Three Sentences Reveal Aversion to Optimism

The gladness brought on by the recent run of stellar play by the Nats can only be heightened by knowledge of the dead weight they’ve purged. We speak, of course, of Felipe Lopez, who earlier this week had this to offer as an excuse for his subpar performance in Washington:

"Like I said, the motivation - just being dead last, I guess. Like going out there knowing you're probably going to lose isn't motivating. That's tough. That's tough, for me."

Manny did his best to motivate, but on some the message is lost, especially on someone whose very being is apparently immune to any notion of optimistic thinking (0-3 for the Cardinals last night, by the way).

What of Felipe’s middle infield replacement? Doing just fine, and lifting the team with him.