Thought I Should Mention It . . .

We won today 4-2. Little steps, little steps.

Found on the Post

I found this on the Washington Post this morning:

"The Nationals' recent collapse at the plate and on the field overshadows the big picture of a hustling team that has played much better than anyone expected in front of large, appreciative crowds. This, despite a home stadium not equipped to handle big crowds on a daily basis, without an owner, restricted by a payroll capped at about $50 million and a major disaster from the outset in getting games on TV to the most people. Suggestion to fans and the manager: Take a deep breath and enjoy."

Well said.

The slide

The Triple Play crew met up last night a little late, and watched the end of the game at Carpool in Arlington. And the slide continued, and we continued to watch.

Watson then lamented that "the blog is drying up". I don't think so -- I just think we're running out of ways to say "the Nats suck right now" and "they lose again". Being clever that way gets hard to say on the 14th loss in the past 17.

Bos had a good article this morning. Yes, we're no longer leading the NL wild-card race. Yes, we've fallen behind.

But we also now know that this is the team. Says chief Bowden: "Look around [the] locker room. These are the guys we are going to war with."

And his most important quote I read this morning: ""What's different about the first half?" he asked them. "We've got the same people here. . . . Why can't we do it?""

There's a statement I can agree with . What's different? Essentially, nothing. The team is just in a funk, and they have to shake it off. Nothing more complicated than that.

As for the blog -- If you'd like I can rant about flip-flops again.

See You in Hell, Chipper

• Braves 5, Nationals 4

Apparently, Jose Guillen has decided on a new strategy. If the Nats are going down, Jose's taking everyone else down with them. A hard slide into 3rd to break up a double-play left Chipper Jones with some extra ventilation for his boys, a thigh-high spike-induced rip in his trousers.

Chipper: "There are correct ways to break up a double play. Almost castrating somebody is not the way to do it. I'll remember that the next time I go into second base against them."

Jose: "Next time I come even harder then."

Is it just me, or is Jose starting to sound a little bit like Tony Montana? Tell me you can't imagine Jose saying this:

What you lookin' at? You all a bunch of fuckin' assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be? You need people like me. You need people like me so you can point your fuckin' fingers and say, "That's the bad guy." So... what that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide, how to lie. Me, I don't have that problem. Me, I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you. Come on. Make way for the bad guy. There's a bad guy comin' through! Better get outta his way!

Afternoon Baseball in the Digital Age

The Nats are playing Atlanta right now, 4-1 Braves. It's 2:33 in the afternoon. Dave's in his home office, watching on a 15 inch flat panel, I'm in my office listening on the radio and "watching" on Yahoo Gametracker. The thing that makes this great is we're IMing back and forth about the game. It's not as good as occupying bar stools in your favorite bar, but it will do in a pinch.

My Kingdom for an Offense

• Braves 4, Nationals 3

Perversely enough, you really can't blame the last two losses on the Nats offense. Sure, they scored 5 runs over two games, but in this series that should actually have been enough to win. Instead, one night after the bullpen coughed up a lead, the Nats new Bad News Bears-style defense insured another loss. Despite a rare, late-inning offensive rally (thank you, Danny Kolb) our guys were unable to overcome bouts of hysterical blindness by Christian "Have You Seen My Baseball?" Guzman and Nick Johnson. Now, I've been in the tank for Goooz all season, but my support was always predicated on the notion that his above-average defense compensated for his abysmal offense. If he ain't gonna hit or field, I think he might be in serious danger when Tony Blanco comes off the DL.

Broadcast News

So Comcast's suit against MASN and the O's was dismissed by the circuit court in Montgomery County, but we're still no closer to seeing the Nats on TV. Since the Nationals aren't using their bats anyway, maybe we could give them to the opposing parties, lock them in a room, and hope they bludgeon each other to death. Major League Baseball, with it's usual assertiveness, vowed to redouble its efforts at doing nothing to get the Nats on TV.

But Do You Need to Use Protection to Play?

This has nothing to do with baseball or DC, but it's just too good to pass up. It appears that our good friend Ron Mexico, star of STD tests, radio call-in shows and the Las Vegas FatBurger will be making his video game debut this fall, courtesy of Midway.

Rage Against the Dying of the Light

It feels like the baseball world is already making arrangements for the Nationals funeral. They're planning to cremate Chad Cordero's hat and sprinkle the ashes on the outfield fence. I'd like to point out that this team is still ten games above .500 and that we're still in the fight. You have to win games early on in the season to have a cushion for when the inevitable slump happens. The Nationals did that and now that's going to save their collective asses.

Hopefully with the pressure off the team can regroup and remember what it took to take the division lead in the first place. There are some teams that just play better from behind and I think this is one of them. It's time to get a chip on our shoulder and start knocking heads.

There's a hell of a lot of baseball left and I'm not ready to write this team off.