Ever since the Nationals came to town I have made a holiday out of Opening Day. There’s something about the combination of a gorgeous spring day and the return of the baseball season that makes the perfect excuse to play hooky. I was there for the first pitch when baseball returned to RFK (and the […]
By Richard Holwill The Nats will open the season tomorrow in Chicago with a swagger that says “we can make the playoffs.” They’ve got “attitude,” which the marketers are calling “Nattidue,” a slogan coming to a tee-shirt near you. Attitude is great, but have they really got game? Thomas Boswell, the Washington Post curmudgeon-in-chief, predicted […]
by Richard Holwill For more articles in this series, see previous posts about spring training, the infield, and the outfield. Two years ago, the Nats’ starters had an average ERA of 5.00. Last year it was down but still well over 3.00. This year, many observers seem to think that that number could be among […]
by Richard Holwill The biggest questions for the Nationals are in the outfield. One player has a lock on his position: Michael Morse (6’5 and 230 pounds and known as “Beast Mode”) owns left field after a breakout year in 2011 with a .303 batting average and .550 slugging percentage. The other presumed starter is […]
by Richard Holwill At Spring Training, you see major-league quality ball for the first four to five innings. After that, management wants to look at the minor league players and prospects who might make the team on opening day or be brought up during the season. So you are seeing AAA-ball around the 6th inning […]