Tony Paul
Nationals plow depths of '03 Tigers
In a game this year, Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn took the field wearing uniforms that read "Natinals."
Believe it or not, that amusing gaffe might actually wind up in the club's highlights bin by the time this season mercifully ends.
Look, nobody expected the moon and the stars or even a fourth-place finish from the District of Columbia's club, but this?
The Nationals entered Wednesday 16-46, having lost eight of 10, 16 of 19 and 28 of 34! I'll skip the obvious "bailout" jokes and cut to the chase: They have the exact record at this point as the 2003 Tigers, who didn't have the luxury of a Zimmerman or a Dunn but rather went to battle daily with a Munson, a Morris and a Monroe.
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The nightmare that is the Nats reached its boiling point last weekend when FOX reported manager Manny Acta was out and bench coach Jim Riggleman was in. No move has been made, but it's clear the front office isn't content with this whole innovate, win-twice-a-week gig Acta's got going on.
Far and away the biggest trouble spot has been the bullpen, which entered Wednesday with a National League-worst 5.67 ERA and 13 blown saves. In save situations, it has a 9.57 ERA, .346 opponents' batting average and almost as many losses (eight) as saves (nine).
The pitching's been so bad -- the starters' ERA is a desperate-for-Stephen-Strasburg-to-be-the-savior 5.14 -- they've been outscored by a major league-worst 85 runs.
"I can confess to you how perplexed I am about this season, this team and the things that are going on," club president Stan Kasten told MLB.com. "And our record is really troubling to me every single day. And we continue to search for solutions."
It's hard to imagine that map doesn't eventually lead to the dismissal of Acta, 40, who's 148-237 since taking over ahead of the 2007 season.
How high can he go?
It's definitely a bit early to start the will-he-hit-.400 watch.
Still, it is worth noting, with the help of Elias Sports Bureau, that Twins catcher Joe Mauer -- at .429 heading into Wednesday -- has the highest average through at least 150 at-bats since Yankees curmudgeon Paul O'Neill stood at .431 through 167 at-bats in 1994.
This is how good he has been: Mauer, 26, already a two-time batting champion, has more than three times as many multihit games (20) as no-hit games (six).
"Let's talk about .500," manager Ron Gardenhire joked to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "I don't know what to say about him. ... He keeps hitting, keeps getting it done."
He's not eligible for the batting championship yet -- a player must average 3.1 plate appearances for each game his team has played, and Mauer, who missed the first month with a back injury, entered Wednesday 19 short. But if he remains healthy, he'll be comfortably past the minimum in short order.
O'Neill, by the way, hit .299 from June 9 on to finish the 1994 season at .359.
Don't quit your day job
Some notes about American League pitchers-turned-"hitters":
• Through Tuesday, they were 13-for-104 (.125) with 44 strikeouts. That's a K in 42.3 percent of their at-bats, still better than Rangers first baseman Chris Davis (45.6).
• Fifty have logged at least one at-bat. Eleven have registered at least one hit, while only two -- Detroit's Rick Porcello and Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine -- have two hits. Porcello is the only pitcher with two RBIs.
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