A win with no decades-old grudges

In other cities, a contest against the team that abandoned you, no matter how long ago the abandonment was and no matter how over it you should be, would be cause for much city-wide chest thumping and maddened calls for "revenge". A defeat to this team, consequently, would cause city-wide despair.

In Washington, however, there was no such chest-thumping and no calls for revenge regarding the recently completed weekend series between the Nationals and the ex-Nationals/Senators (aka, Twins). Even if there were such sentiments, no despair would be necessary this Sunday night, because the Nats left Minnesota with a series win. It's even possible to imagine they could have left with a series sweep if Dmitri Young's first-inning bomb had strayed a few inches left and into fair territory. And speaking of that near-home run, was that King of 'Tism Manny Acta out on the field to (briefly) argue the call? It was good to see, and it was even better to see Man Act handle himself like a gentleman in such a situation, in contrast to...you know. So before we surrender to the consternation that is the Gilbert Arenas Situation, let's pause to enjoy a great weekend of DC baseball.

A quick stat: 34 hits in three games, led again by Young and Christian Guzman, who now see their team-leading batting averages stand at .342 and .346, respectively. The bats are back, they just need to be timed a little better to capitalize on the extra baserunners. What is needed to accomplish this is a little positive encouragement, not snippy criticisms. With the hitting improving and healthy pitching on the way, 'tism levels should be spiking about now. Having soundly left the Worst Team of All-Time talk behind them, these Nationals should head straight for .500 and not look back, landing ChairManny a Manager of the Year award in the process.

Going back to pitching for a moment, this weekend series also finally answered the question: Is Levale Speigner better than a Cy Young winner?

In all, a nice start to the gimmicky portion of the schedule. Next up, a series in the afformentioned revenge-thirsty Charm City.

The Chorus of Defiance

Maybe you too have been riding the high-cresting wave of 'tism that is sweeping through RFK stadium after the Nats brilliant trip through the depths of the NL Central. Sure it came to a bit of a crashing halt last night by way of Brad Penny's mullet and Juan Pierre's slapping, but ever since overcoming injuries to 80 percent of their starting rotation, harnessing the untamed dance that is the Chico sideways fastball and withstanding the plague of the Speigner, the Nats are the talk of the town.

Playing the muse to frequent DCO topic Thomas "milky whiteness" Boswell, the Nats, with "more wins than the Yankees," have inspired one of the most compelling pieces of 'tism yet to be printed this season. It's only fitting that Boz's latest 'tism opus, where "The Plan" is praised, Matt Chico is "promising," Shaun Hill is Brandon Webb, and Hanrahan, Fruto and Ballester are big-upped, comes on the heels of his 3,472,387,013,478th bashing of the Baltimore franchise and their clatch of whiny overpaid oft-injured "pieces." It is pretty sweet that Ted Lerner isn't mortgaging off one of his grossly overpriced high-rises in Bethesda for the services of forgettables like Aubrey Huff, David Segui, Albert Belle and Will Clark, instead relishing in the dreg-tastic goodness of Mike Bacsik, Jason Simontacchi, Dmitri Young et al. Of course Boz pleads for the organization to open checkbooks come '07 for the always ballyhooed, yet never fruitioning free agent class. The DCO, never one to stray from The Plan, say, forget that. Look again at the Yankees (and again look at their worse record than the Nats), who have consistently added checkbook-crunching free agents to their glam-rock lineups only to have them suck, get hurt, get caught, or get hated on. Big-dollar free agency in baseball has worked in very very few instances, and the names of such bustaroonies as Vaughn (both Gregg and Mo), Pavano, Drieford, Ashby, etc. all ring a lot louder than Pedro Martinez (and that is not counting his brilliant days in Queens, right Mets fans?).

Another reason why the Nats are/will be better than the O's is the presence of a much more awesome manager, possibly even the greatest manager in the history of baseball, Manager Acta. I think more praise needs to be heaped on Manny for stitching this lineup together, something Sam Perlozzo can't do with six available outfielders all whimpering and dugout-slapping. ChairManny benches negligent powerhitters for not gutting out groundouts, seeing the efforts blossom into productive seasons. ChairManny knows when to pull strugglers like Speigner after two innings of hittable pitches, unlike Perlozzo, who was way to slow to touch the hand while Dannys Baez was on the mound tossing BP pitches in one-run games. This is how Manny Acta is treated in his hometown. This is how Perlozzo is.

Notable Ravens Missing from Training Activities (Plus MAO of the Week 5-18)

We here at the DC Optimist don't intend to make a stink about what seems to be a minor occurrence at the Baltimore Ravens' training facilities, where key team cogs Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Jonathan Ogden, Chris McAlister, Samari Rolle, Trevor Pryce and Kelly Gregg were M.I.A. (kind of like the Ravens' offense in the playoffs last year). The DC Optimist sees no need to point out that Lewis, who was understandibly pouty after not being selected to the Pro Bowl last year (even if he backed in later on), may be seeking a new contract that respects his value to the team despite glaring health issues. We do not feel it is necessary to mention the fact that even if these workouts are labeled "optional," these very important locker room presences will not be together to make sure that the fabled draft classes the Ravens obtain every year (Chris Redman and Kyle Boller included), can learn from the winning tradition in the Charm City. In fact, we may not even mention certain players and their off-the-field non-murder transgressions.


No, we here at the DC Optimist are realists. We see a team lead by an aging, oft-injured quarterback who specializes in five-yard dump-offs not named Mark Brunell withstanding a glaring playoff flameout last year against a dome team in their Hamsterdam backyard, in addition to taking on a new, also often injured running back heading to the diminishing returns stage of his career, remaining invincible to criticism. Why if you posess the prestigous pomposity of coach like Brian Billick, whose offensive genius has yet to be realized in 9 years in Balitmore, you can simply deflect all media criticisms and point to results. We could write an 800-plus word opus smashing the management of the Ravens for losing communication with such important individuals during this critical time period, held much closer to the beginning of the season than the OTA's of the Redskins (who still can note just one missing player). But that would be trite, and it could be refuted, say three days later.


Similarly the baseball team that has represented ballmer, and for a woeful period of time the District, can point to their results when criticism arrives, just as a rather cowardly annonymous commenter may have done in a recent DCO insight (although this commenter is anonymous enough to be likely located in the great state of Delaware, home of Dow chemical plants that spurt foulness onto I-95 like deer entrails).


No, instead of trying to start some meaningless war with Ballmer in the midst of two transitioning teams moving in opposite directions meeting up (one losing five straight, one winning 6 of 7), we will instead look to ultimate positivity, our hallmark. We look to our May 18th MAO of the week, Redskins running back and entertainment phenomenon, Clinton Portis, who on a very special episode of Ballers on the BET network, guaranteed that the 'skins would be in the NFC championship. Portis, an expert at press-handling, shook off the negativity-laced questions from hard-hitting "journalists" like Guy Torry, John Salley, and an even more annoying Hugh Douglass, providing us with a statement that will drive us throughout what looks like a massively successful 07: "The haters is my motivation." Simply brilliant work, again, by Portis, who also praised Joe Gibbs, praised the draft strategy, praised Jason Cambell and said he needed his '06 injury woes to rest. We too saw something special in the manner that the Redskins handled their offseason and also predicted similar results. As for a prediction in Baltimore? How about puzzlement.