Curse of Calvin Coolidge

Not much to say about our hometown Nats. Despite the heroics of Bryce Harper our disappointing hometown team was undone, in my opinion by: 1. a severely underperforming starting pitching staff; with 2. some help from genius Mike Rizzo.

1.  Our starters were supposed to be the Nationals' strength. But outside of Scherzer's first half, Strasburg's second, and Zimmermann all season they have stunk; Gio has been Gio, too many walks, and Fister completely lost it.  So for most of the season we had the equivalent of 2 reliable starters, not 5.  That's on the players.

Number 2 is on Rizzo (Matt Williams too) for the way he constructed then deconstructed the bullpen. Coming out of spring training we were too dependent on guys like Treinen and Barrett. In my opinion Rizzo made things worse by adding Papelbon and shifting folks' rolls. The lack of confidence in Storen ruined his season, and certainly didn't help the team. Hind sight is 20/20, but it can't be a coincidence that since adding Papelbon the bullpen has gone from iffy to horrendous.

Of course, the injuries to Craig Stammen and Denard Span were two killers. No one, not Treinen nor Roark, could replace the steady Stammen. And our record with Span is that of a World Series-bound team.  Without him we're a team 7 games back of the Mets with 20+ games to go.
  
But I think everyone is avoiding THE real reason the Nats have under performed - the literal elephant in the stadium - and that's the lack of bipartisanism in the Presidents Race! 

The addition of a reformist Republican like Taft didn't hurt the Nationals last season but Coolidge is THE Curse of Lez Nationals! 

Not only was he a terrible and tone-deaf President, one not worthy of a giant puppet head and tiny-in-proportion-T-rex arms, he makes the President's race as unbalanced (FOUR Rs, 0 Ds) as the Texas State Legislature.

The obvious win-win - and win a World Series - solution is to subtract Coolidge (and not for Harding) and replace him with inarguably one of the 3 greatest Presidents of all time, Franklin Roosevelt.

The first win: not only is he a Democrat that would make the race bi-partisan, he's a Democrat who successfully fought polio, the Depression, Tojo and Hitler. Think he couldn't help the Nats fight off the Mets and Barves?

The second win: he would be in a wheelchair, thus reminding us that even folks with disabilities can race and win. Who knows, seeing a guy with polio compete in a wheelchair could even toughen up guys like Strasburg, Werth, Zimmerman, etc.

Come on Nats! End the Curse of Coolidge! Give us a Democrat!  Give us a racing Roosevelt and Happy Days Are Here Again!

One of the worst days of the year

One of the worst days of the year is inarguably the day Carolina ends its basketball season - if it ends with a loss, that is.

But another of the worst days of the year is the day the NFL season starts in earnest (on a Sunday, like in the old days). This year, recent events and actions make the prospect of football dominating the sport pages even more loathsome than usual.

As some of you know, I stopped following the NFL the year of the big strike, the one when NFL owners eventually fielded replacement players, that strike.  Unlike baseball, which I found out I really missed when it was stopped by misguided owners and labor troubles, I found out I did NOT miss the NFL that much.

I never went back in part because I did not miss football, but also because I was disgusted by the league itself and its' fans.  It's bad enough that the union is so weak that NFL players - abused by a sport so violent that most careers are short (and if you have a long one your body or brain is often severely damaged) - very rarely receive guaranteed contracts from wealthy owners.  Players went on strike in part to push for guaranteed money.    

But what made things worse for me was the average fans' reaction to the games played by replacement players.  Fans showed up to watch those scabs play.  It didn't matter who was playing, violence is violence, football is football.  Once players saw that, the union caved and since then things have gotten worse for players.  Seasons got longer thus more hits were absorbed, the game got more and more violent, and players bodies and minds kept getting abused.

Which of course brings me to the NFL's recent settlement with 4,500 former player who had sued the league over inadequate or callous medical care.  Mike Wise covered most of this ground in an excellent column in The Washington Post on August 29th.  For $650 million the NFL was spared having it's own players, it's former employees, take the stand and testify that coaches and doctors lied to them about concussions and other serious injuries.  

No guaranteed contracts, no lifetime health insurance, no concession that football is such a violent sport that ONE PLAY can ruin someone's body and/or brain for a lifetime.  The NFL is a rouge league that mistreats and lies to it's employees every game. 

I honestly wonder how long that business model will continue.  Last month's settlement bought the NFL some time, but the issue of medical abuses to former and current players will not go away.  

Another thing that probably won't go away is the love of violence and gambling, the twin factors that keep NFL fans glued to their TVs  on Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday, ...).  Besides the banal abuse of the players, that sentence includes the other 3 reasons I don't like the NFL; the trident of gambling, violence and TV that reenforce some of the worst aspects of American culture.  Those three ills are hard to beat, and sports like baseball or hobbies like reading can't seem to compete.  

America is worse for our love of football.

And Carolina is worse, too. In fact, college football is probably worse than the NFL. Professional teams are in it to make money, plain and simple.  But college and universities are supposed to have higher aspirations, which of course is the most naive statement anyone can blog about college sports.

Carolina, of course, should and used to be different.  But the recent scandals there have tarnished a school once known for doing things - everything - the right way, a school that used to take it's cues from Dean Smith.

Now it takes it's cues from ESPN, and in doing so Carolina has acted like just another low-life college whose goal is to fill up stadiums and make money, NOT to educate student athletes.  

I wish Carolina would have had the nerve to drop football for a year completely.  I know, we wouldn't have been able to hire someone named Larry Fedora!, but doing so would have restored Carolina's moral leadership. More importantly, it would have reminded the world that sports are secondary to academics, and restored same balance - at least at one campus.

In addition to chasing dollars, college football probably abuses players even more than the NFL. There are no restrictions on hitting in practice, for instance, and worse medical care.  

However, college football and all its abuses are easy to fix. Two reforms, making freshman ineligible and only playing 8 games a season, with one or two playoff games, would practically solve all the problems with the college game.

For the NFL, hopefully the entire league will go out of business - or MAYBE the league will change or evolve into a flag football league or something. Malcolm Gladwell predicted that in 20 years the physical abuse suffered by NFL players will be deemed socially unacceptable by our civilized society. I just hope a society seemingly dependent on violence, gambling and TV will eventually get there.

Of course, there are other reasons to not like football:

• It's corporate, corporate, corporate. From the NFL playing the Super Bowl in a neutral site so it can cater to fat cats/corporate sponsors not real fans, to the Chic-Fil-A Beef O'Brady's National Bank bowls, to college players banned from profiting when the school sells THEIR jerseys, abusive corporations or cartels are in charge of both the NFL and college football. The bosses make the real money; the workers do not. 
• Football has plays like the blitz. Baseball has plays like the sacrifice. When a game is tied, football has sudden death overtime; baseball has extra innings. The goal of football is use an offensive attack to penetrate the other sides defenses; in baseball, it's to be safe at home (all that is courtesy of George Carlin).
• A team named the Redskins represents the capital of the free world, in 2013. The same team that refused to sign African American players until 17 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier insists on burnishing that racist legacy by keeping the most offensive nickname in sports.  A team owned by a guy who seems completely oblivious about the nickname and that legacy.  
• Ray Lewis.  

162 games in one night

That sound you heard last night was an entire, 162-game season, passing by in one night.  The Nats' 2-3 loss to our new archrival Braves encompassed a season's worth of frustration and sadness - and frustration. Let us count the ways.  

• The game featured another wasted start by Stephen Strasburg. Stras struck out 9 in 7 innings as he had some nasty off speed stuff working.  The Braves tied the game at 1-1 on back to back to back bleeders, and probably had two good swings off of Strasburg all night.  Once again that effort was not good enough thanks to an anemic offense.
• No loss is complete without a wasted key at bat from Jayson Werth. Pinch hitting for Strasburg in the seventh with the go-ahead run on second Werth's strike out was practically pre-ordained. The only surprise is that he went down swinging. Despite being the July Player of the Month Werth and his $14 million-a-year salary is still unreliable in the clutch, and his dramatic game-winning homer in game 4 last year increasingly looks like a case of the blind squirrel finding an acorn.
• Last year, Natitude translated into lots of good luck: walk-off wins due to wild pitches; game-winning pinch hits from Chad Tracy or Tyler Moore; Harper taking baseball by the throat, etc. etc. This year's declaration of 'World Series or Bust' broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: you have to be humble - or else. Davey Johnson forgot that the greatest sin a human can commit (at least to the ancient Greeks, who have been validated by 3,000 years of history) is hubris. 
• Last year, Natitude also translated into hard hit balls finding gaps and driving in runs. This year, as it was last night, it seems like 90 percent of our line drives find gloves. Case in point is the seventh. Harper hits the ball on the screws right to Heyward. Of course, that line-drive out would have scored the go-ahead run IF Werth had moved the runner to third instead of striking out.  There were numerous line-drive outs last night: Rendon's sacrifice fly could have been a double to the gap; Uggla robs Desmond, etc.
• Last night's loss even featured a bull pen melt down even when Davey made the right move. Clippard has been lights out all season but even he faltered last night, giving up the game-winning homer.  #snakebit. 

I guess to be more precise, I should blog that last night's loss means the passing of the NL East. Catching the Braves, even if we someone sweep the remaining 8 matchups, is unlikely but the wild card is still an option. The Nats are 'only' 7 games back of the Reds and only have to pass one other team, the Diamondbacks, to get there. But as many have said, before the Nats can realistically make ANY run to the playoffs they have to start hitting.  

That brings me to our ray of hope: kudos to Bryce Harper for calling out the team, from the manager on down, last week. Last September he carried us down the stretch and he can do it again. Unless he does, it will be a long, long off season.

Go Nats!

You're Welcome (I think)

It took a few days, and some infuriating losses, but it looks like Natitude may be returning to southwest Washington.  A week after firing Rick Eckstein - 6 hours after I blogged about the need to do just that - the Nats' offense seems to have awaken.

Of course, we also thought that after the Nationals scored 13 runs in support of Stephen Strasburg to finish a four game sweep of the Padres.   So, in the words of the old Negro spiritual:* 'we will see.'

Last week's blog tried to end on an optimistic note, namely that things could change for this team if Bryce Harper got hot and rejuvenated our offense.  Thankfully, that seems to have started happening.  The Nats have won 4 of 5 to reinvograte the team's season, again, and Harper has gone 7 for 16 with two homers, one a walk off to win a must-win game versus the Pirates, and 6 RBIs.

In addition to revisiting last week's blog, I also want to expand on today's Washington Post story by Nats beat writer Adam Kiglore.  The author examines a handful of reasons why this season has been so frustrating and disappointing.

One was the underperformance of the Nationals' left-handed hitters, in particular Adam LaRoche - who to be fair has always been a slow starter and could very well carry the team again as he did in August last season - and Denard Span.  Injuries in general have hurt, in particular to Harper who is also left-handed.

Another reason was the addition of Span turned the team from a bashing, slugging one to a more balanced nine that could manufacture runs with speed and small ball.The common denominator to both diagnoses problems?   No more Michael "Beast Mode" Morse.

Even though he hits from the right side, we do seem to miss his pop, and in hindsight it would have been great to keep him along with Span and not resign an aging LaRoche.  Of course, one can argue that with Zimmerman at third we need a Gold Glove fielder such as LaRoche at first.  And again, LaRoche could get super hot again and save his and our season (though he's 35).

But as much as we may miss the presence of another home run hitter, or if he would be that much better than LaRoche or Span offensively, I think we may actually miss Morse more in the clubhouse.

One other reason Kilgore lays out for the disappointing season is the pressure that comes with being a  'World Series or Bust' favorite.  No one can argue that any of the Nats, with perhaps the exceptions of the stoic Zimmermann and now-stoic Strasburg, and the carefree Gio, have handled that pressure well.   Tight play has defined this squad for most of the season.

One can safely assume that Morse could have helped with that problem. Or solved that problem. Or the personable and likeable and 'Take On Me" loving Morse would have kept that from ever BEING a problem in the first place.  

Beast Mode would have trumped World Series or Bust.

Natitudes and platitudes
* Maybe Mike Rizzo is not a genius.  Regardless of the Morse trade, the descision to not bring back Sean Burnett and rely on Zack Duke as our only lefty in the pen was a mistake. And Kilgore pointed out the the failure to resign Edwin Jackson does not look that good in the rear-view mirror AND cost the team a draft pick.
* Then there is Drew Storen.  Not sure how to assess how any pitcher could come back from the game 5 debacle, but save to say the Nats have not handled him well, and a pitcher who two years ago saved 43 games has regressed all the way to AAA.
*Finally, Kilgore did not mentin the bad ju-ju of picking William Howard Taft as the 5th

The Nats are killing me

As some of you may have noticed via social media, I've been a bit cranky when it comes to our hometown Washington Nationals.  Most of that crankiness was initially aimed at often ridiculous (the violence that pops up all to often during the Presidents race) and sometimes important (the stale and cheap patriotism of a standing ovation to honor convalescing veterans, an ovation that seems to absolve fans of actually helping veterans or thinking about our 13-year odyssey in Afghanistan*) topics.

But my crankiness is now metastasizing into full-on, Carolina losing to Dook after Zeller tipped in one of THEIR shots, depression.

The Nats are killing me.  

Two Sundays ago, Evan and I watched Washington complete a four game sweep of the Padres by scoring 13 runs.  THIRTEEN!  We had won 7 of 10 games, and were only 4 games back of the Braves.  Natitude was back!

But since then we've played our worst baseball of the year.  After this weekend's sweep to the Dodgers the Nats are now 2 and 8 in our last 10 games. Whatever good mojo the Nationals had has been eviscerated.  The Nats are now in 3rd place, half a game behind the Phillies for second in the East, and seven games behind the Braves AND the second wild-card spot.

It's hard to understand how a team that has Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Ian Desmond, and Ryan Zimmerman can be this mediocre, and unable to build up ANY momentum over the course of 100 games.

Injuries is part of the story, especially for the lack of momentum that has kept this squad from ripping off a few 5 or 6-game win streaks.  Two weeks ago the 7 out 10 streak coincided with Harper then Wilson Ramos coming off the disabled list. 

But what gives now?  The big 3 pitchers have been great (despite today's stinker from ZNN), and even Dan Haren (on the hill tomorrow looking to end a 3-game losing streak!) has pitched better since coming off the DL.

It's not news that the offense has been horrible, frustrating, depressing, you name it. Saturday night's game was indicative of one of the biggest issues: driving in runs. The Nats had 12 hits but only scored one run, driven in by pinch hitter Roger Bernadina.  Against the Dodgers the Nats batted .077 with runners in scoring position.  

When a team with so many good players underachieves, who is to blame?  Is it Davey Johnson, his line ups, the way he uses the bull pen?  Is it hitting coach Rick Eckstein?  The Nats rank near to bottom of almost every offensive category.

Is it underachievers like Denard Span or Jayson Werth, who had a great second half last year but is currently making almost $500,000 per RBI this season and is hitting less than .200 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs?

I'll offer two things that could help a now healthy squad play better, maybe catch the Braves, and/or secure one of the two wild card spots.  I'm not going to touch the pitching, which outside of 2 or 3 bad outings from Drew Storen and Rafael Soriano has been generally great.

One is a simple line up change.  I'd go back to the future, and move Werth and Harper back to the top of the order, Zimmerman, then my big move of Desmond at clean up, followed by LaRoche, Rendon, Ramos, and Span (who has played great defense but is simply not getting on base enough).

Werth seems to stink everywhere else, and excelled at lead off last year. The second slot is the new third; you want to put you best hitter there since that spot gets about 15-20 more plate appearances than the 3 hole does a year.

Desmond often rises to the occasion with runners on base, and moving him up two places gets him a few more - important - at bats.  He's a free swinger but drives in runs.  

Two, fire Rick Eckstein for a number of reasons. One is admittedly cosmetic. Do something to get the team's attention/make them feel guilty/light a fire/insert sports cliche here. 

But others are valid.  The team is not hitting, and more importantly their approach to pitchers seems odd and confusing.  

Hitters guess and look for one pitch when they should be aggressive, take pitches when they should be expanding the zone looking for a pitch to drive.  

Or they frequently expand the zone at the wrong times, swinging at first pitches when it's actually time to work the count.  At bats look discombobulated; case in point was Harper Saturday night. He struck out LOOKING, taking all three strikes, when the situation called for looking for a pitch to drive no matter where it was (like Joe DiMaggio** or Tony Gwynn).  As much as I pick on Werth - ask Evan - we can not ignore that Harper has been swinging at too many bad pitches and taking too many 2-strike ones since he came off the DL; his pitch recognition - or approach - needs some improvement.

You can't fire the players so sadly have to fire the hitting coach. Bring in Frank Robinson, or Mrs. Robinson (the nation(als) turn their lonely eyes to you**) but do something.

These changes would work, or are at least worth trying, and I hope the Nats do something soon. It's past time to get hot. Going to last year's line up with Desmond at clean up and Eckstein at home could very well work.

GO NATS!

* One other thing I've been cranky about has been the generally lousy music the Nats play but that has gotten a little better. Positive developments include LaRoche using Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road' as his walk up song; LCD Soundsystem's 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' and Stevie Wonder's 'You Haven't Done Nothing' making appearances lately, and Chuck Brown's 'Bustin' Loose' is heard after most homers (but there is still too much modern shlock country, too much AC/DC).
* One ray of hope. Line up change or no line up change, Harper is capable of getting red hot and carrying a team as he did in May and September last season. The big 3 should continue to be awesome. And we play the Braves head to head alot; if we sweep those games we're in!

THAT'S what it is!

As many folks know, the Washington Nationals' new slogan is 'Natitude.'  It's hard to define a made-up term, one primarily chosen - in this case - because it sounds cool and is a nice melding of Nationals with a sports and societal buzzword.

In the old days, when lions like Dean Smith or John Wooden or Bobby Cox or even Joe Torre coached a team, attitude was bad. Teams strove for the antithesis, a sort of honest blend of confidence, success and humility sometimes called class, grace, or simply sportsmanship.

Now attitude is strived for, easy to market and exploit.  Combine that with a team coming into it's own led by young and therefore modern stars, and voila - Natitude.

I like using the hash tag #Natitude, but could not really define it in the case of the 2012 Nats.  But that was before this weekend's sweep of the Red Sox IN FENWAY.

The Nats went into Boston and were not intimidated as they swept the three-game series. Nor did they display much attitude.  They were LeBron James in game 6 serious as, for 3 nights, they picked up each other.  On Saturday, Ian Desmond got a big hit, with help from Adam LaRoche.

On Sunday, it was Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina with huge hits, with help from Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman.

On the mound, Mike Gonzalez and Sean Burnett picked up Gio Gonzalez one night, Tom Gorzelanny picked up Jordan Zimmerman the next.

And Tyler Clippard picked up everyone all three nights, earning an equal number of saves.

Doing your job, helping your team and teammates, is one definition of Natitude.

The one exception was Friday night, when the Nats' modern young stars simply dominated and didn't need much help.  Stephen Strasburg struck out 13, including Kevin Youkilis with the bases loaded in the 6th, to shut down the Sox with poise and simply nasty stuff.  Bryce Harper did the same  with his bat in blasting 3 hits, including a 420+ foot bomb to center.

Harper may best epitomize Natitude, specifically his home run trot.  It's actually a sprint that takes less than 20 seconds.   No boasting, no standing in the batter's box admiring his handy work.  Simply and confidently blasting a home run, then not showing up the pitcher and getting back in the dug out as fast as you can.

Success without excess.  Natitude.

Two is the magic number

In case anyone WAS wondering, it looks like it took me two months to get over Carolina's loss in the elite 8 this year. In a related development, Kendall Marshall has also yet to fully recover from his wrist injury. 

Obviously, that makes two of us.

But there too many good stories - and one bad one - to keep Carolina Hellenic Blue from getting back on track.

The first and best one has got to be our hometown Washington Nationals (I'll blog the others: Greece; NBA playoffs; EURO 2012; etc. starting tomorrow). They are playing so well, despite so many injuries and bad luck, that my hopes and expectations are Carolina high.  All season long, I've found myself pacing and getting as nervous during Nats games, especially late, as I do during a Carolina game.  

How is that for perspective?  

It's hard to believe that the Nats are in first place without Drew Storen or Michael Morse having played a single inning, then losing Jayson Werth, Wilson Ramos, and Brad Lidge for most of the season so far.

But that's how good our starting pitching has been.  Our starters and Adam LaRoche did all the heavy lifting - with some help from Jim Tracy pinching hitting like Ted Williams - for the first month of the season and got the Nats off to phenomenal and exciting start.  Steven Strasburg in particular was lights out his first 6 starts.

In the last month however, the worm has turned as the starters - except for Gio 'Best Pitcher in the NL' Gonzalez - have returned to Earth. But now the offense is starting to produce and carry the squad.

Some of that productivity is due to the return of Ryan Zimmerman from the DL, moving Ian Desmond out of the leadoff spot and into more RBI-worthy situations found in the 5th or 6th hole, and Danny Espinosa finally staring to hit.  

But it's been two rookies who were not expected to help the Nationals this year, or at all, who are most responsible for the recent offensive surge of the Nationals.  

One, as we all know, is Bryce Harper.  He may be in over his head some times as he adjusts to life in the big leagues but Harper is a six-tool player, perhaps the first in baseball.  He hits, hits for power, runs well (an understatement), fields well, and throws exceptionally.  His sixth tool?  

Harper does something exciting every night; you can't take your eyes off of him.

One night, it's stealing home, another turning a single and a bobble into a double.  Or maybe it's scoring from second on a ground ball that ricochets off the second baseman's glove, or crashing into the wall in center.   Or running the bases in 17 seconds on a home run, Mickey Mantle style.

For me, the epitome of Harper - at least so far - was Sunday against old favorite(s) Livo Hernandez and the Braves.  The first time Livo faced him, he struck Harper out on a 64-mile an hour curve ball.  One inning later, Livo tried that again on an 0-2 pitch.  That time, Harper lined a home run the opposite way that got out of the yard in about 3 seconds and barely rose higher than 15 feet.  

To paraphrase W: 'Fool me once, shame on me.  Try to fool me twice, shame on you.'

But the other rookie that has helped the Nats stay in first place is Steve Lombardozzi.  Inserted into the lead off spot by Davey 'Yes, I still have it at 69 years young' Johnson, Lombardozzi is hitting 320 with an on-base percentage close to 400.  He's mainly started in LF, but also got some time at third when Zimm was hurt and at second spelling Espinosa.  I hope Johnson keeps finding him at bats when Morse (would could come off the DL next week) and Werth return.   Lombardozzi gets on base like a lead off hitter should.

Finding him ABs after Morse returns is a GREAT problem to have.  As I said at the top o' the blog, it's hard not to get excited about watching this team compete.  That's one of the greatest things about baseball - you get to follow your team every day for six month.  And if your team is good, that's hard two beat.

GO NATS!

A few more Nats notes, then it's off to the Mall for some CLAW softball.

• The return of Morse could give the Nats a stacked line up, and would keep Lombardozzi in the line up at least until Werth returns. I assume Johnson will go: Lombardozzi LF; Harper CF; Zimmerman 3B; LaRoche 1B; Morse LF; Desmond SS; Espinosa 2B; Flores C.
• Jesus Flores will turn out to be the unsung hero for the Nats, our savior in the wake of Ramos' injury.
• One last encouraging thing about the Nationals' season thus far? Not only have they flourished without Morse, etc. but they are off to a 6-4 start as the Nats enter the most brutal part of their schedule.  Those six wins have come against the first-place Orioles and on the road at Philadelphia and Atlanta.  It's a tough month of games, as the Nats are in Miami, home versus the Mets and Braves, then travel to Boston and Toronto, come home for the Yankees and Rays, then finish that stretch in Baltimore.  
• That's 33 games versus nothing but quality and pennant-worthy foes from the NL and AL East.  If the Nats are in first place by the time the Rockies come to DC on June 25th tell Mike Rizzo to start printing playoff tickets!

Another nice win

After a weekend of nail biters, loud fans and walk-off wins against the dreaded Phillies, things returned to 'normal' last night as our hometown Nationals calmly defeated the somehow-in-first place Diamondbacks 4-1.  It was a relatively ho-hum, by-the-book night of pitching, an excellent start from emerging lefty Ross Detwiler, defense, Ryan Zimmerman making 3 stellar plays, and timely hitting by Jayson Werth, whose three-run homer sealed Detwiler's win.

It was also a tidy game, as the Nats won in about 2 and half hours. It seems like every game Evan and I attend the Nats win and the game is quick (almost always 2 and half hour with not many walks or dead time).  Hard to beat.

Their recent streak - centered around Zimmerman's hot hitting and some nice found-money pitching from Detwiler and Chien-Ming Wang among others - have the Nats only 2 games under .500 at 62-64.  Washington has to merely go 19 and 17 the rest of the way to finish at 81 and 81. 

That is certainly doable since our Nats play 19 of those games in Washington.  Best of all, it's not exactly a Murderers Row of teams coming to South Capital Street, either.  We've got home stands coming up against the fourth-place Mets (3 games), fifth-place Dodgers (4 games), sixth-place Astros (3 games), and fifth-place Marlins (3). The only good teams we play are 3 more this week versus the Diamondbacks and 3 games in September versus the Braves. Assuming we win each series against the bad teams - not sweep, just win - and split the six versus the good ones, that get us 12 curly Ws.

On the road, the Nationals go to Cincinnati for 3, Atlanta for 3, Philly for 4, New York for 4 and Florida for 3. I feel good about splitting with Philly and the Mets, and not getting swept in any of the others so that gives us at least 7 road wins.

For a final total of - ta da! - 19 wins to close out the season, and a very satisfying 81 and 81 mark for 2011.  

Waiting for . . .

As some of you know, Evan has a blog called Waiting for 2012.  But recently the August 8th SweetSpot blog by David Schoenfield looked at a possible Nationals line up in 2013: 

2B Anthony Rendon
RF Jayson Werth
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Prince Fielder
LF Mike Morse
CF Bryce Harper
SS Danny Espinosa
C Wilson Ramos
 

Of course, the big news here is Fielder, news since everyone knows we are signing Pujols this winter (of course, Mike Rizzo will in reality sign whoever Scott Boras tells us to).  Espinosa to short stop is not news; he's historically been a short stop and assumes Rendon develops as expected and therefore pushes Desmond off the field.

The semi-big news is Harper in center field.  We know Werth has to stay in one of the corner outfield spots for the next 6 seasons, and Morse's emergence means he gets a corner too, so Harper gets center.  That issue will actually get settled this winter as the Nats are expected to sign a center fielder, with Morse moving to 1B in 2013 after LaRoche's contract expires.  So a more likely 2013 line up is:

CF Free agent 
2B Rendon
3B Zimmerman
1B Morse
RF Werth
LF Harper
SS Espinosa
C Ramos


I'd take either one, frankly.

In terms of pitching, it's exciting to think about Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, John Lannan, Detwiler, and someone like Brad Peacock (who'll get a call up soon; nice bit on him from Baseball America here) in 2012 or 2013. Add Tyler Clippard, Colin Balester, Ryan Matheus, Henry Rodriguez and Drew Storen and you have a legit, big-league staff.

So 81wins this year, between 85 and 90 in 2012, and who knows the limit in 2013!  Go Nats!