July 11, 2008
Nats Roundup: Who's Watching?
I was worried that the low number of comments on my Nationals posts spoke to their quality. Fortunately, the problem is that no one cares about the team or chooses to watch them on television. The Nationals are last in the league in television viewership with an average of 9,000 households per game. The next lowest team, Kansas City, has an average television audience of 28,000 households. It is really a staggering statistic. It is a testament to the stadium that the team is as high as 16th in the Major Leagues in average attendance, with 29,557 people per game.
Actually, it is amazing that anyone can watch this team at all. The Nationals are 2-8 in their last 10 games and, with a record of 35-58, are officially the worst team in all of baseball. Also, their batting average, OPS, OBP, and Slugging are all the worst in all of baseball. The only bright spot is that with a 4.45 ERA, the Nats' starting pitching is decidedly mediocre. The reality is that this is a really bad baseball team, and there is no indication that they are going to get better. Any optimism one can muster is killed every time Wily Mo Pena steps on the field.
The only real solution for the suffering baseball fan is to head down and catch the Potomac Nationals. They have a winning record and better promotions. For example, on Friday, July 18, ladies get in for free, the first 1,000 fans get free hats, the kids can run the bases, and NoVA students get $1 tickets. If that isn't your thing, there is also Belly Buster night and Second Chance nights. It is all pretty great. What's better, there isn't even a drop in the quality of play.
The Lerners Refuse to Pay Rent
As it was pointed out in the morning roundup, besides not paying to field a watchable baseball team, the Lerners are also not paying to use the stadium that the team uses to defame the sport. As Thomas Boswell pointed out last month, despite not getting a very big bump in attendance, the Nationals will probably double their revenue this year. This increase in revenue is the result of the "incomplete" stadium. It is also important to remember that the Nationals get a guaranteed payment from MASN, so they are making money despite having only 9,000 households tune in every night. That's OK, because the owners are "taking no money out of the team for ten years." One wonders where all this money is going. They aren't using it to sign their draft picks.
Photo by Flickr user erin m.
A Balk To Remember
One of the few statistics that the Nationals are leading in is balks. They are tied for the Major League lead with Pittsburgh with 7 total balks, but are in sole position of the lead with 6 balks committed by a starter. Granted, two of those balks were committed by Odalis Perez on Tuesday. Both balks came in the third inning, and Perez was ejected for arguing after the second one. The team is currently appealing those calls. The concern for the team is that Perez's post game rant could lead to a suspension that makes it more difficult to trade him.
Game of the Week
It is really tough to get excited about any of the games these days. I am going to pick Saturday, June 12, when the Nationals host the Astros. Ostensibly, I am picking this game because it is Colin Balester's third start, and he is the future. In reality, I am picking this game because the Astro's starter is named Wandy.
Briefly Noted: The current winner for best injury by a Nats player is: Aaron Boone, for injuring himself while trotting out from the dugout to first base to pinch run... The curse of the bobbleheads extends to the minors. Justin Maxwell's bobblehead day is August 23 at Potomac and, surprise, he is injured... Willie Harris visited the special education school St. Coletta of Greater Washington.
Meaningless Statistic of the Week: The Nationals are tied for the lead in the National League with zero times caught stealing while playing in a dome.
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Why is Ayala (1-5) still on this team? When they call this guy up, the other team stands up and cheers. Take last night, after coming back again to tie, Ayala, with two out and already allowed 2 runs, gets the roller to him, FAKES to home to hold the runner, then the stadium in unison shouts THERE's TWO OUTS!!!!...then throws to first barely getting the final out. The incompetency of the bullpen is amazing.
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That's funny: The stadium is more ready for MLB than the Nats are.
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Confirms that most of the relatively small number of people interested in the Nationals are already attending games, but with half of those games on the road, where are the other MASN viewers. Are attendees so repulsed by what they witness that they can't bear to watch more on MASN?
What's the average number of viewers per "household" (is it a 1:1 ratio)?. Multiple TV household may diminish this number, but it seems reasonable to expect at least a 1:2 ratio of households to game attendees for real fans.
. . . oh wait, that's 29K tickets/game sold, not actually attended. Anyone who's been to all but a handful of games knows this number is significantly lower when you factor real asses in real seats.
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The District should begin eviction procedures against the Nationals for back rent. Then, in a few weeks we can watch the entertaining spectacle of Nats players fighting soccer, kickball, and ultimate frisbee teams for playing rights to the West Potomac Park athletic fields.
It's too bad that DC has such powerful tenants rights laws. It would be funny to watch Vincent Gray nailing 4x8 sheets of plywood over the Nats Ballpark entrances.
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The problem isn't that the team is bad; it's that it's bad and going nowhere fast. It's not like the Marlins or the Rays, where there was/is young talent to get excited about with more coming up through the minors. This organization is going to take more years to recover from the MLB receivership tenure (and Jim Bowden isn't the man to engineer the turnaround). The absolute tone-deafness of the Lerners with regard to the rent withholding isn't helping generate any goodwill. Ugh.
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That's so weird about the viewership. I watch the games often. I mean, it's summer, what else is on? What are all you other people watching, some dance competition?
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The Rays' real hope is the prospect of relocating to a better market. Two World Series titles in its brief existence should dampen fan discontent in S Fla, although, their new stadium will probably lead to more of the same lames excuses continually echoed by Nats apologists.
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Over the past few years, I've watched nearly every Nationals game on TV. This year, however, the team has been so miserably bad that I've found other things to do with my time. The teems extreme sucktitude, combined with the terrible picture quality of MASN when the games aren't in HD most of the time, keeps me from tuning in.
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What is more sad: The fact that I have been one of the 9,000 to tune into the games each day this week or my belief that Teddy has more fans than Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes combined? Honestly its been infuriating to watch this squad, and I genuinely want to support them. Clone me three more Cristian Guzman's and an extra Austin Kearns, and then at least 50% of the players on the field will actually care about winning baseball games.
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Do you know if they also protested the crazy call last weekend? There was a runner on first, one out, and Lo Duca batting. He hit a ball that went a foot or less. The home plate up signals fair, but the second base up and first base up both signal dead ball (I guess they thought it hit him in the box). The catcher throws the ball to second for one out and then on to first for an easy second out as Lo Duca, seeing the umpire signal dead ball, stopped running. The umpires are all confused, so revert back to playground rules and decide the runner is out but Lo Duca is safe at first (even though he never actually ran to first).
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HCE
I won't argue with you about the extreme suckitude, CHRIST! -- we're complaining about lack of HD now!?! I'd listen on the radio if I really gave a sh*t.
You're either a fan or you're not. No shame in saying you're not
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One of the few statistics that the Nationals are leading in is balks.
Few? Elijah Dukes still leads the NL in restraining-orders-against (ROA), though I'm sure when it comes to All Star fan votes he still ranks below league leaders in ERA.
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I just cant bring myself to watch on tv. In person, its completely different (...a whole different ballgame?) and alot more interesting to watch.
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It's gotten to the point where I take pride in how bad the Nats are. They're not just bad, they are SPECTACULARLY bad. So it's really like they've achieved excellence in their own sphere.
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Baseball sucks on TV ; always has, always will.
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Virginia,
That's just plain bullshit and only illustrates the overall casual interest in this team. Maybe if MLB will allow the Nats to schedule 162 home games there will be sufficient interest to justify this team's existence in this region.
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Note that article:
D.C. United has averaged a 0.5 rating (11,500 households)
MLS is getting better TV than MLB? That's when you know you need help.
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DC1: The Rays and Marlins are different teams, in different cities. Don't confuse them.
Vermonter: In America we call them "umps."
I kind of like watching the team play, if only because of the pleasant surprise when they actually manage to score a run. I also enjoy watching garbage time in basketball games, but I'm weird that way.
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Dank
Who's confusing them? And who thinks Tampa is S Fla?
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send them back to canada where they came from.
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Canada doesn't want them.
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The 'Northern Peso' is stronger than ever, there could be a dollar depreciated gain to be had by Canadian buyout. MLB would just exercise it's anti-trust exempt and disallow it.
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Whoa whoa whoa. The low viewership is partially because they're not doing very well, but let's not forget about the shitty tv deal that we have with Angelos. How many of you even realize there is a MASN2 (!!!) where most Nats games are relegated to? On my cable it's channel 79, at least 10 stations higher than I ever wander. Plus the fact that the games weren't even on tv when the team moved here because of the drama with Baltimore, which is the best time to capitalize on new, interested viewers. PLUS the video feed quality on MASN (2 in particular) is incredibly lousy. It is no picnic trying to watch those games through a haze of pixelated goo. This is definitely a doomed to fail situation unless they do something about this. Increased viewership at home will also translate to better attendance at the park.
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Does anyone know who drives the black Thunderbird convertible with VA tag that reads "NATS 14"? I thought it was Manny but it doesn't look at all like him. The guy has a big moustache and seems like maybe a retired former player. Or the moustache is a disguise.
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I like the Nats, and yes I like watching baseball on tv. So why have I only seen two or three games on tv this year? Half the time, I can't even find what channel the games are on. If I do find it, I usually can't stand to watch more than a few innings of blurry nonsense thanks to the quality of MASN broadcasts. It's really hard to distinguish players or even tell where the ball is in the strike zone.
Finally, if I make it past the picture quality, I end up banging my head against the wall at the incredible stupidity of the game announcers. Who hired these guys? They can usually tell the Nats apart (but not always) but totally fail when it comes to distinguishing the opposing teams players. And I think my grandmother knows more about baseball in general than these guys do.
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I wouldn't take those TV numbers too seriously. MASN is controlled by D'Anglo who still hates the fact that baseball is in DC. And the numbers probably don't count all the times the games are on DC20 and MASN has the blue screen on.
For the record, I listen to the games on radio on the back porch. Sometimes I have the TV picture on only to catch the reply (the TV picture is usually 8 sec. behind the radio - so every play is on automatic instant replay.
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We would watch, but all the games are on cable and they will no longer allow us to buy online access. No cable here.
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It's in the same comcast neighborhood as CSPAN --that shouldn't be such a problem for the many wonks and astute baseball fans we supposedly have in this town.
sfw makes a good point, but if fans are willing to watch a far inferior telecast on a desktop then paying cable customers should have no trouble watching an inferior telecast on CHANNEL 79
Excuses, excuses...