Two shutouts in a row have not helped my arguments that the Washington Nationals need to keep their heart of their order together through the next few years. Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman both came up empty driving in runs this weekend. #5 hitter Josh Willingham accounted for three of the weekend’s runs in one swing in Friday’s win over the Florida Marlins, so he gets a bit of a reprieve. Two strong performances from Livan Hernandez (2 runs) and Craig Stammen (1 run) were wasted. Wasting 1 run outings from Stammen is particularly troublesome, because they don’t come often.

Bad weekend aside, I’m still firmly in the Dunn camp and even as it is coming out that he may be asking for $60 million over 4 years, I’d still do it. Is it responsible, Moneyball-type signing? Of course not but this is what happens when you do things on the cheap for so long, you have to overpay. They got Dunn for a bargain in the first place, so suck it up and find some of the same logic that was used to keep Cristian Guzman around. Plus signing Dunn makes Zimmerman happy and that isn’t a bad idea if the franchise wants to keep its “face.”

RECOMMENDED READING

Craig Stammen puts it together, at least for one day – Nationals Journal, The Post
Tyler Clippard slows it down, steps it up – Nationals Journal, The Post

More from Eckstein – Nationals Journal, The Post

Wasted opportunities – Nats Insider

Is it just me or are watching games from Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Dolphins/LandShark/Dolphin/SunLife Stadium pretty tedious? Must be all the empty orange seats. RFK Stadium had orange seats too, but never that empty.

The bees in the bullpen weren’t great either.

Now it is onto Cincinnati and their curiously cinnamon flavored chili. The Nats have a four game series with the Reds who are further along in the post-Jim Bowden recovery.