Already, the Nats are defying predictions and are currently 6-11. Not that the record is outside of predictions — that projects to 57-105. The starting pitching, however, has not been anywhere near as bad as people were predicting, at least not since the first time through the rotation. Every starter except John Patterson has pitched a couple of good games from their second time through the rotation forward. The offense still isn’t consistent, but the pitching has been, and that’s a pleasant surprise. The defense has been better since that first week, too. If the pitchers can manage to keep up the good work and the offense can manage five or six runs every game, they’ll probably win quite a bit more than people expect.
Of course, we’re only still a few weeks into the season, and this team is not deep at all. If anyone in the rotation goes down, there will be trouble. However, the Nats have given their fans reason so far not to be incredibly pessimistic.
The new stadium is coming together; check out this link for a live webcam of the site along South Capitol Street. Wanna see computer models of what the finished product will look like? Check out stuff on the Nats’ official site. The streaming media tour is decent; the wide concourses with an open view of the field remind me of Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, which I had the opportunity to visit on my last vacation. There have been a lot of opinions out there on how unimaginative HOK’s design for this place is; I can’t bring myself to care about whether the archetechture is bland or not — I’m just really, really glad to have a team to go to. (Of course, I’m also willing to wait until I take in my first game at the place before I formulate an opinion. Patience has become such a rare trait in our public discourse, hasn’t it?)