Washington Nationals
Posted on Jun 16, 2009 5:55 pm
By Cliff Corcoran
Washington Nationals
2009 Record: 16-45 (.262)
2009 Pythagorean Record: 23-38 (.377)
2008 Record: 59-102 (.366)
2008 Pythagorean Record: 62-99 (.385)
Manager: Manny Acta (for now)
General Manager: Mike Rizzo (acting GM)
Home Ballpark (Park Factors): Nationals Park (101/102)
Who’s Replacing Whom:
- Adam Dunn replaces Lastings Milledge (minors)
- Corey Patterson is filling in for Josh Willingham (bereavement list), who replaces Wily Mo Peña
- Nick Johnson reclaims his playing time from Aaron Boone
- Josh Bard is filling in for Jesus Flores (DL)
- Anderson Hernandez replaces Felipe Lopez
- Alberto Gonzalez replaces Emilio Bonifacio
- Jordan Zimmermann replcaes Tim Redding
- Shairon Martis replaces Odalis Perez
- Ross Detwiler replaces Shawn Hill and Collin Balester (minors)
- Craig Stammen is filling in for Scott Olsen (DL), who replaces Jason Bergmann (minors) and Matt Chico (DL)
- Joe Beimel, Ron Villone, Kip Wells, Julian Tavarez, and Mike MacDougal replace Jon Rauch, Luis Ayala, Saul Rivera (minors), Garrett Mock (minors), Steven Shell, and Charlie Manning
25-man Roster:
1B – Nick Johnson (L)
2B – Anderson Hernandez (S)
SS – Cristian Guzman (S)
3B – Ryan Zimmerman (R)
C – Josh Bard (S)
RF – Austin Kearns (R)
CF – Elijah Dukes (R)
LF – Adam Dunn (L)
Bench:
L – Willie Harris (UT)
R – Ron Belliard (IF)
R – Alberto Gonzalez (IF)
R – Wil Nieves (C)
L – Corey Patterson (OF)
Rotation:
L – John Lannan
R – Craig Stammen
R – Jordan Zimmermann
L – Ross Detwiler
R – Shairon Martis
Bullpen:
R – Joel Hanrahan
L – Joe Beimel
R – Julian Tavarez
L – Ron Villone
R – Jesus Colome
R – Kip Wells
R – Mike MacDougal
Bereavement List: OF – Josh Willingham (R)
15-day DL:
LHP – Scott Olsen (shoulder tendonitis)
RHP – Kip Wells (strained adductor)
C – Jesus Flores (fractured shoulder)
1B – Dmitri Young (back)
OF – Rogearvin Bernadina (broken ankle)
60-day DL:
LHP – Matt Chico (elbow soreness)
RHP – Terrell Young (shoulder inflammation)
Typical Lineup:
S – Cristian Guzman (SS)
L – Nick Johnson (1B)
R – Ryan Zimmerman (3B)
L – Adam Dunn (LF)
R – Elijah Dukes (CF)
R – Austin Kearns (RF)
S – Josh Bard (C)
S – Anderson Hernandez (2B)
Let’s make this quick. The Nationals are the worst team in baseball. They had the worst record in baseball last year, and this year they’re 8.5 games behind the second-worst team in the majors. Their current .262 winning percentage is worse than that of the 119-loss 2003 Tigers and would be the sixth worst since 1901 if they were to maintain it throughout the season.
What makes the Nationals so bad is their inability to prevent their opponents from scoring. They have the worst defense in baseball (by defensive efficiency) backing up the worst pitching staff in baseball (by ERA). They’re allowing a whopping 5.81 runs per game. Their starting rotation consists of four rookies and 24-year-old sophomore John Lannan, who faces Chien-Ming Wang tomorrow night. The rookies are not untalented, 22-year-old WBC no-hit artist Shairon Martis of Curaçao (who starts tonight) and 23-year-old Jordan Zimmermann appear to have bright futures, but only Lannan currently sports an ERA below 5.00, and Lannan backs up his 3.51 mark with a dismal 1.23 K/BB.
The bullpen has been worse. Largely stocked with veteran retreads such as Julian Tavarez and Kip Wells, both of whom have had their chance to close games, the Nat’s pen has posted a collective 5.59 ERA. The only bullpen in baseball with a worse mark is that of the Angels. The Rockies relievers, who are third worst, have an ERA a full 0.7 runs better than that of the Nats corps. The Nats’ pen leads the majors in blown saves with 15 in a mere 24 chances for a devastating 38 percent conversion rate, and has a collective WXRL of -3.36, which is 2.5 wins worse than second-worst Cleveland.
It’s a good thing the Nats can hit. Their 4.47 runs scored per game is right around the NL average thanks to strong seasons from franchise player Ryan Zimmerman and late-winter free agent signing Adam Dunn, and the surprising health of OBP Jesus Nick Johnson. Those three bat in the two-through-four spots in the lineup. Cristian Guzman has hit .319/.351/.447 since missing all of the 2006 season and is maintaining that level of performance out of the leadoff spot despite drawing just six walks. A league average performance from oft-injured center fielder Elijah Dukes (a.k.a. Milton Bradley 2.0) give the Nats a solid top half of the order, which helps explain that league-average performance overall.
As for the Yankees, Brian Bruney is back from the DL and Jose Veras has been finally, mercifully designated for assignment. Standard lineup tonight to face Martis, whose strikeouts have gone missing this season. CC Sabathia takes the mound for the Yankees, but doesn’t promt any significant lineup shifts for the Nats. Guzman will DH while Alberto Gonzalez plays shortstop.
Trivia: the Nats have six former Yankee minor leaguers on their 25-man roster: Nick Johnson, Cristian Guzman, Alberto Gonzalez, Wil Nieves, and Ron Villone are five of them. Who is the sixth?
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I want seven runs per game coupled with quality starts during this series, please.
: )
[1] By the Yankees*
“Trivia: the Nats have six former Yankee minor leaguers on their 25-man roster: Nick Johnson, Cristian Guzman, Alberto Gonzalez, Wil Nieves, and Ron Villone are five of them. Who is the sixth?”
Jesus Colome
*bow*
Aside from his injury, I wish the Yanks had just gone from Tino to Nick Johnson and left it at that. (I mean vis a vis Giambi, not Teixeira of course.) And kept Soriano too … The Yanks could have had a good homegrown team.
Everyone once in a while, i’ll mention that i blame everything that went wrong after 2000 on Nick Johnson, International Man of Glass.
I’m only *mostly* kidding …
I did my “Veras is Gone” jig
[6] I’m reminded of the “jig” the guy who had his foot nailed to the deck did in Yellowbeard after the mutiny…
: )
Sammy Sosa joins A-Rod on the 104 list …
http://tinyurl.com/m44unn
[8] In other “news,” fire is hot and Posada couldn’t score from 2B on a single to the OF if you set him on it!
: )
The game is on My9 tonight for those of you with MLBEI, 726 on DirecTV…
Wow @ six pitches for CC in the first!
That’s got to be a low for starters this year?
[11] Viva Posada!!!
:-)
gah, stop pulling outside pitches, alex!
I can’t watch. MLB.COM isn’t working at all. (Anybody getting a signal?)
[14] yeah, no problems so far
[15] Dang. I can’t get the away or the home broadcast. Maybe I’ll try a different browser.
Hey, that worked! Good to know, for future reference.
The Attorney General has been playing pretty well for the Nats. We could’ve used him this year.
And speaking of backup infielders…Andy Phillips filed for free agency yesterday. He must have an escape hatch written into his contract. I can’t imagine any player would bail out in this economy, unless they had a better offer lined up. Haven’t heard where he’s heading, though.
[11] Luke Hochevar took only four pitches to get through the first inning in his last start.
Did you see Adam Dunn’s take-out slide? That may be the worst slide I’ve ever seen.
Pasta Divingalberto!
I want to see 3 blowouts, but that’s just me. : D
That first Red Sox run was garbage. cack.
Michael Kay just said he doesn’t like being touched …
(insert one-liner here)
did anyone just see the commercial telling people to watch for bicyclists in ny? i wouldn’t want to be hit by a car if i were riding a bike, so that’s good. but meanwhile as a pedestrian i’ve been hit by several reckless bicyclists who don’t really seem to give a shit about anyone else but them. of course, maybe if drivers wouldn’t hit them on the road they’d stay off the sidewalks.
I think warning tracks should be like golf course rough. Just thick, tall grass. It would cut down on automatic doubles bouncing off that rubber track. Or something like that.
[24] I would imagine Kay has nothing to worry about with regards to that, Diane…
: )
[25] It became clear to me when I started biking in the city years ago that being on the bicycle is the least-advantageous in the three way battle between pedestrians, automobiles and bicycles. People get out of the way for cars; not so much for bicycles. Cars seem to take liberties with bicyclists that they don’t with pedestrians, or at least the stakes are higher due to higher closing speeds, etc, not to mention the relationship is more contentious cause they don’t share the road as they should, and they get annoyed at bicyclists blocking their way, etc.
LOL at you being hit by several bicyclists, no offense – I’m sure it hurt. But I’ve only ever heard of one pedestrian/bike crash, so it seems funny that you’ve had more than one.
[25] I should be clear that I strongly disapprove of bikes on sidewalks except provisionally.
Man, Cano ripped that!!
Ow. Dang.
HBP hurts, that must have been considerably harder, huh?
[30] Hey, I’ve been waiting for ages for you to comment on a ball that’s… down the line, shall we say?
[28] nothing serious, just little bumps. it only happened to me once on the streets (that was when the cyclist was going the wrong way on a one way street and i was looking the other way), but it happens a lot in the parks when you share a path with bikes. i’m sure it’s tough to ride a bike around the city, but i also think that the faster you go the less willing you are to stop or get out of someone’s way, so runners don’t like to move for walkers, bicyclists don’t like to stop for anyone. which makes some sense, but can also be extremely annoying when you have to jump out of the way of a bike.
Matsui didn’t look so well in that AB…
[28] My roommate got run over by a bicyclist. He didn’t even stop to see how she was. She ended up in the hospital with with a concussion and 15 stitches in her face.
Poor broken-hipped Alex can’t really field balls as much as fall on them.
Nick Johnson. Shoulda…woulda…coulda…. It sucks when players with talent simply can’t stay unhurt.
[36] I’ve noticed that, too. I wonder if the second surgery will fix that, or if he’ll never be the player he used to be.
[33] Yeah I don’t have much experience as a bicyclist nor pedestrian on mixed park paths, but I will say that on the streets, if a bicycle is coming at you, it’s generally best to maintain your pace and direction; the riders don’t want to hit you usually, and moving out of their way sometimes has the opposite effect.
Gets two outs, throws six straight balls.
Manny Acta sucks, huh?
Is anyone else watching this game on channel 9 on TWC? Because I am and it is all ****ed up.
i hear just kay and flash tonight – blah
i just got home from riverside park where the bicyclists are rampant and pretty dangerous for pedestrians
[41] i am hawk – no problems for me
[42] yes riverside is particularly treacherous since it’s so narrow and there are few places to walk on the lower level other than the shared path.
i thought you were an out of towner though.
[43] I should say TWC in HD. Every other goddamn channel is fine except the one I want to watch.
Arsenio Hall is back? Did he bring the dog pound?
[44] No I live in Windsor Terrace.
[44] not anymore – moved back to the city in april, but am not a native nyer
[43] i am watching my9 in hd – no problems though – maybe it is specific to bk
That’s about right.