Nats Update: Columbus Cavalry
Anyone who watched the Nats get smacked around in Florida this weekend saw the club nearly swept, saved only by Friday night's endless string of baserunners. The team's all-too-familiar weaknesses were exposed once again in the form of poor starting pitching, with Bergmann, Chico and Simontacchi surrendering 18 earned runs in 14.2 IP between them. Early deficits on Saturday and Sunday were exacerbated by the team's inability to drive in runs, highlighted by the 9-0 home run advantage the Fish enjoyed in the series. Despite serviceable efforts like Mike Bacsik's 5.2 innings last night or games like last Friday where everything's falling in, the current Nats seem to lack the ability to regularly force the issue.
Between the consistent effort exhibited by every guy on the roster and the continued excellence of Dmitri Young, the baseball being played in 2007 is exciting enough. Many following the organization are focused on building a winner for 2008 and beyond, however, so they might be forgiven for their divided attention this week between D.C. and the developments in central Ohio.
This week in Columbus, two of the most exciting players in the entire organization took the mound for the AAA Clippers. One was expected: RHP Collin Balester began the year in AA Harrisburg as the Nats #1 prospect. After 17 starts with a 3.74 ERA for the abysmal Senators, he was promoted and made his International League debut last night in Columbus, throwing three innings of one-run ball in a no-decision. The other guy--lefty John Lannan--is a bit of a surprise, in that the 22-year-old started the year with Single A Potomac. He has shot up the ladder to Columbus, though, and lowered his ERA with the Clippers to 1.55 in six starts with a win on Sunday. With current Nat Matt Chico, these guys may be the nucleus of the Nats future rotation, and the more quickly they develop, the more quickly the Nats will be winners. The Nats solid beat writer Barry Svrluga spent a vacation dreaming about THE PLAN, and he returned to the Post's Nationals Journal on Monday with a glance at what the rotation might look like come September.
While the Nats are restraining themselves from calling up their talented young arms from Columbus, they're wasting no time getting injured OF Alex Escobar back into a Washington uniform. Despite really struggling during a brief rehab stint with the Clippers, Escobar's power bat will be brought up to replace the feeble Logan/Langerhans platoon in center field. He may join the team as soon as tonight's game at RFK, where Tim Redding will look to win the second game of the four game set with the Astros.