The Nationals Post ©: Well, That Sums It Up

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Headline on The Nationals web site:

"Defense, Offense Doom Nationals"

It's time for these boys to come home. Maybe some home-field crowd response will let them know that scoring 6 runs in response to the opposing team's 22 is not okay. They'd better do something quickly, or the crowd response will be silence.

June 17, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	1
Minnesota	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	X	2	5	0

June 18, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	11	3
Minnesota	1	2	0	0	0	0	2	6	X	11	13	1

June 19, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Washington	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	10	1
Minnesota	0	2	1	4	0	0	2	0	X	9	12	1

Even when John Lannan held the Twins to 2 lousy runs, there was no rally. DC answered with one run. Lannan is starting to accrue a W/L record that looks like Walter Johnson's. In his last 5 games, he's allowed only 11 runs, yet his team managed to lose every single one of them. Sure, Livan Hernandez was pitching for the Twins on the 17th, but Livo's not the pitcher he used to be. Nonetheless, he was made to throw only 77 pitches over the course of seven innings. 65% of them were for strikes.

Games two and three were, as you can see from the box scores, disastrous. The Nats' own headline is absolutely correct. This kind of ball playing will quickly translate to lost income. DC is a town full of out-of-towners who attend sporting events to watch a great game while doing a little business. Unlike a few of us, they don't want to be students of the game. They just want to see a spectacle. If those people decide that attending a home game isn't worth the knock to the credit card, then a lot of $300 seats, $8.00 pizza, and $7.50 beer will go unpurchased. Since the lackluster level of play hasn't done it, this is what will get people fired. As for the staff and management of the Nationals Post ... see you tonight at the ball park.