Nats Update: Power Surge in Cincinnati
For a struggling offensive team like the Nationals, there's no greater place to play a few games than the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. And lately for the Nats, there's no greater foil than whiny Wayne Krivsky's Reds.
For those reasons, I had quite the time watching the Nats pound the stuffing out of the Reds in last night's 12-7 win. The club's long-slumbering lumber has finally awoken--aided by Cincy's teensy bandbox of a field. In the first three games of the series, the Nats have pounded out seven homers, an astonishing 26% of their entire season's meager total of 27. Their 27 runs scored in the same three games represents 16% of their year's total.
One of several things seems to be happening here:
Possibility #1: Great American is a funhouse mirror, distorting a still moribund lineup.
Possibility #2: Lenny Harris, the new batting coach, is performing his greatest pinch hitting stint yet, and is some sort of mechanics-adjusting god. All Hail Lenny Harris!
Possibility #3: The Nats offensive tiger has arisen. Look out, National League...
Photo by Flickr user clarissa~
In all reality, it is probably some combination of the three. There are some positive signs that point to a genuine improvement in the offense over the team's current 9 of 13 tear. Felipe Lopez awoke from his recent struggles with a grand slam and 6 RBI in Tuesday's dramatic 8-4 win. Ryan Zimmerman is finally hitting like the Zim of '06, and Brian Schneider has also shaken off his slow start. While no one's mistaking this lineup for the '27 Yankees, they are certainly better than they've shown in the season's first third (team batting average: .234, last in the NL). Just a modest improvement should yield a reasonably competitive team.
Are there warning signs? Sure. The starting rotation is a train wreck of injuries. Jon Rauch seems to have forgotten how to get people out. Felipe Lopez has been abysmal at leadoff. But we'll worry about those warning signs about as much as I fretted the oil light on my old '87 Ford Escort. I wasn't taking it to the Indy 500 or anything, so why not just enjoy the ride?
Bring on the Reds for one more! Let's see if Mike Bacsik can throw another few shutout innings tonight.