Varlamov was absolutely nasty last night, recording his first playoff shutout. He has about a 98% save percentage in the two games he's played in. While there is no way we can expect that number to remain that high, I still could see him keeping it at around 94%, which, if you're not aware, is nasty. He did allow some bad rebounds that he probably should have muffled, but he managed to get on top of almost every one of them. Also, I think there was only one instance where he was even remotely out of position. He almost paid for it, but he didn't, and that's how it goes sometimes. As Jim says, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Last night, Varlamov was both.
As for the rest of the team, they kept doing what they had been doing well, which was namely maintaining possession, but they also crashed the net. All four goals came from no more than 15 feet out, if not closer. These are goals that are just about undeniable. They're not pretty, but that's how you win in the playoffs. Ovie didn't score a goal, but he was still involved, picking up two assists on Semin's goals and also making two spectacular defensive plays on Rangers fast breaks. Backstrom had assists on both of Semin's goals and the final Poti tally, which was a beautiful no look pass from the boards to Poti crashing the net.
At the blue line, the defense played well too, helping Varlamov, and getting into Sean Avery's head. Erskine did a great job doing the latter, helping to draw at least two of the four minors on Avery, who ended the game undisciplined with 18 penalty minutes.
All in all, it was an absolute domination by the Caps, and in my biased opinion, a performance they should be able to repeat to regain control of, and eventually win this series. The momentum has shifted dramatically in the Caps favor and as long as they don't get full of themselves and keep playing hard, they will go very far in the playoffs.
Also last night, the Nats won a close one, to record their second win of the season (Wooo!). While not impressive in the win, a win is still a big deal for a team that has recently been making news more for their wardrobe malfunctions than for their stellar play. If you hadn't seen what I'm referring to, on Sunday, Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman played with jerseys that for an inexplicable reason, said "NATINALS" across the chest... someone screwed the pooch on that one.
As far as the Nationals are concerned, the owners really just need to clean house. The pitching coaches, the batting coaches, and especially Manny Acta all just need to go. I know it's still early in the season, but I will cite my reasons for my desire to have just about everyone canned.
1.) Felipe Lopez: Lopez played for the Nats last season (and others prior) and was eventually benched and then shipped off to another team fro practically nothing because his batting performance has slid so much. In the last month or so of last season, he was one of the Reds leading batters. Now, with the Diamondbacks, he is their best option batting first, with well over a .300 average, good on base and slugging percentages for a speed guy, and has always been good with his fielding. Now, you could argue that he wasn't trying for the Nats, but doesn't that illustrate a need for change as much as ineffective coaching does? Moving on.
2.) Elijah Dukes: I actually just learned about this one yesterday. Dukes, in the past, has been seen as a troublemaker and someone who is unreliable. However, since coming to the Nats, he has dedicated himself to reforming and becoming a reliable and dependable player. And has been doing a good job of it thus far. Last week, Dukes was at a fundraising event for a little league and left in a rush, but was still 5 minutes late to warmups for their game on Saturday. Five minutes... As a result, Manny Acta benches him for the game. Not only was he benched for the game, he was also fined $500 for being just barely late. So Dukes was punished for being 5 minutes late to warmups because he was doing volunteer work? I could see maybe a bit of a punishment if he was an hour late, or if it was because he was doing something for himself. Quoting Acta in an ESPN article:
"We are going to change the culture here, regardless of how well a guy is playing... It was a bizzare situation, because he was out there doing something we encourage our players to do.... we have to lay down the law. Regardless of who is out there, we are still losing ballgames. We have to change the culture somehow."
I'll tell ya Many, I understand you're desperate to "change the culture" and by doing, win some more games and maybe save your job. However, punishing your players so harshly, particularly when you admit that they were still in the right, is sending the wrong message to your team and you will gain no one's loyalty that way. This is a clear indication that Acta lacks the leadership skills required to get the best out of his players and to form these young athletes into a team with a promising future.
"We are going to change the culture here, regardless of how well a guy is playing... It was a bizzare situation, because he was out there doing something we encourage our players to do.... we have to lay down the law. Regardless of who is out there, we are still losing ballgames. We have to change the culture somehow."
I'll tell ya Many, I understand you're desperate to "change the culture" and by doing, win some more games and maybe save your job. However, punishing your players so harshly, particularly when you admit that they were still in the right, is sending the wrong message to your team and you will gain no one's loyalty that way. This is a clear indication that Acta lacks the leadership skills required to get the best out of his players and to form these young athletes into a team with a promising future.
3.) Lastings Milledge: Along the same lines as with Dukes, Manny Acta demoted Milledge to the minors after Milledge had a rough start to the season in his batting. Milledge was the leading hitter for the Nats last year, leading the team in RBIs, HRs, and Batting Average if I'm not mistaken. So he has two bad weeks and you demote him? Like I said before, I think this is another outward manifestation of Manny Acta losing control of the team and trying to regain his control by force.
I could go on, but I think most of the rest is obvious: not scoring runs, and giving up a bunch, bullpen collapsing on a regular basis, and so on. I think it's obvious that Acta and much of his staff need to go, and soon. There's no point in waiting to the end of the season. They don't deserve a chance to redeem the season because they were already worst in the majors last year. And I think the talent is there to do much better than that. And so far, the season is going worse than last year.
I think that's all for now.
All the best for you and yours,
-TES
No comments:
Post a Comment