Results tagged “elijahdukes”

Nationals 15, Cubs 6: I was practically raised on Eddie Vedder's nearly-unintelligiable snarl, but I can't seem to recall a song in the Pearl Jam catalog which provides quasi-cryptic advice about pitching. Too bad for the Cubbies: the bearded Ved threw out the first pitch at Wrigley last night and he probably could have quoted such a tune (if it existed) to Carlos Zambrano before he gave up eight earned in four and a third last night. Outfielders Josh Willingham and Elijah Dukes lit up a number of Cubs pitchers for a combined seven hits, three home runs, and a massive eleven RBIs, seven of which came with two outs. Nationals starter Garrett Mock recovered from giving up an early home run to Zambrano and pitched into the sixth -- although by that point, the Nats were already up by eight, so one probably shouldn't read too much into Mock's numbers. The Nationals are averaging about 4.5 runs per game this season, and in their last seven games, they were right on that number. But sometimes you just get the feeling that they should develop into a much more potent offensive threat, and tonight, they certainly did: as Eddie might say, "it's evolution, baby."

Let's engage in a hardball hypothetical, shall we? Player A is a 25-year-old outfielder, hitting .244 with 6 HR, 30 RBI, and 18 runs. Not the greatest stats, but Player A is generally appreciated by the fans, and has moderate-to-good defensive capabilities, even though he might be slightly late to practice once in a while. On the other hand, Player B is a 29-year-old outfielder on the decline. Player B is currently batting .197 with only 3 HR and 16 RBI in 58 games, even though he has a reputation as a power hitter -- somehow, this power hitter's slugging percentage is lower than his poor on-base percentage. Player B is a defensive liability most of the time acceptable defensively, but strikes out nearly a third of the time he comes to the plate. Player B is also generally understood to be grossly overpaid.

The Nationals have won 3 of their last 13 games, and possess the second worst record in the National League. The team is currently batting .235, have an OBP of .310, are slugging .357, and have an OPS of .667. They also have 229 total RBIs and 781 total bases. What is amazing about all of these statistics is that the Nationals trail all other NL teams in each of them. In fact, these numbers would be the worst in the MLB, if not for Seattle's .305 OBP and Kansas City's 227 RBIs. It is really amazing how bad this team's offense is. If you filter any of these statistics using runners in scoring position, or runners on, etc., you just need to look at the bottom of the list to find Washington.