natsfreak14

Last night, I went to Shea Stadium to see my Nats face off against the NL East favorites, the New York Mets. Washington wound up losing in 14 innings by the score of 3-2 in heartbreaking fashion. During their first 16 games of the season, they have struggled mightily.

The Nats started off the season 3-0, including a dramatic 3-2 win over the Braves to christen Nationals Park on March 30. Since then, a team that was supposedly going to sneak up on teams has lost 12 of their last 13 games (4-12 overall).

Lineup Outlook:

After 16 games, Washington is in the cellar yet again in most offensive categories. The Nationals are in last in the NL in batting average and runs scored. With a shaky rotation, Washington may be forced to score 5 runs or more, which could lead to a horrible season in the nation's capital. The Nationals lineup has been shuffled since last year. Nick Johnson replaces Dmitri Young at first base, Brian Schneider is no longer the catcher, Guzman is healthy again, and two outfielders have been replaced with new ones, Lastings Milledge and Wily Mo Pena.

C: Paul LoDuca has missed the last couple of games with an injured hand. He is hitting .200 in 35 at bats. However, GM Jim Bowden didn't bring him in to carry a huge offensive load anyway. He knows how to handle pitchers, as he has been in the league for several years, which is a plus for their young staff.

1B: Nick Johnson hit a two run bomb off of Nelson Figueroa last night to give Washington its only lead of the game. He seems to be running better after the broken leg than before the broken leg. Plus, he still has a great eye at the plate and is playing Gold Glove defense.

2B: Ronnie Belliard is one of the most free swingers in all of baseball. Last year, he was outstanding down the stretch. he is not off to a good start this year, going 11-52 (.212) and not playing great defense. He booted a ground ball to keep the Mets alive in the eighth inning, which was the tying runner who scored later in the inning. Worst of all, that was with two outs.

SS:Cristian Guzman is off to a good start this season, (22-71, .310) batting from the lead-off spot, including 7 multi-hit games. His defense seems to be better as his hamstring looks like it's much improved. He missed about half of last year with that injury.

3B: After the walk-off homer off of Peter Moylan on Opening Night, Part 2, he has been bad at the plate. He has struck out once ever six at bats this year and is hitting just .212. We have to remember though, that Ryan Zimmerman got off to a cold start last year and still wound up with 91 RBI in a pitiful lineup. He is too good of a hitter to struggle like this, but as long as he's healthy, his name will appear on the lineup card night in and night out.

OF: The Nats outfield has been very inconsistent this season, as Wily Mo Pena got hurt during Spring Training, as did Elijah Dukes. Austin Kearns was looking for a breakout year, while Lastings Milledge looks to start over and clean up his image in Washington. (Heck, as a huge Nats fan, I even booed Milledge at the game when he was introduced). Milledge has 20-20 potential and Kearns could hit 25 HRs this year. However, as long as Zimmerman continues to struggle, the whole lineup will struggle, no matter who is playing.

Rotation:

Odalis Perez had an unexpected good start on Opening Night against the Braves. However, good, consistent pitching has been hard to come by for Washington. For this young rotation, their offense