Nationals Baseball: What's a Nats fan to do in August?

Friday, August 05, 2011

What's a Nats fan to do in August?

The hunt for a playoff spot is long dead. The hunt for .500 is getting sicker by the day (and really only holds interest if you are right around .500, at 4 games under it's more of a "call me when we're closer" situation). The trade deadline came and went and all the Nats have to show for it on their major league squad is a guy Nats management desperately wants to leave voluntarily in the offseason so they can get something like the 60th draft pick. Hard to get excited about cheering him on. September call ups are a month away.

So what's a Nats fan to do for the next 30 days (well 26 or so)?

You can pay close attention to the "other guys" in the rotation. Wang, Maya, Detwiler are three guys no one is really excited about but anyone of them could be in the rotation next year. At the very least paying attention to them can warm you up for September when hopefully you have Strasburg to watch. (Peacock is still getting adjusted to AAA, Milone has had a couple of dreadful starts recently - so maybe we see them, maybe we don't).

You can pay close attention to how Laynce Nix is doing. Every one talked about Jonny Gomes getting the Nats a draft pick when he signs with another team but he's a struggling bat that can only hit lefties and can't field. I really think the Nats could get screwed betting on that one. Laynce Nix on the other hand is right on the cusp of Type B status. A strong final couple months would probably ensure it. If he does make it than does the Gomes trade make sense? It would have let the team more easily sit Nix against lefties and keep his stats up... That Rizzo. Always thinking.

You can marvel at Zimmerman. What can I say? I'm dumb. After a two game slip-up against Houston I thought that maybe we should keep an eye on Zimm just to be sure that we could still set him and forget him in 2012. Well since then he's hit in 13 straight games. Hitting .450 during that time. Maybe you could have asked "where's the power" but last night he belted a couple doubles. So, yeah. Forget what I said. The Nats can count on Zimm.

You can keep on rooting for John Lannan to do well because John Lannan is awesome and you'll miss him when the Nats let him walk after 2013.

8 comments:

DCNatty said...

you can keep rooting for Werth to be miserable...then have a bounce back next year. Dont waste any more hits this year - haha.

Also, root for Ankiel to keep hitting...then trade him for something by the end of the month? Possibility?

Im looking forward to seeing some callups too. Lombarzaddiniski?...I want to see him get some time. Also, the Aug 15th signing deadline.

Carl said...

There's the potential brawl with Arizona to look forward to.

Anonymous said...

Please proofread. And if you did, then please learn proper grammar, spelling, and syntax.

Donald said...

After winning 59 games in '09 and 69 games in '10, I'm watching to see if they can continue to progress. I'd love to see them win 79 games this year, though they'll have to play .500 the rest of the way to reach that mark. But if they do, then convincing FA's that the Nats are close is a much easier job. It's not hard to see them winning more games next year with Strasburg back and possibly Harper. So if they win 79 this year, status quo might put them at 84-85 wins in '12. A good free agent signing could bump that to 90 wins and a possible play-off berth.

Oh, and I also like to watch Detwiler.

Anonymous said...

We always forget what you say, And what Im doing in August is watching my favorite young team that keeps getting better and better.

Harper said...

DC Natty - ha. If only there was a hit bank. Ankiel-- if we can trade him for anything than signing him was worthwhile.

CtBF - nothings going to happen. sorry

Anon #1 - No. I do this for my enjoyment and the extra time it would take to make it grammatically correct isn't worth it to me. Sorry.

Donald - ummm well what if they aren't close to 79? (from a non-detwiler fan)

Anon - always? I guess eventually that is almost certainly true. The Nats are getting better all the time though. We can agree about that.

Donald said...

With 49 games left, they'd have to finish 15-34 (.306 pace) to match last season, so things are looking up. Even if they don't hit 79 wins, they'll be showing marked improvement. Couple that with Strasburg and Harper and it's much harder to imagine being Greinked by the next big FA.

Sec 204 Row H Seat 7 said...

Strasburg did well in Hagerstown. Is Livo done or will he bounce back. Does Wang suck tonight or do we have something? Gomes bat has gotten hot, will staty that way? This August is way more interesting than the Strasburg, Hapers Augusts of seasons past.