See, DCist is taking the positive view of things. Playing their worst baseball of the season, the Nationals left for a thirteen game road trip that began at Houston, the team directly above the Nats in the wild-card standings and the team that just swept the hometown boys in RFK, and they avoided the worst possible outcome. They could have been swept again. They could have lost their entire starting lineup to (further) injury. They could have all hit that stupid outfield pole in Houston chasing fly balls. But they didn’t. They won one game. They watched new call-up Brandon Watson double and homer in that victory. They saw all-star pitcher Livan Hernandez homer and move into a tie for second place on the career homer list for active pitchers. They saw Jose Guillen return from his shoulder injury and promptly hit one out.
Glass. Half. Full.

Of course, no baseball writer can mention the Nats these days without trotting out phrases like ‘free-fall’ or ‘collapse.’ Of course, the Post has switched from glowing feel-good coverage of game-ending applause and warm-fuzziness to highlighting how Christian Guzman is the player every Nats fan hates. Of course, we do hate him, despite the fact that he seems like a really nice guy, because he’s wildly overpaid, hitting less than .200, and fields like a mad scientist replaced his hands with veal cutlets. Of course, Frank Robinson has resorted to having more closed-door meetings than the Masons. Of course, of course, of course.

But, the East Cap Boys (just trying it out, is all) sit a mere three games off the wild card pace. And they travel now to Colorado, where batting slumps go to die, and where Preston Wilson and Vinny Castilla had more hits than Motown. And they still have the players that won them fifty games in the first half of the season. Most of them, anyway.

So DCist is positive. Relentlessly, irrationally positive. But what do the readers think? Has the Nats swoon caused the district’s interest to wane?