Well, we knew this was a possibility, but still, what a disappointment for all the folks who are headed to Monday’s Nationals home opener against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Washington Times is reporting that President Obama is going to decline the Nats invite to throw out the first pitch at the stadium of the season, due to his busy schedule. USA Today’s sports blog picked up the story too, noting that Obama also had to turn down a chance to toss out the first pitch at a White Sox game while he was in Europe.

Guess which paper hasn’t confirmed the report? The Washington Post. The Times was the first outlet to report, last month, that Obama appeared likely to accept the invite, but since then The Post hasn’t had much to say about it, other than a line in Marc Fisher’s column yesterday indicating he expected the president to appear. Does The Times have better White House sources than The Post on this, or does The Post think The Times might be wrong?

UPDATE: The Post’s Michael A. Fletcher finally reports on the 44 Blog that a White House spokesperson has confirmed that Obama has declined the invite from the Nationals.