You knew these kinds of stupid headlines were coming as soon as the Nationals pulled away from the Phillies, but still, seriously? Nats Park North? The Nats have had a really good year, playing their way to the front of the pack, even if I count myself as one of those saying it's lucky, and that they won't get this kind of luck in the post-season (or next year). To be fair, the Phillies have had a crappy year. Even so, the Phillies are first in attendance both by percentage of tickets sold, and in average attendance (they're also back and forth with the Yankees and their bigger ballpark for total attendance). While the Nats attendance is picking up (they're drawing over 30,000 now on many, but not all, nights.), they're 14th in attendance, barely ahead of those Mets, who had no energy or enthusiasm in their fan base this season either, and aren't in first now. The Nats aren't pathetic anymore in attendance, but they're not going to come up the turnpike and start filling Citizens Bank Park anytime soon. I'd imagine there will be a few more Nats fans this weekend, there are tickets on StubHub, but they'll be outnumbered bad. We got 41,000 plus for our worst attended game of the year. They get 33,000 and get excited. Perhaps that explains this:
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| Yeah, an excited-ish stadium- must have been 2011 Phillies fans in there. |
See, this is the problem with fanbases like Washington. They're not as big as the major markets, but they're a chipper bunch. As we clinched a couple of divisions at their expense over the last five years, insulted them and Jayson Werth for his signing there, they grew to hate us. Makes sense, everyone hates the big dogs. The difference is, in New York (as an example), they're pretty much open about their hate- they want us to lose, and them to win. That's cool by me, it's mutual. Washington started stupid stunts like "Take Back the Park," and "Natitude" to get at us. That's kind of corny. In fact, it's really corny. It isn't enough for DC fans to be happy to be in first right now. They still feel inferior. I understand though, they haven't won in their existence, and two of the other three teams in town have been terrible. I get that.
Which takes me to their team- Werth's an expensive bum who will only hurt them worse, Harper's starting to struggle like I predicted he would, and yet, they have a 6.5 game lead. Their pitching has pushed them to the front of the pack in the NL, and right now they're as good a bet as any to win a weak league (the AL is much deeper). With all of this, they are discussing shutting down Strasburg soon, when he reaches his innings count. There's two ways to look at this-
- The human body has limits, and stretching an already injury-prone guy to his limits to try and win this year means they better get it right. Pushing him to the 200 innings area means risking his performance next season, and his health, for a chance at winning, and one that's not even enough to make them the favorite.
- Chipper Jones won his only ring in his first year, the Phillies won their ring in their second of five division titles, Cal Ripken's only ring was in his second year, and on, and on. You don't get an infinite number of opportunities to win a championship. You get now. With the Phillies freeing up money from their resources, the relative youth of the Braves, and the steadily improving economics of the Mets, this division isn't a given going forward, especially as their pitchers reach arbitration, Werth's contract becomes more of an albatross, and some of their players come down off of career years. Go for it now.
