Comments on: Comment of the Day: A very optimistic Nats fan

By: TheNaturalMevs

TheNaturalMevs — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 03:19:37 +0000

The Reds are the best team in the National league and even though I like the Nationals if it comes to it, they’ll wipe the floor with Washington in any type of series you want them to play.

By: jon623

jon623 — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 05:03:12 +0000

Ah dang, I didn’t see that someone made the Miami reference a few comments above me. Party foul.

By: jon623

jon623 — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 05:02:24 +0000

“I didn’t come to D.C to win one ring… not two…not three….”

Come on man…start with one. Even one World Series for the Nat’s would be an incredible, inspiring cinderella story of a team going from joker to king in a few short years. Could the Nationals be a dynasty in the making? Sure. Will they be? Give me ten years and I’ll get back to you.

By: realitypolice

realitypolice — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 13:25:39 +0000

The only point I was trying to make is the Cubs fans have waited an awful lot longer for a WS win than Nats fans, and that a Cubs fan would probably tell a Nats fan not to be happy that their GM is throwing away a chance to win one now. That’s all.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:22:01 +0000

I am a long-suffering Cubs fan and I think you’re both ridiculous. The Cubs have never had decent management in my lifetime and they do not care a lick about making the fans happy – only about selling beer and filling seats, which thanks to all the long-suffering, sad-sack idiots like me who pine for Wrigley Field in the summertime, they do without fail year-in, year out. The Nats don’t have a massive fan base and they need to be good for the long haul, not a one-and-done (how’s that working for the Marlins, anyway…OK, two-and-…”do”?). The history of baseball is full of teams who won once and sucked for decades afterwards – I don’t think their fans thought to themselves while they watched others go to the playoffs every year, “well, at least we won once!” I think Braves fans were a lot happier in the 1990s than, say, Twins fans (or even Marlins fans). Cubs fans exist on a special, self-inflicted plane of hell and they will never, ever understand the Nationals because that is a team where management actually seems to want to be successful at winning baseball games for many years, an utterly foreign concept on the North Side.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:13:00 +0000

My stats say Strasburg only threw 24 innings last year before he went down with injury. So, we’re talking pitching him 10x as many innings as he had in 2011. That would be…what’s the word…smart? No, not smart.

And whatever happened to Adam Wainwright, anyway? He’s had one season wiped out by arm troubles and another drastically shortened (2008). Pitchers get hurt all the time, but let’s not go begging for it.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:07:39 +0000

vader, you make me laugh. I think anybody with eyes, ears, and a nose would have to admit that the Phillies have far worse fans than the Nats. They bus down for the beginning of the season, taunt Werth after he breaks his wrist, cause problems in the stands, then cheer Hamels for beaning a rookie (who steals home on Hamels later the same inning), then they get a proud and puffy about “prestige baseball” whatever that is, and then…well, I was at the last Nats-Phils game and there just weren’t many “prestige baseball”-backers in attendance. What happened? I guess those are the good fans. And here in DC people just get excited about their team and that makes them let’s see: “stupid,” “idiots,” worst fans in the game,” and so on. So many cool people taking time out to let DC fans know how much they suck. Thank you.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 11:01:46 +0000

Yeah, what are you talking about realitypolice? The Cubs ruined their talent with bad brains, over and over again, and then still choked away their title hopes. They never protected an investment or even tried to. And as for the Nats being gutted by their fans if they don’t win the WS and bench Strasburg – again, what? People are insanely optimistic about this team (see: the reason we’re on this comment thread) and will be insanely optimistic about it next year with a healthy Strasburg, win or lose this year.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:56:49 +0000

I heard a boxer tell his corner once that he was “feeling great” and was perfectly OK and ready to go out for the next round – despite the fact that his legs were like spaghetti and he was bleeding from both eyes and both ears. Also, I try to read lips when managers go out to get their pitchers and I have never seen a pitcher say anything even remotely like “yeah, I am ready to go to the showers now. Thanks, coach.” Pitchers pitch. Boxers fight. You never ask them a stupid question like “can you keep going?” because there is only one answer.

By: recoveringcubsfan

recoveringcubsfan — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:51:56 +0000

As a guy who had his young dreams crushed by the implosions of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior – both due to arm injuries possibly caused by overuse when they were too young to handle the workload – I agree 100% with the idea of not making Strasburg throw almost 10 times as many innings this year as he did all of last year. Good teams come and go, but they come around a lot more often if you don’t blow out the young guys’ arms just because you can.

By: groundruledoublebourbon

groundruledoublebourbon — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:20:42 +0000

On point, jea1978. Bravo.

By: daisycutter1

daisycutter1 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:51:31 +0000

Silly me. A young & hungry team ahead of schedule…they’re assured WS rings two, three, even four years out.

To expand on my comment above, if Strasburg is shut down, fans should support or object to the team’s decision solely on how that will affect his ability to pitch in the future. It’s idiocy to support a decision to shut him down this year because you’re absolutely sure the Nats will be in a position to win it all next year or in the future. There are no guarantees, ever.

(And the Red Sox were old and hungry, FWIW. Hungry for…wait for it…fried chicken.)

By: cleverbob

cleverbob — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:19:19 +0000

In addition to those WS rings, count on back to back Cy Young Awards and MVP’s for Strasburg and Harper, respectively. Maybe a triple crown, but let’s not go nuts.

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:09:23 +0000

John Patterson, briefly, WAS an ace. I remember attending a game that was scorecard was the cleanest thing I’d ever created because all he did was throw fly-ball outs in spacious RFK. He had some great moments.

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:38:47 +0000

I would argue that the “old school” mentality had everything to do with franchises NOT caring about the long-term health of their players. If one got hurt, they’d cut him.

By: vader000

vader000 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:30:40 +0000

I would love to live in your world for a day dude….

By: xmatt0926x

xmatt0926x — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:12:55 +0000

jea1978, You make some valid points but someone could also say you’re kind of making the point of people who say you should throw Strasburg in the playoffs. Yeah, The 2008 Phillies weren’t dynasty material to me (I’m a phillies fan), yet they did win. So did the 2010 Giants and the 2011 Cardinals. I would say none of those teams were expected to win it all. The point is that it shows how fickle the playoffs are. A few breaks here and there, a player getting hot out of nowhere and carrying his team through, a great player or whole team going cold out of nowhere. It happens and this is why teams that are inferior on paper win the whole thing sometimes. The Nats look great on paper for the next few years but to say they “should” have a couple rings in the next few years is to ignore the history of the playoffs. One pulled hamstring, one stiffening shoulder in the cold of October and all of a sudden the odds are evened. The point is you can never count on anything and you should go for it all when your chance is there. Just my 2 cents.

By: shawndc04

shawndc04 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:12:29 +0000

Craig: Please stop, just stop. The ship has sailed; the train has left the station; the horse is out of the barn. He will be, repeat, will be, shut down, and most of us Nationals’ fans agree with Rizzo.

By: professormaddog31

professormaddog31 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:29:02 +0000

I’m saying is that you can’t keep treating your pitchers like they are made of feathers and rubber cement. If your ace cannot go out and perform in the playoffs, what good is he to you? If you are constantly monitoring your guy for injuries or phantom injuries or “what might’ves” you’ve got a big problem. Guys since the beginning of time have had injuries, true. Some dudes wear like iron & some are made of blown glass. But you cannot toddlerproof your season.

By: akismet-e6748cca3a16ea6e8283008d25583adc

akismet-e6748cca3a16ea6e8283008d25583adc — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:20:16 +0000

Anyone who criticizes what the Nats plan to do with Strasburg needs to ask themselves, honestly, what they’d do in this situation:

Team continues to ride Strasburg, letting him pitch all the way through til the end of the season (where he hits 190IP or so), then gives him 2-3 more high-leverage starts in the playoffs (running his IP total to somewhere around 210), and THEN he blows his elbow out again.

If you can HONESTLY say that in the above situation you’d never once claim that the Nats overworked Strasburg, leading to his next injury, then you’re allowed to criticize the move. But we all know the back-seat driver/hindsight is 20-20 nature of baseball bloggers would instantly post about how the Nats should have known to shut him down, the consequences be damned.

I’m not saying Rizzo is making baseball decisions based on the internet blogosphere (god, i hope not). I’m saying he’s taking the conservative route here, and he’s staying consistent with the decision to shut him down post TJ surgery, just as he did with Zimmermann last year. He’s been saying Strasburg will be shut down consistently from day one of spring training. No wavering, no waffling.

By: realitypolice

realitypolice — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:17:39 +0000

They have to do something. If the Nats make the playoffs and they shut him down, they better win it all or they will be gutted by their fans and the media.

By: jea1978

jea1978 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:14:31 +0000

I’m not begging for a pat on the back. Remember how this comment thread started? It was kkolchak claiming I’m a bandwagon fan. I was just pointing out I’m not.
Maybe it’s easy for you to remember years but I have trouble remembering if those three games were when we sucked in ’06 or when we sucked in ’07. They merge into one big suck memory. I only knew they weren’t ’08 because the games were in RFK and our new stadium opened for ’08.
I didn’t say the series technically knocked them out. I put a qualifier in there. If you pay attention it will keep you from making these mistakes.
The Nats fan base is not a problem at all. We do have a lot of good baseball fans, the problem is many of their loyalties are spread around to different teams since we didn’t have a team. But we also have a hardcore Nats fan base. Just because you ran into two people that claimed to be Nats fans and don’t know baseball doesn’t mean that’s the whole team.
Any claim by anyone that the Nats fans are worse than Phillies, Yankees, or Red Sox fans is an obvious joke of a comment. I take it you are a Phillies fan?
Our attendance figures are extremely strong this year and will only get stronger as we continue to be a dominant force in baseball and we win our two World Series’ in the next couple years.
Sure, I’m sure you would be rooting for the Nats if only. All of your comments so far have been fair and not at all biased against the Nats, so I’m sure you would be.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:13:44 +0000

I still think the Nats would be best off tranistioning Stras into a multi-inning reliever about 30 IP before his cap, and then leveraging the hell out if him in the playoffs. Instead of getting zero innings out of him, maximize the value of the few he gives you.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 17:02:37 +0000

Talk to a Cubs fan about what? They blew their investments and still choked away a shot at the title. Thanks Dusty!

By: funktron2x

funktron2x — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:42:17 +0000

I love you Craig. Even if you are friends with Connor Doyle.

By: vader000

vader000 — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:33:51 +0000

The point is you seem to be begging for a pat on the back because you watched some meaningless games at the end of the season. And the Phillies finished 3 games out of the wildcard in ’06 so losing 2 of 3 in the second to the last series of the season didn’t technically knock them out of the playoffs. Misspelling a word is much different then citing an incorrect year if you are using it for your arguement. And yes the Nationals fan base is worse then all the ones you mentioned because all of them have core fans with a lot of knowldge and passion for the game. On the other hand your team still can’t sell out its own stadium despite this year’s success let alone have a knowledgable, passionate and loyal fan base. I would actually be rooting for the Nats if the majority of their “fans” didn’t act like they are long suffering baseball devotees….

By: personalspaceinvader

personalspaceinvader — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:13:33 +0000

I just think that if we get to October and the Nationals are still in it and Strasburg (their best pitcher and franchise player) is able to pitch, they would be fools not to let him. Sure, longevity is a concern but if it really is in their grasp, you gotta pull the trigger and let him pitch.

Let slip the dogs of war.

By: kinggw

kinggw — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:11:08 +0000

What do the 2011 Red Sox have in common with the Nationals? Absolutely nothing.

The Nats arent a veteran team of overpaid players, they are a young and hungry team that is ahead of schedule. They would be foolish to risk their future and that of Strasburg by taking the advice of armchair GMs and former players who have no front office experience. They need only look to Jordan Zimmermann and how his workload was handled coming back from TJ surgery to affirm their decision about Strasburg.

By: cshearing

cshearing — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:00:01 +0000

Sitting one of your best players in a playoff game when he is not even injured is absolute insanity. If any team I followed tried to do so I would want someone’s head. Plus, good luck repairing the relationship in the clubhouse. You want a ring, vet? Guess you came to the wrong team. We value potential over results here.

By: 18thstreet

18thstreet — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:50:51 +0000

You know what? OF COURSE fans are coming out of the woodwork. The team’s been here for less than a decade. Most of the people who live here were not born when the Senators left or lived elsewhere. They’re building something, and the idea that they would be finished building it on the very day the Expos arrived and started playing in Viera under different letterhead is a ridiculous standard.

This is how you build a fan base: (1) existing and (2) winning. There’s a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon right now — my five-year old daughter might be one of them — who will be lifetime fans of the team.

For twenty years before Ruth arrived, the Yankees were far less popular than the Giants. Winning changes stuff.