The Nationals are not only bad. They’re hard to watch.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/05/19/nationals-errors-mistakes/

 

“brain-dead sloppiness … is making a season that was always going to be difficult devolve into a product that is, at times, comically unwatchable”

 

“On a nightly basis, they make mistakes that could be used by Little League coaches as textbook examples of how not to do things.”

 

“Believing in a more successful — and watchable — future would be easier if the current players who are being granted jerseys and issued paychecks would take pride in their opportunities and their craft. Physical errors happen. Mental errors shouldn’t.”

 

May 15, 2022 – Astros 8, Nats 0

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/astros-vs-nationals/2022/05/15/662528#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662528

 

Time: 3:07

Attendance: 25,915

 

For some reason, this game seemed to last much longer than three hours, so much so that I got ahead of myself by an inning, thinking that the game was over when the home team was retired in the 8^th. (It was, in a practical sense, but technically there was one more inning to get through.)

 

Things were close for a while. Patrick Corbin got things off on the right foot by retiring the visitors on an ultra-efficient 7 pitches, while Justin Verlander had to expend considerably more effort in the bottom of the first, with two walks and two strikeouts. Neither team could push across a run until the top of the 5^th, when Corbin walked Chas McCormick with one out and weak-hitting catcher Martín Maldonado sent a fat pitch into the visitors’ bullpen for a two-run lead. Corbin’s relapse into gopheritis turned out to be the main story of the game; after leading the NL by allowing 37 homers in 2021, he had served up only one in his previous seven starts this year. Today, however, he went on to give up a solo shot to Yuli Gurriel in the 6^th and a two-run McCormick blast after walking the leadoff man in the top of the 7^th, ending his afternoon. Austin Voth relieved him and only managed to make things worse, giving up two more runs after serving up three straight singles followed by a bases-loaded walk. José Altuve added a loud punctuation mark leading off the top of the 9^th by sending Paolo Espino’s first pitch out of the park.

 

Verlander earned his fifth win of the season (Corbin is now 0-6) by getting through five frames on 107 pitches. Four Houston relievers completed the shutout, with the Nats managing only four hits after their 13-run explosion the previous evening.

 

Twitter duly noted that, during pre-game introductions, the baseball-savvy Washington fan base booed home plate umpire Angel Hernandez almost as loudly as they did Altuve and Alex Bregman, the two most prominent holdovers from Houston’s trashcan-banging 2017 cheating scandal.

 

Traffic wasn’t too bad coming down, although on the way back there was a huge backup on the GW Parkway waiting to get onto the Beltway for the second straight Sunday game. We had a filling lunch at CIRCA Bistro (chicken panini for me), a block away from the park. Thanks to problems with the concession stand systems, which by mid-game weren’t even able to accept credit cards, I also wound up with a free soft pretzel, nice and hot no less. That wasn’t the only system hiccup, as the ubiquitous 106.7 radio lanyards broadcast was running several seconds behind the actual action.

 

May 11, 2022 – Nats 8, Mets 3

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mets-vs-nationals/2022/05/11/662526#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=662526

 

Time: 3:05

Attendance: 19,715

 

As I write this, the Nats have a 4-13 record at home, so I guess I should be thankful that we have been present for half of those four victories. Oddly enough, both have come at the expense of the division-leading Mets. (The two teams are actually mirror images of each other in the standings, with New York currently at 22-11 and Washington bringing up the rear at 11-22.)

 

The odds for a home team win did not look good at the outset. Brandon Nimmo led off with a double and scored when Maikel Franco threw away Starling Marte’s bunt single. With one out, Pete Alonso then crushed an Aaron Sanchez sinker to give New York a 3-0 lead.

 

It didn’t last long. A leadoff single by César Hernández and a Juan Soto homer – his first non-solo shot of the season – cut the deficit to one. The Nats proceeded to bat around, taking a 5-3 lead on RBIs from Keibert Ruiz, Franco, and Dee Strange-Gordon. They piled in the second, with Nelson Cruz powering a 436-foot blast following singles by Hernández and Josh Bell. New York starter Tylor Megill, who had allowed a total of 9 runs in his previous six games this season, exited a batter later with his team in an 8-3 hole.

 

At that point, we pretty much could have called it an evening, picking up our promotional coolers on the way out. Sanchez put the first inning behind him, fanning only one but inducing plenty of weak contact. He blanked New York until exiting with one out in the 6^th after being hit in the heel of his glove hand by an Alonso comebacker. A trio of relievers finished the job, allowing a few hits but no runs. Washington’s offense was equally unsuccessful against the New York bullpen.

 

Traffic was heavy in spots but not too terrible in either direction, and we certainly couldn’t complain about the weather (although I kept my lightweight jacket on throughout). The pupusas from La Casita Pupuseria, once I finally located the stand, weren’t bad either.