The first time they tried to inaugurate the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, they got a hurricane. This time, it's looking like a soggy week will give way to a sunny weekend. more ›

• Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 2: Garrett Mock (1-4), who spent two-plus years in the Arizona farm system before coming to the Nationals, earned his first win of the season against his old organization. Mock had easily his best outing of the season, striking out seven in six innings. The righty's only real mistake was a two-run homer in the fourth off the bat of D'backs powerhouse Mark Reynolds -- but that was quickly evened out by a longball from Josh Willingham in the bottom half of that inning. The Nationals offense exhibited balance, with seven players getting at least one hit against Dan Haren (11-7). Washington also didn't make an error in the field, and the bullpen was perfect -- Jorge Sosa (getting his first save of the year) and Sean Burnett combined for three innings of flawless relief. The seven game streak is the longest for the team since a ten-game rip in June of 2005, and the Nationals now find themselves but four and a half games away from shedding the title of worst record in the majors (hey, baby steps).
• Freedom 3, Sky Blue FC 1: The Freedom closed out the regular season with a victory against Sky Blue FC, clinching a third place finish in the league's inaugural season and the right to host next Saturday's opening-round playoff match. Abby Wambach and the side came out firing at the SoccerPlex, and the fiery forward had a tally within the first 20 minutes. Connecting again with Lisa De Vanna (who also scored), Wambach sealed her brace on a low cross shortly after the interval. The Freedom will either host Sky Blue in a rematch or Boston next Saturday at 4 p.m for the chance to move on to the semifinals -- they're probably hoping for SBFC (against whom they are 2-0-1 this year) rather than Boston (who has defeated the Freedom twice in three games).

Brewers 7, Nationals 5: While the Nationals might not have much to play for standings-wise, at least there's always the intriguing potential for any one game to come down to that most dramatic of individual showdowns. more ›

Kastles Win WTT Championship: We'll have photos and a report from last night's title-clinching victory by the Washington Kastles over the Springfield Lasers tomorrow. more ›

• Cubs 6, Nationals 5: Well, the Nats scored four runs in the first two innings, smacking six hits off Cubs starter Randy Wells (5-4), whose ERA rose from 2.72 to 3.00 -- so that was good. It's just too bad ex-Nat Alfonso Soriano had to go and ruin all the fun. Soriano's three-run bomb in the sixth knocked Jordan Zimmermann (3-5) out of the game and the Nats out of the lead. A Mike Fontenot dinger doubled the Cubbies advantage in the eighth. But the Nationals certainly had a chance to make a move, loading the bases twice in the bottom of the eighth against Aaron Heilman; but Cubs closer Kevin Gregg coaxed Ryan Zimmerman into a sac fly, and got Josh Willingham to groundout to maintain the lead to extinguish the threat. Gregg then retired the side in the ninth to earn his 18th save.
• Freedom 1, St. Louis Athletica 0: The Freedom, playing at RFK for the second time this year, picked up a much needed win against St. Louis on the back of a 74th minute Homare Sawa goal. Your soccer oddity of the afternoon: after starting keeper Kati Jo Spisak went down with an injured quad in the second half, goalkeeper coach Nicci Wright had to strap on the gloves -- and make a couple of saves to preserve the victory. Wright, who signed a short-term contract just for this weekend, was filling in for normal backup goalie Erin McLeod who was on international duty with Canada.
• Mystics 68, Liberty 67: The Mystics survived a fourth quarter surge from their Big Apple visitors -- who outscored Washington 25-10 in the final period -- and held on for a one-point win. Reversing some previously bad fortune at the free throw line, Lindsay Harding (who had a spectacular night with 23 points, seven boards, and five assists) hit two free throws with eight seconds left to seal the win. Shameka Christon paced New York with 21 points.

• Silver Stars 79, Mystics 78: Well, so much for that undefeated homestand. The Mystics lost another heartbreaker last night, even though they outscored the Stars in both the third and fourth quarters. The Mystics downfall? The dynamic duo of Becky Hammon and Sophia Young, who scored 41 of San Antonio's 79 points. (More than half the team's total points? Not too shabby.) The Mystics had a chance to win on the game's final possession, but Lindsay Harding's inbounds pass was stolen. Harding scored 18 points and Alana Beard had 17 to lead the Mystics, who are now 2-5 in their last seven after starting the season with a 4-1 record. But they've still got an fuzzy panda mascot (see right), so that's got to count for something.
• Freedom 4, Sky Blue FC 4: In the highest scoring game in the league's admittedly short history, the Freedom battled back from deficits of 3-1 and 4-3 to earn a point on the road in New Jersey. Chalk it up to one of those crazy soccer matches which defy all reason, especially for SBFC: in 14 games this year, the Garden Staters were both scoring and allowing less than one goal per game. Natasha Kai and Kacey White both had braces (that's two-goal games for the soccer-impaired) for Sky Blue, including a cool 86th minute tally off the boot of Kai which seemed to settle matters. But cue the insanity -- Freedom defender Cat Whitehill, of all people, put in the winner in stoppage time: a true poacher's goal -- after a save by Jenni Branam parried the ball off the crossbar, the ball simply fell into Whitehill's path and she would have had to try not to score. Lisa De Vanna also scored twice for the Freedom.