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 on a pair of home runs by Chipper and Andruw Jones to send the Nats reeling.

Today marks the team’s first day off since their August 29th rain out against Atlanta. Since then, the Nats have gone 6-8, which at first glance seems hardly sufficient for a team that’s fighting for a playoff spot. But thanks to a pair of teams (Houston, Philly) that seem unwilling, or incapable, of seizing a decisive lead in the Wild Card standings, the Nats have managed to hang around in this race the last few weeks. With 18 games left on the schedule, the Nats still only trail current WC leader Houston by four. But while the team is still mathematically alive in the hunt for the playoffs, yesterday seemed to be yet another indication that maybe it’s just not meant to be. Saturday’s tough 4-0 loss took the air out of Friday night’s emotional 8-6, come from behind win. With the ragged pitching staff beat up and beaten down, and a clubhouse that is by all accounts pulling in opposite directions, yesterday’s loss just might be the nudge that finally pushes the 2005 Nationals season over the edge.