Meanwhile, in the nations capital.

[westofyou]

Lot of buzz the past month about the disappointing, mediocre, ready to check out, depressing season the Reds have been having.

In the grass is greener category (or not) we have what is truly a disappointing and mediocre season occurring from a NL division winner with 98 wins over in D.C.

What went wrong?

Boswell weighs in, and Boswell nails it in many ways.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...f4d_story.html

The Nats have had many problems this year. Their bench, strong last season, has been horrible, with six key players combining for an abysmal .521 on-base-plus-slugging percentage through Tuesday night in more than 1,000 trips to the plate. Their fifth starter was a disaster for 100 games. Their second baseman’s career imploded. General Manager Mike Rizzo’s biggest team-tweaking decision, trading for Denard Span, proved misconceived, subtracting offense from a team that has plummeted in scoring. Manager Davey Johnson, who spiked the team’s confidence a year ago, has looked as at a loss as Joe Gibbs II. His lame-duck status was underlined when Rizzo fired his hitting coach against his wishes.

But another huge Nats problem, and the one that absolutely must be solved before anything really good can happen, is that they play the game badly at the fundamental level night after infuriating night. The Nats think, correctly, that they are talented. But bad baseball always beats talent. The Nats aren’t winning because the way they’ve played, they don’t merit it.

And nobody calls them out, instance by instance, game by game. Certainly not Johnson, a “players’ manager” whose trust has been abused by his veterans, nor his coaches nor even Rizzo. Because the Nats usually played crisply last season, the franchise finds it unfathomable that they’ve regressed so far so fast. When will the “switch flip” or the “light go on” and the poise, presence of mind and pleasure reappear? Surely this is a bad dream.

[Crumbley]

They shut down their ace, essentially conceding the playoffs, with the logic being, "We'll be there for the next decade, 2012 doesn't matter."

Seems baseball isn't that easy. I hope they never win another game.

[Tom Servo]

I can see the same thing happening to Pittsburgh next year.

[bucksfan2]

I can see the same thing happening to Pittsburgh next year.

I thought of that as well. I think last season the Nats overachieved. I think many thought they would be a contending team not the best team in baseball. I think the same of the Pirates this seasons. Many thought they would be good, but not this good.

[MillerTime58]

We saw this with our team in 2011. It really goes to show you that, no matter how good your team was last year, there is absolutely no guarantee of being good this year. I always remind myself of this, then look and see that we're several games up on a wild card (aka playoff) spot....it's hard to say it's been a bad season overall.

[RedFanAlways1966]

They shut down their ace, essentially conceding the playoffs, with the logic being, "We'll be there for the next decade, 2012 doesn't matter." Seems baseball isn't that easy. I hope they never win another game.

Wow. I thought they did it to protect the kid's arm and his future (and of course his future with them). That is an awfully tough stance you have in regard to what WASH did with a young arm coming back from a huge surgery to his throwing arm. I applaud them for having the guts to do what was best for the young man and his future. Sure he might have been fine had he continued (where is that crystal ball?), but I will bet most doctors/surgeons agree with the approach that WASH took last year and probably would have suggested he be shut down sooner than they did. Some prefer a World Series over a young man's future. Not me... it is just a game.

[Chip R]

Boswell weighs in, and Boswell nails it in many ways.

Speaking of Boswell.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...ell-bill-veeck

[Brutus]

They shut down their ace, essentially conceding the playoffs, with the logic being, "We'll be there for the next decade, 2012 doesn't matter."

Seems baseball isn't that easy. I hope they never win another game.

They shut down their ace because it was advised by several people with expertise on the subject and thus, was the smart, calculated thing to do.

[cumberlandreds]

We saw this with our team in 2011. It really goes to show you that, no matter how good your team was last year, there is absolutely no guarantee of being good this year. I always remind myself of this, then look and see that we're several games up on a wild card (aka playoff) spot....it's hard to say it's been a bad season overall.

I've pretty much equated their downfall this year to the Reds 2011 season. They overachieved last year and are coming back down toearth this year. I expect them to bounce back in 2014. But they are going to have to make some changes.
Johnson has seemed lost this year. he's not really tried to do much to help this team. When he's asked about the poor hitting he's just said we have to find a way to score some runs. OK but how anad what are you trying? He's retiring after this season and this has been an early retirement year for him.

I think they could have managed Strasburgs innings better last year and had him preserved for the playoffs. It was obvious by mid August last season they were making the playoffs. They could have cut Strasburgs starts back to once a week and still been on their target of innings pitched before shutting him down. Instead they kept him on regular rotation and he was shutdown by early September. No one will know how much of effect it had on the Nats in the playoffs but you can't help but think their series with the Cardinals would been much different if he had started a couple of games.

[mdccclxix]

Good thing the Reds got Choo and they got Span. Almost didn't happen that way.

[cumberlandreds]

Good thing the Reds got Choo and they got Span. Almost didn't happen that way.

I've thought the same thing. Span has been a real disappointment for the Nats. He's not even leading off for them now.

[reds44]

Span has a .312 OBP. Yikes.

And sorry, but I'm not resting my ace with a chance to win the World Series. Making the playoffs is hard (something Reds fans are overlooking right now, IMO).

[757690]

They shut down their ace because it was advised by several people with expertise on the subject and thus, was the smart, calculated thing to do.

It was the smart thing to do for the career of Strasberg. A really stupid thing to do for the goals of the organization.

[Brutus]

It was the smart thing to do for the career of Strasberg. A really stupid thing to do for the goals of the organization.

Putting anything other than player safety first is stupid for the goals of an organization.

You cannot and should not be purposely putting players at risk. That will be the quickest way to lose games and make players not trust your organization. Doing the smart thing for Strasburg's future is doing the smart thing for the Nationals' future.

[Roy Tucker]

Like others said, the Nats could have managed Strasberg's innings better. Instead they just kept running him out there till midnight. There were other ways to solve the problem that were more congruent with team goals.

How does a players manager bring the hammer down when its necessary?