The Nationals are unofficially eliminated from the playoffs. I unofficially eliminated them way back on August 7th when they blew their 3 run lead in the 8th inning against Colorado. For those of you holding out hope though, you now can write this season off as one of the biggest disappointments in the history of Major League Baseball. So what's left, why even watch? Well, as I said above, the Nationals are unofficially eliminated. Technically, until they're officially eliminated which should happen sometime in mid-late September, they still have a shot. The real reason to still watch though is to watch Matt Williams drive this team even further into the ground. Furthermore, to see if this team actually gives up on Williams because that may be the only thing that could get him fired.
Mike Rizzo is delusional if he thinks that Williams is doing a good job. He's also delusional if he thinks the reason the Nationals are 6.5 games out of first place is because of injuries. Since Ryan Zimmerman, Jayson Werth, and Anthony Rendon returned to the lineup, the Nationals are 14-16. I don't think the Cardinals who are missing their best starting pitcher, their best hitter, their set up man, their starting fist baseman, and rookie Randal Grichuk who's hitting .284 with 15 home runs are using the injury excuse. Oh wait, that's because they're 85-46, they don't need any excuses because they're too busy winning.
Last night's loss against the Cardinals was able to show all of the Nationals weaknesses of the 2015 season in one game. If you hadn't seen a game all year and you were wondering why the Nationals are hovering around .500, you would have had no more questions after watching last night. There was poor defense, there was poor defensive placement, there was AWFUL bullpen management, and terrible relief pitching. All of that in one game. If all of that happened on April 23rd against the Cardinals, I may chalk it up to the Nats trying to find their groove and just getting back into the swing of things. On August 31st though, that's just who this team is.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, with the game tied 1-1, Kolten Wong stepped to the plate with runners on first and third with one out. If you're the Nationals, you're hoping for an inning ending double play. Wong is a fast runner though, so if you have any chance of pulling off a double play the ball has to be hit hard and your short stop and second baseman have to be playing at double play depth. Well what do ya know, Gio Gonzalez does his job and gets the hard hit ground ball to second base. The ball goes right past a diving Anthony Rendon into center field, the Cardinals score and take a 2-1 lead. By the end of the inning, the Cardinals led 3-1, all because the Nationals weren't positioned right. Is that on Matt Williams, is that on Mark Weidemaier, or is that on Anthony Rendon? I don't know, but it's a mental mistake that good teams don't make. It was a tailor made double play if you're playing at double play depth. It's honestly mind blowing that a Major League team isn't playing at double play depth with a runners on first and third and just one out.
Matt Williams takes the cake again though. The Nationals clawed back into this game scoring one run in the 6th to make it a 3-2 game and then took a 5-3 lead on a Ryan Zimmerman blast in the top of the 7th. Right after the Nationals took the 5-3 lead, I sent this text to a few friends "Now we get to watch Williams manage a close game, sit back and enjoy". It was too predictable. As a Nationals fan, you knew the Nationals weren't going to be able to hold a 5-3 lead because the bottom of the 7th inning was coming up. Plain and simple, Williams can't manage a bullpen. Williams went with Casey Janssen to pitch the 7th inning last night and I'm fine with that. The problem is when the Cardinals got their first two hitters on against Janssen, Williams should have called down to the bullpen to get Drew Storen warming. Instead, he warmed nobody and thought he was the smartest guy at Busch Stadium when Janssen got a double play. Then came the pitch around to Matt Carpenter so the Nats could face a good contact hitter hitting .333 on the year. At this point, Felipe Rivero is warming up, not Drew Storen. The Cardinals ended up scoring 4 runs in the inning and taking an 8-5 game. So quick recap - 1) the Mets had already won, 2) the Nats have a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 7th with two outs but with the Cardinals threatening, 3) Casey Janssen had thrown 20+ pitches already, 4) you leave Janssen in, never warm Storen up, and again your two best relievers never even touch a baseball in a tight game that you needed to win to keep pace. I didn't see the post game press conference, but I'll tell you what Williams said, "Well, I had to stick with Casey there because Drew and Thornton were unavailable. We'll just have to come ready to play tomorrow and hopefully get a win". After every loss, Williams will tell you at least two relievers are unavailable and that there's always tomorrow. Matt Williams managing career may not have many more "tomorrow's" because if he does get fired, there's no way any team gives him another shot after seeing how terrible he was for the Nationals.
Mets fans will tell you that Terry Collins is a bad manager, but on Sunday, Collins used Tyler Clippard to get the final out in the 7th inning and then let him pitch the 8th inning to ensure the Mets kept the lead. Matt Williams has never and will never do that. It would require him to go outside his comfort level, think outside the box, and do something that may actually win you a game. To not use one of your two best relievers to get you the final out in the 7th inning against a great team is poor baseball and poor execution. There are four games off the top of my head that I can think of that the Nationals should have won if not for Matt Williams managing this team. That's a difference of four games in the standings, instead of 6.5 games back, you would me a manageable 2.5 games back. This team can not reach its potential and will not win with Matt Williams as the manager. Unfortunately, Mike Rizzo thinks that Williams is a genius and he's not going to fire him unless the players clearly give up on him. I have to tell ya, if I'm a player in that clubhouse, I'm pretty close to giving up on this guy.
No comments:
Post a Comment