Why The Nats Are Going To Win 90+ Games

Have speakers? Yes? Good! Click this. (If you prefer Field of Dreams, check out the rest of their post) It'll help you to get in the mood, as we come to the realization that 90 wins for the Nats isn't impossible.

Oh, it isn't likely. But it's certainly possible. Who thought that the Nats would get off to the start they did last year? Not even Tom Boswell's biggest dreams would've predicted a 100-win pace. It can happen again this year!

"But the pitching!" says you. Poor, poor negative you. Where you see a rotation of dreck, I see a world of possibility. John Patterson is going to win the Cy Young. I have no doubt. High rising fastball, above-average slider, curve o' death, and now a changeup. What's not to like? Give him his full compliment of starts, and work with the Patterson who learned how to throw deeper into games, and tack on another 20 innings of dominance.

And Livan? El Gran Caballo is healthy. Not only is he going to give us 250 innings of goodness, he's going to do it with an ERA closer to 3 than 4.

Ortiz/Armas/Tinker/Evers/Chance? Who cares. When one of them stinks, we've got Rauch, Drese, Traber, Watkins, and a slew of fresh arms. We don't need dominance. That's what Patterson and Livan are for. Just give me 200 innings of what Loaiza did. League average pitching from the backend of your rotation? Sure! I'll take it. And we have enough warm bodies, that some combination can get us there.

The pen? You don't have any serious questions about the pen, do you? C'mon. Now you're just being negative for the hell of it. Cordero, Majewski, Hernandez? Think the Braves would like that troika? Eischen and Stanton will come up huge, doing what they do best: getting the big left-handed bats out. Sit down, Delgado! Sit down, Abreu! Yer out!

"Oh, but the offense!" I can hear your whining from here! We don't have a Delgado or a Chipper in the lineup, but think about this: Vidro, Johnson, Guillen, Soriano, Zimmerman. That's a pretty good 2-6. Not a bad hitter in the bunch. Vidro hits .300 and sprays doubles. Johnson walks 90 times and rips balls to the wall. Guillen HAS to hit more than 3 homers at home. Give him 15 at home, and he has 40 on the season. Soriano? Everyone points to last year's road numbers. Don't his 2002 road numbers count? What about his 2003 numbers? Zimmerman had 7 homers in spring! He batted .400 last year! The sky's the limit with the kid.

And with the pitching we'll get, we don't need a ton of runs, but this offense can be good enough to win those close games that the spacious walls of RFK creates!

And the bench! Oh, the bench! We made fun of Bowden's second baseman fetish, but damn, that's a useable bench. No longer will we have Tony Blanco flailing at three crotch-high fastballs! We're not going to groan and give up when Frank sends Baerga waddling up to the plate in a close game. Marlon Anderson is an improvement. Matt LeCroy's going to destroy the division's crappy left-handed relievers. Can't you hear Rheal Cormier sobbing?

The wins are there. The potential's there. Last year we needed 20 things to go right and we got only 15 of them. We need even less this year. Who's going to win the division? The Mets? Have you seen their rotation? They're in the same condition we are! The Phillies? Seriously? Those choking dogs? They have David Bell in the lineup fer crissake! His name is the english translation of Cristian Guzman! The Marlins? Ha! And the Braves? All streaks must come to an end. Without Mazzone's magic, the pitching can't be as good as it's been. Can you name anyone other than Smoltz and Hudson in their rotation? Do you really think that fat Andruw is going to be an MVP candidate again? C'mon!

It's there for the taking! They can do it. I have faith. Do you?