Washington Nationals’ fans got a taste of what the future could be on Tuesday, as John Lannan dominated the New York Mets and the team backed him with timely hitting and stellar defensive play. Lannan threw 106 pitches, 80 for strikes. His seventh inning was his best: he threw seven pitches, all of them for strikes, setting down the Mets almost effortlessly. While Lannan got most of the credit for the win, the 4-0 blanking of the Chokes would not have been possible without the defensive play of centerfielder Nyjer Morgan, whose third inning catch against the wall saved three runs. Morgan has been a spark for the team, who made another circus catch later on in the game. The scoring began with timely hitting from Adam Dunn. This was the first win for interim-manager Jim Riggleman.

The impressive win energized Nats’ fans, who have had little to cheer about since the all star break. Lannan was given a standing ovation at the end of the game and fans chanted his name along the first base concourse during the post-game. Some of the fans were almost giddy: “F … ing John Lannan,” one fan shouted, which brought laughter and cheers from the crowd. You’d have thought the Nats had won a playoff game. Even so, the fans (and club ownership) got a taste of what success can look like: a dominating shutout of a NL East rival (the first complete game shutout since former Nats hurler Pedro Astacio accomplished the feat in August of 2006) and a happy fan base enjoying a game on a beautiful night in D.C. The shape of things to come. We hope.

Down On Half Street: I caught a foul ball in the third inning off the bat of Omir Santos, though it was hardly a diving stab. The ball hit in my row (which was empty) and bounced my way, so I grabbed it and flipped it to a kid with a Nats cap sitting two rows further down. You’d have thought I was Gandhi. Later in the inning, a woman came up to me and said, “now that was really nice, let me buy you a beer.” I protested, but she trotted up and returned with a MGD. One inning later the boy’s father arrived with a Budweiser. When I protested (“I already have a beer”) he waved me off: “Have another one.” In the fifth inning, a man plopped himself down beside me. “My name is staff sergeant Adam Lambert” (well, it was something like that) “and I served my country in Anbar Province,” he said. I shook his hand, and he continued: “I’ve noticed that everyone’s buying you beer . . .” So I told him the story. “Hey, that’s pretty great,” he said. “Let me buy you one.” I protested once again, pointing to the beers in the holders in front of me. “So, you going to turn down a Marine staff sergeant?” The question was rhetorical. So that’s three beers in two innings . . .

A reader from Annandale — “Pam” writes that “Down on Half Street” should be called “Down near the Navy Yard Metro.” She continues, “the park is not really on Half Street.” Yeah, okay, but still, Pammy, it doesn’t have the same ring . . . The stadium seemed almost empty when the first pitch was thrown last night, but filled up. There were still people coming in during the third inning. Washington is getting a reputation for their late-arriving crowd. By the end of the night there were over 23,000 in the stands . . . Scott Olsen is done for the year, which is a kind of exclamation point for the tenure of the dearly departed Jim Bowden, who was delusional enough to believe that Olsen and Danny Cabrera were the answers to the Nats’ pitching woes . . . Readers can comment on-site (as irritated Mets fans have recently), but for those who need to contact us directly our email is centerfieldgate@gmail.com . . . Readers will also note the appearance of our sister blogs on the right hand column . . . and for those of you following along in your book, CFG has added readers in Argentina and (gasp) Malta. I have no idea why . . .