• The Nationals now have a season high 5 game winning streak and are currently 11-11 since the All Star Break
  

  Ryan Zimmerman's hot bat has kept the Nationals winning

• Ryan Zimmerman went 5-8 with 2 home runs and four RBIs in his two games played during the series.  No stranger to hitting streaks, he has now hit in 10 straight games.  He has raised his batting average from .283 back up to .300.
• Speaking of home runs, Adam Dunn also hit two home runs and is now 3rd in the National League in home runs.
• John Lannan has shown that he’s willing to be the ace of this young staff by going 6 strong innings, striking out 6 batters while giving up only 2 earned runs.  He’s now 8-8 on the year.

The Arizona Diamondbacks now come to town and the Nationals will look to keep their winning streak alive.

The 2009 baseball season is halfway over and one thing has become highly apparent when it comes to the Washington Nationals.  This team seriously lacks pitching, especially in the bullpen.  While the roster may feature a few promising young arms like Jordan Zimmermann and John Lannan, there is still plenty of work that needs to be done.  I realize that the farm system is incredibly thin and progress with Stephen Strasburg isn’t looking that good but I have a few suggestions on how you can find a few diamonds in the rough.  If there is one thing that rivals my love for baseball it has to be my love for cinema and thankfully my two worlds have finally had the chance to collide.  As the President of a Major League Baseball franchise, you are probably already well aware that high schools are an excellent source of young talent but everyone has been pumping that well for years.  If you really want to make a genius move, you’ll scout the local Middle Schools for awkwardly clumsy pre-teens who are just a simple broken arm away from a 102 mph fastball.  You may think that’s absurd but then again so did the Cubs and I didn’t see them complaining when Henry Rowengartner led them to the World Series Championship.

Not thrilled with that suggestion?  How about you stay in the school system and search for washed up teachers who still somehow manage to throw high heat.  Given the high rate for minor league failure, it’s entirely possibly that America’s floundering education system could be swimming with talent.  And unlike Strasburg, you don’t have to worry about being able to sign these diamonds in the rough because with the failing economy and rock bottom wages that teachers make today, they’ll be willing to sign for peanuts…..literally.  The best thing about this is should this experiment not work you can always reassign these guys to teach English to the few remaining Latin American prospects Jim Bowden didn’t steal money from.  It’s a win-win scenario!

If all else fails I only have one more word for you in order to save this pitching staff.  Chimpanzees.  Didn’t see the movie Ed?  Don’t worry, nobody did but at the rate things are going in Washington, it couldn’t be any worse.

Thank you for your time and I eagerly await the check I deserve as new Director of Scouting.  Until then, I’ll be diligently reviewing game tape at my local Blockbuster Video.

Sincerely,

Kevin David

Friday night, the Nats stroll Garrett Mock out onto the mound for his second start of the year against Padres super prospect Mat Latos, who also is making his second start.  Mock has struggled mightily this year both in starting and relief roles with the big league club, but he did show some improvement when he went down to the minors.  The Nationals best shot at a win is to jump on Latos early and rattle the rookie.

The pitching doesn’t get much better on Saturday when J.D. Martin makes his second start of the season after being lit up in his first start last week.  Thankfully for Nats fans, the Padres are also throwing out a rarely used started in Tim Stauffer.  Stauffer has looked alright in the early going posting impressive strikeout numbers and keeping opponents batting a dreadful .156 through two starts.

Sunday’s game however should be the gem of the series with John Lannan hoping to continue his strong pitching of late.  Lannan is fresh off a complete game shutout of the Mets in what was probably the best start of his career.  Lannan faces off against Chad Gaudin, who has been San Diego’s leader in strikeouts but not much else. 

All in all, this weekend series against the Padres looks to be a snoozer in which neither team will look too impressive.  The key to winning this series will be taking advantage of the weak pitching and getting on the scoreboard early and often.