Apr 15 2008 12:59 PM
Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 15 2008 01:22 PM
Washington is looking like a franchise finally pulling out of a 15-year state of flux. New owner/GM/manager seem to be clicking on the same page. What makes them interesting is Jim Bowden's market-approach that he took from Cincinnati, piling up former high-end prospects who have tried the patience of former employers and so getting them at low-end prices. Some become available by being injured through their option years, some by displaying sociopathic tendencies, but Bowden tries to maneuver for them while they still have shelf life, and if one in three recapture their potential, while straightening up and flying right, he gets congratulations for buying low.
This is hard to work out as a ptiching philospophy, but young manager and ex-Met coach Manny Acta has done a pretty good job making lemon into a lemonade that you can choke down, patching together a bunch of no-names and forgottens into a staff. They tend to open a season with rehabbers or a retreads at the top of the rotations --- a John Patterson here and an Odalis Perez there --- but they get none of the patiencee shown for strong young erratic arms attached to journeymen. By May, any has-beens not performing are jettisonned and the pitchiing staff becomes a controlled experiment to see who might emerge.
Seems like a reckless way to run a team, but Acta has done admirably, starting 13 pitchers last year, 12 of them as many as six games (which is as fair a tryout as you can ask for), and seven as many as ten games. The team leader in wins was releiver John Rauch, while Matt Chico led the starters with seven.
Part of the way they keep such an environment from imploding is by stockpiling professional capable releivers --- Cordero, Rauch, Rivera, Colome, King, Majewski, Stanton. A strong pen seems to be a luxury for a team while they struggle to escape second-division status, but they havne't over-invested, and, on the days a starter gets knocked out early, these guys have kept Washington in the game and kept the team and the faithful from growing too dispirited as they get their act together. They also make good fodder at the trade deadline. I've come to irrationally hate almost everybody in the Washington bullpen.
The Nats opened with three wins and then promptly lost nine in a row, including heart-stabbers like a tenth-inning bases-loaded walk in Philadelphia. They scratched out a 5-4 win over the Braves on Sunday, and so didn't have to spend their day off meditating on a 10-game losing skid, but they clearly don't have it all together.
That's the broad view, but how do they look this year.
C: Paul LoDuca brings his red-ass back to Shea for the first time, congratulating himself that any boos he gets will sound like "Doooook!"
Cordero recovering from tendonitis is back but his fastball isn't, toppign out at 87 his first time out. Hitting .200 (7-35) so far, he may soon start hearing "Dooook!" at home, if you know what I mean.
Former Met-on-Paper Johnny Estrada backs him up, having only recently been activated from the DL.
Jesus Flores, the catcher Met fans pine for, has been sent to AAA Columbus upon the return of Estrada . The organizational line is that they want him to get more playing time and to work with their top pitching prospects. Flores doesn't like it.
1b: Nick "The Stick" Johnson was encouragingly given back his first base job after over year on the disabled list (despite an All-Star season last year from "Steak-Grows-on" Dmitri Young), after suffering a broken leg in a violent collision against the Mets late in 2006. Equally encouraging are his early returns of .263 / .391 / .474 // .865. He also looks like someone punched him in the mouth on picture day. Young is out with the sort of lower back pain you maybe expect big round guys to be out with, and Aaron Boone backs up first and third.
2b: Ronnie Belliard looks goofy and fat and is off to a crap start. He nonetheless had a good year last year and managed to hurt the Mets badly down the stretch, finishing with 13 RBI in 17 games, more than you might expect of a typical fat- and goofy-looking keystoner. Boo him for that.
ss: Christian Guzman continues against all odds to be the Nats shortstop. He's actually fine --- and has started well --- but he and the fans have never really reconciled after he had the audacity to have a brutal season in the team's first year in DC, when a strong first half had the fans convinced he was stopping them from being a contender. They thought having a whipping boy would make them big-league, and they treated him like shit. Boo them, not him.
Felipe Lopez backs up second and short and is probably better than either player and will see time, but he makes few friends. Bowden had him in Cincinnati.
3b: Ryan Zimmerman: has been picked by some observers for being on the verge of a breakout season, one pre-season forecaster saying he'd have a better year than Wright. He's only 24 and he's got 2+ seasons under his belt, but he's been a slow starter, and this year is no different. I've been around winners my whole life, and winners don't do that.
lf: This job nominally belongs to Willie Harris, but he's not hitting and he's more of a super-sub. Lopez has seen time there as has Rob Mackowiak. The spot has been a drain Acta is hoping it gets clogged by Wily Mo Peņa, recovering from a strained oblique muscle. Wily Mo debuted and went 0-4 Sunday with three strikeouts. He'll get his strikeouts but he has awesome power. One of those don't-let him-get-his-arms-extended guys. Elijah Dukes is the future of leftfield.
cf: Lastings Milledge is someone you may have heard of. He gives interviews left and right saying (1) I've learned my lessons and (2) I'm not going to change. I say whatever to the first and look at the second as pretty inconsistent with the first. I never thought he was that obnoxious, but his candor to me betrays either a desperate desire to please or a zeal to self-promote. Just keep your head down and play. And he has played, to the tune of .308 / .351 / .442 // .793, which is fine. I think he's alright, and just likes to talk ( http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080411&content_id=2515813&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb ) and express himself, and with a good guidance, he'll be fine.
He's shown himself to be a good bunter for base hits so far.
rf: Austin Kearns: is another Bowden Cincinnati alum. He's big and strong and nobody wants to pitch to him. He's got no homers and a .238 batting average so far, but a .396 OBP. His isolated OBP is usually high, but not that high.
OK, going today is Odalis Perez. He's a control guy with fastballs and cutters so get your bats out. He'll be with some other team by mid-season.
Oddly enough, they're sending three lefties against the Mets. Matt Chico (game two) is probably their top starter, but hasn't won yet. He's a high leg-kicking breaking-ball specialist who works with high pitch counts, reaching the eighth for his first time ever in his last start. You wait him out and force him to come after you with a full count, then STRIKE! That's the ticket. Look also for Mets to exploit the kick with some basestealing attempst on the Dukester.
Game three sends out John Lannan, a rookie who grew up near G-FAFIF in Long Beach, so he deserves one ovation, but only one. He's a sinkerballer whose sinker hasn't made an impression in his first two starts. If the Mets take the first two games, he can really have his back to the wall.
The Mets have a chance to sweep here, but Acta has made a competitive team out of this outfit, so take nothing for granted.
Oh, yeah, the pen. Codero has recently returned from a bout with tendonitis, but his fastball hasn't. He got himself a save against the Braves while his fastball topped out at 87 and sat around 85. 
Rauch has started out with an 8.35 ERA, but he's 6'11" and 290 and is forced to sleep in oversized beds, walk in oversized shoes, and make love with oversized women, and he could kill us all just like that if he wanted to. In the cupboard of his home, his gravy boat is an actual boat. Swear to God. So we should all be encouraging and keep him happy.
Nats Who Were Mets: Lo Duca, Milledge, Flores kinda, Estrada sorta, Manager Manny Acta, Hitting Coach Lenny F. Harris, and First Base Coach Jerry Morales.
=blue]Mets Who Were Nats: Really we shouldn't have much, but we do. Say hello to former Nat starters Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, as well as former reserves Marlon Anderson and Endy Chavez. Scott Shoeneweiss is definitely the sort of player the Nats would stockpile, but he's never had the honor.
Jerry Manuel was the third-base coach for the Expos. Omar Minaya GM'd them during the lean years.
Note: Everyone on the Nationals team and staff will wear 42 today, including, presumably, people who don't wear numbers. Sheesh.
Another Note: Upon breaking the nine-game losing streak, Manny Acta was greeted by GM Bowden with the cry of, "Manny! One in a row, baby! On a streak!" That's the sort of man who wears Driven.
Atttendance has been disappointing, but the neighborhood has been a mess and the weather a suck. Things may come around. I hope not. OK, I'm on the fence, as a failure will hurt the whole city at this point.