Washington Nationals

[Young Drachma]

The Nats won their ninth straight game. Do you think MLB is just rigging it so they'll capture the imagination of fans, only to lose towards the end. Or is it payback for the team being bad for all these years.

Or they're trying to raise the team's value, to get more for the team?

Of course, to buy this theory..you have to believe that sports are/can be rigged.

I don't really buy it. But it does make some sense, it's MLB after all.

[MalcPow]

I was at the game friday night against the Mariners, and really they're not a bad team. You have to beat them, they're not going to do it for you. I think it helps that they're basically a team of solid contact and gap hitters, with nobody that just mashes, because RFK seems to just destroy anything up in the air. They're 23-9 at home this year and this whole run has been a homestand. Other than Christian Guzman, who is just a completely worthless jackass at the plate, these guys all seem to have a good approach and probably have realized you can't lift anything in RFK. Johnson, Guillen, and Wilkerson all would be respectable all-stars, and Ryan Church has to be an ROY candidate, so they do have some talent on the field. They just don't have pitching, which is why RFK helps them so much (home ERA 2.90, away 4.90, with twice as many homers allowed).

[Cuckoo]

They have had a lot of talent the past couple of years in Montreal. I always thought they were one of those teams that didn't have a good record but you didn't want to play them anyway. I'm not surprised they're doing well.

[duckman]

It's amazing how they got competitive now that they have fans who give a damn about them.

[MalcPow]

It's amazing how they got competitive now that they have fans who give a damn about them.

This is true too. Although the honeymoon is somewhat over, they're still drawing 20something thousand for an interleague series with no real rivalry potential against the Mariners. All but the upperdecks were full until the top of the ninth the other night, when people started leaving after the Nats blew it open the inning before. There's a good atmosphere, and Robinson is a good manager as well. He made a pretty great move where Vinny Castilla of all people laid a bunt down to give us second and third with one out, and then a base hit cued the fat lady, very smart and unexpected.

[Balldog]

I was at the game friday night against the Mariners, and really they're not a bad team. You have to beat them, they're not going to do it for you. I think it helps that they're basically a team of solid contact and gap hitters, with nobody that just mashes, because RFK seems to just destroy anything up in the air. They're 23-9 at home this year and this whole run has been a homestand. Other than Christian Guzman, who is just a completely worthless jackass at the plate, these guys all seem to have a good approach and probably have realized you can't lift anything in RFK. Johnson, Guillen, and Wilkerson all would be respectable all-stars, and Ryan Church has to be an ROY candidate, so they do have some talent on the field. They just don't have pitching, which is why RFK helps them so much (home ERA 2.90, away 4.90, with twice as many homers allowed).

I agree 100%

Adding .... Frank Robinson is a very good manager.

[clintl]

Last year they were bad, but the previous couple of years in Montreal, they were a decent team. As MalcPow said, Frank Robinson is a good manager, they have some good players, and they made some good moves over the winter. Now they just need a real owner.

[Ksyrup]

What do you think this is, the NBA?

[Joe]

I'm surprised at how shitty Christian Guzman is playing. Good thing he wasn't that bad here.

[weinstein7]

What do you think this is, the NBA?

Beat me to it.

[Young Drachma]

I agree 100%

Adding .... Frank Robinson is a very good manager.

No doubt about it. He's got to be an early candidate for manager of the year. Hands down. I'm so glad he stayed with that team.

[Young Drachma]

What do you think this is, the NBA?

You know that's what I was thinking when I thought of it. :)

[Pumpy Tudors]

Damn, I was going to bring up the NBA angle, too. I was beaten like Ed Belfour. :(

[Chief Rum]

No more chump teams like Seattle and Oakland. Now they have to come to the Big A and keep it up. ;)

Still, even if they play badly here, I think it's amazing what the Nationals have been doing.

[Booj]

Adding .... Frank Robinson is a very good manager.

For what it's worth, I agree with you.

But there are a whole bunch of people here who didn't think so the last 2 years the team was here.

I have been a Nats fan since the team moved and was an Expos fan through it all (and I am only so old to *just* remember 1994). The only things that surprises me about this team, as mentioned is Guzman struggling and how the team has been able to pick up the slack without Vidro-- who they absolutely were dreadful without him in the lineup last season.

It is funny to see the number of people who have suddenly taken a liking to this team now that they are winning... a lot like they did when they were here too.

[korme]

They are in first because Barry Larkin is their special assistant

[Pumpy Tudors]

They are in first because Barry Larkin is their special assistant
The above line has been brought to you by Barry Larkin's "special assistant."

How's the view from Larkin's jock anyway, Shorty? :D

[korme]

The above line has been brought to you by Barry Larkin's "special assistant."

How's the view from Larkin's jock anyway, Shorty? :D
It's very humbling

[Young Drachma]

Nats win another 1 run game.

I still say it's an NBAesque plot. MLB wants to jack the value of the team up.

:)

Still, I'm okay with it.

Go Nats!

[Young Drachma]

First paragraph of an article on MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Prior to Friday's game, the last time Livan Hernandez faced Mark Prior was on Aug. 31, 2004, and it was a one-sided affair with Hernandez and the Expos pounding the Cubs by eight runs.

Link (http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20050701&content_id=1111175&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=was)

[ThunderingHERD]

The Nationals are -1 runs scored on the year. The Braves are +69. The Nats record is nothing but an anomaly that will iron itself out before the end of the season.

[SackAttack]

Dark Cloud - when the game mentioned in that sentence happened, they were still the Expos. You wouldn't say the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1955 World Series, would you?

Oh, and does anybody else hear "Gnats" when the radio announcers refer to them?

[sterlingice]

The Nationals are -1 runs scored on the year. The Braves are +69. The Nats record is nothing but an anomaly that will iron itself out before the end of the season.
Wow. Their third order winning percentage is only .495. Still, BP's odds give them a 51% shot to make the playoffs.

(Royals and D-Rays at 0.000% right now- ouch)

SI

[Young Drachma]

Dark Cloud - when the game mentioned in that sentence happened, they were still the Expos. You wouldn't say the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 1955 World Series, would you?

Oh, and does anybody else hear "Gnats" when the radio announcers refer to them?

I read it wrong. My bad. I thought they were talking about the game from the other day or something.

Sorry.

[Young Drachma]

The Nationals are -1 runs scored on the year. The Braves are +69. The Nats record is nothing but an anomaly that will iron itself out before the end of the season.

Or maybe, just maybe...they're getting lucky and defying the odds?

[MalcPow]

Or maybe, just maybe...they're getting lucky and defying the odds?

I think that's what he's saying.

[korme]

Damn, I was going to bring up the NBA angle, too. I was beaten like Ed Belfour. :(
haha i love DAG

[clintl]

The Nationals are -1 runs scored on the year. The Braves are +69. The Nats record is nothing but an anomaly that will iron itself out before the end of the season.

Not necessarily. The Giants won the NL West in 1997 while being outscored. What the Nats are doing is not unprecedented.

[Logan]

I was in DC this week for work, and was really surprised how many people there actually follow the team. Tons of people wearing Nationals hats and shirts, and pretty much every restaurant I went in to had the Nationals game, not music, coming in thru the speakers.

[B & B]

Im not one to normally play baseball for real money, but I am betting on the Nationals game this afternoon.

Game starts at 4 est, and Im taking the Cubbies.

[Pumpy Tudors]

haha i love DAG
You just saw that post I made three weeks ago? Or did you just find out who Ed Belfour is? :p