7 and 13 and in the dumps

The Nationals lost to the Reds today, 5-0, swept in the 3-game series, and falling to 1-6 or 1-7 at home, does it really matter enough to look it up?

There are periodic flashes of a club that could be better than last year's. They hit better than last year's club, today's shutout notwithstanding.

Ryan Church was called up on Easter Sunday and led the Nats to a win with two homers against the Braves. That's exciting, but you wonder why he wasn't with the club to start the season? He hit something like .220 in the spring, and .130 in a handful of games in New Orleans, but when Brandon Watson struggled, the club turned immediately to Church.

Don't you have an obligation to put your best club on the field, whether or not Watson outplays Church during the spring? Did the brain trust really believe Watson was better than Church? It reads well: Church is sent down and comes back up rededicated. But I'm not sure that's the most accurate way to look at it. I think we could focus on how poor the choice was to start the season.

The Nationals have two pitchers going well, and that's it. Livan Hernandez has fallen apart. His games seem to be exciting, but they are high-scoring affairs. Thank God he can hit. He will be back, though. Patterson is going well, and John Rauch. Who knows whether Cordero is going well? With no leads, we don't see him in his natural environment. Ortiz, Drese, Traber-- are those the other starters? Not Drese-- he's injured again. Not Traber. He was just sent down. I don't even know who is in the Nationals rotation any more. Oh yeah, Zach Day is coming back, via the waiver wire, and there is an O'Connor coming up from New Orleans. I've got nothing on him. There are no statistical data available for this query. That's from the Nats' website when you click on O'Connor.

This is bush league. It was nice to hope for good things from Ortiz and Drese before the season, and for pete's sake I can't even remember if Traber started on the opening day roster or replaced someone else. Everyone knew this club had but two reliable options in starters: Hernandez and Patterson.

That's really the worst thing about it. Last year Esteban Loaiza made for three solid starters with Hernandez and Patterson, and that was barely enough to be competitive with a bullpen that faithfully held opponents scoreless game after game, turning early deficits into thrilling one-run wins.

This year's club has no answer for the loss of Hector Carrasco, much less Loaiza. When they are hitting, you imagine last year's 81-81 club with this year's bats and you get excited. Then you remember that some guy named O'Connor starts tomorrow. This year's club isn't reliable on the mound, and by the way doesn't field very well, either. Guillen has been injured and hasn't flashed the leather or arm yet. Soriano is fun to watch no matter what he's doing, and I give him the benefit of the doubt. It's nice that he led the NL in assists as of last week, with three, but you know that's because people are running on him as gleefully as Pamplonans run before the bulls. Patterson failed to cover first once already. Vidro is solid at second, but appears to have lost range.

The defense, and even the 7-13 start, I can stand. The men left on base I can stand. These things have a way of resolving themselves when a club can hit. What's going to make this a long summer is the stream of journeymen who take the mound in the first inning.