Nationals Baseball: Wednesday quickie

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Wednesday quickie

Some game, huh? If the Nats didn't win it in the 12th, I was going to suggest that Davey and Terry Collins just agree that both teams should take the "L". It was pretty terrible baseball all around, but with 162 to play they all can't be instant classics. The important thing is you come away with the "W", and the Nats did with a nice moment for Bryce.

What to make of last night? As I tweeted, unless the game is completely out of hand, say the Nats are down by 10 in the 8th, they are going to have a chance to win. As much as I'd like to say it's because the Nats offense with Morse back is that good, that's not the driving force here. It's that the Mets pen is that bad. They have an ERA of 5.39, dead last in the majors. If they were to improve by an entire run they would be tied for 28th in the majors. (If the 29th team, Milwaukee, was to improve by an entire run they would be 13th in the majors).  This is all quite amusing because basically the only thing Sandy Alderson did in the offseason was try to fix the bullpen. Maybe if he did nothing at all the Mets would be the best team in baseball.

Don't turn off your transistors early kids.

13 comments:

Donald said...

Fun but nervewracking game. Desmond was a hero, and nice to see Morse flash some power. We should match up better on the pitching front today. Hopefully, EJax has another strong, bullpen saving start.

DCNatty said...

Maybe bad baseball...but a damn fun game to watch.

Keep it rolling Nats

Positively Half St. said...

Speaking of Edwin, I am amazed to see that the team is 2-8 in games he starts this year. He has a stinkin' 3.17 ERA, which I guess yet again shows how useful a stat it is. I see that SD is running out a guy named Richard with a 2-6 record, but SD even has a better 3-8 record with him on the mound than the Nats do with Jackson.

Maybe we shouldn't worry so much about whether the Nats re-sign him for next season.

+1/2St.

Doug and Betsy said...

ERA is a much more useful stat then W/L record. Both Jackson and Zimm have pitched very well this season and have gotten very poor run support.

WiredHK said...

PHS - The error may be more in viewing EJax's net worth based on: A) a small sample size of his starts and Nats final results and B) plain bad luck. He has performed personally well up to this point. What has happened beyond his control has no bearing on his personal value to the club.

Would you ditch Harper if he happened to be batting .386 in Nats losses and .250 in wins? Of course not...that team randomness evens out over time. What's material is how good the player is or is not when thinking if they are worth keeping around.

Hoo said...

Felt good about game as long as it was Nats pen vs. Mets pen. But Mets pen was better till the Ramirez implosion. Parnell had the game all but won 3 times. That's some epic bad play.

Jackson is the Nats starter who is best in terms of IPs. Be great to see him go 7. Last night's game did show flaw in Clippard closing. The 8th inning can be a mess quickly for Nats.

Lot of interesting decisions in next few weeks with Lidge/Mattheus returning. Mike Gonzalez and H-Rod most likely to go down? Not sure team will send Stammen down now.

DezoPenguin said...

Stammen's been as good as anyone (with the exception of last night); no reason to send him down. Either Gonzalez (who, after all, is just a guy added to be better than Perry) or HRod (if Johnson feels he needs some minor league time to get his head on straight--the manager should be the guy who can differentiate between "he is what he is" and "the closing meltdown got to him") will probably move for Mattheus. Or maybe Det, to give him more starts at AAA to build up the arm strength. Clip, Burnett, Stammen, Gorzo have been good all year and will no doubt remain.

brendan said...

Didn't get home to watch the game till the 7th... Got to basically watch an entire game (with a too few many stressful moments.)

blovy8 said...

Detwiler and MPHRod are out of options. Gonzalez will be gone. Maybe they carry an extra pitcher and send Maldonado down. It's going to be results-driven to a point, but Henry probably doesn't have a lot of trade value either, the rumors appear to be about Lannan pitching decent enough to get back something.

Donald said...

Can't send down Det without him passing through waivers which would never happen, right? Same goes for HRod. I don't think he'd clear waivers either but it'd be a little more interesting.

Section 222 said...

Horrible baseball, but I loved watching the managerial wheels turn in those last few innings. Oh, and what's your Twitter handle?

Anonymous said...

What are transistors?

Hoo said...

H-Rod to DL for his poor finger. Around day 14 maybe he should make a mistake trimming his toenails.

Sounds like 8 man pen when Mattheus returns.