Prompted by the opening of online balloting for the 2007 All Star Game a few weeks ago, we recently started wondering who might represent the Nats in San Francisco (since, you know, somebody has to).

Dmitri Young? The guy's hitting for a scorching .500 average over the last 21 games. But he's mired behind popular stars like Albert Pujols and Nomar Garciaparra, as well as reigning MVP Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder's 23-homer bat. Even though Ryan Zimmerman has been hot lately, he's got a long way to go to catch leading third basemen like David Wright, Miguel Cabrera (.333, 47 RBI), and Aramis Ramirez (.299, 13 HR). The same goes for Austin Kearns and Ryan Church in the outfield.

What if the answer turned out to be the unlikeliest of them all? What if it turned out to be the biggest surprise of the season thus far? Crazy as it sounds, our All Star might just be Cristian Guzman.

Yes, the same Guzman that struggled to hit .219 in the team's first year in D.C in '05. The same guy that missed all of last year, and most of April and May this year because of shoulder and leg injuries. For Jim Bowden's (many) detractors, that Cristian Guzman and his $4M+ salary is the most damning evidence that JimBo doesn't belong in the front office. An entirely different Guzman, however, has been crushing balls in the No. 2 spot in the order for a month now. But don't take our word for it - here's Post beat writer/blogger Barry Svrluga recently in the Nationals Journal:

Cristian Guzman is hitting .352. How is he doing that? In the past 10 games, since May 30, he is 23 for 43 (.535). No one in baseball is hitting for a higher average during that span. Repeat: Cristian Guzman is the hottest hitter in baseball.

Before fans had even swallowed the enormity of that statement, given Guz's short history as a Nat, Svrluga followed that post with an article this morning in the Post that goes a long way toward recasting Guzman as a talented, hardworking, even likable guy. He goes back to guys in Guzman's past like LaTroy Hawkins to find out what went wrong (and what's now going right) with Guz, focusing on his shoulder and eye surgery as the primary corrective measures. Still, I'll bet my seats in the new stadium next year that no one - not even smilin' Jim Bowden himself - could have envisioned this headline on the team's webpage back in March.

We know, it's nuts. He only has 32 games played thus far. Even in that limited play, he has six errors. We also know that Jose Reyes of the Mets is the surefire starter at short. After him, however, the picture is much murkier. Are fans really dying to see Hanley Ramirez or Edgar Renteria back up Reyes? If Guzman keeps this up for another month, is his position not the easiest path to a reserve spot on the NL squad? Is this the real Cristian, or is Guzman about to tailspin back to his 2005 form?

Find out for yourself just up the Parkway in Baltimore as the Nationals try to even the season series against the Orioles. Micah Bowie takes on the O's Daniel Cabrera tonight. If all goes well for the Nats, Chad Cordero could notch career save No. 100 tonight, becoming the second youngest to do it.