Author Topic: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!  (Read 40413 times)

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Offline blue911

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #200: April 25, 2012, 03:49:55 PM »
He hasn't been his usual self when batting. I will say he is better than anyone we'll put in his spot, so I guess by that standard he is a positive.

Thank God for the pitching. We need to get Morse or Moore into the lineup. We need atleast one, maybe two, more productive bats before our pitching goes from "ridiculous" to just "really good".



Even when he isn't hitting other teams have to pay attention to him. It isn't as if they can say "Well he's hitting like Alex Cora so lets pitch him like Alex Cora". The more guys you have that force the opposition to bear down, the better it is for the whole team. It's called protection, just not what people normally think of when they hear that term.

Offline Minty Fresh

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #201: April 25, 2012, 10:11:16 PM »
You guys shouldn't argue with Smithian.  He has guns.

:gunz:

Online imref

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #202: April 25, 2012, 10:33:25 PM »
Rangers are up 7-3 against the Yankees, so our shot at best record in MLB will have to wait another day.

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #203: April 25, 2012, 10:45:04 PM »
Well, we got our first +10 stretch of the season Boz referred to in his chat the other day...

Offline PC

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #204: April 25, 2012, 10:47:59 PM »
Well, we got our first +10 stretch of the season Boz referred to in his chat the other day...

?

Offline hammondsnats

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #205: April 25, 2012, 10:50:38 PM »
i want offense and a higher payroll, but outside of that i'm feeling pretty freakin good about this team.

Offline DPMOmaha

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #206: April 25, 2012, 10:51:39 PM »
Quote
Q. THREE HOT STREAKS
Hi Tom, The Nats' great start has been a real pleasure to watch. But I can't help remember that last year a completely average team was able to post two hot streaks where they were 12-4 and 13-4. How would you interpret the meaning of this year' streak vs 2011?

A.
THOMAS BOSWELL :
Streaks where a team plays 10-or-more games over .500 are the core of almost every good-to-excelleent season I've ever seen. So, when you see 13-2 or 15-3 or 21-7 for a team, that is not a fluke or freak event; it is central to baseball.

I once spent a ridiculous amount of time analyzing the past seasons of 90-to-100 win teams. If you have three +10s and only one -10 (like 2-13), you'll win 90 games. In all parts of the season that are not VERY hot or VERY cold, almost all teams play around .500.

So, the Nats __who are currently on a 10-2 run after a 2-2 start__ should keep pushing to turn this into one of those +10- streaks, like the ones so many Davey Johnson teams have had in the past.  You always level off. And you always have bad spots. But NOTHING is more important to reaching the playoffs than milking streaks like the one they are on now. And 12-4, though an excellent start, should be seen as a chance for a REAL streak __more like 20-8 or some such.

It doesn't matter whether the streak feels lucky __with a lot of one-run wins or a mysterious ability to overcome injuries (at least temporarily) or a knack for ignoring the negatives that often derail a team (like two blown saves by Lidge). That's almost ALWAYS how it feels. Sooner or later, the Nats starters will stop having ridficulous ERA's __like the combined ~1.25 for Strasburg, Gonzalez, jZ'mann and Detwiler. But you want it to be later, even if that means just staying on this current torrid form for one or two more turns through the rotation.

No, of course, they're not "this good." But it looks like they ARE good enough to run off two or three +10 streaks in a season; outstanding rotations make that easier. The next question will be: Does the streak turn instantly into a slump. That happens a TON. So, you want to go from hot to mediocre, not hot to horrid. 

Offline houston-nat

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #207: April 25, 2012, 10:55:00 PM »
I'd like this team to be 27-15 on May 20 when we start a road trip through Philly, Atlanta, and Miami. That's both a realistic target (13-11) and a nice cushion of wins.

Offline nats2playoffs

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #208: April 26, 2012, 12:32:54 AM »
"...And 12-4, though an excellent start, should be seen as a chance for a REAL streak __more like 20-8 or some such."
So for the Nationals to satisfy this theory, they now need to merely go 6-4 to get to 20-8.

I picked this team to win 93 games in the 2012 Prediction Thread.  (But I also thought that Morse would be back by now.)  I did expect significantly better results from Werth, and saw last year as an injury aberration for LaRoche, who had been consistently good every other year of his career.  I expected Ian Desmond to improve too.

I do think that Morse or the Nationals should provide humidor bat cases for every Nationals starter with a batting average under .300 ...or the two players with the lowest averages.


Offline BerkeleyNat

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #209: April 26, 2012, 12:54:31 AM »
i want offense and a higher payroll, but outside of that i'm feeling pretty freakin good about this team.

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good also. Kind of odd to be feeling this good at the end of April about my baseball team.  :lol:


Offline welch

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #210: April 26, 2012, 07:42:18 AM »
Say, what team is in first place? Does any team have a 14 - 4 record? Yes? And it's the Nats???

Online imref

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #211: April 26, 2012, 08:07:50 AM »
OK LOD'rs, here's a bone for you - today the Nats play for the sweep for the 6th time this season.  We're 0-4 (plus a rain-out) in such games so far.

Online imref

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #212: April 26, 2012, 08:10:36 AM »
Hopefully we can finally get a sweep.  I threw a bone to the LOD'rs by noting that we've lost 4 of the 5 chances we've had to sweep a series in the last game, the 5th was a rainout.

Online Slateman

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #213: April 26, 2012, 08:36:41 AM »
Zimmermann gave up a run in his last start. He sucks.

Offline Kevrock

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #214: April 26, 2012, 08:37:06 AM »
Totally deserved the loss.

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #215: April 26, 2012, 09:04:16 AM »
We'd be better if our injured players weren't injured. They suck.

Offline MorseTheHorse

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #216: April 26, 2012, 09:18:27 AM »
OK LOD'rs, here's a bone for you - today the Nats play for the sweep for the 6th time this season.  We're 0-4 (plus a rain-out) in such games so far.

0-3 actually... and this would be the 5th time we go for a sweep. 

Offline welch

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #217: April 26, 2012, 12:21:07 PM »
I have this feeling before every game...the Nats should win this one. Same feeling I had in '91, and earlier, with the Redskins.

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #218: April 26, 2012, 12:29:15 PM »
I have this feeling before every game...the Nats should win this one. Same feeling I had in '91, and earlier, with the Redskins.

If you look at pitching matchups, you are going to have that feeling a lot this year.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #219: April 26, 2012, 01:20:29 PM »
I have this feeling before every game...the Nats should win this one. Same feeling I had in '91, and earlier, with the Redskins.

I always feel that way when I sit down to watch a game- things are fluky, given the right day an Atilano can beat a Halladay (actually Burnett is the only nat to get a win off of him, but going into the game anything is possible)

Offline Gleason2

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #220: April 26, 2012, 02:48:12 PM »
If you look at pitching matchups, you are going to have that feeling a lot this year.


Exactly!

Offline Smithian

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #221: April 26, 2012, 02:59:23 PM »
The Nats have to keep milking this hot streak against lesser teams. If you can beat the crap out of weaker teams and hold your own against good ones then you turn into a good team yourself.

As awesome as the pitching is, the offense just sucks. Hoping the hitting will trend up a bit as pitching trends down. That'd be ideal.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #222: April 26, 2012, 03:00:49 PM »
That's going to take health- without zim and LaRoche, putrid may be the ceiling for this offense

Offline Smithian

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #223: April 26, 2012, 03:03:14 PM »
That's going to take health- without zim and LaRoche, putrid may be the ceiling for this offense

I think Tyler Moore will provide us a league average bat with some pop. He does that and were instantly a little bit better. I also think Michael Morse will eventually get back. Ryan Zimmerman eventually has to start hitting like Zimmerman or we're just screwed regardless.

My bigger worry is eventually in the late innings we'll stop capitalizing as well with RISP.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Sunshine Squad 2012!!!
« Reply #224: April 26, 2012, 03:05:40 PM »
moore has to replace laroche or morse, and (just for this year) I'm not sure he's better than LaRoche I don't want to see him this year because that probably means Morse is either very injured or has really regressed