Thanks to another win last night, the Washington Nationals improved their first-place lead over the Braves and Mets by a full game. Not only that, but they extended their win streak to 5 games — that’s the record. Of course the Nats are ranked third overall in the NL behind the Padres and the smokin’ St. Louis Cardinals, but when you see them ranked in order, the Nats look all the more impressive: Philadelphia and Florida, the teams ranked last in our division, fall into the NL’s middle third.

But it still doesn’t always feel like the Nats are a hot team.

Tuesday they defeated the dismal Oakland A’s, but it didn’t look like a win until the bottom of the 6th, and even then won just 2-1. The one-run wonders are back. Manager Frank “F-Rob” Robinson, who caught flack from fans back when the Nats were losing, yesterday tried to steer clear of analyzing the victory: “I don’t know what it is, and I’m not going to tamper with it. We’re having success, so we’ll leave it alone, but it’s certainly not easy on the stomach.”

So the Nats don’t feel like such a hot team, either.

In other news, today the Nats made the franchise’s first pick in the Major League draft. With the fourth pick overall they selected 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman, a native of Chesapeake, Virginia, and and attendee of UVA. The Post reports Zimmerman will probably sign his contract at an RFK Stadium press conference today. As a way of reminding you just how society values your contribution, Zimmerman is 20 years old and is about to collect a signing bonus said to be just shy of $3 million.

Recommended: BallWonk channels the innermost thoughts of an inanimate object so we can know what it’s like for a baseball.