Prepare for Ejection

• Nationals 6, Mets 3

At last, the secret of Washington's success... someone has to get tossed. Wednesday night Jose Guillen volunteered to do the honors, one day after his adopted dad Cap'n Hook took the hit. Suitably inspired, Preston and Vinny hit back-to-back dingers to turn a 3-3 tie into a 5-3 lead, and an eventual Nats victory.

After that, the only drama was the sudden plague of scientific inquiry that overwhelmed the infield in the 9th inning, when The Chief, Nicky and Vinny gathered together just beside the pitcher's mound to watch a popup return gently to the earth. Having satisfied themselves that Sir Issac Newton's theories remain valid, the Nats returned to the business of baseball, finishing off the Mets on a double-play and a flyout to secure the win.

Mutiny on The Bobby

Since the Nationals (STILL!) don't have an owner, and MLB seems to care not a whit what goes on in the front office, the Nats are the closest thing to a publicly-owned team that exists in Major League Baseball. Yes, the Nats are the psuedo-Packers of MLB. And the ownership is getting restless.

Cap'n Hook's management, once seen as charmingly gruff and old-school is increasingly viewed as inflexible and detrimental to the team. The bloggers smell blood in the water:

• Chris Needham at Capitol Punishment posts his critique of Frank here.
• Nationals Inquirer's Basil Tsimpris follows with a meta-critique of CP's critique.
• My own less systematic venting on the manage-by-gut school can be found here.

As of now both Bowden and Robinson are odds-on favorites to retain their jobs, just because the longer the Nats go without owners, the less time is available to bring in new people and get them up to speed before the free agent market kicks off this winter. But judging by the public mood, neither should be making long-term investments in the DC real estate market.