The Sad State of Nationals Baseball

Last night I went to my first baseball game of the year.  We saw the Washington Nationals play the Philadelphia Phillies. It was actually a pretty good game (unexpected because the Phillies have one of the best pitching rotations in MLB history and a pretty good batting lineup, while the Nationals are just plain bad). In the end, the Phillies won 3-2 after the Nationals scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th before Roy Halladay struck out the last two hitters on six straight strikes.

On the note of the Phillies being good and the Nats bad...in the starting lineups last night, the Phillies had only one batter hitting below .300.  The Nationals on the other hand had not a single batter hitting over .300, had nobody batting as well as the Phillies worst hitter, and were starting a player batting .071.  Pathetic.

But I'm actually not here to talk about how great the Phillies are (Halladay commands a game like nobody I've seen before, and with such ease), or how bad the Nationals are, but actually to talk about the sad state of the culture of baseball in DC.  Shane Victorino led off for the Phillies last night to start the game and promptly doubled.  The crowd went nuts with cheers.  Let me say that again, the crowd went nuts with cheers.  Now let me remind you that the game was played in DC, home of the Nationals.  When Jason Werth jogged out to right field, he was greeted with a chorus of boos and chants of "Worth-less, Worth-less" from the Phillies faithful, every single inning.  Unfortunately for him, there were far more Phillies fans present than Nats fans. When Roy Halladay walked off the mound at the end of the 8th inning, he received a standing ovation from the visiting crowd.  And every time the Nationals fans tried to make any noise at all they were drowned out by cries of "LET'S GO PHILLIES!"

I know the Nationals aren't a great team, and I was not expecting a sell-out.  However, when there are more fans cheering for the visiting team than there are for the home team, that's just sad.  Noting that, it's no surprise that the Nationals are so bad, after all, who would want to come and play in a city where being at home is actually a disadvantage.

I love baseball. I will go to almost any baseball game because I love watching it, and I can sit and talk baseball all day long.  Thus, I enjoyed the game.  However, being a fan of baseball, it was sad to see that this team had so little support from the home crowd. Baseball is America's past-time.  DC is America's capital.

Having played baseball and watched baseball for years I know that baseball players, like any other athletes, respond to the support and energy of the crowd.  If the crowd is excited and energetic the players get energized and have more fun.  Baseball, more so than any other sport, is performed at a higher level when one is having fun.  It's a long season.  9 innings is a long game.  If you're not having fun you won't play well.  But when you have fun, it is so much easier to play well. So get out there DC folk, support your team, and they may someday reward you with good baseball.