Nationals' Pitching Reevaluated

Thirty games into the 2010 baseball season and the Washington Nationals find themselves above .500. The last time the team was above .500 was five games into the 2008 season when they went 3-2. The recent success of the team has to be credited with the tremendous pitching they have received so far this season. After a slow start, this Nationals' bullpen looks very good.

There are of course a few players struggling early on. One of the team's big signings in the offseason was starter Jason Marquis, who has been nothing short of terrible so far this season. In three starts he has only lasted 8.1 innings and has three losses and a staggering 20.52 ERA. Now he is currently on the disabled list with "floating bodies in the elbow." Three games does not a bust make, but I do not think these are the numbers the team had in mind when they signed him. Ace John Lannan has also struggled somewhat this season with a 6.34 ERA through six starts, posting only two quality starts.

Still, there are several bright spots on this new Nationals' team. Scott Olsen put together an impressive game on Thursday against Atlanta, holding a no-hitter until the eighth inning. Reliever Tyler Clippard has five wins which is currently tied for second in the league, Livan Hernandez has the second best ERA among all starters with a 0.99 trailing only Ubaldo Jimenez who many believe is the leading Cy Young Candidate, and closer Matt Capps has 12 saves which leads all of MLB. And of course, one cannot forget this team still has Stephen Strasburg in the mix. Strasburg made the jump to AAA this week and in his first start allowed one hit in six innings.

No doubt everyone will be keeping an eye on him to see if he continues playing well at the AAA level, but the real question right now is are the Nationals actually poised to challenge for the wild card? It may be too early to start thinking about that, but when the team has lost 100 games the past two seasons, having an above .500 record 30 games in is definitely a hopeful sign that the team is finally turning things around. In order to continue winning, however, the Nationals will need to continue getting strong performances from their surprising bullpen.