A Long and Sad 60 Days

Just 60 days ago I was filled with optimism. I really thought a lot of good things could happen.

But the problems of the past two months have rocked me pretty good. I know it's not that big a deal, but to want to achieve something and fail so miserably is pretty hard to take.

So here I sit in Kabul, unable to do much of anything about anything. I really feel like a spectator, trying to will my side to do better, but ultimately, inevitably, falling short. We just keep having loss after loss, no matter the part of the country.

Here is what the Washington Post had to say, in words far better than mine:

PHILADELPHIA, May 31 -- Baseball designates no special day for reckoning. It's a long season -- everybody says that -- which is why nobody worries about a loss, or even six of them. There is always the next day; everybody says that, too. Myopia makes the losing manageable. Or at least it does, until two months are already gone, a team is 23 games under .500, a season is lost, an off day beckons, and the reckoning is too grim to even contemplate.

With Sunday's 4-2 defeat against Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park, the Washington Nationals have reached a point where taking a step back, taking stock of who they are, produces a conclusion as frightening as the baseball itself. They've lost six in a row, 15 of 17 and 18 of 21. Their deficiencies are, at once, static and historic. One must retreat through franchise history to 1969 to find a worse record after 49 games. That year's expansion Expos team was 12-37, and finished 52-110. This year's team is 13-36.

What can be done to fix this?

Wrong question; that presumes it can be fixed. more