It's the end of April, I get that. For those who say April baseball doesn't matter though, you're wrong. Every game counts. The Nationals game on September 12th against Miami means no more than tomorrow's game against Atlanta. A win is a win, they all count the same in the standings whether it's April or September. That's why a 7-12 record through 19 games is a bit alarming. However, I'm not saying the Nationals are in trouble by any means. That's where the fact that it's only April does matter. There are still 143 games left in the season. If this were September 12th and the Nats were 7 1/2 games back of the Mets, then we're in some trouble. The fact of the matter is, the Nationals are 7 1/2 games back of a hot Mets team who has won 12 of 13 and is 14-4 to start the season. The Nationals have struggled through their first 19 games, partially due to injuries, but mostly due to bullpen mismanagement, lack of focus/concentration (poor defense), and not being able to get a timely hit. It's not panic time. It won't be panic time until late June or early July if the Nationals are still hovering around .500. Remember the Brewers last year? They were 21-9 through their first 30 games with a 6 game lead over the Cardinals in early May. They finished in 3rd place at 82-80 and 8 games behind the Cardinals. It's a long season and we only have a small sample size right now. With that being said, there are some things that need to get worked out very soon.
Hitting:
I'm going to specifically use Thursday's game against the Cardinals as a prime example of what us Nats fans have become accustomed to. What is even more frustrating is the fact that this scenario happened twice. In a 1-0 game in the bottom of the fourth, the Nats had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. After a great at bat by Clint Robinson where he fought off some pitches a drew a walk, Yunel Escobar comes up and first pitch swinging, grounds into a double play. The next batter, Jose Lobaton, strikes out. Inning over, no runs. Don't worry, that wasn't all. In the bottom of the 8th after a fielding debacle that gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead, the Nats came up to bat and got their first two runners on. Let's just think about this for a second, you're the Nationals, you're losing 4-1. The pitcher just walked Bryce Harper on 5 pitches. You have 1st and 2nd, no outs and you want to keep the line moving because you need base runners if you want to get back into this game. Naturally, Ryan Zimmerman comes up first pitch swinging at a ball that was out of the zone and grounds into another double play. Next batter, Clint Robinson, lines out to center field. He hit the ball well and with one out, it may have scored the runner, but the double play ended any chance of scoring that inning.
Let me take you back two innings to the top of the 6th. In a 1-1 game, the Cardinals get a two out single from Jason Heyward, then Matt Holiday gets hit by a pitch. First and second with two outs. Two outs, not zero, but TWO! Matt Adams comes up and singles Heyward in. The Cardinals are one of the best teams in baseball at manufacturing runs. That's why they are consistently in the playoffs and consistently in the World Series conversation. The Nationals don't do that. Most hitters in the Nationals lineup see two on and nobody out and say "Wow, we could really use a three run homer here." Well sure we could, everybody could, but that's not logical. How about you concentrate on making contact, preferably into the outfield so runners can at least tag, maybe even fight a pitch off for a bloop single? Time and time again, the Nationals get guys in scoring position with less than 2 outs and don't score. The Giants and Cardinals don't do that, they find ways to get the runners in and that's how each year they win playoff series.
Bullpen (Mis)Management:
For those of you that I talk to on a daily basis about the Nationals, you would think I don't like Matt Williams at all. That's not entirely true. I do think he knows what he's doing and he preaches the right things to this team and he handles the players the right way. The one area where I think he has no clue what he's doing, is managing a bullpen.
Most managers now a days have an "A" bullpen and a "B" bullpen as former Nationals manager Davey Johnson once put it. The "A" bullpen are your 3-4 best relievers, they're your 7th inning guy, lefty specialist, set-up man, and closer. Your "B" bullpen are the remaining 3-4 guys in the bullpen, it may be your long reliever, it may be a another lefty specialist, it may be a kid you just called up from the minors that you need to eat some innings. The Nationals actually have a very easy bullpen to manage. There are 3 members of the bullpen who have been in the Major Leagues for two seasons. Those 3 happen to be 3 of the Nationals 4 best relievers and they are Matt Thornton, Drew Storen, and Tanner Roark. The fourth is Aaron Barrett, who is just now in his second year. That leaves Blake Treinen, Matt Grace, and Rafael Martin. Your "A" bullpen is Thornton, Storen, Barrett, and Roark (Roark is a tough one though because he's also your long reliever so he can be a "B" bullpen guy as well). There is absolutely no reason that if you're winning (especially by less than 4), tied, or losing by 1 that any of the "B" bullpen guys see the mound. Unless you're in the 12th inning and you're out of pitchers, there's just no reason for it.
In a tie game on Wednesday night against the Cardinals, Matt Williams went with his "B" bullpen. It cost the Nationals the game. Blake Treinen gave up the eventual winning run in the 8th inning. On Friday, April 10th, Matt Williams went with his "B" bullpen in a 1-0 game. Xavier Cedeno (who has since been traded to the Dodgers) gave up the lead, the Nationals lost 4-1. The following night, Saturday, April 11th, Matt Williams went with his "B" bullpen again with a 2-0 lead. Blake Treinen gave up two runs, the Nationals lost 3-2 in 10 innings. Tuesday April 14th, Matt Williams has a 7-5 lead in Boston, he goes with his "B" bullpen, let's Blake Treinen throw exactly 10 warm up pitches, Treinen gives up the lead and the Nats lose 8-7.
Those are 4 examples of games that the Nationals lost after entering the 7th inning or later with a lead. The Nationals are 7-12, so lets say instead of going 0-4 in those games, Matt Williams uses his head in two of them, goes with his "A" bullpen and the Nats go 2-2. Instead of 7-12, the Nationals are now 9-10. If he used his head in all 4 of those games and went with his "A" bullpen, the Nats could be 11-8. Those losses aren't completely on Williams, there was bad defense, we should have scored more runs in some of them, etc., but with better bullpen management, I guarantee we would have won at least one of those games, most likely two or three of them.
I'm going to lay this out so that nobody can screw it up, here is the formula:
-If you are winning by less than 4, tied, or losing by 1 in the 7th inning, you use Matt Thornton or Tanner Roark in the 7th (depending on matchups), Aaron Barrett in the 8th, and Drew Storen in the 9th.
-If you are winning by 4 runs or more, or you are losing by more than 1 run, I don't care what you do, as long as you don't use any of the 4 relievers named above. It's that simple.
Hilarious Defense:
Even with good pitching though, you need a competent defense behind you. The Nationals don't have that. There were two plays this week that I don't even know if a high school team would make. On Thursday, Mark Reynolds rocked a ball to right center field. On the throw in, Danny Espinosa sailed a ball over Jose Lobaton's head, so in return Aaron Barrett chucked it into center field. He was trying to throw Reynolds out at second, but Reynolds was already on his way to third, so I don't know if his judgment is questionable or if his eyesight needs to be checked. That was just one of two plays that made me cringe. Today, the Nationals were able to pull off a play that made me consider throwing my TV off the balcony. With two outs in the 5th inning of a 1-0 game, the Marlins loaded the bases on an Ichiro Suzuki single. Giancarlo Stanton pulled some questionable base running moves by rounding 3rd too far and running home. The Nats were going to get out of the inning due to a Marlins mistake. Wilson Ramos had other plans though, he decided he was going to challenge Stanton to a foot race back to third instead of throw the ball to Yunel Esobar who was waiting at third to tag Stanton out. Ramos gave the Marlins a second chance and like good teams do, they got a big hit, cleared the bases, and took a 3-1 lead.
Now let's try and win a few series in a row considering the only series the Nats have won all year is against the 7-12 Phillies. The Nats blew it this weekend and got swept by the Marlins, so they have the Braves and Mets on the road before heading back home for another home stand. I'd love to see the Nats go 5-2 or 6-1 in these next 7 games before heading home. Based on the hilariously awful baseball they've been playing though, I'll take 4-3. Actually, they're on a 5 game losing streak, so how about this: just win ONE game. One game where they play fundamentally sound baseball, get timely hits, use the bullpen how it should be used, and get a win. That's all I ask at this point.
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