This was a pretty hotly anticipated series.  Nats fans wanted to see how this team stacked up against the cream of the baseball crop, hoping that recent success would carry them through another series against a top team.

That didn’t happen.

Although the Nats have done very well against the Yankees in recent years when the team wasn’t doing so great overall, this year was different.  The Nats have developed their talent, but there is a difference between having talent and knowing how to win, and that is what this weekend came down to.

The Nats can take away a few lessons from this series:

1) Talent isn’t always enough

Leaving men on base, misjudging how to play a certain ball at a certain time, deciding when to use which pitchers…all of these little things add up to runs.  The Nats lost this series on the little things, and looked out of their league doing it.

However, they are all problems that can be fixed.  Now that the talent is developed, there is time to mold it into what will become a winner.  The Nats are new to winning, and once they get a handle on it, they won’t have performances like this.

» Continue reading “Things Nats Learned Being Swept By Yankees”

Moore had 2 HR and 5 RBI today against the Blue Jays

The Nats busted out the brooms in Toronto this afternoon, sweeping the Blue Jays and continuing their dominance in interleague play against the AL East.  They are now 15 games over .500 and have a 4 game lead in the NL East.

There are many reasons the Nats are clicking right now.  Starting pitching continues to be superb of course, but what has made the difference is the offense.

Remember how everyone hated Bryce Harper because he ran his mouth without backing it up? Well he has spent the last few weeks backing it up.  His average is over .300 and while he isn’t hitting home runs every day, he has been more consistent than many of the veterans at the plate.

While the return of Michael Morse helped, what made the difference in Toronto was rookie play.  Between Harper, Steve Lombardozzi, and Tyler Moore, the newest Nats went 13-30 with a walk, 3 doubles, 3 home runs, 7 runs scored and 7 RBI.

» Continue reading “Nats Sweep Jays, Win 6th Straight”

It has been no secret in recent years that the Maryland/DC area has been lacking in some baseball enjoyment.  Between the Nationals and the Orioles, there was a lot of losing in the diamonds of the DMV. However, that is all set to change in just under two weeks.

Thi season’s Battle of the Beltway series is going to be quite an interesting one.  The Orioles currently boast the best record in baseball, and the Nationals aren’t too far behind with the second-best record.  Both have experienced unexpected early success in 2012.

For the Orioles, their secret has been in their offense.  They currently have 6 different hitters who are batting .290 or above.  Baltimore has combined for 43 home runs this season.  Their offense has taken the AL East by storm.

» Continue reading “Will Battle Of The Beltway Finally Get Some Spark?”

Oh, the good decisions the Nationals have made in recent years.  One of them was clearly dumping Elijah Dukes, who seems to keep getting himself into trouble in the dumbest possible ways.

During a routine traffic stop, Dukes got a little paranoid.  Apparently, he had a small bag of marijuana in his possession. BUT NOT FOR LONG!

In a definitively idiotic act to try to hide the evidence, Dukes ate the bag of weed. I repeat: he ate. A bag. Of weed.  Naturally, he was subsequently arrested for a lot more than an average traffic violation. And he was freakin’ out…man.

From the Washington Post:

Dukes was charged with drug possession, tampering with physical evidence, possession of drug paraphernalia and three counts of driving with a canceled or suspended license.

He was not, however, cited for watching “Super Troopers” one too many times.

» Continue reading “Ex-Nat Elijah Dukes Thinks He’s A ‘Super Troopers’ Extra, Gets Arrested”

Two teams a mere 45 minute drive away from each other will face off for the seventh straight year in a Battle of the Beltway series between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles.  A weekend of home games for the teams despite where the games are actually being held (it kicks off at Camden Yards tonight) may be just what the Nats need to pull themselves out of their back-to-back shutout losses.

Let’s take a little history lesson on this series as we pray the game isn’t rained out, shall we?  We’ll start before the Nationals moved to DC.  The closest the city had to baseball was the Orioles.  I, like many kids, were “fans” of theirs because we didn’t have out own team, much like many in DC root for the Ravens when the Redskins inevitably implode.

Then, in 2005, we got our own team.  We could go to our own games and represent our love of baseball with our own city.  I was again one of many who switched alliances from the Orioles to the Nationals.  This is why there isn’t really much (if any) animosity between the fan bases, because there is so much overlap.

The other reason is because there isn’t much on the line in these series.  Both teams are perennially at or near the bottom of their respective divisions.  Since the series started, neither team has been particularly good.  It’s like a friendly soccer match between Canada and Japan.

» Continue reading “Kicking Off the Battle of the Beltways”

Ankiel was one of the stars at the plate today, with the Nats' first home run of the season and 3 RBI

The weather didn’t want to cooperate, but after two separate rain delays, the Nats were able to redeem themselves from their Opening Day shutout loss with a 6-3 win over the Braves.

Jayson Werth continues to justify his contract as he hit another double this afternoon.  He has been great at the plate these first couple of games, and while it is a small sample size for sure, it is something Nats fans can be proud of right now, as opposed to something they will be excited about in the future like Harper and Strasburg.

More of the newest Nationals had good games as well as the added personnel is proving to have an influence.  Danny Espinosa had a couple of brilliant defensive plays including a diving catch, and Rick Ankiel hit the Nats’ first home run of the season, a 2-run shot into the right field bleachers.

One new guy who hasn’t seemed to be able to find his stride yet is Adam LaRoche.  He continued his frusrating trend of leaving runners stranded again today, although his defensive play has been solid.

» Continue reading “New Guys Power Nats Passed Braves”