Hold On A Minute...

After last nights melt-down by Henry Rodriguez, Twitter exploded into a frenzy about the quality of the Nationals team.

Are you kidding me?

Without even looking at the stats and numbers I can tell you that the Nationals are one of the best baseball teams in the MLB today.

They have a rotation that is tops in the league in all categories and their offense is actually starting to spark. Danny Espinosa has seemed to have found his swing again and they've got a great young hot shot in Bryce Harper. What's not to love about the Nationals?

Sure...they were 6-19 with runners in scoring position last night. Okay...Henry Rodriguez blew his third save of the year in another dramatic mound melt-down. You're right...after this road trip the Nationals aren't in first place anymore. But aren't we forgetting something?...

THE NATIONALS WERE IN FIRST PLACE FOR THE FIRST MONTH AND A HALF OF THE SEASON.

I think that it is utterly ridiculous to hit the panic button over last nights collapse. You know what I think the problem is? D.C. has never had a winning baseball team. Now that we do have one, people don't know how to handle it when that team collapses.

In all seriousness, this team is still just as good as when the season began. The only thing that they are REALLY missing is Jayson Werth. Jesus Flores was able to pick up the slack from the missing Wilson Ramos and now that Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche are back, nothing is really missing.

The Nationals didn't start the season with Drew Storen, Chien-Ming Wang, and Mark DeRosa. Would those guys certainly have helped win a few more games? Sure. But, the Nationals were a first place team without those guys nonetheless.

When those players return, we can only expect the Nationals to get better and more dominant. All three of those players are game changers and will do just that.

In the mean time, put down the pitch forks, take your jerseys out of the fire, and just relax. It's okay for the Nationals to have a game like last night. The key to winning a championship is to limit games like that. In my opinion, they've done a fantastic job of that.

Be patient, DC, just let it all play out. The Nationals had a tough road trip losing 3-of-5. Everything is going to be fine. The Nationals are for real.