With a dozen games to play, one thing we know for certain about the 2007 Nationals is that they won’t lose 100 games. Oh, they’ll lose 90-plus, just as they did in 2006, but once they reached the 63 win level, the century mark for defeats was off the table.
The woeful expansion Washington Senators managed to lose 90 or more games in 8 of their 11 seasons. The worst of that bunch was the 1963 club that finished 56-106. Of more recent memory, the 1988 Orioles— who dropped their first 21 games of the season – finished at 54-107. As bad as those two clubs were, they both — along with every big league club that ever called RFK Stadium home — had at least one pitcher who featured double figure wins — or losses — for the season. The 2007 Nats may very well avoid that distinction, which, by itself, is worth mentioning.
Reliever Jon Rauch is the current wins leader with 8, and no one else on the club has more than 6 victories. Lefties Matt Chico and Mike Bacsik each have 8 defeats, and either could conceivably hit 10 in that department by month’s end, but maybe not. The Nats have employed 13 different starters this season — not an extraordinarily high number for a second division club – and 22 of the 25 pitchers they’ve used this year have recorded decisions.
Last March many observers predicted gloom and doom for this club; conventional wisdom dictated that pitching would be a glaring weakness. Six weeks into the season, four-fifths of their original starting rotation was injured, and the naysayers looked somewhat prescient. Yet, despite the appearance of 3 pitching staffs — one coming, one going and the one that was here — the club actually played better from that point on.
I’m not a big believer in pitcher’s won-lost records. To me, they reflect less on a pitcher’s skill on the mound, and more on his team’s ability – or inability – to score runs behind him. Things like ERA and baserunners per innings pitched are better indicators of pitching prowess than simply W’s and L’s. That said, however, Washington’s overall pitching performance, while not championship caliber, has been somewhat respectable. Out of 16 NL teams, they rank 9th in hits allowed, and 10th in team ERA. They’re last in strikeouts and have given up the 4th most walks, numbers you’d much rather see more in reverse, and have the most blown saves in the league. There’s a lot of room for improvement, to be sure, but the mix-and-match approachby Manny Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire has managed to keep the earlier “historically bad” predictions from coming to pass.
At some point in the future the Nationals will come up with annual team awards for best player, best pitcher, etc. Pretty much every other club does something similar. (Last year Kansas City named lefty Mark Redman and his 5.71 ERA their Pitcher of the Year. Hey, somebody had to win.) The Nats won’t be handing out any hardware this fall, but in the NL arms race, may have less of a hill to climb than you thought six months ago.
Hear Phil Wood Saturdays at 10 a.m. on SportsTalk 980 AM and weekly on Comcast SportsNet’s WPL through the World Series.
