Until I read the annual “this is a different kind of club than last year” Thomas Boswell column in The Post, I had forgotten that the Washington Nationals started 0-11 in the Grapefruit League last year. That got me to thinking, what do I even remember from previous years spring training, off the top of my head at least:
2005: WE HAVE A TEAM, the Ian Desmond kid looks like he might be something in a couple of years
2006: Alfonso Soriano doesn’t want to play left field
2007: I like the positive attitude Manny Acta has and I wonder when Nick Johnson will play this year
2008: I’m eager to see what Lastings Milledge can do, that looks like a good trade
2009: Smileygate – Carlos Alvarez is the player to be named later, Jim Bowden resigns!
2010: STEPHEN STRASBURG, STEPHEN STRASBURG, STEPHEN STRASBURG
Jim Bowden also rode around on a tricked out Segway and one year prayed for Jesus Colome and is buttocks. I don’t remember which season that was though. I tried to forget about Bowden as much as I could. The same could be said for Colome as well.
The point though, is that spring training while fun, is just blip on the memory of the upcoming season and doesn’t mean much at all in the bigger picture. I even enjoy all the “best shape of his life” articles, because at the very least these articles means that spring is near. It isn’t just that, I like the optimism of spring training, because the slate is clean and who knows, maybe the team will make a big jump and play over its head like it did in 2005 and 2007.
So, what year did Boswell write this?
Washington finally has its first truly serious baseball franchise since the 1930s.
You have to be as old as Ted Lerner, the…boss of the Nationals, to remember the last time Washington had a big league team that was a serious annual contender, a legitimate front-line franchise, a club that fought toe-to-toe with the very best. But that time is probably arriving again and perhaps fairly soon.
Like I said, spring training doesn’t mean or tell us much , but sometimes its just fun to go along for the ride.