Is the Nationals’ 5-10 start this month an indication that the bubble has burst on the 2010 season? With more than 90 games left to play, that may be a premature pronouncement, but that brief five-over .500 record in May inflated that bubble to start with.
For a while there it looked to me like the 2010 Nats were emulating the 1969 Senators. The Nats seemed to be following the same script that led to the Washington American League franchise finishing 10 games over .500 41 years ago.
On June 19, 1969, the Orioles’ Dave McNally shut out the Senators 2-0 on two hits at RFK Stadium, dropping Washington’s record to 31-35. The next day at Tiger Stadium, the Senators beat Detroit 7-2 in 10 innings, as Brant Alyea connected for a 3-run homer off of John Hiller in the extra frame. In a four-game series Washington won three, coming out of it at 34-36.
Keep in mind that after eight seasons of pretty bad expansion-flavored baseball, the local fans were shocked that the ballclub was hanging so close to the break-even mark. Crowds were a bit bigger than previous years, but there was always that belief that they would hit the wall, revert to form, and lose close to 90 times. They’d been three over .500 in early May, but since then had never climbed above even.
They climbed up to five over on July 15, but fell to one-under by July 27. With the dog days approaching, it looked like the balloon had finally deflated.
An odd thing happened on Aug. 19, though. After a 3-1 win over the White Sox before a rousing crowd of 6,201 — I was the “1” that kept it an odd number, apparently — the Senators were 62-61. From that point, they never fell back to .500; they stayed on the plus side of the ledger. They went 14-6 in their final 20 games, and the final tally of 86-76 gave us cause for celebration, if not genuine hope.
The 2010 Nationals have better players than their ’69 counterparts. The teams ahead of Washington in that first year of the AL East included a juggernaut — the 109-win Orioles — and pretty good ball clubs in Detroit and Boston. A fourth place finish (ahead of the Yankees and Indians) was more than acceptable.
The 2010 Nationals may get back to .500, or they might not. But let’s be honest: After 103 losses last year, haven’t they been a lot more competitive than you expected? A fourth place or higher finish this year is still extremely doable. That script from 1969 is still very much in play.
Phil Wood is a contributor to Nats Xtra on MASN. Contact him at [email protected].
