Bound To Continue: I’ve been thinking about the Nationals obsessively for a week now – ever since Washington Times writers Tim Lemke and Mark Zuckerman published a piece on how the policies of the tight-fisted Lerners have sparked a “growing level of frustration with the team’s ownership, stretching from the front office to the clubhouse.” While the Post’s Tom Boswell was not nearly so negative, his September 17 article on the Lerner ownership group included complaints from one player that while the Nats were “making money,” they seemed unwilling to spend it.

After a week of pondering this, I’m not sure I buy what Lemke, Zuckerman and Boswell are selling. True: this crackerjack triumverate has a lot more access to the Nats than I have, but there’s something lacking in their critique that leaves me puzzled. I am not arguing with their reporting, but with their perspective. My skepticism took shape during the course of the Sox-Tigers playoff game when, in the middle of the fourth inning, the WGN camera panned into the empty bleacher seats at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field.  

Empty bleachers? I was stunned. While the Nats drew “only” 2,320,400 fans for 80 home games (ranking 19th in the majors), I am as certain that an Anacostia playoff game would be sold out as I am that fossels are not placed in rocks by this guy. The Pale Hose drew 35,923 for their one game do-or-die tilt with the Leyland’s, 5000 less than capacity. In a playoff game! In Chicago! And there’s this: the White Sox, a storied club with a shot at the series, drew only 100,000 more fans than the Nats. A pittance. If you think the Lerners want a more loyal following, think of how Jerry Reinsdorf must feel. 

We have to remember: we live in a town where pastors rush their Sunday prayers so they won’t miss the opening kickoff, where baseball knowledge is as difficult to come by as bank bailouts and where the likes of “Doc,” “The Coach” and “Smokin Al” spend the summer talking about (gag) basketball (Koken hates baseball, taking every opportunity to claim, as he did recently, that it’s way behind the popularity of the two sports he loves.) 

There’s worse. In early July, three months after opening day, radio “personality” Andy Pollin, the sidekick of on-air semi-celebrity Steve Czaban talked about how he would never drive to Nationals’ Park because of the “huge” traffic back-ups. “The Czabe” (as he is known) was quizzical: “oh yeah?” Pollin was positive: “You kidding? Anyone who doesn’t take the metro is out of his mind.” And it occurred to me: these guys had never been to a Nationals game. How do I know? Because after Opening Day there were no “huge” traffic back-ups – at least not in the 26 games I attended. I can only conclude that Andy and “The Czabe” are confusing Nationals Park with some other stadium.

So here it is: as a part of this blog’s “state of the Nats” end-of-year reflections, I am prepared to give the Lerner family the benefit of the doubt. Not least of which because “a guy” who knows them (in the real estate business), says that while the Lerners are businessmen first, they have a reputation for spending money on projects only when necessity demands. “They save their money until they can spend it wisely,” he says, “so stop worrying.” The operative word is “wisely” — which is to say, don’t trade your seed corn for Eric Bedard and don’t trade your best prospects for left-handed busts. Don’t want to spend millions signing Andruw Jones? Fine by me. 

It’s true: the Nats have yet to build a solid fan base, have yet to put a decent team on the field, have yet to spend big money on a big player. But it’s also true: the Nats have yet to find any D.C. sports yakker who knows anything about baseball (except for the MASN team – and Phil Wood), have yet to adequately promote their on-air presence, have yet to reap the benefits of a not-bad marketing plan. How long will it take to build a fan base? 

Of the eleven teams that finished below the Nats in attendance, six of them (Pittsburgh, Oakland, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Minnesota) are among the oldest franchises in the game. Three of them (the A’s, Indians and Twins) are perennial contenders. Two other teams in the bottom third (the Marlins and Rays) have very good teams and they still can’t draw. And the Marlins (get this), have won two World Series in the last fifteen years. Two! Which is one more than the Phillies, who were founded in 1883. There’s even a team in baseball that hasn’t won a World Series in 100 years (there’s no certainty they’ll win one in the next hundred by the way. In fact, they might not). Which means that glory in baseball is not  just “occasional.” It’s rare.

Baseball is not a game of infant gratification, but of perseverance and patience. It takes a long time to build a ballclub, longer still to build a fan base, and even longer to grab the prize. Such knowledge might be only a modest salve to the wounded fans of Natdom, but it’s the truth. I am living proof. It used to be that watching my favorite team was a painful experience, because they always, always, always disappointed me. I was “miserable.” And then, about ten years ago, I realized my love for my team was making it impossible for me to love the game. I was a fan, but not a baseball fan. 

Then the Nats arrived. It used to be that I would drive 90 minutes to Birdland to watch a team I didn’t particularly like. Now it takes me 30 minutes to get to a ballpark to watch a team that outdrew them and that just might — might — someday, have a shot at something special. There’s also this. If you think Ted Lerner is bad you-oughta-geta-loada-this-guy:

You would think that all of this is known to the likes of Lemke, Zuckerman and Boswell, who know baseball, but in their recent commentaries they seem as innocent as eggs. Give Ted and Stan and Jim and Manny a break. They’ll get there.

Or they won’t.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2008 Florida Marlins:

Okay — well it’s not that bad, but with Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis gone to Detroit (a salary dump, in essence, that saved the team $18 million), whatever the Marlins have left will probably cost them a decent season. And just to make it clear, here’s what they have left.

The Marlins project Ramirez at shortstop and the newly acquired Dallas McPherson at third (maybe), with Mike Jacobs at first and Dan Uggla at second. I hate Jacobs — he’s just the kind of grating “pepperpot” player that I can’t stand. The newly acquired Cameron Maybin is the great hope in center (he has to be at least a year away — at least), with Josh Willingham (who I think is actually one heck of a player), in left and Jeremy Hermida in right (Hermida is also a year away, come to think of it, though he’s been in the majors now for three seasons). At catcher, the Marlins have inserted a former Tiger, Mike Rabelo, who has played in 52 major league games. To help the kids, the front office has brought in Luis Gonzalez — who is 40.

Yikes.

Everyone raves about Ramirez, of course, and dubs him the next superstar, a future hall of famer. Maybe, but he reminds me of George Bell — which is, come to think of it, saying a lot. Bell was a hell of a hitter back in the ’80s for Toronto (he once hit 47 home runs), but he tailed off quickly and could never keep his wind. He was relentlessly booed by the Blue Jays fans (they’re Canadians) and he responded by telling the press: “They can kiss my purple butt.” Watching him run the bases that last season for the White Sox wore me out (he was traded there by the Cubs, for Sammy Sosa). Bell and Ramirez are built almost exactly alike and have a similar swing, something I noticed about Ramirez last year, when I had to suffer through three, count em, three Marlins’ games at RFK. (I got three this year too — after going into my draft with only one goal: no Marlins games.)

But the Marlins less-than-mediocre team will surely be offset by a stellar pitching staff of Mark Hendrickson, Sergio Mitre (Sergio Meat Tray), Scott Olsen and Andrew Miller.

Who?

The good news is the Marlins will soon have a new stadium, which will cost them all of $480 million — tops. Here’s what it looks like:

I told my friend Tom: “It must be made out of wood.” Nope: it’s made out of concrete, and glass, and “stucco.” No kidding. It looks like it’s made out of bubble gum. There’s this description: “The stadium breaks the trend started by Camden Yards of the ‘old time’ or retro look. It features a sleek 21st century design meant to capture the architecture in South Florida.” We have no idea what that means. It might mean this:

In truth, it’s about mid-range in cost for a stadium of that size and it will keep the Marlins in Florida, where they will soon be known as the Miami Marlins. About time. There is this: in all of the years that the Marlins have been playing this game, they have only been good twice — and both years they’ve won the World Series. But not this year. Compared to them, the Nats look like the ’27 Yankees.

Projected Finish: Dead Last.