The Nationals Report

So we signed our top 20 draft picks. Atta boy Lerner's, way to splash the cash. That being said as excited I am that we signed McGeary, the deal is structured so that he won't be pitching for the Nationals any time soon. But its always nice to stockpile good arms, and evidently the kids smart too, going to Stanford and all. Glad to see the plan is moving forward. And if you believe Aaron Rowand's quote on nats.com yesterday, word has gotten around that the Nats farm system is getting back to the monster it was in Montreal.

What I was more excited about yesterday is that my predictions of a homestand sweep turned out to be unfounded. I am a bad person. I lost confidence in the team after blowing the lead Tuesday and thought that we would fold up like a lawn chair for the rest of the homestand. But they didn't listen to me and Tim Redding went out and came up trumps again, at the dish and on the bump. And though he got into a jam late in the game, the bullpen cam in and doused the fire (Ayala might be the best reliever no-one's ever heard of, he is nigh un-hittable)

So that brings us to tonight contest. I'm not really who I should be more worried for. The Nats have to face Cole Hamels, but the Phillies have to face Hanrahan. The middle of the lineup for Philly has looked pretty hapless so far in this series, its been the rest of the lineup that is killing us. Perhaps we're sandbaggin' it a little bit to those guys and really concentrating on the big guns. Either way, I dont' expect us to fully shut down the Phils tonight, but who can really. But I'm predicting another quality start from Hanrahan, 1 or 2 runs only, and another curly W in the books!