I spent my evening watching Livan Hernandez squeeze bunt into a double play.
How was your Monday evening? (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

Padres 3, Nationals 1: If you’re a sports fan, chances are that you’ve experienced that feeling of blind loyalty — you know, that conscious urge commanding you to watch your team, despite their lack of competitiveness or the fact that they are playing the late game on the West Coast. “Hey,” that voice will tell you, “you never know; something exciting might happen!” Sadly, more often than not, that voice is very, very wrong. And so it was on Monday night, as whatever Nationals fans who could claim themselves die-hard enough to stay up past midnight in order to watch a team with nothing to play for certainly found nothing exciting in last night’s 3-1 loss against the Padres. Oh, there were plenty of conclusions to be had, mind you — just none of them particularly enthralling: Willie Harris sure is no Nyjer Morgan at the top of the lineup; Livan Hernandez (7-9) has got to be bummed that another decent outing ended in defeat; and — don’t ask me how — the Nationals may be the only team in professional baseball who are capable of hitting into a 1-2-3 double play with the squeeze on. All this against a team consisting of Adrian Gonzalez, Tony Gwynn’s son, David Eckstein and six guys you’ve probably never heard of. Yup, sometimes that inner voice of loyalty is just a no-good, dirty liar.