Boz in WaPo: 'I Voted for the Rotation before I Voted against It'

Wilbon writes his columns on an old manual typewriter with the s, o, c, e, and r keys removed. Kornheiser shouts his columns over the phone to an intern who transcribes them.

Boswell, apparently, writes his columns on a waffle iron.

In fact, IHOP is adding a new item to the menu for Opening Day, the Bozwaffle. It's a plate-sized Belgian, half gently covered in the strawberry syrup of hope, the other half drowned in the blueberry syrup of despair.

To wit, here is Boz on the 2007 rotation, from Feb. 22:

The surprise of camp so far is the growing realization that the mocked Washington rotation will be better than it was last year. In fact, the case for a better rotation in '07 is so obvious after a real analysis that it's actually closer to a promise than a prediction.

And here is Boz on the 2007 rotation, from today:

That's the challenge the Nationals face as they realize, less than a week into the exhibition season, that their starting rotation will probably ensure them a summer of biblical drubbings. . . . Out of a dozen retreads or marginal prospects, surely they could patch together a rotation no worse than last season's mess. But there's a big fly in the ointment. What if all of these guys were out of a job because they couldn't do the job?

The headline? "Nats' Starting Pitching Could Be a Real Problem." As opposed to "Numbers Might Add Up to One Shot in the Arm" less than two weeks ago.

C'mon,, Boz, BallWonk has been looking to you for his semiweekly dose of Cheneyesque optimism. We're about to turn the corner! The rotation has already had great success! We're winning those ballgames, dammit! You can't turn tail, cut and run, and join the naysayers now. Please, Boz, come back on the reservation. We need someone, anyone, to tell us how all those errors at short are a sign of progress, how if the starters and the bullpen can just take a lead into the ninth, we'll have the games locked up, how really all is not what it appears to be and by putting the entire rest of the NL in the standings ahead of us we'll have them just where we want them.

We need you, Boz, to remind us that "in the cellar" is just another way of saying "building the foundation." You can't quit on us yet. We haven't even played, much less lost, 100 games. The Nationals need you, Boz, like the White House needs Fred Barnes. So BallWonk begs you, please, please, please stop the waffling and put the strawberry-syrup-colored glasses back on.

And then tell us again how the rotation is going to be super-awesome after all.