With the Orioles in town this weekend — and the Nationals’ seemingly unending struggles continuing — I’ve been asked by a few people to draw some parallels between the 2009 Nats and the 1988 Orioles.
You remember that club, don’t you? They started the year 0-6 before firing manager Cal Ripken Sr., made Frank Robinson the skipper, and promptly lost the next 15 games. Oh-and-21 before the first “W” arrived via a victory over the White Sox in Chicago.
The ’88 Birds went 54-86 after that horrendous start, and finished last in the AL East. It was a season the players would’ve just as soon forgotten about if not for its historic implications.
The Nationals this year have done two things consistently: hit, and lose. They’re still the third best hitting club in the NL, and the worst pitching and fielding club in either league. Anyway you slice it, 1-for-3 is a .333 average, and at this point, that may be their eventual winning percentage as well.
The ’88 Orioles were not a great hitting club. Beyond Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr., there weren’t a lot of sticks in that lineup. In April when they finished 1-22, they were outscored 133-54. As a club they hit .238 for the season, 21 points below the league average. Their pitching staff was led by Dave Schmidt, who actually fashioned a winning record of 8-5 with an ERA of 3.40 between the rotation and the bullpen.
A few fans seem to believe the Nationals’ constant losing can only mean that the players have, as one man put it, “checked out.” I don’t think that’s the case at all, and if everyone had the opportunity to spend 15 minutes in the clubhouse, I doubt they’d come to that conclusion.
The same can be said about the ’88 Baltimore club. Was losing depressing? Of course it was. Did anyone give up? Absolutely not. There was never a point during that losing streak, or that season, where it seemed like the players were going through the motions. Do you really think a manager like Frank Robinson would put up with that? However, they’d all agree that it reached a point where they’d press so hard to turn the tide, they found themselves trying to do things beyond their own abilities.
For years we’ve heard players talk about playing “within” themselves. That’s what they’re talking about. Knowing how much you can do — and can’t do — to perform at your best. It’s human nature, when times are tough, to try and do more, and mistakes usually result.
One other point about that ’88 club: when they returned home after finally winning a game, they drew a crowd of more than 50,000 fans — presumably many Washingtonians — for their first game back at Memorial Stadium. The fans never quit on that team, though it appears at least some 2009 Nationals’ fans didn’t get that memo.
Phil Wood is a contributor
to Nats Xtra on MASN. Contact him at
[email protected].
