Washington Nationals: Waking Up the Bats

Coming into last week’s three-game series against the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Nationals were sitting in the basement of the National League East with the season’s outlook growing more dire as each game passed. Fans have become unsettled by the success, or lack thereof, from the Nats this season, but the last two outings against Atlanta may have turned the tides.

After dropping their sixth game in a row, Washington needs to turn things around to brighten the future of the club’s 2015 campaign. With their ace Max Scherzer sidelined due to a sprained thumb; manager Matt Williams decided to call up pitcher A.J. Cole from the triple-A Syracuse Chiefs to take the hill in Scherzer’s place.

Needless to say it was not the big league debut Cole had wanted.

After surrendering two runs in the first, Cole gave up another seven in the second inning to Atlanta. At this point with an eight run lead, Atlanta looked to pack it in and coast home for an easy win. Teams with an eight run advantage are a combined 1,031-5 and Tuesday’s game seemed like it would not break the trend.

Nats Catcher Jose Lobaton‘s home run in the fifth cut the Braves lead to just four runs and the teams traded punches till the very end. Heading into the eighth inning, the Nats had added three runs in the top of the seventh. Atlanta now held on to just a 12-10 advantage.

Enter Nats second basemen Dan Uggla, who is still on the Braves payroll for the record. In vintage Uggla fashion, he went down 0-2 in the count on a slider called strike and a fastball he whiffed on. That was it. Uggla went down on three pitches again which is nothing new to the Nationals faithful. That is, until he saw a belt-high-93-mph-four-seam-fastball which he crushed to left center field giving Washington their first lead of the night at 13-12.

The Nationals would not look back after that, holding on to win the game and bringing another 13 runs to the following game. An absolute shellacking of the Braves in the finale of their opening series has left the Nats optimistic heading to the New York Mets for their second series of the year.

In just two games, Washington managed to score more runs than the previous 10 games combined. While the Nats may have clawed their way above the Philadelphia Phillies for last place in the division, there is still work to do.

Even if the Mets play .500 ball for the rest of the season, it would leave them with a record of 85-77… not terrible, but not great either. To go just one game up on the Mets by last call, Washington needs to rattle off 77 wins in the remaining 140 games.

While the early going has been a struggle for the Nationals, this last series against Atlanta could be the catalyst to finding the best roster they have put together in their 10-year existence. When was the last time a DC sports team was the clear-cut heavyweight favorite to bring home a championship?

It can be argued that this Washington roster has had the most pressure thrust upon them by Vegas odds makers in DC sports history, and for good reason.

Look at the pitching: there are three sure-fire aces that can go out and dominate on any given night and the bottom two rotation guys can give you 10 wins or more. This spells disaster for most opposing lineups. Offense was no concern either this offseason either, the only real loss to the offense was designated hitter Adam LaRoche heading to the Chicago White Sox. Other than that, everybody is back for Washington including the face of the franchise, outfielder Bryce Harper.

Harper, in his fourth year with the club, is beginning to show signs of significant maturity improvements. A down year last season with a thumb injury left him bouncing in and out of the lineup, but 2015 could be quite the rebound year for the young star.

Already thus far he is two-thirds of the way to his walk total from last season. While the walks stat may have people buzzing about how he’s growing as a ball player, it needs to be acknowledged that he has already been intentionally walked five times this season (only eight total career IBBs). Hitting cleanup leaves you vulnerable as a batter to being walked on four straight which could play into the increase of four finger salutes coming Harper’s way. But he is developing a good eye to take pitches; averaging almost one more pitch per every other plate appearance.

Minus the early injuries, this team has underwhelmed fans substantially since starting 2-5. But this could be the turning point. If the bats come alive for Washington and the offense can help the pitching, this is a team that can rattle off a 10 or 15 game winning streak.