{"id":3445,"date":"2015-04-26T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=3445"},"modified":"2015-04-26T13:45:58","modified_gmt":"2015-04-26T17:45:58","slug":"exiled-from-natstown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/exiled-from-natstown\/","title":{"rendered":"Exiled From Natstown"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Washington<\/a>

Bryce Harp\u00ader is more than the face of the Wash\u00ading\u00adton Nation\u00adals \u2014 he is the face of Wash\u00ading\u00adton, com\u00adbin\u00ading high self-esteem with chron\u00adic under\u00adachieve\u00adment. (Cred\u00adit: AP<\/span>)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Wash\u00ading\u00adton Nation\u00adals are a per\u00adfect fit for the nation\u2019s cap\u00adi\u00adtal, com\u00adbin\u00ading invin\u00adci\u00adble self-esteem with chron\u00adic underachievement.<\/p>\n

The Red\u00adskins are neu\u00adrot\u00adic, the Wiz\u00adards hun\u00adgry, the Cap\u00adi\u00adtals con\u00advinced that cat\u00ada\u00adstro\u00adphe awaits. The Nation\u00adals fan\u00adcy them\u00adselves as repeat\u00ading cham\u00adpi\u00adons, though they\u2019ve nev\u00ader played in a League Cham\u00adpi\u00adonship Series, much less a World Series.<\/p>\n

That thor\u00adough\u00adly unjus\u00adti\u00adfied air of supe\u00adri\u00ador\u00adi\u00adty emanates from the top, as I was again remind\u00aded last week\u00adend when my wife and I were turned away from Nat\u00adstown, the nick\u00adname man\u00adage\u00adment has giv\u00aden its cook\u00adie-cut\u00adter ballpark. <\/p>\n

It had all seemed sim\u00adple enough.  Our friend, a sea\u00adson tick\u00adet hold\u00ader, had emailed us his tick\u00adets to last Saturday\u2019s game.  The machines at the turn\u00adstile reject\u00aded them.  We were direct\u00aded to a small office where dozens of sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate souls wait\u00aded their chance to speak with a team employ\u00adee who would sure\u00adly straight\u00aden things out.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d arrived at the park 40 min\u00adutes before game\u00adtime.  We weren\u2019t able to speak with a Nats employ\u00adee until after the game had begun.  He issued us this chal\u00adlenge: call your friend; if he answers, I will speak with him; if you get his voice\u00admail, you must leave.  I called my friend. I got his voice\u00admail.  My wife and I left Nat\u00adstown for the last time.<\/p>\n

Thus does the Nats\u2019 \u201cUlti\u00admate Ball\u00adpark Access<\/a>\u201d sys\u00adtem ulti\u00admate\u00adly deny ball\u00adpark access to tick\u00adet\u00aded patrons.<\/p>\n

The fran\u00adchise is hard\u00adly in a posi\u00adtion to turn spec\u00adta\u00adtors away. The team has nev\u00ader been a tough tick\u00adet.  I bought the Nation\u00adals full sea\u00adson tick\u00adet plan in 2005, the year the Mon\u00adtre\u00adal fran\u00adchise relo\u00adcat\u00aded to the nation\u2019s cap\u00adi\u00adtal.  I was part of a group that held sea\u00adson tick\u00adets from 2007\u20132012.<\/p>\n

Nat\u00adstown was a ghost town dur\u00ading most of that peri\u00adod.  Even when their shiny new ball\u00adpark opened in 2008, they aver\u00adaged few\u00ader than 30,000 fans per game, putting them in 19th<\/sup> place<\/a> in major league atten\u00addance.  Dur\u00ading the fol\u00adlow\u00ading three sea\u00adsons, fan turnout was worse, leav\u00ading the fran\u00adchise square\u00adly in the bot\u00adtom third of the league. Even with their recent suc\u00adcess, they\u2019ve nev\u00ader placed bet\u00adter than eleventh in atten\u00addance (2013).  This despite being the sev\u00adenth most pop\u00adu\u00adlous<\/a> mar\u00adket in the U.S. and the sec\u00adond wealth\u00adi\u00adest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such under\u00adachieve\u00adment has not inspired humil\u00adi\u00adty from the team\u2019s man\u00adage\u00adment.  Their atti\u00adtude \u2013 or, as they would have it, Nat\u00adi\u00adtude \u2013 is that their fran\u00adchise is a hot com\u00admod\u00adi\u00adty. Aver\u00adage tick\u00adet prices are the game\u2019s fifth high\u00adest<\/a>,<\/span> and only the Yan\u00adkees, Dodgers and Red Sox charge more for pre\u00admi\u00adum tick\u00adets, which is why so many of Natstown\u2019s best seats are often vacant.<\/p>\n

Those prices are thor\u00adough\u00adly dis\u00adjoint\u00aded from mar\u00adket val\u00adue.  Nats tick\u00adets fetch the low\u00adest sec\u00adondary price<\/a> in the majors, a telling mea\u00adsure of how lit\u00adtle their prod\u00aduct is valued.<\/p>\n

But if you were to ask Nats man\u00adage\u00adment and staff \u2013 like the one who expelled my wife and I from the park last week\u00adend \u2013 they would tell you what a great job they\u2019re doing, how well they treat their fans, and how oh-so-pop\u00adu\u00adlar their team is.<\/p>\n

Bryce Harp\u00ader per\u00adson\u00adi\u00adfies that irra\u00adtional sense of self-worth on the field.  Harp\u00ader is a very good base\u00adball play\u00ader.  But not near\u00adly as good as he imag\u00adines him\u00adself to be.  He is fast, but runs him\u00adself into outs; has a strong arm, but reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly miss\u00ades cut\u00adoff men; plays hard but too often reck\u00adless\u00adly, caus\u00ading him to miss more games with each pass\u00ading sea\u00adson, though he is just 22.  He has nev\u00ader hit more than 22 homers, nev\u00ader dri\u00adven in more than 59 runs and nev\u00ader stolen more than 18 bases.  He com\u00adpiled each of those career highs in 2012 as a 19-year-old rook\u00adie.  He placed 30th<\/a> in Wins Above Replace\u00adment (a sta\u00adtis\u00adtic that mea\u00adsures over\u00adall offen\u00adsive and defen\u00adsive per\u00adfor\u00admance) in that year. He has not made the top 50 since.<\/p>\n

Which may help explain why Harper\u2019s fel\u00adlow major lea\u00adguers named him the most over\u00adrat\u00aded play\u00ader<\/a> in base\u00adball for the sec\u00adond straight year. It wasn\u2019t even close.  Harp\u00ader best\u00aded anoth\u00ader much-hyped young play\u00ader \u2013 the Dodgers\u2019 Yasiel Puig \u2013 41 to 15 percent.<\/p>\n

Harp\u00ader is the face of a fran\u00adchise with a bloat\u00aded self-image, one that over\u00adprices its tick\u00adets and dis\u00adap\u00adpoints on the field.  This year, they should win their god\u00adfor\u00adsak\u00aden divi\u00adsion.  The Mar\u00adlins and Mets improb\u00ada\u00adbly hope to con\u00adtend, though both teams lost more games than they won last year.  The Braves are retool\u00ading, the Phillies dis\u00adin\u00adte\u00adgrat\u00ading<\/a>.  The Nats should make the post-sea\u00adson just by show\u00ading up.<\/p>\n

So far, they\u2019ve bare\u00adly done that.  Four of their sev\u00aden wins have come against the punch\u00adless Phillies, to whom they have some\u00adhow man\u00adaged to lose three times. They are 3\u20138 against the rest of the league.<\/p>\n

Per\u00adhaps after two Octo\u00adbers in which they turned Nat\u00adstown into Cher\u00adnobyl-on-the-Ana\u00adcos\u00adtia, the Nats this year will at last live up to expec\u00adta\u00adtions.  Per\u00adhaps, too, peace will break out in the Mid\u00addle East, the Ira\u00adni\u00adans will for\u00adswear their nuclear ambi\u00adtions and region\u00adal aggres\u00adsions, Putin will with\u00addraw from Crimea, Kim Jong-un will take his med\u00adica\u00adtions, Islam\u00adic State, al Qae\u00adda and the Houthis will be destroyed, the Chi\u00adnese will stop threat\u00aden\u00ading their neigh\u00adbors, and Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab will be brought to heel.<\/p>\n

But even if none of that hap\u00adpens and even if the Nats again fall short, Pres\u00adi\u00addent Oba\u00adma and Bryce Harp\u00ader will remain thor\u00adough\u00adly con\u00advinced of their own greatness.<\/p>\n

Prov\u00ading again that in Wash\u00ading\u00adton, cold real\u00adi\u00adty is no match for delu\u00adsion\u00adal self-esteem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wash\u00ading\u00adton Nation\u00adals are a per\u00adfect fit for the nation\u2019s cap\u00adi\u00adtal, com\u00adbin\u00ading invin\u00adci\u00adble self-esteem with chron\u00adic under\u00adachieve\u00adment. The Red\u00adskins are neu\u00adrot\u00adic, the Wiz\u00adards hun\u00adgry, the Cap\u00adi\u00adtals con\u00advinced that cat\u00ada\u00adstro\u00adphe awaits. The Nation\u00adals fan\u00adcy them\u00adselves as repeat\u00ading cham\u00adpi\u00adons, though they\u2019ve nev\u00ader \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[704,915],"tags":[1138,1140,1139,916],"class_list":["post-3445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-baseball","category-phillies","tag-bryce-harper","tag-natitude","tag-natstown","tag-washington-nationals"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t