Nationals' Bullpen Remains a Debacle
By Thomas Boswell
Monday, May 18, 2009
The "Natinals" pitching staff is now so bad they may shorten their nickname further, to "Natnals." The "i" can't bear to watch.
After another eighth-inning bullpen implosion yesterday to squander a lead and lose, 8-6, the Nats are now on pace to give up 1,029 runs this season. That sounds awful. But it's worse. Since 1939, only one team has given up more than that -- the 1996 Tigers, who lost 109 games. So, it's not surprising the world champion Phillies didn't take batting practice yesterday. After three games in two days against the Nats, they'd already had plenty of it.
Also yesterday, in the very same game, Cristian Guzmán got three hits to take the NL league lead in hitting at .381. Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn each got their 30th RBI, putting them both on pace for 131 this season. Elijah Dukes doubled in a run, so he's on track for 105 RBI. Nick Johnson reached base four times and raised his average to .333. And the Nats' bludgeoning lineup remained ranked fourth in the NL in runs scored.
So, is this 11-25 glass half full (of offense) or almost entirely empty (of victories)?
For now, go with the latter. If the Nats had a bullpen, they would be entertaining and competitive, at least on days when John Lannan or rookies Shairon Martis (5-0) and Jordan Zimmermann (2-1) start. But they don't, so they aren't.
Until you have a 'pen that can hold a lead and a starting rotation that does not include Daniel Cabrera and Scott Olsen, who've allowed 75 runs in 80 1/3 innings (the Nats are 1-14 in their starts), what you have is a fan's nightmare. Luckily, about half of this crowd of 29,577 went home happy. They were Phillies fans. Drive safe.
This time, a reliever found a new way to lose -- by making a perfect play. With two on and none out in the eighth, Nats ahead 6-5, Jesús (Column B) Colome fielded a bunt and threw with geometric precision to first base. But Anderson Hernández, covering first base, jumped out of the way of the ball before it could hit him. So, as the throw rolled far away, a sacrifice bunt attempt had the same effect as a two-run, game-winning triple.
"I asked him, 'What happened?' " said Manny Acta. "He said he lost the ball in the crowd." Or maybe Hernández was just shocked to see a Nats reliever throw a strike.
Asked about the play, Zimmerman said, "It seems like we can do some stuff right now that other people can't." At least not the ones above Class A.
Fortunately, the Nats' patience, even Acta's stoic act, has run out after watching nine games lost after holding a lead in the eighth or ninth innings.
It's said that hitting is contagious. Can bad pitching be the same? And can it last all season? "If it stays like this, it's going to be with other guys. We're not going to put up with this," said Acta. "This doesn't cut it."
Step 1 is obvious. As soon as feasible, the Nats need to admit that the 6-foot-9 Cabrera, perhaps the wildest pitcher in captivity, is just the latest in a line of "high-ceiling" disasters from the Jim Bowden era, the pitching equivalent of Wily Mo Peña, the 500-foot BP extravaganza who couldn't hit any pitch with a wrinkle.
For years, ownership loathed eating contracts, even ones like Cabrera's one-year, $2.6-million deal. When the Giants guarantee Barry Zito $126 million, that's a big blunder. But taking a chance on Cabrera, then admitting it's a mistake and moving on in a hurry, is just the cost of doing business.
"Any contracts that need to be [swallowed] will not be a problem," said one member of the front office. So, though Acta still hasn't seen enough to give up on him, Cabrera is down to a rotation half-life that expires this month unless he shows rapid results.
Step 2 has befallen the Nats by accident. Olsen, who lost his fastball in the middle of last season in Miami and has not rediscovered it, went on the disabled list Saturday with shoulder stiffness. Did the Nats trade for damaged goods?
As an emergency starter today, the Nats will use Ross Detwiler, their No. 6 overall draft pick in '07. Such high picks usually progress quickly. Detwiler bombed with a 4.88 ERA at Class A last year. But now, elevated to AA, not on merit but simply on general principles, Detwiler has put up hot-prospect stats against better competition, albeit only for a few weeks. "We can't wait to see him. He's been stepping up finally in AA," said Acta, who seldom minces words and didn't avoid "finally."
"We have to challenge the guy and find out what he has," said Acta, knowing the Nats will make a decision about Detwiler's place in the big picture in about a year.
The Nats' larger problem is what to do to take the curse off their bullpen where, Acta says, he has tried "everybody and their cousins." The Nats started the season with a baby brigade. The more they failed, the more frightened they pitched. Now, the Nats have switched to the old Davey Johnson theory of bullpen building: "Find the ones with guts. Get rid of the rest before they contaminate the others."
"I understand that theory," said 39-year-old lefty Ron Villone, who'd scare a Soprano. "We're out on our own little island. It's up to us to take care of each other."
So, now the Nats have gone old in the pen with Villone, Julián Tavárez, Joe Beimel, Colome and Kip Wells, all in their 30s, hoping that their experience rubs off on once-and-future closer Joel Hanrahan and Garrett Mock. It's not working, so far. But at least there are now teachers sitting beyond the outfield fence, not just scared young students.
"You learn to make adjustments from day to day," said Villone, who pitched two perfect innings yesterday, right through the heart of the Phils' order, before turning the game over to the arson squad. "Do I have my best stuff? Or do I have to depend on movement today or location or changing speeds? You have to make that decision quickly before the situation explodes.
"It's always a roller coaster for the bullpen. We have to strap it on and stay together."
In a larger sense, that's where all the Nationals find themselves: with an offense worthy of a .500 team, at least, and three young starters who might fit nicely in a rotation with probable No. 1 overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg.
"We've got an offense now. We've got young starters we like and we're going to get more," said team president Stan Kasten. "You can get a bullpen. And, one way or another, we will."
Soon? Probably not.
Can the Nats hitters continue their assault in the face of the most frustrating of all baseball experiences: repeated blown leads? Will it grind 'em down?
"Ain't gonna happen," said Dunn as he left the park. "Not to us."
So, the Natnals have that.