Nationals at home in DC

Nationals Park may be an exciting place to be this summer. That excitement will come from buying Nationals tickets to break in the new season and not for the baseball team. MLB may have though they saved the Expos when they moved them from Montreal to Washington D.C., but there efforts have failed to do anything more than move a bad team from one city to another, complete with fear of bankruptcy.

The Nationals are on the verge of being out of the playoff run already. The team has struggles on offense and defense. The only bright spot is the new stadium. Nationals Park has been smart enough to build a big ballpark (41,000 seats) with all the modern amenities. They even have an “Oval Office” bar. .

Other than that, the Nationals do not even have a hitter with double digit home runs. The corner walls are not that far out there at 336 feet in left and 335 in right. Cristian Guzman is not having a bad season with a batting average over .316, but that is nothing to write home about, although his fielding has been impressive. He may be the only real choice for a Nationals representative to the MLB All Star game at Yankee Stadium.

Pitcher John Lannan, the best starter in the rotation by far would be another option if the team could offer him any run support. He has a good ERA but the win-loss record of a player with an ERA over 5.00. The future of the Nationals staff seems to rest on him. Shawn Hill and Jason Bergmann have been useless this season, if only to give the bullpen four or five innings before they have to come out and get clobbered. .

The Washington Nationals slashed payroll to make the team profitable when it first moved, making one question if the team management is really set on winning. Then again, the club has only been in Washington for three years and it has had to shake off the financial instability that almost forced the team to fold. Perhaps giving the team a couple of years to get set is best. .

The team has some young talent and the Nationals games in Washington, D.C. will give the busy capital a chance to relax in the summer sun while they wait for the dominating defense of the Redskins to take the field again.