I don’t know if this has ever been discussed on this site, so forgive me if it has.  I thought, since very little is happening currently with our beloved Nationals, it might be fun to study the names of other SB Nation sites, and rank the best and worst names that have been given to the many listed.  Some are very creative, but some are just atrocious!  I don’t mean to sound biased, but I truly believe that Federal Baseball is one of the best, if not THE best of all.  I think that Testudo Times is also a very creative name, but only because I understand Maryland athletics; someone else, not familiar with Maryland, would likely find it confusing.  Similarly, I think the Syracuse Orange site, “Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician” is one of the worst; however, who is Troy Nunes, and what is meant by the title?  It could be the best one of all, but only in my Bottom 10 due to my own ignorance.  As for Federal Baseball, it is very creative for whoever came up with the name.  BTW….who DOES create the names to the SB Nation blog sites?  Listed below are my Top 10 and Bottom 10.  

Top 10:

Federal Baseball (Washington Nationals)

Windy City Gridiron (Chicago Bears)

Testudo Times (MD Terps)

Mile High Report (Denver Broncos)

Camden Chat (Baltimore O’s)

Twinkie Town (Minnesota Twins)

Halos Heaven (LA Angels)

Mile High Hockey (Colorado Avalanche)

Rocky Top Talk (Tennessee Volunteers)

At The Hive (N.O. Hornets)

Bottom 10:

Matchsticks and Gasoline (Calgary Flames)

Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician (Syracuse Orange)

The Falcoholic (Atlanta Falcons)

The Crawfish Boxes (Houston Astros)

Bless You Boys (Detroit Tigers)

Rufus on Fire (Charlotte Bobcats)

Peninsula is Mightier (Miami Heat)

Revenge of the Birds (Arizona Cardinals)

Roll Bama Roll (Alabama Crimson Tide)

Addicted to Quack (Oregon Ducks)

 I have read article after article, and blog after blog, complaining about the players, whining about the park, accusing the owners of being cheap, and nearly everything else imaginable.  I hate whining, but I will do a little myself; I’ll whine a little bit about the lack of support given the franchise by the DC Region.  Support has slowly gotten better, but there is still a long way to go before the Nationals get the support that they should have, considering this city begged for baseball for 30 years. 

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When our beloved Nats are out of town, I am beginning to support our local Blue Crabs.  I went to a couple of games last season, and went to another one this past Sunday.  Unfortunately, a small kid was hit in the head by a line drive foul ball, and appeared to be in very bad shape when taken from the stadium by ambulance, but other than that extremely sad and emotional episode, I had a great time in Regency Furniture Stadium.  After the game, my son (who plays in the Bambino Buddy Ball League in Charles County) had the opportunity to play in a "Buddy Ball" game at Regency, and a few of the Blue Crab players came out and participated.  Bambino Buddy Ball is a league for disabled youth (and adults alike) who are assisted by "buddies" who help them hit, catch and throw (usually Baby Ruth League Baseball and CCYL Girls Softball Players and Coaches).  My oldest son, who has cerebral palsy, was buddied at one point or another with two different Blue Crab players, and he had a blast!  I encourage everyone to get out sometimes and check out the Blue Crabs and Regency Furniture Stadium....it is a guaranteed fun time for the entire family.  The team plays hard, and the facilities are great.  I don't know much about the ins and outs of minor league farm teams moving about, but it would be great to see the Blue Crabs move from the  independant league, and eventually become one of our farm clubs!  Oh, one more mention....John Halama pitched this past Sunday, and pitched a complete game for the win.  Halama spent many seasons in the Majors, and I believe had a brief stint with the Nats.  Any chance of a comeback for Halama?  Gotta be more solid than some of they guys we've had in "our" bullpen.  On a last note, many thanks to the CCYL and the SoMd Blue Crabs for giving my kid a magical moment this past Sunday!  As for the child hit with the line drive, we certainly hope you are well! 

I respect the desires of some to plan a road trip to Philly to cheer on our Nats; however, after much thinking, and personally seeing our pathetic crowds so far this year, I think it is MUCH more important to protect our own turf FIRST!  I am making a plea to all Nationals fans.....PLEASE make every attempt possible to come out to Nats Park and cheer on our Nationals!  If you can only make a couple of games (or even only one), consider a trip when the Phillies are in town!  Otherwise, and those who regularly attend know, the Philly fans will continue to outnumber us in OUR OWN HOUSE!  We can't continue that trend.  It is embarrasing, and not fair to the fans who do attend on a regular basis.  It is NOT what one would expect from a city that lost baseball for 30 years. When we have only 11K in the stands (with many of those being fans of the opponent), we do not look any better than the Expos.  Lastly....fans can't say that it is because the franchise is a 100 loss team any longer!  This team is playing with passion, and should be within reach of .500 when this season concludes.  No more excuses fans....let's get it done.  I challenge the writers on this forum to fully push this effort!

How many games will the Nats win in April?  There are 23 games....13 at home.  Six of those are against Philly....three here, three there.  At home, we have three against the Brewers, FOUR against the Rockies, and three against the Dodgers.  Away, there are three at New York, three at Philly, Three at Chicago, and we close out the month with a game against the Marlins.   As much as I would like to see the Nats 23-0 when the month has concluded, that is not likely to happen; this is a pretty tough start to the 2010 campaign, and the "told you so" crew will likely be very vocal when we finally hit May.  After a close study of the games during April, I have come to the conclusion that the Nats will win no more than eight, but at least 6 of those games.  Therefore, I will go right down the middle with my April prediction.....7-16.   Will 7-16 be considered success?  Well, after starting last season 5-17 in April (which included 7 straight losses to start the season), I will take it as improvement.....and that still keeps the Nats on track for the 75 win minimum that  I predict they will have this season.  One thing for sure...The Nats WILL NOT lose 7 in row to begin this season!

What is your April prediction?  For you sabermetric types....what do the "numbers" suggest? LOL

Maybe?  Say it ain't so!  From the Washington Post, in reference to yesterday's game:

It also could have actually been worse. The only two outs he recorded in the fifth came when Mike Lamb ripped a line drive at Adam Dunn, who snared it and stepped on first for a double play.

From a RobBob blog on Nationals.Com:

Guzman also made three BAD fielding plays... one for an error, one went for a cheapie single, and one was a save by Dunn. Guzman is not ready to play.

I didn't see the game, and have not watched a game all Spring; however, I was really excited to read the above referenced items.  I don't know if you guys blogged about it yesterday or not....I didn't read the 230 or so blogs about yesterday's game.  However, as I blogged on Nationals.com:  Adam Dunn? Really? That "terrible" First Baseman who everyone keeps saying that we should trade because he should be playing DH in the AL? Surely it wasn't HIM who made these plays!   Like a couple of us have been saying all Spring...Adam "Home Run" Dunn will do just fine at 1B this year.  I know you all will say it was just a fluke and he has been terrible otherwise....my pessimistic fellow Nats fans!  LOL 

All this time, I did not pay attention, nor realize until just recently, that Opening Day was a DAY GAME!  When we opened our season tickets package last week, my wife asked me if I knew the game started at 1:05.  What are the Nationals thinking!!  Boo!  Opening Day....on a Monday AFTERNOON!?  Really?  Since neither of us are able to get off work, we were forced to sell the tickets.  I was so looking forward to a chilly evening in Nats Park next Monday night. 

So...since I am just whinning, what are your thoughts?  Does it matter?  Is a day game better?  Night game?  BTW...the game will be over just in time for the thickest part of Metro rush hour.  Go Nationals. 

Didn't want to post this, because I have always found it irritating for folks to do it; but I am having a tough time finding fellow Nats Fans interested in Fantasy Baseball.  Hopefully will fill quicker now since I have posted in a couple of locations.  Currently about half filled.

Here you go guys....for those of you who wanted to join a Nationals Fantasy League.  I have set the draft date and time for March 25, at 8:00pm Eastern.  Lets have fun!

League ID: 262978

Password: nats2010

League Name: NatsTown

Link:  http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/

Once going to the yahoo fantasy baseball site, you will want to "Join" a league, and then choose "Join Custom" where you will be prompted to enter the league ID number and the password.  Be sure to "Rank Your Players" in case you are not able to join in on the live draft....otherwise, you will be at the mercy of the Yahoo Rankings (which are good, but not as good as you will want them to be). 

The Washington Nationals began the 2009 campaign without a full, healthy cadre of starting pitchers, and a horrible bullpen.  We didn’t notice it as much then as we obviously do now, because we had hopes for Baltimore reject Daniel Cabrera, journeyman Julian Tavarez, and a host of young pitchers (Hanrahan, Ledezma, Colome, Hinckley, Shell, Martis, etc).  Most of that bullpen has been replaced with a much better staff, and the starting rotation is also in much better shape heading into a more positive 2010 spring training.  

As a result of the Nationals pitching woes in 2009, the team played a horrible .298 pre-All-Star season, which resulted in the firing of Manager Manny Acta.  I was one of the ones calling foul, thinking that Manny received a raw deal, but I am beginning to see the err of my ways. The first half of the year, which only resulted in 26 wins in 87 attempts, included 20 Blown Saves from the horrid bullpen.   The team ERA was a ridiculously high .521, and Nationals pitchers walked 355 batters.   The team defensively did not help the pitchers any either, by having a NL high 143 fielding errors during the entire 2009 season (over 80 during the first half alone). 

The Post All-Star half of the season, the Nationals realized marked improvement, even though the team began by losing 7 out of the first 9 games in that early July timeframe.  This was likely most attributed to the team becoming more acquainted with the managerial style of new Manager, Jim Riggleman.  The team finished the second half of the season by winning 33 games out of 75 attempts, for a .440 winning average, even while playing many games without the injured Nyjer Morgan, and throwing many youngsters into the mix and shutting down some of the starting pitchers during September.  During the month of August, in fact, the Nationals won 14 out of 29 games (.498) which proved to be very promising for the ballclub, even though they lost 7 out of 9 during a tough road-trip during the later part of the month. 

Considering the improvements that have been made to the team since the middle of last season, it would seem reasonable to think that the team will at least be able to play at the same level of success and intensity that they finished with during the second half of last season.  Therefore, without any improvement at all from the second half of 2009, the Nationals should win 44% of their games and finish no worse than 72-90…nine games under .500.  The mere thought of the Nationals winning less than 72 games would be to suggest that the Nationals will actually regress this upcoming season, which would be shameful considering the off-season acquisitions.  The question would now become, has the rebuilding of the bullpen, the solidifying of the 2B position, the addition of a veteran catcher, the signing of a true closer, the young starters beginning a second season with experience, and the acquisition of Jason Marquis, resulted in a nine win difference in 2010?  Call me an optimist, or even a homer, but it seems very possible looking through my lens of optimism at the upcoming 2010 Season.

The Atlanta Braves struggled through two tough decades in the 70’s and 80’s.  With the exception of a few Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, and Phil Niekro years, the Braves were unarguably the laughing stock of Major League Baseball.  Even though the Braves were Ted Turner proclaimed as America’s Team, not even Atlanta considered itself a baseball town.  Attendance at Fulton County Stadium averaged as small as 6,000 fans per game at one point, and only rose above 20,000 (26,000 being the highest season average) during three solid seasons in the early 80’s.   The Braves attendance, in fact, stayed around the 10,000 fans per game average much of this era. 

Since 1990, however, the Atlanta Braves have become one of the elite franchises in all of Major League Baseball.   The Braves owned their division for more than a decade, and attendance has only dropped below a 30,000 fans per game average once in that time span.  The first year of this transformation (1991), a prominent billboard located on I-85 (in downtown Atlanta) illustrated a huge tomahawk crashing down and through the sign.  The sign was cited, “Who said Atlanta is not a Baseball Town?”  How did the Braves turn around a franchise in demise to a perennial powerhouse?  The answer is simply Stan Kasten.  Stan took the reigns of the Braves franchise in 1986 when he was named President.   Stan and then GM Bobby Cox began the rebuilding process.   Kasten later (4 years) hired John Schuerholz as GM, to continue the development of the club, when Cox stepped down to manage the team.   The following year, the Braves would realize a World Series appearance.

The Braves, from 1985-1990, would lose an average of 96 games per season, with a high of 106 losses in 1988.  The three years prior to their first World Series appearance (1991), the Braves lost an average of 100 games per season (106, 97, & 97).   Those three years under Kasten must have left most Braves fans thinking the hire was a mistake; however, behind the scenes, the process was working, and was working well.  Beginning in 1991, the “Young Guns” (a spin-off of the southern term “young’uns”) of the pitching staff (Glavine, Avery, Smoltz) began to formalize into a solid pitching corps.  Tom Glavine had struggled through four seasons to have a 2.92 ERA.  Smoltz, who had a tough first season in 1988, had dropped his ERA down to 2.94 in his second season, and was already rolling by 1991.  Steve Avery, thought to be the best of the three, dropped his first season ERA in 1990 from 5.64 to 3.38 in 1991 with 18 wins, three complete games and one shutout.   The Braves had a journeyman behind the plate (Mike Heath) paired with second year player Greg Olson.   The OF consisted of the speedy Journeyman Otis Nixon in CF with Ron Gant in LF and third year player David Justice in RF.  The Infield consisted of solid journeymen Rafael Belliard, Sid Bream, Jeff Treadway, and Terry Pendleton….neither of which, with the exception of Pendleton, were terrifying with the bat. 

The Washington Nationals seem to be traveling this same course.  The Montreal Expos were never considered a championship franchise, and the thus far short existence in DC has shown no progression in the record books.  When MLB took over the ownership of the Expos franchise, in an attempt to contract the team from the league, the franchise would begin seeing the decay of its team, overall management, and farm system.   Stan Kasten, after the purchase of the team by the current ownership group, took over the franchise in 2006 (exactly twenty years after taking over the Braves), and with the exception of an unfortunate turn of events with the previous GM, the team seems to be finally heading in the right direction.   Kasten also named a new GM exactly four years after taking over in both cities (from Cox to Schuerholz in Atlanta, and Bowden to Rizzo in DC).  

Similar to the Braves of the 80’s, the Nats are being directed by the same President, with the same process of building the franchise through the farm system, on the foundation of solid pitching.  There is nothing to suggest that the 2010 Nationals will compete for playoff contention, but neither did the 1990 Atlanta Braves.  There does seem to be promise however.  John Lannan will be in his third year. Stammen, Detwiler, and Martin will all be in their second season.  Zimmermann will hopefully be back by 2011, and we all know about a certain guy named Strasburg.  The Nationals certainly have their own group of “young’uns” who could soon very well take over that “Young Guns” nickname.   This is Kasten’s fourth season in DC.  The fourth Braves team under Kasten’s watch lost 97 games (1990).  It is highly unlikely that the 2010 Nationals will lose 97 games like the 1990 Braves, which leads one to believe that the Nationals are a little ahead of the Braves in the Kasten “process” of building a champion.  The Braves had three strong young pitchers in 1990….the Nationals have more, and although it will be several years to determine for sure, the Nats may have a better rotation of young starters.   The Braves were still working on their outfield and infield, but had a solid defensive unit by 1991, which even include a little pop with the bat….the Nats seem to be heading in that direction, and have already put together an impressive offensive unit.   The similarities are odd, and hopefully more than a coincidence; heck, even the owners last names rhyme (Turner and Lerner), each with the first name TED!  Go figure! 

The Nationals, in the opinion of this writer, are a step ahead of the Braves in Stan Kasten’s fourth season at the helm.  Can the 2011 Washington Nationals be the 1991 Atlanta Braves?  If history does repeat itself, hopefully it will not be a similar “worst to first” season….hopefully the Nationals will make a much louder volume of noise in the 2010 campaign than did the 97 loss Bravos of 1990!

It is truly refreshing that I found this site....the Nationals.com and ESPN Nationals Board sites have become boring with the negativity.  This site seems to have really great fans, and really good articles and updates on the Washington Nationals.  For those of you who browse and post on the other sites, I am the poster known as "Natz" on Nationals.com, and my identity on ESPN is easy to identify considering my screen name here.  I look forward to sharing Nationals stories with you guys!  My seats are in Section 204....can't wait till opening day! Any other great sites that cover the Nationals well?