In the waning twilight of the Nats' lost season, Saturday night's win will forever stand out in star left fielder Alfonso Soriano's memory. While many DC fans focused their sports weekend on last night's 'Skins/Cowboys tilt, about twenty-four thousand were on hand to see Soriano swipe second base, and with it, a little piece of history. It was his 40th stolen base of the season, and along with his 45 home runs, it made him the fourth player to ever get 40 of each in a single season, joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez.

Four players, in over a century of baseball.

That's a damn exclusive club, especially considering that the membership might have been two fewer had Canseco and Bonds not (allegedly) juiced their way to inflated power totals. He may not be able to maintain the career-high numbers he's put up this year, but there's little doubt that the leadoff spot at RFK suits Soriano. His historic season will earn him a large contract for next year, but it remains to be seen whether he will cash his checks in DC.

Partly due to Soriano, the offense has really come around in the last few weeks (Tom Boswell had a nice analysis in Saturday's Post ). Despite the miserable starting pitching, the Nats are fighting hard to close out the season on a positive note. Having won four of their last five series, they start one with the Braves tonight at RFK.

Photo of the historic steal by Flickr user MissChatter