The Nationals have named an interim manager to replace Jim Riggleman, who abruptly resigned yesterday afternoon due to a contract dispute, in time for today’s game against Chicago — John McLaren is the club’s manager for the time being.

The Nationals crept over .500 with an exciting 1-0 win over the Seattle Mariners this afternoon — but the atmosphere in the clubhouse soured quickly, when manager Jim Riggleman announced his abrupt resignation.

Even with the Bryce Harper drama all taken care of, the Nationals are about to be busy, busy bees. Starting tonight, the team will play games on 16 consecutive days before finally getting a day off on September 2. With the daily grind, extensive traveling (nine of the games are on the road), and manager Jim Riggleman’s love of musical chairs, let’s set the over/under for the number of different batting orders (minus the pitching spot) at 6.5. We’ll even give you a freebie on September 1st, when the roster expands to 40 players. (Note: Your prize will either be the pride that comes with being right or the humility that comes with being incorrect…your perceived equivalent monetary value may vary.)

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo issued an implied vote of confidence over the weekend, saying that he has all the faith in the world in Jim Riggleman and that the manager deserves to be back for the 2011 season. The Nats are playing watchable baseball, to a degree, which is more than could be said during the Manny Acta regime (as if Cleveland isn’t suffering enough). If nudging back towards mediocrity is the goal, then Riggleman has absolutely honored his contract. Faith is a frustratingly intangible quantity, so let’s explore some truths before we throw words like “deserve” and “faith” around.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/misschatter/ / CC BY 2.0 The Nationals will be holding a news conference at 2:30 p.m. to officially name their new field manager, but there won’t be any surprises: Jim Riggleman will be returning to manage the team on a permanent basis in 2010. Both ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian and the Associated Press reported last night that Nationals sources confirmed that Riggleman would have his interim tag removed today. Riggleman led the Nats to a somewhat…

Braves 8, Nationals 1: You think you had a bad day? Nationals manager Jim Riggleman certainly can relate.

Brewers 7, Nationals 3: It’s kind of amazing that with all the negativity the Nationals have experienced this year, the team’s manager had only been ejected once in 2009. (Once the losses start piling up, screaming at umps probably seems like a waste of energy.)

Photo by ameschen.It took a little bit longer than expected, but Manny Acta is officially no longer the manager of the Washington Nationals, as first reported by ESPN Deportes and confirmed by the Associated Press. It was certainly time for the Nationals to make the switch: between a downward spiral of poor performances, color commentators (usually some of the game’s biggest cheerleaders) questioning the team’s effort, local media fondly reminiscing about the old manager,…

Photo by Flickr user pjhaveri. Ideally, this column is scheduled to run on Mondays. We held it until today because after this report by Fox Sports, and the Nationals subsequent non-denials, we were certain that Manny Acta was going to be fired yesterday. Well, he wasn’t. It still seems likely that he will be, it is more a matter of when at this point. If it happens before Sunday, you can expect Bethesda Big…

Photo by ameschen.Ken Rosenthal at FOXsports.com had the scoop that beleaguered Nationals manager Manny Acta will be relieved of his duties at some point this week, replaced by current bench coach and former major league manager Jim Riggleman. The forty-year-old Acta, the youngest active manager in the bigs when he was hired in 2007, has accumulated a 148-235 record in his two-plus seasons with the team — but has seen a steady negative decline…