Washington Nationals

A lot of baseball fans will remember the name Mark Prior. He was a young right-hander out of USC that burst on to the scene in 2003 with the Chicago Cubs. He made 30 starts that season, finished 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA and struck out an eye-popping 245 batters.

For about half an hour this afternoon, Viera, Florida was the center of the baseball universe.

Stephen Strasburg, last season’s top amateur pick, took the mound and for the first time faced veteran major league players and not fuzzy-cheeked prospects.

After finishing their first year in Washington with a .500 record, fans and players alike hoped the Nationals would have a breakout season in 2006.

The key was to get off to a fast start.

It didn’t happen.

Well, that isn’t how we wanted the 2010 season to begin.

After jumping out to a combined 6-0 lead in both games, the Lords of Reality reappeared and by the end of the day, the Nationals’ split-squad teams lost by a combined score of 25-9.

The scores are meaningless.

For two seasons, the Washington Nationals have been the worst team in baseball and have come close to matching the 1962 Mets for baseball’s all-time futility.

Things began to change last spring when then general manager Jim Bowden was forced out and replaced by current GM Mike Rizzo. In July, manager Manny Acta was fired in favor of Jim Riggleman.

Adam Dunn became the team’s first quality free agent signing two winters ago.

When Nyjer Morgan joined the Washington Nationals last July, the team was a moribund 23-55 and paralleling the record of the worst baseball team of all time, the 1962 New York Mets.

They couldn’t hit, they couldn’t pitch, and they certainly couldn’t field.

Is it better to be optimistic and be disappointed by the results, or pessimistic and be pleasantly surprised?

I find myself asking that question a lot these days, and not just about the Washington Nationals.

There is an awful lot of optimistic talk coming out of Viera right now, and on the interwebs, about the prospects of significant improvement for the upcoming Nationals season.

Chan Ho Park spoke with reporters about becoming a Yankee even though he had a better offer from the Phillies and also had an offer from the Washington Nationals.

Here are some quotes from his first day in camp :

Entering the 2010 season one can rest assured that there will be a dark horse team that pushes for a wild card spot till seemingly the last day. In the past few seasons it's been the Florida Marlins and of course the Tampa Bay Rays with their miracle run in 2008, so who is it this year?

It’s easy to overlook Guzman. After all, he could play shortstop for the Nationals this year, or if they feel Ian Desmond is ready, he could play second base.

Besides, he’s never scored 90 runs in a season, has little to no power, and is a far cry from the player who stole 53 bases in 2000 and 2001 for the Twins.