, its been a while and I'm not wholly sure I can actually remember how to write.  Sarcasm shouldn't be an issue since I flex my sardonic muscle minutely, but writing....that could be a problem.

Before I get started I'd like to point out that my most viewed blog post from last year was one about Michael Morse and how he had left Earth for good.  This post surely wasn't my best but because I used an image of Earth, and I guess people love googling images of Earth, that post had over 40k views.  But I am narcisistic so yeah, it got all those views because I'm funny as F.

Anywho, so we begin the season with any player of any consequence (ADHDam LaRoche doesn't count) on the DL.  Awesome.  Really great way to get things started guys.

The first few weeks could be rough.

Lidge replaces Storen

Detwiler replaces Wang

Derosa replaces Morse

and we still have a project in centerfield with Bernadina and Ankiel.

 None of these things instill a lot of confidence in me and the fact that we did little to help our team score more runs in this off-season doesn't help either.  We all know what kind of pitching staff we have and that is arguably a top 5 rotation in baseball.  Sadly, at least 2 of the remaining 4 also reside in the NL East.

Offense, like last year, is going to be our problem.  But there are a few reasons to be optimistic.

1) A healthy Zimmerman.  If we can get a full season out of FAT BT, you know....that would be cool.
2) No way Werth can duplicate the suck that was his year last year.
3) The god-child finally arrives.

But, I am optimistic.

-The Phillies are getting old(er)

-The Marlins are going to have multiple epic blow-ups this year, which, to be frank...is going to be awesome to watch

-And the Braves, well, they are really going to miss Nate McClouth.


I could see us killing it and making a legit run at 2nd in the division.  I could also see us having a good year and everyone around us having even better years and us coming in 4th.

My prediction 84 wins.  Here's to the wildcard!

LETS GO NATS!

I really hope Darwin Barney doesn't burn us again.  F him.

Phillies Fans Find a "Loophole*"...Are Still Idiots

Per Deadspin:

"And then there's this guy. One Philadelphia native went running to CBS to brag about the loophole he found, and how he was able to get tickets to see the Phillies in Washington: he bought a 5-game flex package that includes a pair of Phillies games. I don't think that's what loophole means, and I'm not sure Andy Feffer would be so upset about having Nationals Park overrun by Phillies fans if it meant unloading some Astros-Nats seats at the same time."

Screengrab from an actual Phillies Chatroom***

CityOfBrotherlySludge: Hey youse guys, remember that time the Nationals were trying to prevent us from coming to their park by not selling us tickets to the Phillies-Nationals games?


PhuckinAwesome: Of course we do bro, those guys are assholes

 CityOfBrotherlySludge: I mean, of course they are.  As a fan-base we are probably the classiest phans around.  But anyways, I found this awesome loophole for us to get tickets to these games

  Dr.Phil-lie: Really? A loophole? Please share

CityOfBrotherlySludge: Yeah man, check this shit out.  So, included in one of the Nats "Flex Plans" is a ticket to the Nats-Phils game...AND IT LET ME BUY IT!!!!

PhuckinAwesome: REALLY!?!?!?! Sooooo, you had to buy a bunch of games right? So, how much did it cost?

CityOfBrotherlySludge: I mean, it was really expensive...$110/per ticket for the whole flex plan

   Dr.Phil-lie: Sooooo, is it just you going to the game?


PhuckinAwesome: Wait, how can you afford that?  Do you have a job? Are you not on welfare? You're not a true Phillies Phan!

CityOfBrotherlySludge: My wife, and 2 kids as well...so all in all it was about $450.  I had to borrow the cash and sell of some food stamps....WORTH IT!!!YOUSE GUYS, IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT RIGHT?!?!

HereComesRizzzzooooo: HAHAHAHAHAHA, you clown! Those tickets will be half-priced by Sunday!  Thanks for the money, bitch!

CityOfBrotherlySludge: Woah, what? Are youse trying to tell me this was a bad deal?!?! This was NOT a bad deal.  I found an awesome loophole*! Come on guys!!! Lets tell this Rizzo guy who the real clown is

PhuckinAwesome: Dude, lets just call him an "asshole."  That's the worst thing youse can be called in Philly and there is NO coming back from being called an asshole

CityOfBrotherlySludge: YEAH!!!! YOUSE AN ASSHOLE RIZZO!!! And I totally out-smarted youse!

   DrPhil-lie: "Christ, I am surrounded by idiots."

Phillies Phans, don't ever stop being you.**

Pitchers and Catchers report in 11 Days!!!

*Not really a loophole at all

**Except when it comes to purposefully vomiting on children. Seriously, cut that shit out.
***Not an actual chatroom.  They can't afford computers.

Rangers Out of Prince Sweepstakes....Let The DC Erections Begin!!!

Hey Prince, 

Bring that sweet, big old ass of yours over to DC and drop bill-saps like you know you can.  Can't field? DON'T CARE!!!!!

I'm excited...YOU'RE excited....lets make this happen.

Also, if you see you LaRoche on the street anytime soon, make sure he is not armed before you shake his hand.  This whole thing has been hard on him. 

But seriously, make sure he doesn't have a knife.

Werth-Zim-Fielder-Morse-Harper

FUCK. and YES.

LETS GO NATS!!!! GO GET THAT MOTHA FUCKA!!!!

Winter Meetings

Just to be clear.

Mark Buerhrle, yes.  CJ Wilson. No.

A 6 year deal to CJ Wilson would seriously make me question why Rizzo is in charge.  Just because you have money doesn't mean you HAVE to spend it.

Thankfully, the CJ Wilson rumors have been spelled for a bit.  Its not that I think CJ is a bad pitcher, I just think he is a decent pitcher in a pretty average Free Agent class.

Lets not saddle ourselves with another huge contract we can't get rid of unless we know its for a legit stud (i.e. Mark Buerhrle.)

Got it Rizzo? Kthanks.

Also, if you really want a Centerfielder, Werth is just an O.K. option.  I understand you want to bring Harper up, but I think you know Werth is not your Centerfield solution.

Denard Span and Peter Bourjos are acceptable answers.

That is all.

All This Optimism

Let me start out by saying this.  I love what the Nats are doing in terms of drafting and developing players.  I love the enthusiasm that they are trying to surround this team with and I truly think we are on the way to being competitive.


With that being said, what is going to be the biggest difference between this year and next year for us?  Mainly, how are we going to improve vastly from where we are now to where we want to be?  As we all know, our pitching was not the problem this year.  We are currently tied for 5th in the National League with a team ERA of 3.64.  That is out-effing-standing, especially since, for the most part, we just kind of slapped together a starting pitching staff.  Hopefully with the emergence of a dominant Strasburg and Wang that ERA can be lowered even more next year.  A starting 4 of Strasburg, Zimmermann, Lannan and Wang (at least if he can repeat what he has done this year) makes Natsball VERY excited.  And I only usually get that excited when its pasta night!  But how much improvement on the mound is reasonable to expect, and like I said before, the pitching staff is not the problem.  They are doing everything that they are being asked to do and more.  If we can duplicate this year's success next year, I don't think anyone would complain.  But facts are that "on paper," next years staff should be a pretty decent improvement over this one, even if that improvement is just Strasburg alone.

But we all know what the problem is; runs. But what adjustments are going to be made to fix that problem?  Players are for the most part, who they are.  Sure guys can develop and improve and work on things.  But for the most part, you aren't going to see a .230 slap hitter turn into a .320 power hitter over the course of a year and become the lynchpin for your offense.

Our team batting average currently resides as the 14th worst in the NL (out of 16.)  I understand that offense is not always the answer to winning baseball games, as evidenced by the Atlanta Braves who are only batting 4 points better than us as a team (12th in the NL), have a slightly lower team ERA at 3.34, yet still have 17 more wins than us.  On paper we aren't THAT far away from them, yet where it counts, in the standings, we have no shot.

Unfortunately, I am not sure what the answer is for Nationals.  I do know however that it starts with an expectation of winning....that and being able to score runs.

With that being said, I wanted to take a look at our offensive players and see where we are, and what possibly we can expect next year.


C-Ramos

As a rookie, Ramos had a pretty solid year for a catcher.  He is currently batting .248 with 12 bombs.  Offensively, that is a pretty impressive campaign for a rookie catcher, especially when compared with the best offensive catcher in the league, Brian McCann .286/22 HR's.  You also must consider that at the beginning of the season he split a lot of time with Pudge, and it took awhile before he even became the everyday starter.  One has to think that next year, with more playing time, and another year to adjust to major league hitting, that he could be a real force for the Nats.

2B-Espinosa


Even though he is a rookie and played one hell of a defensive 2nd base for us this year, he is a much better hitter than his .229 average shows.  His career average in the minors resided more about the .270 range.  If he can pick that average up and continue to show the power numbers he displayed this year (19) he would quickly climb the ranks as one of the best NL 2nd baseman.  And one would assume, that he is only going to get better with time.

SS-Desmond

Next year will mark the beginning of his 3rd full major league season.  And so far, I think what you see is what you get with him.  He had a decent first full season when he batted .269 with 10 bombs, but has fallen off a bit this year while only batting .241.  What can we expect from him?  Hopefully next year he will start to figure things out a bit better and start showing us his true colors.  My guess though is that somewhere in .250 range with 6-8 bombs per year is what to expect.


1B/LF- Morse

The undisputed MVP of our team this year.  He finally got his first full year of playing every day and is just going nuts offensively.  All the signs are there that he is a true legit major league hitter and is here to stay, but can he repeat what he did this year? (.317/24 HR's)  I'm pessimistic that he can, but man, this year has been one hell of a show.  Hopefully he can come in around the same numbers but even a drop in average while maintaining his power numbers would still be a welcomed addition.


1B-LaRoche

Unfortunately we still have him.  And even more unfortunate is the fact that we probably have to play him to get his trade value up.  Hopefully he is only here temporarily, we can trade him, move Morse back to 1B and move Harper to LF. Career averages .267/26 bombs.  Also, again....I don't care about how good of a fielder he is.  Put a grizzly bear out at 1B if he can mash.  That's what First baseman are supposed to do...mash.  Its the easiest defensive position. 

Can you catch?
Yes?
Can you run?
No?
.......

.......Do you drop bombs?
Yes!

Man, have we got a position for you.


3B-Zimmerman

What else is there to say?  He's a stud and a top 3b in the league when healthy.  The key is for him to stay healthy.

RF-Werth

As we all know, we gave him a lot of money.  And along with that money came expectations.  To say that he has struggled his first year in Washington is an understatement.  He put up STUPID numbers in Philly, but the argument is that he was buried in a line-up of talented hitters and was an after-thought when pitchers prepared to face the team.  He is now a big name here in Washington.  It would be nice if he could regain some of the form that made him a rich man.  I think he is a better offensive player than he has shown this year (.230/16 HRs) but not quite the player he was in Philly (.283/24 HRs).  .270 with 20 bombs would be a nice addition.

LF-Harper?

Man, that would be exciting.  Granted Nix did a great job for us this year and I sincerely hope we keep him around, but its hard not to think about pulling Harper up and getting pumped about it.


As for CF, who really knows what is going to happen.  Ankiel did an OK job this year, as well as Bernadina, but it is no secret that Rizzo wants a CF'r that can lead off, and he wanted them yesterday.

After looking through our offense, I think one thing is pretty clear.  We do have young players who have room for improvement, and not a bunch of dinosaurs who have hit their ceiling; this, I've decided, is a positive.


But more than anything, we need to find a way to score runs.  We are second to last in runs scored this year, only ahead of San Fran.  That's not good.  Even with the Giants pitching staff, which is ridiculous, they can't win games with only scoring that many runs a game.

Hopefully our rookies will start to come into their own next year, and guys who are counted on to produce will do so.  Until then, here's to 2012...and if we suck next year....2013!

LETS GO NATS!