Oh man, Josh Willingham is about to demolish that ball — he doubled on this cutin the eighth inning last night. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
- Nationals 3, Mets 1: It’s refreshing to have to decide which positive news from yesterday’s Nationals game to lead with in this space. Does one go with Josh Willingham’s four-for-four performance, including a two-run homer which put the Nats ahead for good? Or perhaps we start with Craig Stammen’s excellent performance on the hill, allowing but one run and four hits in seven-plus innings? Maybe we go with how David Gregory was distracted from the Presidential presser by the game? Hmm, okay, we’ll stick with the first two. Stammen (3-5) and Willingham both snapped out of slumps — the Nats had lost in four the Stammen’s last five starts, and Willingham was 0-14 at the dish since the All-Star Break — to key the Nationals to a surprising series win over the boys from Queens. Much-maligned closer Mike MacDougal even retired the side on three grounders in the ninth to earn his first save since July 5. Mike Pelfrey (7-6) took the loss, although he didn’t pitch poorly — but something tells me that the New York headlines will be less about Pelfrey’s hard luck, and more about the Mets’ vice president of player development recently challenging players on the team’s Double-A affiliate to a fistfight…while shirtless. (Look, they may have won two in a row, but our team is still 28-66 — sometimes, it’s just necessary to engage in some schadenfreude.)
- Kastles 21, Lasers 14: Well, would you look at that: the Kastles became the first team, on the 2009 season’s last day, to defeat the mighty and formerly-
unonce beaten Springfield Lasers. As a result, the team will get to play in the Eastern Conference championship match against the New York Sportimes on Friday. (Let’s hope that the boys can keep the etiquette in check this time.) The match, like most WTT matches tend to do, hinged on a few break points that went Washington’s way — the Kastles converted five of their seven break chances, while Springfield only got three of eleven.
