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(photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Don’t look now, but the Washington Nationals are officially hot.

After winning exactly two out of their first 21 series, the Nats have now won their last two – taking two of three games from the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Coming off the heels of a four-game losing streak (three straight to Tampa Bay and the series opener versus the Yankees) the Nats somehow righted the ship against the AL East, the best division in baseball, and won four straight (before yesterday’s 9-4 loss). For a team still on pace to lose 114 games this season, that’s impressive.

Here’s a quick recap showing just how solid Washington’s starting rotation has been over the last week:

Last Tuesday in the series opener against the Yankees, pitcher Shairon Martis gave up just one earned run over six innings. Sure, the Nats eventually lost the game 5-3, but Martis lasted long enough to throw 106 pitches in an attempt to keep the always shaky bullpen out of the equation.

Starting pitcher John Lannan was great the following night, allowing two runs and four hits in 8 1/3 innings, as the Nats snapped their four-game losing streak and “stole” a victory from the mighty Yankees 3-2.

After a five-and-a-half-hour rain delay Thursday, starting pitcher Craig Stammen earned the first win of his young career, shutting out New York over 6 1/3 innings in a 3-0 win and giving the New York newspaper plenty to write about.

Friday’s game was another epic battle, with starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann giving up one earned run over 5 2/3 innings as the Nats took game one from Toronto 2-1 in 11 innings. Zimmermann might have gotten a no decision, but it wasn’t because of anything he did.

Saturday’s match-up featured more of the same, as the Nats and Blue Jays needed extra innings once again to decide a winner. Ross Detwiler, in just his seventh career start, gave up two runs over seven innings in a 5-3 win that finally ended with a Willie Harris walk-off home run in the 12th inning.

That’s six earned runs allowed by five starting pitchers over the span of 33 2/3 innings (good enough for a sparkling 1.60 earned run average). For a rotation full of youth and inexperience, those are numbers that bring tears of joy in an otherwise dismal season. Sure, things went south yesterday as Martis got roughed up in the first inning and the Nationals lost 9-4, but we’re here to accentuate the positives.

There’s little reason to believe the Nats can sustain this momentum against the defending champion Boston Red Sox, but hey – folks didn’t give Washington much of a chance against the Yankees this time last week and we saw how that turned out.

Chances are the Red Sox will continue to win games while the home team reverts back to mediocrity, but maybe the Nats catch another giant off guard. Crazier things have happened, right?

(photo by Frank Franklin II)

Back in the day, you’d hear someone say something outlandish like, “I don’t care if the Redskins lose every other game, just as long as they beat those damned Dallas Cowboys” and you’d wonder if that person actually meant it.

Would this individual really be okay with a 2-14 season as long as Washington’s two victories came at the expense of their biggest rival? Or were they simply saying that if that year’s ‘Skins only won twice, please let both wins be against Dallas?

Whatever the case, we couldn’t help but think of this demented rationalization after the Washington Nationals managed to win two out of three games against the mighty Yankees in New York this week. Last night’s 3-0 win at Yankee Stadium improved the Nats’ record to 18-46 and gave them back-to-back wins for the first time since early May.

To recap, we have one of the league’s elite franchises, those Damned Yankees, with their $200-million payroll lining up against a Washington team so bad that they’re nine and a half games behind Arizona … for 29th place.

Coming into the series the Nationals were just 6-23 on the road this season, and yet, were the better team for much of the three-game series.

In game one, the Yankees needed a late-inning rally to a steal victory from the Nats. Down 3-2 heading into the seventh inning, New York scored two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to get CC Sabathia his sixth win of the season.

Wednesday night, the Nats were led by New York native John Lannan, who pitched into the ninth inning (preventing the Nationals’ shaky bullpen the opportunity to blow the game). Lannan gave up solo homers to Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon, but was otherwise stellar in his first outing back home in New York. How improbable was this win? Prior to this game, New York had been 23-0 when holding their opponent to three runs or less this season.

Last night was more of the same – Washington got off to an early start (well, after that whole five-hour rain delay) and thanks to a strong outing by a Nationals starting pitcher (this time it was rookie Craig Stammen, who picked up his first career win) the Yankees are now left to face the brutal New York media after their most embarrassing series of the season.

Since the Nationals entered the series with a .262 winning percentage, they are officially the worst team to beat the Yankees in a series in which the Yankees were at home. Ever.

The previous worst was back the St. Louis Browns, who were 38-99, way back in 1939.

Conversely, the Nationals won just their third series of the year and leave New York finally celebrating their first shutout of the 2009 season. Good times.

(photo by Irfan Khan)

At 6 p.m. tonight, Major League Baseball’s amateur draft will begin. And once the draft is officially underway, the Washington Nationals will use the first overall pick on San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the highly-touted 20-year-old who instantly gives hope to the entire fanbase.

Regardless of what outrageous signing bonus demands agent/antichrist Scott Boras makes, Strasburg will be the top pick and will be selected by the Nats. Anything else and Major League Baseball should retract the Washington franchise on the spot.

But here’s where things get interesting – the Nationals also hold the 10th overall pick after failing to sign last year’s first rounder, Missouri pitcher Aaron Crow. For those in need of a refresher, the Nats refused to meet Crow’s demand of a $4.4 million signing bonus a year ago, so he’s back in the draft pool and Washington gets to try again with a second high-draft pick.

Let us say this up front: we’ve been called a lot of things over the years, but a baseball scout is not one of them. That being said, if given the chance here’s what we would do if we were acting general manager Mike Rizzo when the Nationals are on the clock with the 10th pick – draft Crow again.

Sure, there’s a good chance he won’t be around when the Nats are back on the clock at 10, but in the event he’s still on the board, take him again. Crow is easily one of the top talents available in the draft. That’s never been in question. The issue was agreeing on a signing bonus (the Nats offered $3.5 million).

But there are two reasons why this can work – Jim Bowden is gone. Everyone else who still remains employed by the organization can simply blame it on him (for better or worse, everyone else around town does). And here’s why you take a second chance on drafting Crow – you’ll have all of the leverage.

Are you telling us he’d hold out again? The kid already sat out a year during one of the most important phases of his young and promising career. There’s zero chance he can afford to sit out another season. Unlike the Strasburg situation where the rookie is in the driver’s seat knowing a.) he’s talented and b.) most of the rest of the roster is not, Crow will have to sign quick and get back into the daily grind sooner rather than later. This is a game of chicken the Nats can actually win.

Chances are Crow will be already be off the board by the time the Nats are ready to select their second first-rounder, but should the unexpected happen and the Missouri righty is still be on the board, the Nationals would be wise to give him a second chance to make a first impression.

(photo by Nick Wass)

Win, lose or draw there’s one thing you can definitely say about the Washington Nationals – they’re entertaining.

Clinging to a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth inning, the Nationals showed why they lead the league in errors (and comically bad defense) with 50. Starting pitcher Craig Stammen allowed San Francisco Giants outfielder Fred Lewis and shortstop Juan Uribe to reach base on a pair of singles and then they advanced to second and third after a sacrifice by Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum.

The rookie pitcher would have walked the bases full but his offering to outfielder Aaron Rowand was in the dirt and got past Nats catcher Josh Bard, allowing one runner to score. Had that been the end of it, no one would have given the play a second thought. But for some reason, Bard decided to slide on his knees and blindly throw the ball in the general direction of home plate in a futile effort to get Lewis out. Unfortunately Bard’s throw was nowhere near the plate and sailed past Stammen, allowing Uribe to easily score as well. The only thing the play was missing was clown music. Or maybe Bob Uecker as the voice of a drunken Harry Doyle doing play-by-play.

Sure the Nats ultimately beat the Giants 10-6 and snapped a six-game losing streak, which is no small feat for a 14-36 team. But this play illustrated once again just how far this team has to go before it can reach a point where people feel like they’re watching a legitimate professional franchise. The New York Yankees set a major league record this week by going 18 games without committing an error. Conversely, the Nationals can’t go 18 batters without finding a way to screw up a seemingly routine play.

It’s too bad the Chicago Cubs have coined the term “Loveable Losers.” These Nats might not win very often, but you honestly can’t help rooting for them. The best part of gameday at Nats Park is watching the Racing Presidents just to see Teddy Roosevelt find a new heartbreaking way to lose every night. It’s not any different when the Nats take the field. They’ve got the worst earned run average in baseball (5.69). They’ve blown the most saves (13). They’ve committed the most errors. But at the end of the day, these guys are our losers.

We’ll rally around them now during the tough times just so that once they finally turn the corner and look halfway respectable it’ll be that much more gratifying. It happened for the Capitals. Hopefully, one of these days, the same will hold true for the Nationals.

(photo by Evan Vucci)

All eyes were on the mound last night as Washington Nationals rookie pitcher Ross Detwiler made his professional debut.

As previously mentioned, the 23-year-old was forced into action because of injuries and ineffectiveness with Scott Olsen. Things got off to a rocky start for the Nats when shortstop Christian Guzman picked up two errors in the first inning, but Detwiler still looked sharp. In fact, Detwiler was all fans could have asked for – throwing 84 pitches, 61 of which were strikes. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse after Detwiler hit the showers.

Nats pitcher Garrett Mock entered the game in the sixth inning. He threw just 15 pitches and here’s what happened – a walk, a wild pitch, a hit batter and a two-RBI double for good measure. No sense in letting the kid get a win in his first outing. Wouldn’t want it to go to his head, would we now? So Mock did us all a favor and picked up another loss for the league’s doormat, who are now 11-26 on the year.

Here’s the part where we state the obvious about the Nats’ 12-7 loss to the Pirates Monday night. They lost while scoring seven runs. For those who haven’t been paying attention (and judging by the attendance figures, that’s the majority of you), this has become a troubling trend for the home team.

Over the last nine games, the Nats have scored 57 runs (for the mathematically challenged, that’s more than six runs per game). There’s just one problem. The Nationals have gone just 1-8 over the same span because they’ve given up an astounding 78 runs (more than eight runs per game).

So while it’s awesome to see Guzman batting an NL-best .385 on the season, followed by first baseman Nick Johnson (.336 batting average), third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (.358 batting average) and outfielder Adam Dunn (.286 average and 11 homers), they basically need to score double digits just to have a chance at victory these days.

Oh, and just so we’re not only blaming pitching, the Nationals lead the league in errors with 37. Yes, they have 37 errors in 37 games. And yes, if you found a way to screw up every single day you came to work, you certainly wouldn’t be a millionaire. You’d be unemployed. But these are growing pains.

And while there are plenty of negatives begging to be dwelled upon, we’re choosing to focus on a positive. In his first pro game, Detwiler delivered. There are a dozen things around him to be concerned about and there’s no guarantee that he’ll be nearly as sharp his next time he takes the mound, but on this night, Ross Detwiler gave Nats’ fans a reason to smile.