Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Are these Nats for real?

Last night during the Nats contest against the Angels, I simply mentioned how the Nats good play makes me nervous from time to time, as I await an implosion in quality of play. Well, said tweet brought a flurry of responses, from the logical, to the pessimistic, to the ludicrous.

It really got us thinking beyond, "wow, this team is fun to watch," because they are certainly that. It made us wonder just how sustainable this team actually is. When you look at the Nats offense, there is still much left to be desired. Besides Danny "ROY" Espinosa and Michael "Beast Mode" Morse, there hasn't been any sort of consistency at the plate. Jayson "$126 million" Werth has been simply abhorrent, and Zimmerman has struggled since his return, though he looked to be getting his swing back yesterday.

The folks over at We Love DC Sports may have said it best, though. They responded, "I know, right? I can see the bell curve's broken here, but damn if it's not fun to watch." That's exactly how we feel. The Nationals clearly are a much improved baseball team, not just since last season, but since last month. The defensive talent is there and realized; the pitching has far exceeded expectations. We all know how lackluster the offense has been overall, but between clutch hits and a new air of confidence in a small ball style with power, they've some how made it work.

But let's be real here, folks. We still don't believe this team is playoff bound this year, and quite frankly, there's no way that this current pace is sustainable. Once the Nats reached .500 though, the season starts over. You just have to win more games than you lose from here on out, and you're in contention to be relevant in September, something this team hasn't seen in nearly 6 years. And who here wouldn't just be thrilled with that after 5 straight years of disappointment? The Nats don't have to keep the same pace, a simply ludicrous 17-8 in June, to be continue to impress. They just have to continue playing .500 ball. It seems like this team is actually capable of doing just that.

What do you think CapBallers? Are these Nats for real?

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