Photo by philliefan99.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo issued an implied vote of confidence over the weekend, saying that he has all the faith in the world in Jim Riggleman and that the manager deserves to be back for the 2011 season. The Nats are playing watchable baseball, to a degree, which is more than could be said during the Manny Acta regime. If nudging back towards mediocrity is the goal, then Riggleman has absolutely honored his contract. Faith is a frustratingly intangible quantity, so let’s explore some truths before we throw words like “deserve” around.

There will be inning-extending errors. Sunday’s game against the Brewers was a microcosm of what is killing the Nationals this year. Willie Harris, playing at third base, muffed a grounder in the first inning that eventually led to two unearned runs. Ian Desmond, whose name is becoming synonymous with defensive incompetence, not only booted a grounder in the fourth inning from opposing pitcher Dave Bush, but proceeded to throw the ball past Adam Dunn to allow a run and set up Rickie Weeks’ soul-crushing two-run homer. Starter Ross Detwiler, in his first start of the season, allowed five runs, yet not a single one of them was earned.

There will be a different batting order almost every game. Of the 98 games the Nationals have played to date, the Nats have used 75 different batting orders (excluding the pitcher slot). The most times the same lineup has been used is five. With the exception of Nyjer Morgan, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, no one on the team has batted in the same spot in the lineup in more than half of the games (Pudge Rodriguez’s numbers are skewed because of his injury). Half of the position players in the batting order (spots 2 and 6-8) don’t know day-to-day where they’ll be in the order or even if they’ll be playing at all. Maybe the goal is to find a combination that works, especially at the middle infield spots, but the result is that no one can get too comfortable with their role.