Showtime

Don't you love watching "checkout time @ the LaRoche Motel"? LMAO
Fastballs check in; Adam checks 'em OUTTA HERE!! 2-0 Nats, top of 2nd.
Strasmas on the mound. I got me a good feeling tonight.

Load of shit. All there is TO it.

Even though I was rooting for the Cards to win...Chipper's career shouldn't have had to end this way.Wow. Just, wow...
Chickenshit umpiring. Plain and simple.

So now you KNOW...

Only two more to go.

Two more starts for Stephen Strasburg, and then he gets shut down for the 2012 season. This coming Friday at home against the Marlins, and then a week from Wednesday (9/12)...against, dare I say??...the Mets.
(Oh, get your tickets early for both games, won't you? LMAO)
Look, we've known since the start of the season this was happening. No one had an inkling the Nats would have the season they're having...not even me.
So you'll understand why I'm not sweating this. I have all the confidence in John Lannan to pick up where Strasburg leaves off.
(And if that's not confidence, you tell me what is...lol)
Now if we can have the Braves start losing, so that they're out of the wild card picture...that'll make me so happy.

Cheers, Chipper!!

After watching Stephen Strasburg do his shit tonight...all 10 K's of it...we know the Nats have this series with Atlanta won. Only the game tomorrow is left.
Which means it's Chipper Jones' last appearance in Washington. So this is as good a time as any to salute Chipper, before the season (and his career) ends.
You have to understand, 20 years ago he was what Ryan Zimmerman is now...THE man at 3B. (Although my friend Mike just might disagree and put David Wright's name in place of Zim. Why quibble? LMAO)
Which reminds me...how come Fredi Gonzalez didn't have Chipper pinch-hit w/2 out in the 9th? You could've just as easily had him bat instead of Juan Francisco. Wonder if they talked about that during the Braves postgame show?
Anyway, the Nats are now 7 games up on Atlanta for the division lead. First Place Nats...that does have a nice sound to it, don't it?

To "Begin the Beguine" for another year

So now spring training is done for 2012. Good.
Come Thursday, the Nats launch an assault on the wildcard in the NL...which means it's time to give my prediction on how (and where) the Nats will finish.
Last year I said it would be 77-85...and it wound up 80-81. So I'll just reverse those numbers, and say 85-77 (and contend for the wildcard).
Oh, and 2nd or 3rd in the NL East, too. Meaning, ahead of the Mets and Marlins...again!! (Just like last year...lol)
This year I can honestly say the Nats are a playoff-caliber team...provided everything falls in place. And by that I mean Stephen Strasburg fully recovers from Tommy John surgery (just as Jordan Zimmermann did last year).
Now add Gio Gonzalez and Edwin Jackson to this rotation, and there's no telling what'll go down. Plus, I can say I have no reservations about Henry Rodriguez sharing the closer duties w/ Brad Lidge (until Drew Storen comes off the DL) at the start of the season.
All this, and Bryce Harper, too...
What, you didn't think I was leaving him out of this piece? Personally, I'm holding out for seeing him up w/ the big club by the time my brother and me go to Boston on June 8 to watch the Nats take on the Red Sox.
(His "bucket list" deal...before he retires from the government...and truthfully my only chance to see Fenway Park. I may never get this chance again.)
So that's it. Have at me, people...lol