ST LOUIS – By the time they took the field tonight, the Nationals had ample time to process the events of the last 48 hours. Not only did they have an off-day after arriving in St. Louis late Sunday night to consider the firing of their longtime general manager and manager, they also had a two-hour, 19-minute rain delay that pushed back first pitch of their series opener at Busch Stadium until 9:04 p.m. local time.
The question then was: What kind of effort would they give in their first game under an interim manager and GM? Would they be inspired by the shocking changes, or would they have trouble summoning up the energy to right this wayward ship?
The answer: The effort was fine, but the performance was pedestrian.
With Jake Irvin surrendering a pair of home runs and the Nationals lineup managing only one rally over the course of nine innings, Miguel Cairo found himself on the wrong end of a 4-2 loss to the Cardinals in his debut as the team’s interim manager. Mike DeBartolo, in his first game as interim GM, watched it all unfold from a booth adjacent to the press box, the one game he’ll watch in person this week as he now heads back to D.C. to oversee preparations for the No. 1 pick in Sunday’s MLB Draft.
All things considered, this didn’t look much different from a game the Nats could have played with Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez in charge. Not that the result of one game should offer definitive proof one way or the other about the team’s chances for improvement in the wake of major change.