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So, here we are at the halfway point of the season. About the time when you can almost judge what will happen down the stretch (no one could have seen the Mets major collapse this early last year, but there will be random cases). If the season ended after 81 games, the Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks and Cardinals (wildcard, WC) would be off to the playoffs in the National League. The Rays, White Sox, Angels and Boston (WC) would be the teams in the American League. Yes, the first name on the AL side was the Rays and in TampaBay, formerly the Devil Rays. The team has a great nucleus of young players, young pitchers and veterans. Almost reminiscent of some of the early Braves teams of the ‘90s…but not quite.But I’m not really here to talk about the AL; I wanted to talk about the NL East this week, starting from the bottom up. So today we’ll talk about everyone’s favorite bottom feeder: The Washington Nationals. Remember in 2005 when they were the only team with 50 wins by the all-star break? Well, they were living on the edge much like last season’s Diamondbacks and winning a lot of one run games with Cordero as their designated closer. Of course, all the Braves did was calmly go to Washington in the first series after the all-star break to take the lead in the division and never looked back. The Nats ended up finishing last at 81-81 (the NL East was the only division without a losing record that year) and haven’t really seen much more than the bottom of the division.
Since that time, former manager and hall-of-famer Frank Robinson retired and Manny Acta took over. Guys like Ryan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge and Cristian Guzman have been the go-to guys on that team. Not saying much? Seriously, those are probably their best hitters. This season, Zimmerman leads the team with eight home runs, Milledge leads the team with just 32 RBIs and Guzman leads the team with a .314 (respectable) average and 48 runs scored at the top of the order.
To see how they fare against other teams, you pretty much have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the NL in the stats page to find them. They rank dead last in:
Runs scored (305, Braves are seventh with 375).
Hits (675, Braves are third with 769).
Total bases (1014, Braves are sixth with 1193).
RBI (285, Braves are sixth at 359).
Batting Average (.239, Braves are third at .270).
OPS (.673, Braves are fourth at .765).
Obviously, that’s the result of not winning a lot of games and not getting any production out of guys they would have thought were guys that would give them a lot. Austin Kearns (.187, 42 games) and Felipe Lopez (.242, .318 OBP, 72 games) are hitting well below their averages in Cincinnati and has been the status quo for what the Nats are going through. Guzman is, in fact, the only guy with respectable stats on the entire offense. He is hitting .314 with a .776 OPS and 24 doubles in 82 games.
Sadly, the pitching stats do not get much better with this team. They rank 14in ERA (4.55, Braves are tops with a 3.69 team ERA), 11 in the NL in walks (308, Braves are ninth with 287) and 14 in batting average against (.288, Braves are again tops with a .246).
So what will the Nats have to do to get better? This team looks so similar to our teams of the ‘80s that there are no quick fixes. The fans and the players will have to ride it out until they can get some solid young talent in, enough to fill up their minor league system and who knows, maybe one year it will just click and send them to the top of the division.
This year, there’s probably little to no chance of them making a run. The Nats currently sit at 33-51. They have shown little to no efforts to get better and are not getting healthier. Chad Cordero was placed on the disabled list today and was never fully healthy this season. Because of this, I doubt the Nats will win that many more games than they won in the first half.
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guest_5846 : guest_4030 your retarted
guest_4030 : we are below 500 because all the games are not on TBS
guest_4030 : the reason the Braves are below 500 is because they don't broadcast all the games on
Rue : hey kent good job man!
guest_6748 : 2 words ADAM DUNN
guest_5501 : r u kiddin we suck
guest_9193 : See if we can beat red sox tonight
Ben : He was supposed to be a baseball god he cant even hit the ball out of the infield
Ben : they need to trade (suckfest) Jeff francoeur
guest_9113 : I agree; it is way past time for Bobby Cox to be released. How many years do the Braves fans have to wait for a winning team ? Why do they trade or sign good free-agents, only to let them go; and the teams they perform great for their new teams. New franchise teams seem to be able to re-build after terrible seasons, why can't the Braves ?
guest_7732 : cox needs to go
guest_6049 : they should have kept Tex and sent off glavine and hampton to allow some cap room
guest_6049 : kent who else are they going to give up besides prospects who we seem to ship off every chance we get. Its not like they want to give up anyone else. we need to keep prospects. It seems like the Texas Rangers are full of great talent because of the Tex trade why would they want to give up their whole farm system?
guest_3601 : It would be nice to see the Braves move Frenchy. I heard he may go to the Marlins
Kent : guest_6049, I disagree that they're only willing to give up Frenchy. They've still got trading chips, and they'll use them (responsibly).
Kent : That said... it's unusual to see a June impact deal (such as McLouth). Whatever the Braves get, it probably won't be until July.
Kent : I'm certain Wren is working the phones. And I think another deal will be made for one more bat.
guest_6049 : the only thing they are willing to give up is frenchy and no one wants that pos
guest_6049 : the braves are to cheap to get anyone worth a crap
guest_1000 : any rumors who the braves are looking at as far as a big bat
guest_5894 : Eff the Braves. They are a joke now. What a sham of an organization. This thing needs to be blown up and stared over. If we are going to suck then lets suck with the young and inexpensive. The current roster is not going to win.
guest_3846 : We are getting our butts kicked again. I am calling it now. The season is over. Let's try to get what we can for Lowe and Vazquez. Not sure what to do with Kawakami but it looks like a nunmber 4 or 5 starter to me and that is an expensive 4 or 5.
guest_6118 : hey retards r u there
guest_5744 : is any one there
guest_6118 : and why did the braves even express intrest in brad penny we need a big bat not pitching
guest_6118 : francoeur sucks
Michael Ramm : Colin: agree, I don't know why we wasted time with Glavine anyway. The departure was harsh, but needed.
TR : Francouer and Johnson... the new Shaffer!
guest_8601 : Hope you will include our Nats Blog on your links: www.centerfieldgate.com
Colin : I'm not sorry to see Glavine go. I was worried we were spending a lot of money on him for a very marginal return.
Jonathan : So Glavine's hitting the road. Can't say I saw that one coming, but I can't really blame the Braves.
Theo : I'm tired of watching a team, owned by an out-of-town partnership... Giving us a .500 team...what gives with that?
guest_1666 : lose shaeffer... Fast!!!
guest_1666 : please get an outfield that can hit!!!
Jonathan : Nice that I finally get to watch a Braves game. Vacation took away my ability to do that for a week.
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