Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

[DuffysCliff]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

You can't exactly compare Livan and Patterson's stats fairly. Livan is left into the game late and often scored upon in the 8th or 9th innings. He's not like other pitchers in the league, he's still out there in the 8th or 9th not neccessarily because he has his stuff, it's all about stepping up and trying to win the game. In my eyes, Livan sets the table and is the staff ace. Patterson has been good this year, but not comparable to Livan.

Actually, if you look at Livan's pitch counts and corresponding numbers here, his real troubles come in the first inning. Pitches 91-120 are actually above average for what you would see from other pitchers, and are in line with his regular numbers. Pitches 121-135 this year have been pretty bad, but then again, that's only 19 at bats, a relatively small sample size. From 2002 through 2004 his numbers for pitches 121-135 were spectacular, limiting opponents to just a .551 OPS in 60 at bats.

I don't see why they always let them go that deep though, as they have a pretty competent closer in Cordero. Though it does seem like Cordero is out there every night.

And to say Patterson has just been good this year is downplaying his numbers. He's 4th in the NL in ERA, and he's striking out more guys through 9 innings than Cy young contenders Roger Clemens (8.05) and Chris Carpenter (8.46).

[DGetz]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

They should of just made better signings for the left side of the infield.

Amen to that. Castilla hasn't been as big a problem as Guzman, I mean Castilla's numbers are not very good, but playing at RFK definetly has an impact on that.

Guzman on the other hand is hitting like .180. You put him down there with the pitcher's spot and that's like two automatic outs most of the time through the order; when you're giving up 22% of your outs, especially consecuitve outs it makes it very hard to get anything going. Not to mention it means whoever hits 7th (usually Schnieder) ain't gettin' anything good to hit.

When it comes down to it I think their offense is terrible for two reasons: Guzman and RFK

[Vince]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

LMAO I'm enjoying this fall from grace immensely.

When I went to the only game the Mets lost at Washington, I warned all the fans there that the Nats will drop patheticly after the ASBreak.

Oh, how the "mighty" have fallen. They don't even deserve to be up there on the Wild card.

Let's Go Mets!

It's still a 2-3 team race in that division. I don't see the Mets or Phillies really doing much.

[PdiddyPop]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

It was a mirage in the first half. You can't win by being outscored all season, and constantly find a way to win 1 run games. Soon enough it's gonna come back and bite you. Nats we are coming for ya! 2.5 games out of the WC!!!

[Alliball]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

The beltway bunch is dropping like lead baloons. Thank God the NFL is starting up because it gets boring hearing about Boston/NY all the time. Thank You DC Nats for making the first half of baseball interesting and filling the early Summer void! Time for some football.

You gotta love fairweather fans. Bravo man! I bet he was wearing his Nationals gear for weeks, then the slide started and out came the Skins gear. Just one more reason I am starting to become more turned off by younger sports fans.

[Pared]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

It's still a 2-3 team race in that division. I don't see the Mets or Phillies really doing much.

The Mets were 3 games back of first less than a week ago. Currently in last place yet only 6 games back? That's a competitive division from top to bottom, not 2 or 3 teams.

Every single team in the NL East is a playoff caliber team.

[PdiddyPop]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

You gotta love fairweather fans. Bravo man! I bet he was wearing his Nationals gear for weeks, then the slide started and out came the Skins gear. Just one more reason I am starting to become more turned off by younger sports fans.

I don't know if hes a younger sports fan, but that is a grade A fairweather fan. Still in the lead in the WC and all ready gave up. *shakes head*

[DGetz]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

I don't know if hes a younger sports fan, but that is a grade A fairweather fan. Still in the lead in the WC and all ready gave up. *shakes head*

Right on!

Aside of that, it really isn't all over for the Nationals. Thomas Boswell (an excellent baseball writer for the Washington Post wrote in article today about how the Nats and Orioles are playing poorly and concluded with

The Astros, now ahead of Washington for the wild card, had a 4-12 slump in April and a 4-17 stumble in May. Oakland, which has stormed past the Orioles in the wild-card hunt, went 4-20 earlier this season. The Yankees have had 2-8 and 2-10 periods of embarrassment.

By the last day of the season, almost every team in the sport, including the eventual playoff teams, will have passed through the fire of extended periods where they seemed completely lost.

This is true; if the original poster thought the Nats were going to continue at the kind of 26-9 streak they were on earlier he must just not know much about baseball. Eventually the Nationals will right themselves to a certain extent (even if it is going only .500 for the rest of the season - which would give them 85 wins, still pretty good for a team expected to finish in last), it's just a matter of them pulling out of the slump soon (or NOW), rather than letting it grow to a, say, 10-35 or 15-45 prolonged streak of agony. That, and getting Christian Guzman the heck out of the line-up!!

[antifoco]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

I love all you idiots who are like OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN and OH, FAIR WEATHER FANS--ignorant people that apparently have trouble reading. What the original poster was saying was that the Nats are failing and provided the sport of baseball a great story for at least the first half of the year, if not the whole year.

RFK has one of the highest attendances this YEAR, including the sucky times that the Nats are going through now. And maybe you forget something--THEY USED TO BE THE *** **** EXPOS!!!!! Being in first, heck having a record above .500 right now at this point in the season is something to be proud of.

For all the people that look back on this season of baseball and see the enormous steroid controversy, it is a shame that the one bright spot that this league had this year was a lowly ballclub from Canada, coming to a new home, and leading for the first half of the season despite extremely poor stats.

Think about that before you people consider typing bull**** again, especially this fair-weather bs. I got some advice for ya--get the dong out of your butt and use the money you made from the video to buy some glasses. Sheesh, even I can read.

(Apologies for the lingo, it just upsets me that people want to talk down about a formerly-crappy team when they are playing crappy--they are probably the same types of people that celebrate wins over the royals, drays, and rockies)

[Stoud]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

at the start of the season I predicted the Nats to be in 2nd place in the NL east at the end of the year, and had they stayed healthy and kept ohka, and had they continued to be productive, they very well could have done just that. Everyone else around me was saying "they are doomed, the Nats will fall to last place and stay there just like all the other Washington teams"....and now that they have proven that they can contend, despite the fact that they are no longer in second place they are still conteders and they are still a good team, and yet everyone who said they would "go to last place and stay there" now emerges from the shadow like a bunch of vultures even though they know good and well what an amazing team they have been so far all year this year. What are you people in Denial or something?

Oh by the way, I also accurately predicted the NL West to being pretty close to what it is now....just had no way of predicting how few wins they all have. Everyone thought the DBacks were in the same boat as the Nats, and sinking fast....these are of course the same people who said that Sexson had lost his power swing...32 jacks and going?...heh...

[SPTO]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

I did say earlier this year that the Nats would fade down the stretch and some posters told me that that wouldn't happen. I guess I'm proven right Now that doesn't mean the Nats don't have a chance as the division is VERY competitive. The great thing about this season is that the division rivals will be facing each other all September. September is going to be the most crucal month of the season for every NL east team.

The Nats have done a great job for most of the season considering the fact that the offense is non-existent at times. I still see don't see them making the playoffs but this is definite first step towards respectability.

[TheLetterZ]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

I love all you idiots who are like OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN and OH, FAIR WEATHER FANS--ignorant people that apparently have trouble reading. What the original poster was saying was that the Nats are failing and provided the sport of baseball a great story for at least the first half of the year, if not the whole year.

RFK has one of the highest attendances this YEAR, including the sucky times that the Nats are going through now. And maybe you forget something--THEY USED TO BE THE *** **** EXPOS!!!!! Being in first, heck having a record above .500 right now at this point in the season is something to be proud of.

For all the people that look back on this season of baseball and see the enormous steroid controversy, it is a shame that the one bright spot that this league had this year was a lowly ballclub from Canada, coming to a new home, and leading for the first half of the season despite extremely poor stats.

Think about that before you people consider typing bull**** again, especially this fair-weather bs. I got some advice for ya--get the dong out of your butt and use the money you made from the video to buy some glasses. Sheesh, even I can read.

(Apologies for the lingo, it just upsets me that people want to talk down about a formerly-crappy team when they are playing crappy--they are probably the same types of people that celebrate wins over the royals, drays, and rockies)

Censor your swears, please. And calm down.

Every team in the NL East is still in this, and probably will be for the rest of the season.

[dkgojackets]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

I love all you idiots who are like OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN and OH, FAIR WEATHER FANS--ignorant people that apparently have trouble reading. What the original poster was saying was that the Nats are failing and provided the sport of baseball a great story for at least the first half of the year, if not the whole year.

RFK has one of the highest attendances this YEAR, including the sucky times that the Nats are going through now. And maybe you forget something--THEY USED TO BE THE *** **** EXPOS!!!!! Being in first, heck having a record above .500 right now at this point in the season is something to be proud of.

For all the people that look back on this season of baseball and see the enormous steroid controversy, it is a shame that the one bright spot that this league had this year was a lowly ballclub from Canada, coming to a new home, and leading for the first half of the season despite extremely poor stats.

Think about that before you people consider typing bull**** again, especially this fair-weather bs. I got some advice for ya--get the dong out of your butt and use the money you made from the video to buy some glasses. Sheesh, even I can read.

(Apologies for the lingo, it just upsets me that people want to talk down about a formerly-crappy team when they are playing crappy--they are probably the same types of people that celebrate wins over the royals, drays, and rockies)

and I hate people whos first post is to bring up a month old thread

[Alliball]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

and I hate people whos first post is to bring up a month old thread

No kidding. I decided to reread the original post, because I'm ignorant. What I saw was a guy jumping off the bandwagon. When somebody says something along the lines of, thanks for the first half and follows with, at least football is on the way, it pretty much sounds like a guy that has given up. But then again, I'm ignorant.

[PdiddyPop]

Re: Well, it was fun while it lasted. (Nats)

No kidding. I decided to reread the original post, because I'm ignorant. What I saw was a guy jumping off the bandwagon. When somebody says something along the lines of, thanks for the first half and follows with, at least football is on the way, it pretty much sounds like a guy that has given up. But then again, I'm ignorant.

Count me in the "ignorant" group as well. Someone should have looked in the mirror.