The Nationals tasted playoff baseball on the final day of the season. A packed house at Philadelphia, fans roaring with every scoreboard update, saw tense situational play befitting the postseason.
Maybe next year the Nats will be the ones slipping into October.
Washington lost 6-1 Sunday, but what a delightful season it was. The 73-89 mark was double the wins projected by some naysayers and two more than last year. The Nats escaped last place in the NL East for the first time since arriving in 2005. Washington finished with equal or more wins than nine other teams, including Baltimore.
Manny Acta deserves NL Manager of the Year. Name another skipper whose team won 30 games more than expected?
You have to love the Nats’ competitiveness. Instead of sleepwalking through nine innings and heading to the offseason, Washington battled Philadelphia. Nats pitchers even hit three Phillies. They must have though it was a Redskins-Eagles game. Philadelphia proved too good for Washington to earn the NL East crown over slumping New York, who choked harder than a hot dog eating contestant.
Washington enters the offseason looking for more offense and a whole lot more pitching. A power hitter and two starting pitchers are needed. An upgraded leadoff hitter would be nice. Otherwise, the Nats really aren’t that far away. No wonder team president Stan Kasten won’t overspend on a lackluster free agent market.
“You run the risk of hurting yourself so much if [free agency] fails,” he said. “We know we need to acquire players. I don’t know how we’ll do it. It might be free agency, but more likely it’s trades. But who knows? … A big splash is secondary to making the team better.”
General manager Jim Bowden has done a solid job over two seasons finding underperforming players who improve with the Nats. Yesterday’slineup included Dimtri Young, Wily Mo Pena and Austin Kearns who have awakened with the Nats. Jesus Flores is a promising pickup as a Rule 5 move and the probable starting catcher in 2009. Justin Maxwell was also in the lineup over the final week after a solid season in the minors. They are five reasons to remain positive for 2008 not to mention Ryan Zimmerman still improving.
It’s only six months until the new stadium opens. The metro stop is reportedly two months behind schedule and even when fully operational, seems insufficient to handle 25,000 fans the Nats want to take the subway. Oh, it’s going to be a mess around South Capitol Street during weeknights. The team should consider starting 30 minutes later at 7:35 p.m.
“I’m sure the first game we’ll be bolting seats into the concrete [beforehand],” Kasten said.
That’s OK. At least it will be baseball season again. If the Nats can find some pitching and a 30-homer hitter, then …
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
