MVN - Most Valuable Network

Ask yourself : Are you better off now than you were 1 year ago?

• 2007: 2-8
• 2008: 3-7

On the surface the improvement seems minimal, if at all. The offense isn’t putting out those big games you’d like to see.  The pitching has been giving up more runs than you’d see at a Jason Simontacchi Pitch-Alike Contest.  Now is a good time to remember what I consider the #1 thing an outsider needs to understand about the 2008 Nats.

The 2008 Nats are better than the 2007 Nats. However, the 2008 Nats could very well finish with a worse record than the 2007 Nats.

I know it seems counter-intuitive, but last years team was a bit lucky when it came to close games AND, in my personal opinion, got performances unlikely to be duplicated from Redding, Hill, Bergmann, and a few spot starters.  

[Dont’ get me wrong I think Redding and Hill are decent rotation options, but I think Redding skews more toward average, and Hill is unlikely to put in 16 starts of that quality.  The Nats are either getting less starts out of him or a more average ERA. Bergmann?  I’ve said my piece about him. Historical IP. Historical IP. Historical IP. ]

The Nats made a bunch of good moves in the offseason, going younger and taking chances on some talent, that really better set-up the Nats for success down the road than they had been.  It’s hard to see that now, with Pena and Dukes out for so long, and the two mistakes the Nats made (signing Young for 2-years for that money and signing LoDuca at all) shining in your face like a 4 yr old with a flashlight, but it’s true.  The Nats are also taking last looks at guys like Lopez, Guzman, and Kearns, willing to suffer through another bad year to prove that it’s time to move on.  If they aren’t any good, don’t worry.  They won’t be here next year when the rebuilding really takes hold.

[And by takes hold I mean either the young guys come up and the team turns a corner and starts to compete OR the young guys don’t pan out and the team turns a corner and goes down to losing 100 games a year.  Either way corners are being turned, so that’s something.

Oh I wanted to add - thank God the Nats got rid of Ryan Church. They’d be 0-10 with that kid’s attitude dragging the team down! Actually while Ryan is singling up a storm over in NY, is anyone unhappy with Milledge? Phil? It’s not an indefensible position to want Ryan over Lastings (he is lefty, a better fielder, and dammit he was an Expo!) but age has got to be a big part of evalutating any Nats player right now.  Forget OBP and OPS, Lastings whoops Ryan in the key stat of DOB. ]  

But all those right moves don’t necessarily translate on the field.  Not yet.  The youth needs to grow into their roles.  If the vets aren’t producing and the young guys are coming along slowly, the offense will suffer - and that’s how it’s been… FOR ALL OF TWO GAMES, maybe.   Come on - the offense is middle of the pack in the league - and has given the fans 7, 4, 4, 0, 7, 4, 3 runs in the past few games.  It’s not great but it certainly isn’t bad.   Remember last year again

(through 10 games)  

• 2007: 23 runs scored
• 2008: 44 runs scored

“GAH!” to “Eh.”   That’s improvement.  [Seriously thought, those were dead-ball era numbers in 2007. Forget a humidor, I think the Nats opponents were keeping their balls underwater]

And while most of the blame for the Nats early season failures can be put on the pitching staff, the pitching actually has improved from last years numbers.

• 2007: 61 runs scored
• 2008: 53 runs scored. 

“Oh DEAR GOD!” to “Oh Dear God”.  As a TV plumber in a bad sitcom might say “That’s your problem right there”  44 runs scored is pretty average. 53 runs allowed is still pretty bad.  Sprinkle in a bit of unluckiness and the team hardly looks any better.

But it is.  It’s time to settle in Nats fans.  This probably isn’t going to be a surprise season where the Nats take the majors by storm and challenge for that last playoff spot.  This probably is going to be a true growing year with ups and downs and it may end up with the W-L not showing the improvement on the field (on offense anyway). The sooner you accept that the sooner you can enjoy the season with the same emotional detachment as the set of networked machines here at OMG that write a column under the name of “Harper”. 

(…as long as you don’t listen to or read anything that Jim Bowden says.  What an ass.)  

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 9:30 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.