Nationals News

Rangers edge Lightning 2-1 to earn sweep success in trip to Prague
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October 6
New York Daily News
 
"The Mets watched their season come another bitter end last Sunday. Sunday, the salt was rubbed into the wound when the Phillies, the team the Mets let blow by them in the final weeks of the season, advanced to the NLCS with a 6-2 win over the Brewers, the team that edged the Mets for the wild card. And if that weren't painful enough, Philadelphia did it by hammering Jeff Suppan, the same Jeff Suppan who pretty much kept the Mets out of the World Series in 2006 all by himself. The Phils, who were swept in the first round last October by Colorado after edging the Mets for the NL East title, will have ace Cole Hamels fully rested when they play host to Joe Torre and the Dodgers in Game 1 on ..."
Jim Zorn's energized Redskins rally, beat Eagles 23-17
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October 6
New York Daily News
 
"At one point early in Sunday's game, Redskins coach Jim Zorn was jumping up and down on the sideline as if he were getting ready to come out of retirement and start looking for Steve Largent again. Jason Campbell asked the old quarterback if he wanted to take his pads and his place. "Just getting ready, I've got to get ready, too," Zorn told him. So should the rest of the league. Something is going on with these Redskins, who were supposed to be the poor sister in the stacked NFC East. But taking a cue from their energetic, inventive, always-positive new coach, the Skins pulled off their second straight divisional upset on the road Sunday, rallying from two TDs down to pull out a 23-17 ..."
Eagles crumble in loss to Skins
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October 6
Philadelphia Inquirer
 
"Now the Eagles are standing on a fault line. There is no way of knowing if the earth is going to open beneath them and swallow them whole or if they'll still have some nice beachfront property three months from now in their posh NFC East community. All that's known for sure is that they are the team in their talent-rich division with the least margin for error with 12 weeks remaining on the NFL's regular-season calendar. The Eagles placed themselves in this precarious position today by squandering an early two-touchdown lead on their way to a 23-17 loss to the surging Washington Redskins at Lincoln Financial Field. A second straight loss left the last-place Eagles at 2-3 in a division in ..."
Player development coming slowly, surely
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October 1
Washington Times
 
"By the traditional metric of baseball success - wins and losses - the Washington Nationals' minor league teams enjoyed a productive 2008 season. The organization posted a winning record for the first time since the team came to the District, its 432-405 mark the ninth best in baseball. Three teams qualified for postseason play, with two of them (Class A Potomac and the Nationals' Dominican Summer League affiliate) winning league championships. But in the minor leagues, player development takes precedence over the final record. By that standard, 2008 is a little harder to judge. Myriad injuries and ineffectiveness at the major league level forced the team to move some players through the ..."
Nats return to scene of the (original) crime
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September 29
Washington Times
 columnist Thom Loverro
"This was a fitting place to end the Washington Nationals season - the 102nd loss coming by the score of 8-3 at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. After all, this was where the beginning of the end started nearly six months ago - the place where everything that had been going so right suddenly went wrong and never stopped. It was April 3, an afternoon game. Expectations were soaring after the dramatic opening of Nationals Park on March 30 with the ninth-inning home run by Ryan Zimmerman that resulted in a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves before a national television audience. The next day in Philadelphia, the Nationals pummeled the Phillies, the favorites to win ..."
Nationals enter offseason of change
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September 29
Washington Times
 
"The Washington Nationals' transition from a forgettable season to a winter of change and perhaps better fortune began even before the 2008 season came to an end Sunday afternoon. In the eighth inning of what would become an 8-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Nationals announced wholesale changes to their coaching staff, with everyone but manager Manny Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire losing their jobs. Associated Press Odalis Perez lasted just 3 2/3 innings in the Nationals' 102nd loss of the season. Five coaches who had been with the organization the last two years were fired: bench coach Pat Corrales, hitting coach Lenny Harris, third base coach Tim Tolman, first base ..."
Nats End Season With a Series of Goodbyes
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September 29
Washington Post
 
"After Washington's final game of the season Sunday afternoon, the most experienced man in the organization walked out of the clubhouse for the last time, no longer with a job. Pat Corrales -- like four other Washington Nationals coaches -- had been informed that morning, before an 8-3 loss against Philadelphia -- that his contract wouldn't be renewed. Corrales understood. He owed the last 50 years of his life to professional baseball. It was his purchase on perspective. He spoke in measured tones. The team, for the final time, was still "we." We lost 102 games, worst in baseball. We took our beating. "We did some good things and a lot of bad things," he said. In conjunction with the ..."
A Strained Season Off the Field, Too
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