Manny Acta, until last night, was the manager of the woefully bad Washington Nationals. After a 26-61 start, Acta was fired.

The man who fired him, Mike Rizzo, is quoted as having said:

We feel that the team has underachieved,...[w]e feel we have a better ball club than we've shown on the field...[w]e feel with a different voice and possibly a different feel in the clubhouse that we can have a more successful second half of the season.

So...if you want a change in tone in the clubhouse, why would you hire your bench coach, Jim Riggleman, who doesn't exactly have a winning record either?

Jim Riggleman, whose high school I've been to (it's in Rockville, so it automatically sucks), values discipline over Acta's patience and positive reinforcement. If you were one of the Nationals' young pitchers, which would you prefer? If morale is already low, how can it help to take away the patient, level-headed optimist?

How does it help Acta to scorn free agency? How would a few veteran pitchers helped in the starting rotation and the bullpen? Sure, the hitting in Nationals Park is fine, but what does that matter when they don't have pitchers that can keep the opposing team from scoring 7 runs?

Manny Acta never had a chance. That's why I can't get behind the Nationals. The team's leadership continues to sell a horrible product. I feel sorry for the Nationals fans because they've been starving for a team for decades and now the get this: all-around disarray and incompetence.