Time for a few Changes

So the Washington Nationals sit at 5-14, way down in the cellar of the NL East. Good for... oh... how about worst in the majors. All this month I've been telling J-Red that last year at the same time they were worse and look how well the team turned it around. That seemed to accomplish two things: (1) give me peace of mind, and; (2) shut J-Red up.

Well now, we've moved beyond the point of being better than we were at the same time last year when we got off to a god-awful start to the season. This Nats team just keeps finding new ways to lose. There are a few promising signs such as Odalis Perez having a really good outing yesterday, Austin Kearns finally starting to hit the ball a little bit, Shawn Hill having a great first start of the season. But the troubling signs are many and often. Attendance at the new park is way below where I thought it would be and where it should be. It's clear that DC is just not a market that is going to be swept off its feet by a new stadium. They want to see a winning product on the field to justify paying ticket prices, especially in a recessed economy. Kasten and Lerner et al. were swept into the misbelief that a new ballpark alone would draw the flocks out to the game. Don't get me wrong... the ballpark is a gem. But in this day and age, the new park alone just isn't enough.

But I digress from my main point. I understand that this team has, I believe the fifth-lowest payroll in baseball. I understand that this was not a team that was expected to "contend." But what is inexcusable is the total crap that I saw on the field from these guys over the past week.

We saw Cristian Guzman taking off at warp speed from second base on a foul pop just behind third base. Only problem... there was only one out. Easy doubleplay.

We saw Lastings Milledge lose a ball in the sun that instead of an easy out, turned into a double and subsequently a run scored.

We saw a pitch sail so far over the catcher's head that not one, but two runs scored on a wild pitch. That shouldn't happen except on Playstation.

We saw Austin Kearns badly misplay a ball out in rightfield that turned an out into a double.

We saw Ryan Zimmerman fire a ball well beyond first base, a play that we hoped Zimm would grow out of, but that we're still seeing just a little too often at the start of his third full big-league season. This was the first one that went wild, thankfully, but there have been a lot of throws that aren't exactly on target.

We saw Ronnie Belliard (who admittedly was playing a little out of position at first base when he came in to sub for Nick Johnson) not run out a foul ball into first base foul territory.

Ladies and gentlemen, what we're seeing from these Nats is a total lack of fundamentals, of heads-up baseball, and generally, to the casual observer, a lack of giving a shit. Manny Acta has been quoted of late saying that he looks at all of this as a learning experience for younger players and he's not going to lose his patience and he's never going to stop teaching. Well I agree with the learning experience and I agree with the teaching part. But Manny, enough is enough. It's time to start making an example out of people. This is where I miss the Frank Robinson school of managing. You don't hustle a ball out. You're benched. If not immediately, then the very next inning. You make a boneheaded play like running pedal-to-the-medal on an infield pop with one out because you forgot the basic little league rule of always knowing how many men are out? You're benched. You're the base coach who doesn't remind the player how many outs there are? Fuck it. You're benched. You think you're not replaceable, Mr. Washed-Up Major Leaguer who still has to struggle to fit into a uniform and who now looks even funnier wearing a batting helmet to prevent your brains from being splattered all over the base line like that Tulsa Drillers base coach.

Do I sound bitter? I am. I did not expect this bullshit product from the Nationals. I never expect to be so disgusted watching a team that I root for. And I get the most disgusted when the mistakes that I see being made are the result of a total carelessness.

So Manny, it's time to man up and start making some changes. You've got a stable full of guys in Columbus who would KILL to wear the major league uniform. And hell, the product that they give us on the field can't be much worse than what we're seeing now. You want to send a message to a guy with a big-league ego like Cristian Guzman? Send him down to double-A for a week and make him ride the bus and earn his way back to the big leagues.

Enough is enough. We may be low payroll, but we do have talent. The guys just need to be ready, willing, and able to utilize it.