A Day after I lambasted outfielder Brad Wilkerson for just not being what the Nationals need in the outfield during this pennant drive, for striking out too much, for going weeks with little or no production, the on again / off again centerfielder was on again, going 3-5 with 4 runs batted in and no, repeat NO, strikeouts. Gee, maybe he reads "The Beltway Boys."

After getting bombed in the first two games of the series, Washington came back to salvage the final game behind a 15 hit attack. Sunny Kim pitched another exceptional game for the Nationals since being recalled from AAA New Orleans, giving up only one run in 5 innings, striking out 5 and walking only 1. His ERA dropped to 2.81.

Let's talk about Jamie Carroll for just a moment. Carroll has a career batting average of .272, and many new Nationals fans [me among them] said, "Hey, let's play him full time at short or second -- he's a good player." Well he is, but he isn't able to play on an every day basis. When he does, his production drops considerably. Now that he's getting more rest, he's playing better again. Filling in for Vinny Castilla at 3rd base Sunday afternoon, Carroll got 3 hits and has raised his average to almost .260. Another benefit of the Junior Spivey trade.

So, a third way into this 9 game road trip, the Nats are 3-3, with 3 more games to go against the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Are we satisfied with a 3-3 record so far? We darn well better be. The Rangers and Angels have a combined record of 76-59, a .562 winning percentage. So, against the top two teams in the AL West, on the road, we split. I say wow! The Nationals played so much better in Los Angeles because the Angels have a more traditional ballpark, more conducive to the Nats style of play. The Ballpark in Arlington, although attractive, is not a place to play NL, station to station, good pitching and defense type of ball, the Nationals style of play. The close-in outfield fences and small amount of foul territory take away many of the Nationals strengths. If the Texas park benefits offense, why then didn't it help the Nationals too? With that smaller outfield, the outfielders play much closer in, and are better able to stop bloop singles and cut off potential doubles. Our kind of an offense plays better in Denver than it does Arlington.

So, we're off to Pittsburgh, where the Pirates currently sit in 3rd place in the NL Central with a record of 31-36. They are 16-17 at home, and are 4-6 in their last 10 games, Certainly ripe for the picking. I'd guess the Nats will win 2 out of 3, and end the road trip with a record of 42-30. The Phillies, currently in 2nd place, 2.5 games behind, goes to New York to play the Mets, the worst in the division.

The main point all Nationals fans need to remember is that we shouldn't be in a pennant race; we shouldn't be in first place, and we shouldn't care less about the standings right now. Repeat after me: A .500 record in September is great ... a .500 record in September is great...." That we are in 1st place right now feels great. Listening to Jeff Brantley wax poetic about the Nationals this evening on Baseball Tonight is tremendous. But winning the division will hurt the Nationals, and we don't want that. The new owner will say, "Hey if we can win the division [or wildcard] with a $47 million dollar payroll, why should I invest in a larger payroll?" No, lets finish well, but have a couple glaring weaknesses that need fixing. Let's let the new owner's checkbook make us even better than we are.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 5:59 PM