Baseball pundits are getting fired up about the Nationals’ acquisition of Gio Gonzalez. At least he didn’t come from the Phillies.

Though opening day is still a whole winter away, looking at Scott Ableman’s photos of the Nats’ stadium near completion makes our mouths water for peanuts, hot dogs, and beer. If all goes as planned, come late March we’ll be enjoying dogs and beer in what Thomas Boswell called “A Thing of Beauty.”…

It took Joe Gibbs a few minutes to get to his point, but after only a couple cursory questions, he was able to say that, yes, the guys sure did “play their guts out” yesterday. It’s become a mantra of his, as though we’re rooting for a team of underdog high school kids and what matters isn’t whether they win or lose, but how they play the game. No matter the futility, the mind-boggling play…

Here’s the good news: Jason Campbell looked good in his first game as, well, anything for the Washington Redskins. The descriptives you’ll hear all week will be “poise” and “command,” traits that he showed in abundance both on the field and, with an easy charm mixed in that’ll only make you want to root for the kid more, in his post game interviews. His stat line isn’t world-changing: 19 of 34 for 192 yards only…

Damn it. Baseball doesn’t make it easy on the Nats. Last year, the team opened their season with an extra long road trip to allow time for final RFK upgrades. This year RFK is in good shape (relatively), but Washington will still kick things off with six games on the road, beginning with three against the spend-happy Mets. In yesterday’s afternoon opener at Shea, the Nats avoided Pedro and played well, but one more elbow…

As Ryan wrote earlier this morning, much of the District went to sleep last night thinking the stadium lease had been voted down, fearing that they may wake up to MLB announcing it was defecting to across the river. And surely enough, local newspapers thought much the same — the Examiner’s headline this morning reads “Council Rejects Stadium Lease Deal; Mayor Williams Cries Foul” while the Washington Times similarly proclaimed “Council Rejects Stadium Lease.” We…

Let’s start this off with a show of hands: If you thought the Nats would sweep last night’s double header in Atlanta, raise your hand. Now, everyone who thought the Nats would get swept in last night’s double header in Atlanta, raise your hands. Now, the rest of you, who thought the Nats would split last night’s double header in Atlanta, raise your hands. Ok, now if DCist counted correctly, most of you thought the…

>> Wins on Friday against the free falling Cleveland Cavaliers and on Sunday against the Charlotte Bobcats coupled with an Indiana Pacers loss at Miami have moved the Wizards into 5th place in the Eastern Conference playoff race with just two games to go. The Wizards overall record now stands at 45-35 and the team has won four in a row since their five game losing streak. With the Pacers two games back with only…

Thomas Boswell may namecheck “Amazing Grace” in his profile on Coach Joe Gibbs, but best we can say about the Redskins, floundering in the NFC’s lower depths at 3-7, is that they’re neither lost nor found, just looking to turn a corner on this season and get the “ship” righted. Coming out of their battle with the Philadelphia Eagles at the Linc this Sunday, the 28-6 score says everything and nothing about the season thus…