Huh

You'd think that a team in the heat of a pennant race would come out fighting in a game against one of its closest rivals. You might think that, but if you're a Nationals fan you'd be wrong.

For the second straight night the Nationals looked like they didn't much care about the playoff race or anything else for that matter. Beaten 12-1 by the Marlins, even the Nationals players wondered whether their team belonged in the race: "You want to talk about that debacle? Tonight? Tonight felt like we were a second-tier team, and they came just to give us a whupping." That's Marlon Byrd talking, and he expressed what every fan was thinking and what every Nationals player must have thought.

We can't be all that surprised that the Nationals lost. After all, a Dontrelle Willis/John Halama matchup doesn't play to our strengths. We expected a loss in game three, so a win in game two was a precondition to winning the series. Having lost in game two, the best the Nationals can do now is split, and they'll need to beat Josh Beckett to do it.

Although we can't be surprised at last night's loss, we should be surprised that this team seems so disinterested in the race right now. Given this level of disinterest, is there any reason not to be playing Ryan Zimmerman at third and Rick Short at short (or vice versa)? At least then we'd be fielding players with something to prove.

Frank Robinson might catch a lot of heat today for pulling John Halama in the first inning, but we think that was a good decision. If Halama isn't on putting him out there is like throwing gasoline on a fire, and watching Halama struggle in the first inning was too much for us. We, like Robinson, believed that if the Marlins scored multiple runs in the first inning the game was over with Dontrelle Willis on the mound. To have any chance of winning the Nats had to keep the game close and they weren't going to do that with Halama out there. Robinson could reasonably have expected that his bullpen would pitch well given that they have pitched well pretty much all season. Unfortunately, the bullpen was awful. And about Mike Stanton....