A season of lows and woes for Nats

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By Mark Zuckerman

Stan Kasten hears the complaints every day. From fans who are upset about the abysmal season his Washington Nationals are having. From media members who pepper the team president with questions about his underachieving squad. From other club employees who themselves want to see something promising.

This isn't Kasten's idea of a good time.

"There's no question that the day-to-day performance, for the last month especially, has been very disappointing," he said. "We feel it more than any fan or person in the media could possibly feel it."

Anyone who has followed the Nationals' 2008 season feels the pain. A team that began the season with a sense of optimism is now feeling as low as it has during any point in that span.

On Friday night, Washington reaches the halfway mark of a season that has seen almost nothing go right. Unable to build off the momentum they established over the final three months of the 2007 season, the Nationals (31-49) find themselves on pace to lose 100 games - an unfathomable thought three months ago when Ryan Zimmerman christened Nationals Park with an Opening Night walk-off homer in front of a sellout crowd.

Since that high point, this team has bottomed out. A spate of key position players, headlined by Zimmerman, first baseman Nick Johnson and closer Chad Cordero, have suffered significant injuries. The young players asked to fill in the gaps have failed to do their part, resulting in the majors' least productive offense. A pitching staff that has tried at times to hold this all together has crumbled under the weight more often than not.

Kasten insists there still is hope of turning matters around.

"Obviously, it's disappointing, all the things that have happened," he said this week. "But we continue to focus on the big picture. And big picture, I'm still as optimistic as I've ever been."

Kasten said this because of the organization's ever-improving farm system, which was devoid of top-tier prospects when he and the Lerner family were awarded the franchise in May 2006 but has since been restocked.

Indeed, the Nationals' top four affiliates (Class AAA Columbus, Class AA Harrisburg, high-Class A Potomac and low-Class A Hagerstown) have winning records. More importantly, they have produced potential building blocks like Collin Balester, Garrett Mock, Jordan Zimmermann, Adrian Alaniz, Cory VanAllen, Chris Marrero, Justin Maxwell and Michael Burgess.