dd
I always enjoy reading the "other" teams newspaper after a Nationals win [there's never any fun doing this when they lose -- too much gloating], and thus pointed my browser towards the monolith that is the Chicago Tribune.

I'll interpret the paper's article for you: Nick Johnson hit his home run because Greg Maddux couldn't plant his foot properly and Neifi Perez made those two errors because the infield was in bad shape. "Thank you for reading the Chicago Tribune"

Why did Neifi Perez make those two errors that allowed the winning run to score? According to Cub manager Dusty Baker, the RFK infield "was a little chopped up," adding, "Neifi doesn't miss those balls." Oh, so it's that "poor playing surface" thing again. Really? Jamie Carroll didn't make any errors, but I guess the grounds crew must come out between innings and "chop" the infield up during the bottom half of the innings. I suppose Neifi Perez must be really angry at the conditions at RFK.

Hey Neifi, The Beltway Boys are giving you all the space you need to rip RFK. Go ahead -- have at us:

"No excuses. If I'm playing, I have to make those plays" said the dimunative short stop.

Wow. The player who made the errors that led to the Cubs losing to the Nationals says that he should have caught those two balls and the infield had nothing to do with it.

The article also addressed the problems Greg Maddux had with his plant foot on the front side of the mount. Oh, gotcha. If Maddux is able to plant his foot properly, there is no way he gives up a loooong home run to some guy named Nick. Is that right, Tribune?

Hey Greg, sorry man. Looks like RFK jumped up and bit you in the butt too. Right?

"The grounds crew did a super job of fixing it," Maddux said. "It's always nice to have excuses when you screw up, but that wasn't one of them."It was a bad four pitches to Guillen and a bad three pitches to Johnson that put me in the hole. I wanted to throw the pitch I threw. I might have thrown it a little higher than I would have liked to, but he got me."

To The Tribune, who tried to infer that the playing surface at RFK is no better than the little league field I played on as a kid in Falls Church, and to Dusty Baker, who couldn't consider the possibility that we simply beat his team: Nanny - nanny - boo - boo.

As of this morning, the Washington Nationals are a better team than the Chicago Cubs. We are 20 - 17, a half game out of 2nd place. The Cubs are 16 - 20, 7 1/2 games out of first and treading water fast. Both teams have lost many of its key players, so that is no excuse for the Cubs poor play. And my personal favorite note: Though Washington hasn't had major league baseball for over 34 years, we have won a World Series since 1924, and you haven't.

Life's not fair. Just ask any DC baseball fan since 1971. Things just have a way of working themselves out, that's all.