Nats

Well, after losing 3-2 this afternoon to the Washington Nationals, the Phillies wrapped up a week long home stand at 3-3. Everything that makes them a little better than .500 team, and gives a smart fan no reason to expect better, eventually got on display: increasingly threadbare rotation, Jimmy Rollins, etc. They lost two games to a good team, won two against a bad one. Not good enough to care of the Brewers at home, not bad enough to get the requisite two from the Nats.

And the rotation- minus Leiber and Hamels- does not inspire confidence in this mostly out west road swing. Eleven games. To be honest, real honest, I can’t see them getting five. Maybe. But they are looking at nine starts by Madson, Floyd, Lidle and some minor leaguer. Myers better get his pair- because five is improbable otherwise.

Also, I really, really am going to go crazy if they do not get Rollins out of the lead-off spot. He’s no longer “close your eyes and deal with it”. He’s no longer bad. He’s horrid. And he’s really hurting the team. There were two one-run games this week- today and one against Milwaukee- where he’s absolutely killed them. Enough. I realize he’s got to play- there are no other realistic options- but must Jimmy hit where he can kill the club day-after-day.

My only other thoughts involve the Nationals. I thought baseball was dumb for putting a team in DC- the categorically “most failed” baseball town in America. Washington would have been a nice fit for a classy AAA-franchise. Not this mess. But even I gotta admit, I never thought the Nats would be literally AAA so quick.

The on-field product is horrid- I really doubt they can win 64 with the upcoming fire sale coming in July. Heck, 59 is a real possibility if they deal Hernandez.

And Lord knows how many they'd lose if they didn't get to play the Marlins 18 times. Replace Marlins with Giants (last in the West) and you can make the 64 and 59 above into 60 likely and 55 possible.

55-107. Wow. You know, they're pretty close. Play some bad series in a "big" spot against Florida and they are right there.

Also, they seem to reporting attendance figures at least 10K over actual bodies on week nights. Washington papers suggest the Nationals have had some very near 10K. Put Syracuse or Scranton, as is, in National League East and they'd both draw better and win more than 40 games. And Syracuse or Scranton don't have to share a stadium with a "soccer" team.