Mind Over Matter

The verdict on the Nationals has almost certainly been delivered after only a tenth of the season. The '62 Mets, who lost 120 games, are safe. For that matter, so are the '88 Orioles, who began 0-21. The Nats, in defiance of doomsayers, aren't half bad. Or, to be precise, they're only bad half the time. That's not nearly enough for a serious run at historic futility.

This Nationals team does not have the dismal attitude, the dreary clubhouse atmosphere, the palpable cloud of depression that follows a breathtakingly awful team. An upbeat club, even if it lacks talent, can only be so bad. Knowing that you can't be a good team doesn't curse you. Hating your situation, rather than working realistically to improve, is what blights a season.

I've seen awful up close -- those '88 Birds, who lost 107 games. They had the game's worst pitching as well as the worst hitting. Of the 15 most-used players, nine hit a combined .218. But the most destructive aspect of those Orioles was their bitter attitude. Players with all-star pasts, including Eddie Murray, Mike Boddicker, Fred Lynn and Terry Kennedy, hated their surroundings. As soon as the team got rid of them, the Orioles improved radically in '89 without adding a single proven player.

In the last eight days, the Nationals have shown how much can be done with a professional attitude -- and almost nothing else for tangible support. By winning four of seven games and playing competitively against the Braves, Mets and Phillies, the Nationals have shaken off the potential knockout blow of a 1-8 start that might have made them a nightly TV laughingstock.

"I love the way we are playing right now. They do not give up. They are giving all the effort they are supposed to give," rookie manager Manny Acta said after his team cut a 4-0 ninth-inning lead to 4-2 and had men at second and third base before falling short to Philadelphia at home yesterday. "We were not going to play the whole season the way we played the first week. That's pretty much impossible. We are a different team now. I hope it can stay like this."

It won't. These Nats have at least a couple more dismal slumps in them. Most teams do. And they may lose 100 games. But it now seems unlikely that they will lose their dignity. How often does a manager praise his team after it falls to 5-11 before playing 15 of its next 18 games on the road? Yet Acta is simply being candid -- and appreciative. If his players had rolled over on him, he could already have a disaster on his hands.

On Opening Day, Acta lost two starters, Nook Logan and Cristian Guzman, who are still injured. That forced shifts that weakened four defensive positions. His only star, Ryan Zimmerman, is hitting .209 with no homers. His supposed ace, John Patterson, fell to 0-3 and said nerve surgery last July on his elbow has left him with greatly reduced arm strength. While he assumes his 95-mph fastball will return, no one can be certain.

"I'm having to swallow a lot of pride right now," said Patterson, who has lost 6 mph off his best fastball, more when forearm fatigue hits after a few innings. By summer he may be "Nasty" again. Or never. "Right now, I'm not me," he said.

So, with a winless ace, a homerless No. 3 hitter, rookies everywhere and holes in his lineup, how can Acta be so cheerful? To such questions, the correct answer is always "pitching." Washington has allowed only 20 runs in its last seven games, a streak of competence that some doubted would arrive at any point this season. "They've been terrific. It can't be like this all the time. That's impossible," said Acta, who added with a shrug, "but if they do, it's going to be interesting."

For the Nats, the word "interesting" may be the most important of their season. Will they be interesting enough to be worth watching? Or, as in those first nine games, outscored by 40 runs, will they be a gruesome parody? If Acta and his players can remain credible in such worst-case surroundings, they will be doing a great favor not just for themselves but for baseball in Washington.

Nats management took an enormous and partially unnecessary gamble during the offseason, slashing payroll to the marrow from $64 million to $36 million. The franchise risked keeping its fan base of '05 when attendance surpassed 33,000 a game. Success has been kissed off for now, replaced by rebuilding the farm system. But, in a frigid spring, the price has been high. Through 11 dates, RFK crowds are awful: 20,052 a game, the third worst in baseball.

Nevertheless, as this season progresses and the weather warms, as the new park's framework is completed by July, it is possible that this skeleton-crew team will win hearts with pluck. With expectations so low, not many wins will be needed.

The Nats better hope so because, at the moment, the team's much-discussed "Plan" is largely based on mass hypnosis. What are local fans supposed to do for the next 146 games? Gather on South Capitol Street and gaze at the new ballpark? Should we look deep into its $611 million eyes until we get sleepy, very sleepy? Are we supposed to repeat like zombies: "The Nats have a Plan. I will believe in Stan's Plan. I am not bitter. After 33 years, I am happy to watch Dmitri Young play first base."

With luck, we'll never know how ugly this season might have been. Troops are on the way. Soon, Zimmerman will start to hit again. Logan and Guzman will return and a thin bench will start to look decently deep. By early May, reliever Luis Ayala and starter Jason Simontacchi will be back. With each outing, Patterson will probably prod the radar gun a bit higher. Some fine day in midseason when his leg is well, Nick Johnson, the team's best hitter, will be back at cleanup, too.

Until then, for the 20,052 who care about them, even in an old stadium, even with so many defeats still to swallow, Acta and his low-rent crew will keep up the fight. And we will find out how much can be accomplished with attitude, and not much else.