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Fix the bullpen, fix the Nationals: Can it be that simple?
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AP photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Finally, a win over the Orioles, after a pair of agonizing losses. It took some serious heroics from Adam Dunn - who is at last getting his due praise - but the Nationals did pull off a win, and the bullpen did hold the lead, and the team finished a dismal 2-9 homestand on a positive note.
As I've pointed out ad nauseum, the Nats have been undone this year almost exclusively by the bullpen and the defense. When both come together, like on Sunday and Thursday, the team can flourish. But I'm starting to think it's too broad even to blame the defense - it really all comes down to the bullpen.
Rob Dibble (who, alongside Jim Palmer, was very strong in the booth this weekend) noted numerous times how well the defense played for the Nats against the O's. And his reasoning for it was sound: Because the starting pitching was throwing strikes and putting the ball in play, the defense was always active and prepared. When pitchers start throwing balls and walking batters, the defense lets down and gets discouraged. That's when you get errors.
Now, I don't have the time or resources to do the research needed to prove this theory, but I would speculate that a majority of the Nats' errors come in the sixth inning and beyond, after the bullpen has taken over (and/or the starter has begun to tire and get erratic). The Nats' poor defense may well be a factor of its bullpen woes. With solid pitching the defense can be sound - the constant failures of the bullpen have likely made the defense exponentially worse than it actually is. Someone needs to get Will Carroll and the Baseball Prospectus guys on this.
In other news, those who have been to a Nats game recently could already see this coming, but the team has the biggest attendance drop in the league this year. Attendance is down across the board, but the Nats have lost a full third of their paying customers from last year. That's bad news. When the Orioles come to town and you can't even sell out, you're in trouble. But I do have to disagree with my colleague Josh: it's not just the poor performance of the team that has turned off fans. The weather has been abjectly awful these first six weeks, with two rainouts, a half-dozen more games delayed by rain and far more cold nights than any May should have. The weather's not the main factor for the lack of fans, but it is a contributor.
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