Yesterday, Nationals manager Manny Acta called a team meeting to remind his players that they are not “independent league players.” The point was that, despite being younger and not as talented as some other clubs, they are expected to be able to complete routine plays like hitting the cutoff man and fielding the baseball. It is clear that Manny will live with a team that is last in the National League in every offensive category, the worst team in the National League, and quickly becoming the worst team in baseball, but he will not tolerate basic baseball errors. To put it another way, the manager of the Nationals expects the same level of play from his team as my junior varsity coach expected from my team.
The Nationals are one game away from the halfway point of the season. They are currently 31-49. If they team keeps up its current level of play, and there is no reason to expect otherwise, they will be flirting with 100 losses this year. While bad, at least they are not in any real danger of surpassing 1962’s 120 loss Mets team. In order to lose 120 games they would have to go 10-72 over the rest of the season. That is unthinkable, even for this team. So take heart Washington, you are only watching a really bad team, not a historically bad one.
Terrible Tuesdays
Tuesday was not a good day for the Nationals. Not only did they lose one of the worst games that I have had the pleasure to attend, but they had a host of injuries. Shawn Hill was placed on the 15-day DL after giving up 8 runs in 3 innings on Tuesday. He has been pitching through an arm injury all season, and his recent performance has forced the team to put him on the DL. Given the history of promising but oft injured pitchers in this town, I am looking forward to the upcoming Shawn Hill – Kate Grinold nuptials.
Hothouse flower Nick Johnson’s season ended this week when he had wrist surgery on Tuesday. Rather than write more about Nick Johnson’s injuries, we’ll just link to this Google Fight.
Finally, in a touching display of solidarity with the fans, Paul Lo Duca left Tuesday’s game early because he was lightheaded and felt sick to his stomach.
Photo by Flickr user bullneck.
