Washington Nationals News And Notes

Guess what team was over .500 heading into last night’s action?

A) Boston Red Sox

B) Seattle Mariners

C) Washington Nationals

D) Colorado Rockies

If you guessed C you are surprisingly correct. Going into last night’s action the Washington Nationals were 13-12 and just 1.5 behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies.

Let’s see what is going on in the nation’s capital and why they have been successful to start the season.

Matt Capps has been a godsend. The Nationals signed Capps to a one-year, $3.5 million contract in the offseason and through 25 games, he has been nothing short of spectacular. Capps leads the majors in saves with 10 and has a 0.66 ERA in 13.2 IP.

If the Nationals fall out of the race by July, Capps will become prime trade bait for Washington. Even if the Nationals don’t trade Capps at the deadline, with Drew Storen waiting in the wings, I don’t expect Capps to be back with the Nationals next year.

Capps along with Tyler Clippard have stabilized the back end of the Nationals’ bullpen.

Livan Hernandez is pitching like it’s 1997. Someone should tell Hernandez that he is 35 (or so he says) and hasn’t had an ERA under five just once in the last four years. Almost defying logic, Hernandez has started season with a 3-1 record with a 0.87 ERA. It’s almost like Eric Gregg has been umpiring all of Hernandez’s starts this year.

Hernandez is only giving up 5.5 hits/9, which is less than half of his career average coming into this year. I say there is a better chance of the Baltimore Orioles winning the World Series than Hernandez keeping up this pace.

The Nationals have improved defensively. Last year the Nationals were one of the worst teams in baseball in terms of defensive efficiency. This year, things have been different.

The Nationals rank towards the top of baseball in defensive efficiency (3.6 team UZR) this year and are getting solid defensive performances from guys like Willie Harris, Josh Willingham, and Justin Maxwell.

Of course, having Adam Dunn on your team will never help your defense, but no team can be perfect at every position.

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