After dropping three of four in Milwaukee over the weekend, the Nationals hit the reset button and return home for a seven game homestand, welcoming NL West bottom-feeder Colorado to DC for a three game series that begins tonight. The Nats lead the NL East by 1.5 games over the Atlanta Braves, who split a four game series with the NY Mets over the weekend. The good news is that the Nats have played lights-out at home (best home record in baseball). The bad news is that the Nats’ offense continues to sputter. The good news is that the Rockies have lost four in a row and share the dubious distinction of owning the lowest win total in the majors (31) with the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays; mere percentage points separate the Rockies from the worst record in baseball. The bad news, again, is that the Nats’ offense continues to sputter. In theory, the series against Colorado should be a good opportunity for the Nats to beat up on a bad team.
However, the Nats just scuffled through four close games against the sub-.500 Brewers: another waste of a no-nonsense performance by John Patterson Thursday afternoon (6IP, 2ER, 7H, 9K); Friday’s bizarre “Balk-Off” loss; Saturday’s 5-3 win highlighted by achy-breaky Jose Guillen’s clutch hitting; and finally yesterday’s 5-3 loss, which saw the Nats get schooled by old friend Tomo Ohka. Tony Armas Jr. (4-4 4.97 ERA) takes the hill for the Nats tonight against Byung-Hyung Kim (2-7 5.46 ERA).
Should Frank Robinson do something to shake things up? Is benching Cristian Guzman in favor of Jamey Carroll the best place to start? The arrival of Preston Wilson was supposed to inject some life into the offense, and he has been fairly productive in four games since joining the team last Thursday (4-15, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB), but top-to-bottom, the lineup just isn’t getting it done. Every day that passes without Nick Johnson in the lineup seems to amplify his importance to the club. There’s still no return date in sight for Johnson, but according the Post, he’ll be reexamined today. So the best solution to the Nats’ offensive woes might be to just wait it out.
