Washington Nationals Mid Season Report: A Local Team At .500 in July

 Well believe it, for the first time in the new century there's a local team at the .500 mark at the all star break.  That team is the Washington Nationals, who sit in fourth place in the tough NL east, with a mark of 46-46. Thanks to good scouting and building up the minor league system through the draft, the Nats seem poised to have a winning season for the first time since moving to DC.  The Nats have been successful through great pitching and grittiness.  The Nats have played 36 one run games, that is about 22% of there games this year and are 18-18 in one run games.  No matter how many runs this team is down by, this team always feels like they are in it and that is a great positive for any type of sports team and that's why this team is exceeding expectations so far this year.

One thing I would like to see, the Nationals, improve on is there overall offense.  The Nats rank 21st and 23rd in runs scored and batting average respectively. While ranking 24th and 15th in extra base hits and homeruns respectively.  If the Nats could get offense consistently and not just when they need it in the later innings, this team could be in the wild card race.  But at the same time the team's core is young and the best is yet to come.

My first half MVP award goes to the whole pitching staff.  The Nats rank 10th in ERA and 12th in quality starts.  8th in homeruns allowed and 15th in WHIP (walks to hits ratio per inning).  Jordan Zimmerman seems to be establishing himself as one of the great young pitchers in the league as he has a 2.66 ERA and 88 strikeouts on the year.  Zimmerman doesn't have more wins because he ranks 7th in the league with least run support when he pitches.  With a healthy Stephen Strasburg, next year, and Jordan Zimmerman this could be one of the best one and two starters in the league next year.  In the bullpen, Tyler Clippard is the teams only all star representative, which I think is BS, but anyways Clippard has an ERA of 1.75 and 63 strikeouts. Clippard is establishing himself as the Nats main setup man.  Closer, Drew Storen, has also been a bright spot in the Nats bullpen with a 2.53 ERA and is 23 of 26 in save opportunities good enough for 8th in the league with saves.  What I think is one of the key stats, to the Nats first half success, is that the bullpen ERA is ranked 3rd in the NL and 7th in the league.  If the pitching can continue this, in the second half, the Nats will be definitely looking at .500 at the end of the year. 

The surprise player of the first half could go to either Ryan Matthews or Michael Morse.  Ryan Matthews has taken the roll of the middle reiliever after the starter is taken out and right before Clippard.  Matthews has a 1.32 ERA and 8 strikeouts on the year.  While Matthews has been a great surprise, the surprise player of the first half goes to Michael Morse.  Morse is batting .306 with 15 homeruns and 49 RBI, while leading the team in hits with 83.  Morse is a great addition as he normally bats behind Ryan Zimmerman, and late in games pitchers can not just walk Zimmerman as they have in the past.  If Zimmerman is walked then opposing teams have to face Morse, so the a decision, for opponents, must be made on who to walk or to even walk Zimmerman and or Morse.  Morse was on the final vote for the all start game, but did not win.

The bum of the first half goes to Jayson Werthless, I meant Werth.  Yes, he was obviously overpaid, yes I knew he was never going to live up to his contract, but when Jason Marquis has a better batting average than you there's a problem.  Werth is batting .215, only 10 homeruns on the year and leads the team in strikeouts.  Yup $126 million is going towards striking out a lot.  At least Mark Reynolds up I-95 has 20 homers on the year, while striking out a lot.  Jayson Werth is a combination of Albert Hanyesworth and Alex Semin.  Werth is overpaid like, Hanyesworth and while Werth doesn't have world class talent, like Semin, I don't think Werth is maximizing his talent every night.  Prime example was this past Friday and Saturday night.  On both nights he had was up in the bottom of the 9th, with runners on.  Friday night he strikes out on a hit and run ending the game and on Saturday night he grounds into a game ending double play.  Back to back nights!!! Are you seriou??? That is unacceptable for anyone on any team that hits in the heart of the lineup.  Well minus well get used to this shit show for the Nats, there's 6 years left of this and its highly doubtful he will be traded to another team as no team will take his contract. 

The biggest weapon of all, for the Nats, is Davey Johnson.  Johnson knows that when he leaves, his position as manager, he will go back to a front office job in the organization.  Because of that Johnson has a why not attitude, he knows he can't get fired so why not try some risky tactics.  The most risky of the tactics was last week when Johnson tried a suicide squeeze.  Twice in an at bat.  The first attempt Michael Morse almost got killed by a foul ball as Lance Nix fouled off a pitch down the third base line and almost hit Morse as he was running.  The second attempt was successful and the Nats won the game.  Maybe it's risks and plays like that, that fire up this team and can contribute to the success of this team, during the second half of the season.  With good pitching, a can't quit attitude and a manager that will try anything, this team can definitely be at or above the .500 mark at the end of the season.  To see if the Nats are a legit .500 team, they will be facing the Atlanta Braves there first series back from the break and then starting on July 26th, the Nats will have three straight home series against the Marlins, Mets and Braves.  Division series are the most important series of all and by the time these four series are over we should know for sure if the Nationals will be .500 or not.