Since we can't say anything for sure, right now, everything we mention is pretty much an off-handed "Hey look at that" comment that you are meant to file away because maybe it'll be important later. That being said here are some this I'm "just saying"
- Bryce Harper is hitting .394 with 4 homers, Mike Trout is hitting .278 with 1.
- Bryce Harper is killing the baseball yet he has 0 walks.
- Stranger still, Jayson Werth has 0 walks.
- Ian Desmond? Ian Desmond is batting .290. His OBP is .313. Ryan Zimmerman is batting .222. His OBP is .313. Desmond does have 7 XBH though.
- On the flip side. Denard Span has 8 walks. Last year he had 47. Last year the Nats' leadoff spot had 47
- The Nats catchers have 6 walks combined. Last year the Nats catchers had 44 walks.
- The bench has 2 hits in 18 at bats.
- Ian Desmond has more errors than Arizona.
- Inarguably the best reliever up to this point has been Drew Storen.
- So far in the course of two seasons Gio Gonzalez has allowed 7 runs in April.
- Jayson Werth hit 5 homers in 81 games last year. He has 3 homers so far.
- Atlanta is allowing 2 runs a game.
- Miami is scoring less than that (1.78) per game
- Carl Crawford is leading the NL in hitting right now.
- Justin Upton is batting .350 with 6 homers and 3 doubles.
- Angels are 2-6 but not Pujols' fault. Hitting .346 with 2 homers, 3 doubles.
- Angels are hitting .120 with RISP with 2 XBH.
- Out of the 13 highest payrolls, 10 are currently .500 or better. The ones that aren't? Toronto, Philadelphia and the Angels.
- Washington's payroll is in that top 13 (#12) and is 22 million more than the Braves.
13 comments:
Another interesting stat so far? The Nats lead the majors in percentage of runs scored off the long ball. Live by it, die by it, as the Yankees learned last year.
Absolutely agree that it's far too early for those numbers to mean anything, but just for shiggles, let's have some fun with extrapolation:
Bryce Harper is on pace to hit 81 homers.
Denard Span is on pace to get walked 162 times, and the Nats catchers to combine for 122.
Jayson Werth is on pace to go yard 61 times.
The Braves are on pace to score 891 runs this season. The Nats a measly 689.
One of the higher payrolls in MLB thanks to Haren, Werth and Soriano...
Toronto is finding out it's not so easy to buy wins. The Dodgers last year... I don't know how the Yankees continue to make the postseason every single year. It's not an easy thing to do... even with deep pockets.
It's early, but it's looking like this weekend's series against the Barves is really going to be a tone setter for the Nats this season. Are the Barves really as good as they have looked while keeping at mind their opening series have been against the Cubs and Fish?
If nothing else, I'm sure the Barves will be happy to get out of Miami and the Marlins tee-ball league attendance (which that franchise deserves) and back playing in front of decent crowds. I wouldn't be surprised if Nats Park sold out (or came close to selling out) this weekend, at least on Saturday and Sunday.
BS! - What you did is why I didn't do any paces. It's crazy this time of year. Or maybe Upton will hit 120 homers.
Z11 - Yankee answered is multi-faceted - but we'll boil it down to 3 things (1) they spend SO much that they are able to withstand mistakes and injuries (2) they spend it smartly enough that mistakes aren't as great (3) they get lucky. Split the credit as you want.
Mike - Yeah, but let's not overrate the White Sox here, either. As you say this will be a early "how good are you" series. A team that gets beat soundly a couple times is going to have to think about if they are legit contender to the other one.
Just comparing the Nats series versus the Braves, both have swept the Marlins, as expected. The Braves won 2 out of 3 from the Phillies -- a .500 team. The Nats will win at least 2 out of 3 from the White Sox -- a .500 team. The Braves swept the Cubs while the Nats lost 2 out of 3 to the Reds. If the Nats had played the Cubs instead of the Reds, even if we just went 2-1, we'd both have just 1 loss.
This weekend becomes pretty interesting, though. If the Braves sweep the Nats, it puts them up 4 - 5 games and gives them a ton of momentum. Not a back breaker for the Nats but a big blow. If the Nats sweep, it puts them back in 1st with all the momentum. Anything in between is probably not that meaningful.
There should be huge crowds this weekend. Not too many tickets available and the prices are pretty high. Probably lots of Braves fans from around here who want to get a look at the Upton brothers.
I think games between these two teams will have a playoff atmosphere this year, especially on the weekends. Classic pennant race, even in April. Possibly the two best teams in baseball.
The Braves are playing the JV part of their schedule, Im not impressed.
Harper I know you're a Yankees fan, are you a Nats fan too?
More just sayin' ...
Where is everybody? The Nats are 18th in MLB home attendance at just over 29K for five home games. Meanwhile 6 other teams average over 40K and another 7 over 35K. This list includes Baltimore (41K avg for three games) in a much smaller market, Toronto, Detroit and (ugh) the lowly Cubs.
Nats attendance always flags in April and May and then picks up in June. The games so far have seem better-attended thanin years past. I imagine the Nats are showing a decent year-to-year improvement. It'll get crazy come June when the kids are out of school.
Nats attendance so far this year is actually pretty good. One homestand over a weekend and they did great even though it included one of the coldest games played a Nationals Park. Attendance in April during the week against a non-marquee opponent? I mean, seeing Adam Dunn return is not that big a draw. They'll get well over 100K for the Braves series, I'm guessing.
Chaos.....get the brooms out!
I think the attendance leaves something to be desired. And I love how there are always excuses, always. relentless with the excuses. So what's the take supposed to be - that in every park where there has been better attendance, every game has been played in May or September (wait, that's not possible) and the weather has been sunny and 68 degrees??
Donald--
Just to make sure we are both on the same page, we are going with "not a back breaker" for potentially getting swept in the team's 4th series of the year? Good to know.
Donald - true, while the Braves are a game ahead both teams are where there fans would want them to be right now based on who they are playing. Can this stay the same with a 2-1 Nats series win?
cass - I expect big crowds too, but we'll see. Great baseball is hopefully a given
Anon #1 - White Sox aren't any great shakes. Braves got Marlins away, as opposed to home. Not that the Braves are a superpower. They are just doing what they should, just like the Nats.
Anon #2 - Depends on how broadly you define fan. On a daily basis, I ALMOST always root for them to win. Ok it's pretty exclusively the games v Yankees we're talking about where I don't but still that's something. On the big view I would like to see the Nats succeed but if they don't I'm merely disappointed but not devastated. This is in contrast with the Yankees where I still shut off the TV the second they lose, or well at Cashman for letting Rapada go and thinking Logan can handle lefties WHEN HE CLEARLY IS NOT A LOOGY SO STOP TREATING HIM AS ONE. so again - it depends on your view
Anon #3 / cass / Chaos / Donald -
It's too early to judge attendance. That's not an excuse as I'm not one to be kind to the Nats attendance (if they aren't Top 5 in the NL this year I'll be disappointed in the fanbase) but at this point in the year who you have, when you have them and the weather all play big roles.
The Nats have yet to have a weekend series. That's the big one. Also as some of you have said their two weekday series haven't been interesting opponents. Last year their first two mid-week home series (the Astros and D-backs) might have averaged 18K, this year their non Opening Day average is about 25K, so I see a positive trend.
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