These are exciting times in Nationals land. The Nats are currently in control of the NL East!

We realize that someone without any imagination, or joy in their life, might say that the team has been eliminated from the postseason, and is currently 15 games under .500.

To them we would point out that all of the remaining games for the Nationals are against either the Mets or the Phillies, two teams separated by 1.5 games in the NL East. In their last two games against the Mets, the Nationals have come from behind and sent a clear message that they are not going to roll over for either team. They seem determined to make both teams work for each victory, and the fate of the NL East could very well be decided with the Nationals on the field.

Photo by KJ Grabosky

RFK's Last Hurrah
On Sunday, September 23, the Nationals will play their last game at RFK Stadium. While this news is certain to make D.C. United fans happy, I will be a little sad. It's certainly not the prettiest or friendliest park in baseball, but tickets were cheap and transportation was easy -- two things that we will probably miss in the new stadium. The common complaint was that there was nothing to do at RFK other than watch a baseball game. As a person who keeps score for every game I go to, I never found this fact to be much of a problem. Tickets are still available for the last game at RFK, and the first 30,000 fans will get a commemorative t-shirt.

Let the Record Show...
One of Manny Acta's goals this year was to win 72 games, one more than last season. The Nationals are currently 68-83, and have to win 4 of their last 11 games to accomplish this goal. As Barry Svrluga points out, with the loss of players from last year, this would be quite a feat. The team has shed $30 million from its payroll and has lost Soriano, cleanup hitter Nick Johnson, and presumed staff ace John Patterson. Despite these setbacks, they are currently 2 games ahead of their record last year. In fact, the Nationals are 59-58 since May 11th. According to Tom Boswell, Trader Jim Bowden and Manny Acta deserve a lot of credit for the success that this team has had this season. Hopefully, this will be the last season for a while where a record of 72-90 can be considered a success.

Briefly Noted
Misschatter has the rundown of the first batting practice at the new stadium... The Nats claimed right-handed pitcher Enrique Gonzalez off of waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks... Dimitri Young had an MRI after being struck in the head by a grounder and may have suffered a concussion... Christian Guzman is going to try to return for the last week of the season.

Meaningless statistic of the week: The Nationals lead the National League with 79 ground balls hit while playing on Astroturf.