Photo by Flickr user Odessea.

Watch out National League. After Adam Dunn’s triumphant grand slam yesterday against the Orioles, the Nationals have now not been swept for two straight series!

The team just finished their second longest home stand of the season, and now are off to New York. They went 2-9 over this home stand, and are now a major league worst 13-30 over the season.

The team can still hit. They are third in the National League with a team batting average of .273, third in OBP with .356, second in slugging with .437, third in OPS with .799, third in runs with 221, and third in home runs with 51. Cristian Guzman’s .349 batting average is the fifth best in the National League. Adam Dunn is tied for third in the National League 14 home runs, and his 39 RBIs are third-best in the league.

As Thomas Boswell points out, these numbers only serve to highlight how bad the pitching really is. Boswell used Bill James’ theories to conclude that with average pitching, the team should be 24-15 based on the number of runs they were scoring, rather than 11-27-1. One problem with Boswell’s math? He neglects how bad the team is at fielding: the Nats have committed 45 errors in 43 games. That is the most errors in either league, and they are the only team to average more than one error for every game played.

Young Pitchers: The Nationals began the season with one of the youngest pitching staffs in the league, and that staff has only gotten younger. With Daniel Cabrera being moved to the bullpen and Scott Olson on the disabled list, the team has called up pitchers Ross Detwiler, 23, and Craig Stammen, 25, both of whom have made their major league debuts this year. The team’s current starting rotation: John Lannan, 24 and in his second year; Shairon Martis, 22 in his second year; Jordan Zimmermann, 23 and also a debutant; Detwiler and Stammen. What is more impressive is that these pitchers have not been that awful. As a group, they are 9-4 with a 4.55 ERA and have started in 12 of the National’s 13 wins. Yes, they are young. There are going to be bad games in the future this season. But these pitchers, along with the arms in the minor league, should give the Nats fans some hope.

Game of the Week: The game of the week is on Wednesday, May 27th when the Nats take on the Mets in New York. Rookie Jordan Zimmermann will be facing Johan Santana. Zimmermann has had problems in the first inning this year, so he pitched a simulated first inning before his last start. This strategy seemed to have worked — Zimmermann had one of his best starts of the year. Will it work again?

Briefly Noted: Nick Johnson missed yesterday’s game due to stomach illness. Many speculated that he had either been traded, or had given himself a season ending injury while getting out of bed…Nationals Park now has a real organ…Charlie Slowes is taking to cursing on air now… Teddy gets his revenge on the Oriole…Predict when the Nats will lose their 100th game and win!

Meaningless Statistic of the Week: Anderson Hernandez is leading the National League in walks/plate appearances by a switch hitting second baseman who was born in the 80s with 112.