The Dog Days of Summer

Oh July, you are a cruel month.  Yes, it is in the middle of baseball season, but no other sports are going on.  On top of that, my beloved Washington Nationals have decided that they don't like scoring runs or winning, which makes sitting through 95 degree weather to see sloppy baseball an unpleasant experience.  Sure, last year it was much hotter; Probably a good 5 to 10 degrees warmer here in the DC metro area.  But winning seemed to mask all that heat.  The cool breeze of first place and a division title helped us forget how saturated our clothes and caps were in sweat and sunscreen.  This year?  Its just hot, and we can feel it.

The problem with warm weather, bad baseball, and not living up to expectations is that the combination causes great unrest.  Yes, the Nats are still better than the Marlins or Astros.  But this team, with virtually the same lineup, won 98 games last year and was one god damn strike call away from the NLCS (there were strikes thrown, ump.  Drew Storen still hasn't gotten over it).  At some point, heads have to roll and someone has to take the blame for this season so far.  Today, hitting coach Rick Eckstein was that man.  The Nats were near the bottom in almost all important offensive categories, so it seems like the logical thing to do since you can't fire the players.  But it probably won't be the last move.

There will be some major decisions coming from the Nats soon.  Do they try to salvage their season and catch the Braves by mortgaging their future, trading top prospects for another pitcher to solidify an oft-injured rotation?  Do they bring in another bat off the bench, or to replace a struggling starter?  I'm not so sold on those options.  At some point, we may have to accept that this just isn't the year.  Not every team expected to do well does.  Hell, most of the time the anointed preseason World Series favorite doesn't even get to the League Championship Series.  I don't want to ship out any prospect that can help us next year for a rental player.

No, instead of bringing in a new guy, we can just sit and hope.  Maybe this team, which has all the talent in the world, will finally start playing like everyone knows they can.  Maybe the excellent starting pitching will finally get the support of a newly-enthused offense, and the foundation of a lights out bullpen.  Maybe we have a huge 2nd half run in us, because the Braves have still left the door wide open for the Nats (or Phillies... yuck) to make a push for the NL East.  Maybe this is the first great comeback story for the Washington Nationals franchise!

Or maybe we're just a 2nd/3rd place, .500 team this season.  Its all possible.

Autumn will be here soon, and with the turning leaves and cooler temperatures will come either a glorious comeback or a relieving end to a disappointing season.  Til then, we have to suffer through the heat, through the sweat, through the dog days of summer.