This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King, and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out and......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

MONDAY: In case you missed him at Politics and Prose last month, left-of-center sports writer Dave Zirin will be at Busboys and Poets to discuss and sign his latest book Welcome to the Terrordome, which tackles the topics of race, class, politics and identity and how they play in the mainstream media's coverage of athletes. Hip-hop activist Son of Nun is scheduled to perform. 6:30 p.m. TUESDAY: Busboys and Poets will hold a forum to......

Well, we may have been reluctant at first due to his, um, colorful past (as were many others). We also doubted his All Star chances. Now, though, we’re now firmly aboard the Dmitri Young Chuckwagon. In the same week he was named to the NL team for next week’s All Star Game in San Francisco, Young went 3-4 yesterday. His day was highlighted by a grand slam, cementing the Nats 6-0 win in front of......

Baseball’s amateur draft hasn’t quite established the same caché as the NFL, with All Day Draft Coverage, mock “war rooms” and the like. This is partially because baseball’s deep player development system delays the impact of most draftees and partly because baseball’s draft has twenty bazillion rounds. Even without a media circus, though, the 2007 Draft looms large for the Nats and their plans for future development. Many of their decisions over the past few......

The talk about the Nationals being the worst team in major league history seems to have been slightly exaggerated. That being said, they've been pretty awful in losing 5 in a row, including being swept by the Cubs this weekend. The Nats are 9-22, 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East and 5.5 behind the fourth place Phillies. And they face the surprising Brewers, who have the best record in baseball,......

For all the hand wringing over the Nats 9-17 April record (the second worst in baseball), the month's last game provided some vindication for many of the teams fans, and especially for centerfielder Ryan Church. At the beginning of April, Church's fate with the team was cloudy, with his supporters almost hoping he could be traded to find another opportunity. A quick glance at the lineup before a 3-2 win over the Padres late Monday......

We were glad to see him signed, and we hate to see him go, despite the fact that his memorable, 40-40 year didn't translate into a winning season for the Nats. While the home club was nominally trying to retain their star left fielder, Washington's offers ultimately came nowhere near the money Soriano will receive from his new team, the Chicago Cubs. His announced deal, $136 million over 8 years for an average of about......

Morning, fair DCist readers. How was your weekend? Did you do any of the numerous activities in the area, like the homeless walkathon, or celebrating an elephant's fifth birthday? Did you go on a fruitless hunt for the elusive Wii? Or perhaps you got married in a Roman castle? You could have signed with the Cubs for $136 million! Whatever you did, we hope it was excellent. The start of this week seems to......

Having dismissed Frank Robinson at the end of the season, the Nats are casting a wide net for possible replacements. Reports yesterday regarding the sudden firing (and availability) of four-time World Series winner Joe Torre now appear to be premature, according to the NY Post. With the nascent Torre-to-the-Nats campaign already toast, we take a look at the other candidates in the rumor mill... Lou Pinella Experience: Played briefly for O’s and Indians, but mostly......

Somehow, the world of -ists managed to make it through the week despite news that Jen & Vince broke up. -Chicagoist had fall on their mind as they made squash and fudge, read "House of Leaves" and ">tried to figure out what's next for the Cubs. Not fall related, but still of utmost concern, the whole skinny black pants thing. -Torontoist fought off an evil scourge of raccoons and went to go see who......

Happy Wednesday, Washington. We don't know about you guys, but we feel strongly that last night was excessively hot. Especially if you were stupid enough to wear jeans while sitting outdoors drinking beer — as muggy as it was, just peeling those suckers off and managing to climb into bed with a fan pointed straight at your head was a minor miracle. So it is with great fanfare that DCist announces, starting today, three days......

On Friday, I attended the Nationals game against the visiting Cubs, where the transfer of ownership from MLB to Ted Lerner had prompted a "reopening" of the old park, complete with red carpets, giveaways, and marching bands. The celebration drew an announced crowd of about 35,000, slightly more than the amount by which the Census Bureau revised the District's population upward on Saturday, according to the Washington Post. That stadium-full (nearly—still 10k short of filling......

Despite (or maybe because of) their stadium issues, the Washington Nationals and their new owners are reopening RFK Stadium this weekend, introducing new concession stands and a food court and cleaning the place up a bit. There will also be fan festivals before the games and decent pre-game concerts, with U.S. Army bands playing on Friday, go-go legend Chuck Brown on Saturday, and Virginia's Pat McGee Band on Sunday. And the part we're most interested......

Well, being that it's Friday, make that three happy thoughts. But given that today marks the start of the World Cup and the last day that we'll hopefully ever have Tom DeLay in Washington, it's looking to be a great day. Host country Germany kicks off the tournament against Costa Rica -- this DCist's favored team -- today at noon, at which time DeLay will be packing boxes in his Capitol Hill office and trying......

The weeks starts out right when a sucker punch on the field lands Chicagoist in the middle of a Sox/Cubs throwdown and the fists continue to fly in the comments. Despite suburban resident Ms. Pinney's best little try no books will be banned anytime soon and the El is really really gross. Houstonist is there to start compiling the punditry when when the guilty, guilty Enron verdict comes down. This guy seems to be able......

After 22 straight scoreless innings, things looked bleak for the Nationals. With their highly-anticipated Battle of the Beltway on tap, the Nats had to beat the Cubs and Kerry Wood making his first start of the season. Well, a little bit of lineup shake up did the trick as four players, including Damian Jackson and Marlon Anderson, homered in a 5-3 victory over the Cubs. Firmly in fourth place, the Nats can now look ahead......

Livan Hernandez finally managed to stay out of early trouble last night, but his teammates couldn't cause any of their own against Carlos Zambrano. The 24-year-old right hander spread four harmless singles over eight innings to shut out the Nats 4-0 in Chicago and pick up his second win. No National had more than one hit. Alfonso Soriano struck out three times on the same day the Post commended him for not letting his......

A weekend trip to Colorado might have been just what the doctor ordered for the oft offensively-challenged Washington Nationals, who appear to be breaking out of their offensive doldrums just in time for the second leg of their make-or-break 13 game road trip. After a 4-2 win Friday and an 8-0 thrashing Saturday night, the Nats completed the three game sweep by pounding the Rockies 9-2 yesterday. More importantly than winning (and sweeping) their first......

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......

(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......

Despite losing to the Mets yesterday at home, the long weekend was very good the Washington Nationals. They swept the Cubs over the weekend, drew their largest DC crowd ever yesterday and even got some front page love from the folks over at ESPN.com. Oh, and lest we forget that we have not one, but two All Stars on our roster. Livan Hernandez and Chad Cordero will both be making the trip to Detroit......

(Entry written by DCist contributor Chris Kelly) The Nationals saw their 12 game home winning streak come to an end yesterday at RFK as a result of a 9-5 roasting at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. Orlando Hudson of the Jays broke a 5-5 tie in the 8th with a two-run home run off of Luis Ayala. Sunny Kim gave up two more in the 9th to put the game out of reach.......

Two of the National Zoo's new cheetahs now have names thanks to a voter contest, the Post is reporting. Voters named one of the males Askari, Swahili for "guard" or "watchman," and one of the females Imara, Swahili for "strong" or "strength." But direct democracy was shuttered with the other two cheetah cubs as zookeepers took it upon themselves to name the cubs. One male is now known as Damara, named for a Namibian......

Last night at the National Press Club, Nats fans got a few minutes of Nationals president Tony Tavares' time. He appeared with the W. Post's John Feinstein, NPR's Scott Simon and moderator Marvin Kalb, as part of Kalb's semi-annual "Kalb Report" interview show/discussion panel. Besides the always-hot topic of steroid abuse, one of the evening's big subjects was Sammy Sosa and published reports that D.C. came thisclose to getting him. Responding to talk that another......

To add to your Web repertoire of animal cam viewing, the National Zoo now has a camera focused on the new cheetahs born at the zoo in November. The cheetahs, seen here in this National Zoo photo a few weeks after they were born, are now eating meat, but are still nursing. As of earlier this month, the cheetah cubs weighed five pounds each. The National Zoo has a number of animal cams (see......

Today will be partly cloudy with highs in the 50s. As we've noted, we'll be on a lighter posting schedule until Monday, Jan. 3. We couldn't resist posting the above photo of two Cheetah cubs born at the National Zoo in November, the first born there in the zoo's 115-year history. 'Meet the cheetahs' on the National Zoo Website for more. Baseball Deal Approved: As expected, the council approved the last-minute baseball deal reached......