Well, well, well. Four games in a row counts as an official win streak. It’s undeniable now. When the Nats won two in a row, I was secretly referring to it in the deep, dark recesses of my mind as a win streak. Sure, that area of my brain is rife with desperation as I pray that the Nats elude the dreaded .250 win percentage forever burned into the minds of all Mets fans. As of February 28, 2007, I only had three hopes for this season (in no particular order):
The Nats will lose less than the 120 games of the 1962 Mets. Yankee and Red Sox fans are horrid enough. There’s no need to validate Mets fans by elevating their franchise to the one that produced only the second worst team in the history of the game of baseball. Plus, I don’t think the Nats are 120 losses bad.
The Nats will win a majority of the six games they play against the Baltimore O my God we spent $95 million for a craptastic team! That means that they need to take 4 of 6. I think it’s do-able and with any luck, they’ll just go ahead and take all 6 and make me the happiest person in Baltimore.
Make some real progress in The Plan and set up a decent 2008. I don’t expect miracles here. A 1 year plan is unrealistic when you look at how comprehensive the overhaul has been in the organization thus far. But as long as I see progress, I’m happy. Just so this long season wasn’t in vain, I’m fine.
So, after this fantastic weekend, I am feeling better about my Three Hopes. At this point, the Nats are on pace to go 56-108, light-years away from the 120 high-water mark, but still above the 100 loss mark reserved for teams like the Royals and Devil Rays of yore.
And yes, I think we can safely say that the Nats have a 4 game win streak going. Of course, with Jerome Williams (lovingly, I’m sure, referred to as Southeast Jerome in homage to Clinton Portis) coming back tonight against Tim Hudson, we should squeeze every last drop out of this streak as we can.
On another note, the Baltimore O’s my God our overpaid team has had 9 losing seasons in a row had one of the most disastrous half innings (http://bugsandcranks.com/baltimore-orioles/losing-it/) I’ve seen in a long time. It was bad enough that they were leading 5-0 going into the bottom of the 9th. What made it a story that will be told for years to come is that it a.) happened at Fenway against the Red Sox and b.) came on the heels of a terrific effort by Jeremy Guthrie, one of the O’s rising pitching stars. If we had that guy to go with Shawn Hill and Jason Bergmann, the Nats’ rotation future would be safe indeed. Anyway, this kid pitched the game of his career to this point, against unquestionably the best team in baseball right now, and he goes to the dugout with a 5 run lead, only to watch helplessly as the O’s inept bullpen all put threw underhanded to the Sox.
I’m not going to say that the Nats don’t do that because we all know Murphy’s Law. But even if (or perhaps when?) that happens in DC, I at least have confidence in Manny, the Lerners, Stan Kasten and, to a lesser extent, Bow Bow. I can reasonably expect that they’re taking precautions so that that sort of thing won’t become endemic to the organization as it has to Baltimore. I know many don’t agree with my level of confidence, but Kasten helped build the Atlanta dynasty and Ted Lerner built his business from the ground up. If Bow Bow can focus and not get distracted by shiny things, and if Manny becomes a good manager (both big IF’s, I know), then the Nats are fine. The O-crap’s! however, are in trouble.
Which brings me to the last part of this post: the weekend series in DC. I wish I could go to those games, but it’s just not practical being in Baltimore. Maybe if gas wasn’t $27.95 a gallon, I’d consider it. But the last three games of the series are here in Baltimore and I will be at all three of them so I don’t feel too bad. I’ve even talked my girlfriend into going to one, although I think she’s a baseball fan and just won’t admit it.
Anyway, as the weekend approaches, I’m going to write a special post for the series. Hopefully I’ll get to catch most of the games on MASN.
Some interesting articles to check out on what I posted about today:
1. Baltimore Orioles on SI.com
2. O's Frustration Boils Over
3. Late Bloomers (article in Boston Globe)
4. Nationals' SI.com Site
5. Nats Beat Braves (from Seattle Times)
6. Bugs and Crank post on O's Meltdown
7. Nationals Journal
And check out the news feed for lots of other information.
P.S.: My predicition for the Presidents' Race tonight: GW will just edge out TJ. George has won every race during this streak...the front office won't mess with karma.
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