The Suckiest Bunch of Sucks that Ever Sucked

We have sat and watched this Cub team miss expectations all season long. The offense is supposed to be good. It isn't.

The bullpen was supposed to be upgraded. It certainly wasn't in the beginning, and the jury is out on the current group down there now. The defense is below-average at best. The baserunning has been idiotic.

Rich Harden, if healthy, is supposed to be one of the best pitchers in baseball. He hasn't been.

Almost every player has performed under what is expected of them, with the exceptions being Ted Lilly, Derrek Lee, and Angel Guzman. I think that's it unless you want to throw Sam Fuld and Jake Fox into that mix, but they really haven't been here long enough to count, so I don't.

Upon watching the game last night with the Nationals, I am suddenly very thankful for the mediocrity. I have to wonder why anyone would pay anything to go to a Nationals game if they weren't cheering for the opposing team. That team leads the lead in suck by a wide margin. There can't be anything good to watch as a fan of the Nationals.

They are awful. What's worse, is that they were supposed to be awful and they are STILL finding ways to come in under expectations. They are 26-62. That is a .295 winning percentage. Cleveland absolutely blows and they have a .400 winning percentage. That is how bad Washington is. They are on pace to lose 114 games, which would be the 6th most of all time.

They have given up 112 more runs than they have scored. They have allowed more runs than anyone except Cleveland (495 to 499), and Cleveland plays in the American League and has played two more games than Washington.

I watched them play last night and saw errors all over the field, the few runners they managed being left on base, Theriot-like baserunning, and brutal relief pitching. Other than that, they played pretty well.

This team has Julian Tavares. Julian Tavares is what you would get if Carlos Zambrano was twice as crazy and not a good pitcher. He's not even left-handed. Why is he still even in the major leagues? This is the guy the Nationals turned to in a close 3-1 game in the 9th inning? Who do they bring in for mop-up?

I saw the Cubs score a runner from third on a twenty-five foot hit in front of the mound. Sean Burnett, the pitcher brought in after Tavares' failure, got Jake Fox to hit one almost half way to the pitchers mound. He pounced down, bobbled it, then shoveled it to home where Josh Bard was outstretched for the force out. The problem, as Josh learned as he turned to argue the safe call with the home plate umpire, is that there were only men on first and third, so no force play was in order at home. He needed to tag the runner. Doh!

I had a conversation with some people on Twitter about how sweeping a four-game series is not easy and winning three of four has to be considered a success. After watching them play, I'm not sure I have that sentiment anymore. It will be supremely embarassing to lose to this team at all.