photo by Rukasu1

The first part of the Nationals’ 2010 season came to an end yesterday with a 6-2 loss to San Francisco. The team’s 39-50 record to date represents a 13-game improvement in the win column over this time last year. Yay, right? Even given the atrocity of the 2009 season, it’s weird to say that a team that sits 11 games under .500 is a disappointment.

So what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong?

On offense, the Nats have been serviceably mediocre. Jim Riggleman’s most-used lineup is classically constructed top-to-bottom: Nyjer Morgan at the top of the order, Cristian Guzman up next to move him along the basepaths, and the big bats at 3-4-5 (Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn, and Josh Willingham, all having borderline All-Star seasons at the dish) to knock in the runs. Pudge Rodriguez has fit in nicely, despite tailing off from a scorching start. Roger Bernadina, while not exactly lighting it up, is at least slightly more productive than Willie Harris. Ian Desmond has been adequate at the plate in his first full season. If there’s a problem with the lineup, it’s been Morgan’s inability to get on base, sporting a horrible .314 on-base percentage, which should get him bumped from the leadoff spot. However, men on base haven’t exactly had many chances to finish the 360-foot dash to glory. The Nats have been decent with men in scoring position, batting .262, but have been awful in the clutch, batting only .229 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs. At the very least, most innings need to be extended — if only to give the pitching some more rest — and the bats and plate discipline just aren’t coming through so far in 2010.