You have to believe that Edwin Jackson is the pitcher that Mike Rizzo always wanted. Back when Adam Dunn was engaging in his version of Anacostia’s aerial bombardment, Rizzo thought of shipping him out to Chicago for Jackson, a stocky hard-throwing righty in Rizzo’s former organization — the Arizona Diamondbacks. That deal never went through (which remains somewhat of a mystery), but Rizzo continued to eye Jackson, who knows how to pile up innings and has one of the heavier fastballs in the majors.

Rizzo finally got his man today, signing Jackson to a reported one year contract worth between $8 and $12 million. Aside from the trade for the immensely talented Gio Gonzalez, the deal for Jackson solidifies what now must be considered one of the best starting rotations in the N.L. East — of Strasburg, Gonzalez, Zimmermann and (now) Jackson. That front four, when reinforced by Chien-Ming Wang and (perhaps) John Lannan, is likely to outperform the front four from Miami, or Atlanta, or New York, and maybe even from Philadelphia.

“The term and the value was too good to pass up,” Rizzo said of the Jackson deal. “We felt it improved our club immensely. There comes a point where his value was such that we were comfortable making the deal.” Despite his history with Jackson (and his continued flirtation with trading for him), the deal came as a surprise. The Red Sox were thought to be in the running for Jackson, as well as the Orioles.

It certainly helped that Jackson is a Scott Boras talent, and one year away from free agency. Boras is apparently convinced that Jackson would do better with a one year contract, than with a three year offer from elsewhere. In effect, this is a lease-to-purchase operation not uncommon in the great game, with Rizzo and Boras calculating the Jackson will pitch his heart out over the next months to up his value. But for Washington, and Rizzo, the added attraction is that Jackson will suck up innings: he threw 199 innings in 2011, 209 in 2010 and 214 in 2009. The kid (he’s only 28) is a horse.

There isn’t a thing to dislike about this deal, and Nats’ Nation has reacted accordingly. Federal Baseball was upbeat about the deal, while noting that the Jackson signing apparently puts John Lannan on the block — perhaps for that much sought-after centerfield leadoff hitter. Adam Kilgore, meanwhile, reports that the team will tweak Jackson’s wind-up, because the righty has had trouble tipping his pitches. Rizzo said that he doesn’t hide the ball well enough when he’s not in the stretch. Nats Enquirer also celebrated the news: “Well, a rotation of: 1. Stras 2. Gio; 3. Zimmermann; 4. Jackson; 5/6 Wang? Detwiler? Lannan? That’s a damn fine rotation. Bring on the Phillies.”

Pale Hose manager Ozzie Guillen has outdone himself: the outspoken South Side monument, known for his legendary rants, authored yet another one on Monday night — disputing a call from umpire James Hoye that shortstop Alexei Ramirez was out on a grounder. Guillen argued that the ball had dropped foul. This most recent “rant” is well worth watching, as it has Guillen kicking Cubs’ backstop Geovany Soto’s mask into an elegant trajectory, a visual that sparked Chicago wags to speculate that Guillen could be the Bears new punter.

Guillen’s latest antics mask (er . . . veil) his larger frustrations. The White Sox are 35-39 and 5.5 back in the A.L. Central race, and while that’s a damned sight better than they were a month ago, Guillen’s team is among MLB’s embarrassing underachievers. Free agent acquisition Adam Dunn is hitting .178, the pricey Alex Rios is at .210, “next big thing” second sacker Gordon Beckham is at .230, and the pitching staff (non-anchored by the now regularly injured Jake Peavy) is a shambles. Usually Guillen, one of the game’s great on-field captains, knows how to press the right buttons. But this year he seems to have lost his touch.

White Sox rooters have taken notice: South Side Sox is leading the charge against the front office, walking point on fan scapegoat Juan Pierre, whose play in left and on the base paths has been less than stellar. “If the rest of the lineup was doing what they were supposed to do, maybe we could live with Pierre,” the blog opines. “They aren’t though, so something needs to happen. That something is Pierre to the bench, or given his release. Pick one.”

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The Washington Nationals’ bullpen couldn’t hold onto a hard fought Washington lead, and the Nats were downed by a modest but effective late-inning rally in Milwaukee, 7-6 on Tuesday. The loss came at the expense of Nationals’ reliever Henry Rodriguez, who gave up a two out, two strike bleeder down the left field line to Brewers’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy in the 8th inning. “That’s baseball,” Rodriguez said after the game. “You guys saw what happened. It’s part of the game. It was a jam shot, and it fell in.” The hit was just enough for the Brewers to notch their eighth straight victory at home.

The bullpen, which has been stellar for the Nationals this year, looks like it’s starting to fade. Tyler Clippard was ineffective in the 7th, Rodriguez (who came in for Sean Burnett) was ineffective in the eighth — but nearly the entire crew has been struggling of late. Nationals skipper Jim Riggleman noted that the Washington pen has been the team’s highlight reel, but that it was almost fated that it would go through a rough time: “Our bullpen’s done a great job holding leads, and it just didn’t happen tonight.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: It doesn’t look good for Adam LaRoche. Bill Ladson writes that the first baseman has major shoulder issues and could face surgery — but first he’ll rest his arm, which includes at least two weeks of not touching a baseball . . . Michael Morse is swinging the bat. After a great Spring Training, Morse had trouble out of the gates. His grand slam home run last night is evidence that his power swing is back, but he’s also hitting for average. In mid-May he was hitting .235, he exited last night’s game at .282. He’s hitting over .400 in his last ten games . . .

It’s funny the way things happen. Over the winter, some Nationals fans were urging Rizzo, Riggleman & Company to forego a free agent contract for a first base replacement for the departed Adam Dunn (who’s hitting all of .192 in the Windy City) and put Morse at first base. Part of the argument was that the Nationals could spend their money more wisely on an outfielder with a good bat: to replace the departed Josh Willingham (who’s hitting .233 for the White Elephants). Now they have their wish. It looks like the Nationals are about to go with a set line-up of Rick Ankiel in center, Roger Bernadina in left — and Morse at first. That’s not bad, except that Morse will not only have to keep hitting, but step up his defensive game. Adam LaRoche was a wizard at first, and his glove will be missed . . .

One of our more regular readers and a CFG fan (here he is), sent along a piece from Wired magazine (that’s a first, because most of our readers read Maxim) noting the May 24 anniversary of the first baseball game played under the lights. It’s a pretty good read, and notes that erecting lights at Crosley Field was part of a desperate measure to keep the Reds in the Queen City (that would be Cincinnati of all places). Lights caught on around the rest of the league, the article noted, except in Chicago, where lights (and winning) were a late addition . . .

And speaking of firsts, if you haven’t read the article on the New York Mets ownership (and the Fred Wilpon-Bernie Madoff fiasco) in the New Yorker you should. The article is long, but you can do it (and you’re all grown up now, and it’s time), and it gives a fair and even sympathetic picture of the Mets’ owner and his struggles to keep his team. We were all set to dislike the guy (as with everything else blue and orange), but ended up thinking that, despite all of his problems with financing, Wilpon not only seems like a good sort, but (surprise, surprise) knows his baseball . . .

Cole Hamels pitched his first complete game of the season, shutting down the Washington Nationals and besting Livan Hernandez, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 4-1 victory at Citizens Bank Park. The sole run scored by the Nationals came off the bat of Michael Morse, who put a Hamels’ offering into the right field seats. Hamels was the Philadelphia hero on a night when Phillies fans welcomed Jayson Werth back to Philadelphia with a mix of cheers and boos.

The Hamels masterpiece should not have come as a surprise. The Phillies’ lefty is 9-0 in his last nine starts against the Anacostia Nine, with a 2.73 ERA. “Hamels was the story, he was really good again, hitting his spots with his fastball,” Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman said following the game. “It’s a good fastball, but he had a good changeup, as he always does.”

In The Valley of the Lost Bats: For the first time this season, MASN commenters F.P. Santangelo and Bob Carpenter wondered aloud what would happen to Danny Espinosa if his struggles at the plate continue. It’s possible that Riggleman could sit the second sacker, putting Jerry Hairston at second. Espinosa is hitting .219 and has struck out ten times in the last 10 games . . . The comment was telling. Back on April 22, Carpenter was asking where the Nats’ offense would be without Espinosa. Now he’s wondering if the kid can get back on track . . .

But if you’re going to sit Espinosa, you’d also have to sit Adam LaRoche, whose troubles at the plate make Espinosa look like Ruth. LaRoche is 0-17 in his last six games, his last hit coming on April 27 against the Mets. Then too, if you’re going to sit Espinosa, you’d have to swallow hard in defending Jerry Hairston as the heir — Hairston is not exactly hitting the ball on the screws: he’s  7-33 in the last ten games. Hairston is a good ballplayer, but he’s not DiMaggio. His lifetime BA is .256 . . .

And while we hate to say “we told ya so,” a little Alberto Gonzalez medicine would look good right now. The MASN boys regularly laid into Gonzalez for not being able to put the bat on the ball, but last year he hit better than either Desmond or Espinosa are hitting right now. Sure, Alberto didn’t like his part time gig in D.C., and it was time for him to head out. But it would be nice to see him at third now that Ryan Zimmerman is down. Then again . . . Alberto isn’t hitting the leather off the sphere for the Friars. After a good start, he’s hitting a torrid .172, and the Padres have settled into an infield of Jorge Cantu, Jason Bartlett, Orlando Hudson and Brad Hawpe, with Alberto on the bench . . . San Diego’s infield is (admittedly) mere filler, but not all that bad when you think about it . . .

Alberto Gonzalez isn’t the only former D.C. batsman who’s struggling at the plate. Pale Hose acquisition Adam Dunn has been almost embarrassing in Chicago, where he’s having problems acclimating himself to his role as a designated hitter. “What’s Wrong With Adam Dunn?” FanGraphs asked yesterday. Dunn is hitting a measly .157 in Chicago and looks terrible at the plate. Last night, he was the final batter faced by Francisco Liriano in his no hitter, lining out to end the game. “There are three reasons why Dunn is struggling so far,” FanGraphs says. He is having bad luck, “he has not found his power stroke,” and “his strikeouts are up.”

We love FanGraphs, but that doesn’t tell you a whole lot: the reason Adam Dunn is hitting poorly is because he’s hitting poorly. Right. The question is: why is he hitting poorly? The answer may well be that Dunn has not mastered the intangibles of the D.H., which requires you to be in the game and ready to play despite the fact that you sit the bench. D.H.-ing is a lot like entering the line-up as a pinch hitter four times a game; it takes real discipline to do it well. Dunn hasn’t developed that discipline yet, or he wouldn’t be hitting .157 — and the Chicago South Siders would look like contenders, instead of bums. Which, at 11 and 20, is . . . what . . .  they . . .  are.

The Washington Nationals have shocked the baseball world — signing former Phillie Jayson Werth (a top-of-the-heap free agent) to a heart-stopping and wallet-emptying seven year $126 million contract. Don’t even think about the numbers; instead, consider this: reeling from the loss of Adam Dunn and faced with an incipient fan rebellion, Mike Rizzo needed to show everyone from Atlanta’s front office to Cliff Lee and Carl Pavano’s agents that the Nationals are serious about becoming a winning franchise. Acquiring Werth will make everyone stop and think, including agents for top-of-the-rotation pitchers who mumble “forget the Nats” when they snore. This deal is expensive and there’s alot about it not to like (seven years sounds like two years too long and Werth is damn near 32), but Werth gives Washington the kind of baseball credibility that even the sainted Adam Dunn could never deliver (and should silence Ryan’s hints that the Nats coulda, shoulda, woulda and must do better). This is a guy with thirty-plus power with a .388 OBP in 2010. He’s a top-flight ballplayer signed to complement baseball’s best third baseman. He frightens pitchers.

Then there’s this: Werth is one of the most exciting players in baseball, a clutch hitting doubles machine who knows how to win, who’s played in the postseason and has a proven arm and glove — and who will be an immediate impact player even before next season’s first pitch. The Nats can start producing those Werth jerseys now — I’ll buy one, and I won’t be alone. This guy will put people in the seats. If there’s one downside it’s this: the signing of Werth will mean nothing if Rizzo doesn’t now go out and get the kind of pitcher that will make the Werth signing (ah) worth it. The team has the money to do it and the Lerners (and Rizzo) have said they’re serious about building a contender that will compete with the Ashburns, Chokes, Fish and Tomahawks. If this is the end, instead of only the beginning, then Zim and The Messiah will end up toiling alone in an empty park for a fifth place team.

The Chicago White Sox will announce tomorrow that they have signed free agent Adam Dunn. The Washington Nationals’ first baseman has made it clear that he does not want to DH, but his signing with the Pale Hose indicates that he is open to the possibility. His signing leaves the Washington Nationals with a void at first base. The current speculation is that the Nationals will now step up their pursuit of Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Carlos Pena, or perhaps D-Back Adam LaRoche. Of course, it’s always possible that the Nats will decide to use Josh Willingham as their first baseman, or perhaps even Michael Morris — no matter how unlikely those two possibilities may now seem. The departure of Dunn brings an end to the Nationals’ front office debate on whether to keep Dunn because of his bat, or to let him walk because of his defensive liabilities. The Nats chose defense.

Chicago’s signing of Dunn is not a complete surprise. The White Sox have always been interested in the slugger, and the Nationals and Pale Hose were involved in intense discussions on Dunn prior to this season’s mid-summer trade deadline. Now — with Dunn walking — the Nationals will receive a supplementary first round pick and Chicago’s 23rd overall pick in next year’s draft. Dunn, it is reliably reported, will sign a deal with Chicago far in excess of anything that he was offered with the Nationals: four years and $56 million. The Nats were reportedly only willing to offer him a three year contract. The signing of either Pena or LaRoche would be a step-up defensively for the Nationals, though Pena hit an anemic .196 for the Rays, while LaRoche (good around the bag, and with a quick glove), hit .261 — with 25 home runs. Then too, the Nats have got to be thinking that by letting Dunn go, they will be saving salary — which, if they are to believed, can now be spent on a big time pitcher. We’ll see.

Is there a preference between Pena and LaRoche? While Pena is the kind of player who can put up big numbers (though it seems to happen only every other year), LaRoche is a more steady presence. Then too, Pena seems to invite aches and pains — as a kind of, well, Nick Johnson of Tampa Bay. Critics of this viewpoint claim that Pena is, by far, the better player. Really? He’s spotty, unsteady, often injured and unpredictable. Sure, he has a better glove than Dunn and a bigger bat than LaRoche, but you can’t hit in the mid-.250s with 48 home runs if you’re sitting on the DL.

The pitching of Colby Lewis and the hitting of Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz powered the Texas Rangers to a 6-1 ALCS triumph over the New York Yankees — sending the Arlington Nine to their first-ever world series. Lewis was nearly flawless in eight innings of work, giving up just three hits in eight innings, while striking out seven. A Vlad Guerrero double and Nelson Cruz home run accounted for five of the six Rangers’ runs. Josh Hamilton, who went 7 for 20 in the series, won the ALCS MVP award. Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter summed up the problems the Empire had in defeating the Rangers: “They overall played better,” he said. “They pitched better, they hit better, they just outplayed us. That’s just the bottom line. They were a lot better than us these six games.” The Rangers’ clinching win was emblamatic of the Yankees’ problems: the New Yorkers were shut down by Rangers’ pitching, going 8 for 53 with runners in scoring position in the six game series.

The Rangers, built for the post season by G.M. Jon Daniels, are much like the patched together San Francisco Giants — picked to contend in the A.L. West, Daniels traded for and signed a mix of down-and-out pitchers (Lewis came from Japan) and on-their-last-legs hitters (Guerrero was cut loose from the Angels). But the key to the Rangers success was the mid-season trade for fireballer Cliff Lee, who arrived from Seattle in a trade for four Rangers minor leaguers, including uber prospect Justin Smoak. The recriminations have already started in New York, with Yankee G.M. Brian Cashman taking the blame for his failure to land Lee, whom New York writers cite as the one obstacle that stood between the Yankees and their 28th world championship. Texas will start Lee on Wednesday against the winner of the Philadelphia-San Francisco series.

Can The Giants Beat Roy Oswalt? One of the more memorable games of the Nationals’ 2010 campaign took place back in May in Houston — when the Nationals faced-off against the Astros during an early season road trip. While the Nationals were playing well, there were signs the team was beginning to struggle: the Anacostia Nine had just dropped two of three to the Friars, after dropping two of three in San Francisco. Nationals’ hitters were desperate to get their bats going. Ironically, it was Roy Oswalt who gave them the opportunity. In one of the more lopsided wins of their disappointing season, the Nats plated 14 runs against the ‘Stros, while lighting up Oswalt, who was ejected in the third inning for arguing balls and strikes. Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn were the heroes, accounting for eight RBIs in the victory. But the key to the triumph was Oswalt’s in-game implosion, the result of a tight strike zone. The lesson seems obvious: to beat Oswalt you have to get to him early — which will be a challenge for the light hitting San Francisco line-up.