Photo by muohace dc

Before yesterday’s game against the Mets, Filip Bondy wrote in the NY Daily News that “any result other than a sweep must be considered a setback.” Well, things aren’t looking too good in Queens, as the Nats managed an 8-1 victory yesterday, avoiding the series sweep. Take that, Gothamist!

It may not feel like it, but the Nationals are 3-3 in the last week. Despite this burst of mediocrity, they remain at the bottom of the NL East, the NL, and the Major Leagues, and will likely remain there until the team can learn to field properly. The Nats’ 19 errors are the second highest in the Major Leagues, and they have the worst fielding percentage in all of baseball, at .971.

Forbes
Late last week, Forbes released its annual ranking of the value of all of the MLB franchises. Ted Lerner would love for you to notice that the team’s value decreased $12 million from last year to this year, which is the biggest drop in baseball. He would prefer that you overlook the fact that the team made $42.6 million last year, which is the second highest profit in baseball. If they took those profits and invested them in salary, the Nationals’ payroll would increase from the fourth lowest in the MLB, $59 million, to the ninth highest, a theoretical $101 million. Just spending more is not always the best solution, but it seems difficult for a team that is making money, and is the 14th highest valued franchise in the sport, to justify such a low payroll, particularly after losing 102 games last season. At least they paid their rent on time this year.

Jordan Zimmermann
The only thing this season that can give the dozens of faithful Nationals fans hope that someone in the organization knows something about baseball is Jordan Zimmermann. Zimmermann is a 22-year-old rookie pitcher. He made his MLB debut a week ago, and after yesterday’s victory, is now 2-0 with a 2.38 ERA. This organization has long been pointing to the future, and Jordan might be the first indication that that future is slowly arriving.

Game of the Week
This week’s game of the week is Saturday, May 2, when the Nationals host the St. Louis Cardinals. This will be the first series that the Nats play outside of the NL East. The game is on Latino Heritage Day, and the first 20,000 fans receive a Los Nationales T-Shirt. If that doesn’t get you into the stadium, the Cardinals are the only team in baseball with more errors than the Nationals, so it should be a slopfest out there.

Briefly Noted: The Nationals have a “mild interest” in Pedro Martinez… Daniel Cabrera has managed to decrease his velocity without increasing his accuracy, way to go Daniel… Jesus Flores is clutch.

Meaningless Statistic of the Week: The Nationals are last in the National League in the ratio of ground balls to fly balls when facing a left handed pitcher, with .54.