Last Week, Final Chances

The Nats currently stand with a record of 58-98, with 6 games remaining. 3 of them are at home, so if you haven’t had a chance to see the new stadium, I highly recommend taking a trip out there. There’s only one first season of the new stadium, every crappy performance after this week will be just another crappy game by any old crappy team. There are a few things worth looking for over the next 6 games, the team has a chance for a couple of things:

• Finishing with less than 100 losses. Gotta win 5 out of 6, not likely, but possible. Not that going 63-99 is so great.

A (Fake) Conversation on the Future

I’m not a real journalist. This is why there aren’t actual interviews on this blog. I have no access to people that might be interesting to talk to. Anyway, I do like to take advantage of the baseball chat rooms, and when I can get a question in about the Nats, it’s always interesting to hear what the pros think of the team. Here’s my question for Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus, and her answer:

Guzman hits for cycle and sets record

I have often criticized Christian Guzman, and it isn’t without warrant. His lack of plate discipline and power can be crippling to production, if you don’t believe me, see 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 . But over the last few days he has done a few remarkable things. The first is hit for the cycle. This is a great feat, and while is pretty luck dependent (if he hadn’t been thrown out at second, he’d have had a better game, but no cycle), it is still something special, uncommon, and exciting in a season lacking for exciting from the Nats. He also has had 2 hits or more in 8 consecutive games, something that no Washington player has done in 75 years. This is a franchise record, and its important because it shows how good Guzman can be when he’s hot. All this was enough to give him a well-deserved NL player of the week award.

Finally a Couple of Runs

The Nats have rattled off a season best 7 wins in a row. This team has really turned it around, and should finish up the remainder of the season without losing, making the playoffs. Er, with a winning record. Ah, how about .500? No, see, the truth of the matter is, with 24 games to go, the Nats would probably be happy to finish up 10-14, to keep the number of losses at only 99.

It’s not going to be easy, their remaining schedule includes 17 games against teams above .500. And 11 of those games are against playoff contenders – the Phillies and the Mets. But it’s not all bad news. The other 6 of those games are against Florida, who may not be above .500 by the time the Nats meet them. And the remaining games versus the non-winning teams are against Atlanta and San Diego. San Diego is contending with the Nats for the number 1 draft pick next year, and Atlanta, despite a decent start, is not that far behind. Thoughts on whether or not the Nats should even try to beat these teams and get the best pick should probably be kept to ourselves.