Bonjour! This Nats update is coming to you straight from Paris -- that is the level of our devotion to this team. How has the team repaid us? Well, they've gone 7-3 over their last 10 games, own a better record than 6 teams in baseball, and have all but guaranteed that they will not finish last in the NL East. They are currently 6 wins away from tying last year's record, a feat that......

Since we last left the Nationals, the team has gone 4-3 and pulled itself out of last place in the NL East. They are one win away from 63, and thus avoiding the humiliation of triple digit loses this year. They are also nine wins from tying last year's total. These are the metrics we have to use to judge a team that wasn't really competing for the post-season anyway (during the pre-season, Vegas......

UPDATE (4:10pm): Nuthin! Per Barry Svrluga, the Nats passed the trade deadline without making a move, despite a flurry of late rumors. While they might make minor moves in August (like last year with Livan), they decided against moving Rauch or Cordero. Let's hope Chief's feelings aren't hurt and he strikes out Dunn for the save tonight! UPDATE (2:35pm): The Red Sox, rumored to have sought after Cordero since last winter, have reportedly filled their......

We were rubbing our eyes last Sunday as we watched the Nationals sweep the Florida Marlins to win their first series of the year. Then they took 3 of 4 from the Braves and knocked them out of first place in the NL East, and now we’re asking ourselves, “Who the hell are these guys?” With only two of their regular starters hitting over .250 and none of them within shouting distance of .300, they......

>> If you've ever thought about having a wedding of any kind, we'd recommend stopping by Olsson's Courthouse store tonight to listen to The New Yorker's Rebecca Mead, whose most recent work explores the sinister workings of the $160 billion wedding industry and has been the talk of the internets of late. Tomorrow we'll dig up information on the best ways to elope for anyone who was in attendance. Mead reads from One Perfect Day:......

With apologies to a certain antacid maker, this is how the Nats spell relief: S-E-R-I-E-S-S-W-E-E-P. Coming on the heels of an agonizing road trip and an eight-game losing streak, there was no better cure for the ailing Nats than coming home to RFK to face the streaky Marlins. By the end of the weekend, the Nats had picked up the three game sweep (which was actually their first series win of the year), as well......

Put the champagne on ice, kids. The Nats, at 4-9, are threatening to climb out of last place for the first time since last June, ahead of struggling Philadelphia. Both teams are 4.5 games back, but the Nats have one more win thus far. Try washing down your $90 million payroll with that, Phils fans! After a dreadful first turn through the rotation, the Nats starters have rebounded with some impressive performances as of late.......

Well, Nats fans, what's there to say? What can we add to the criticism leveled by so many others? What can we say about an opening week where the Nats have yet to lead for a single pitch? When the pitching has spotted the opposition leads of 6-0, 6-0, 5-0, 4-0, 7-0, 6-0, and 3-0? When the lineup needed 30 at bats to finally get a hit with a man in scoring position? When the......

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......

Redskins Stumble out of Preseaon The Redskins dropped their fourth and final preseason game last night, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 17-10. The loss sealed the first winless preseason in Joe Gibbs' 24 years as a coach. Though common wisdom dictates the insignificance of the preseason, there should be cause for concern among Redskins fans. The team scored a meager 27 points over the 4 preseason games, their lowest total since 1961. Their first-team......

We've been warned: Building a winning franchise from the ground up takes patience. Getting better means taking your medicine, and the Nationals have been gulping it down lately. This week the Marlins crammed a few spoonfuls of bitter syrup down the Nats’ throats, sweeping three pathetic contests that were bad even for August baseball. The Nats have now lost five straight and are a season-low 19 games below .500. Hopes of finishing the season somewhere......

Who hasn't had the fantasy while drowning in tedium at the office? Your boss is down on your judgment. You’re catching a lot of flack in daily meetings, with colleagues questioning the reasons for your poor performance. So you end one work day on a tirade: kicking chairs, yelling at no one in particular, and storming out. We don’t regularly recommend that approach to our readers, but something seems to have worked for Brian Schneider,......

Just a speed bump on the road back to a competitive season? Or a return to earth for a team playing way beyond its ability for nearly a month? In either case, the Nats did not look good in dropping the first two of a four-game set with Colorado on Monday and Tuesday. The Nats began the week having won six of their last seven series, winning at a .696 clip during that span.......

A few weeks ago, the Nationals were down and out, battling to stay in front of the Florida Marlins. Now, after a weekend sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee, the Nationals, led by Alfonso Soriano's hot bat, are on the rise. Winners of three in a row and 12 out of their last 17, the Nationals face off against their NL East rivals this week in a set of six games that could make or......

Just two days after Ken Griffey, Jr., and the Reds overcame a three-run 11th inning deficit to stun the Nationals' bullpen, the Braves terrorized the Nats beleaguered pen. This time, Jeff Francoeur beat Chad Cordero in grand style Saturday night to send the Nats to what was then their fourth straight loss. The Nats headed into the 9th on Saturday with a two-run lead, but the usually reliable Cordero struggled from the start. He......

You gotta give The Kid points for style. After nearly a month on the DL, Ken Griffey, Jr. returned to the Reds last night with a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th. Unfortunately, the Nationals were the unlucky victims of Griffey's 539th career home run. With Alfonso Soriano mired in an 11-for-58 slump and on the bench, the Nats scored three in the 11th to pull ahead 4-1. Three relievers tried......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Benjamin Kabak. For seven innings on Sunday, it looked like the Nationals would come away from the weekend with a two-game sweep of the rain-shortened series with Atlanta. But over the space of three batters on Sunday night, Gary Majewski and the game fell apart. In the end, a three-run home run by Braves shortstop Wilson Betemit highlighted a night of futility for the Nats offense. The Nats'......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Benjamin Kabak. After taking two of three from the Philadelphia Phillies this week, the Nationals return to the confines of RFK Stadium to face the division-rival Atlanta Braves in a three-game series this weekend. If the weather holds up, that is. Thursday's 10-4 drubbing of the Phillies capped off a successful week for the Nats as Frank Robinson became just the 52nd manager to reach the 1000-win plateau.......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jeff Beam. Just another day at the office for the 2006 Nationals. After Monday's much-needed day off, Tuesday was off to the races. By midday, the team had learned that Ryan Drese would be out four to six weeks, but would avoid season-ending surgery. By the late evening, when Gary Majewski was wrapping up a 10-3 victory in Philly, their GM was on the hot seat, and the......

>>The votes are in and as of now, it looks like the Washington Wizards will not be represented in this year's NBA All Star game. Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, both elected last year, will have to make other plans for All Star weekend after the coaches left them off of their ballots this year. Arenas is a suprising omission given that he's fourth in the entire league in scoring in addition to the......

But for a few cities in flyover country the baseball season is effectively over, and the rest of the nation has turned its full attention to the gridiron. In Washington, the story is no different, this being the peak of the D.C. sporting year, and the Post is in full Skins swing, plastering banner photographs on Monday editions above war news and natural disasters. For real baseball towns, however, the offseason is an art in......

Well, they just won't go away, will they now? In winning their last two straight against the Mets, your Washington Nationals have made up a little ground in the Wild Card standings. Hector Carrasco took the baton from an ailing John Patterson on Tuesday night, coming through with four solid innings and setting the tone for a 4-2 win (Rauch, Eischen, Majewski, and Cordero combined for five scoreless innings). Last night, Esteban Loaiza gave most......

Devastating? Gut-wrenching? Demoralizing? Time to dust off your thesaurus to find the most appropriate word to describe the Nationals’ _____________ (adjective of your choice) 9-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves yesterday afternoon at RFK. No matter how you say it, this one hurt. Bad. Despite overcoming a 6-0 deficit and grabbing a 7-6 lead courtesy of a furious five-run rally in the bottom of the eighth, Chad Cordero coughed up three runs in the ninth......

Let's start this off with a show of hands: If you thought the Nats would sweep last night's double header in Atlanta, raise your hand. Now, everyone who thought the Nats would get swept in last night's double header in Atlanta, raise your hands. Now, the rest of you, who thought the Nats would split last night's double header in Atlanta, raise your hands. Ok, now if DCist counted correctly, most of you thought the......

After losing an absolute heartbreaker on Saturday night at Shea to the NY Mets, the Nationals bounced back yesterday, scoring six runs in the first inning and holding on to beat the Mets 7-4. Things were going so well for the Nats that Christian Guzman doubled twice and also drove in two runs, raising his batting average to an almost robust .194. Esteban Loiza pitched 6 1/3 inning on three days rest, striking out......

The longest month in the brief history of the Washington Nationals came to a merciful end with a 4-2 victory over the Marlins yesterday afternoon. Livan Hernandez earned his 13th win and ended the Nationals skid with an eight inning, two run effort, and Chad Cordero pitched a perfect 9th for his 35th save. But what a difference a month makes: The Nats entered the month of July with a 47-31 record and proceeded to......

There are 1001 baseball clichés that can be used to describe the Nationals' recent skid and 7-11 record in July, and even though last night's loss marked the inevitable return of the Atlanta Braves to the top of the NL East heap (Nats and Braves own identical 54-41 records), maybe it's time to dust off a tried-and-true cliché that should act as a Band-Aid and a mantra for the DC baseball fan's soul: "It's......

After dropping three of four in Milwaukee over the weekend, the Nationals hit the reset button and return home for a seven game homestand, welcoming NL West bottom-feeder Colorado to DC for a three game series that begins tonight. The Nats lead the NL East by 1.5 games over the Atlanta Braves, who split a four game series with the NY Mets over the weekend. The good news is that the Nats have played......

(Entry written by DCist contributor Chris Kelly) So it's a fact that the banged-up Nationals need a breather, after playing .500 ball over their last 10 games leading up to the all-star break and losing 2 in a row. And it's a fact that at 52-36, tied for the 3rd best record in the majors, the Nationals are the best story of the 2005 season (so far), improbably leading the NL East by 2.5 games......

(Entry written by DCist contributor Chris Kelly) The Nationals head up I-95 to Philly for a 3-game tilt before they hit the All-Star break, following yesterday's 3-2, 11 inning loss and a 3-1 series loss against the Mets (first home series loss since April). Nats blew a chance to win it in the 9th yesterday with two men on and one out, but neither Jose Guillen nor Brad Wilkerson could get the job done. For......