It’s probably just a coincidence, but on the day that Tom Boswell pummeled the Lerners and Mike Rizzo for refusing to spend money (or take chances), the team pulled off a major trade with the Oakland A’s. Maybe Mikey was feeling the heat. Maybe not. Either way, the deal brings uber-talented lefty Gio Gonzalez to the Nationals to head up what is now one of baseball’s best rotations, but ships out four talented prospects, including Brad Peacock, whose as close to a “can’t miss” as the Nationals have. So: was it worth it?

Amanda Comack over at the Washington Times says that Gonzalez “fits precisely what Washington wants,” and gives the team a top-of-the-rotation innings eater. Comack points out that Gonzalez’s numbers translate well into the National League, though he walks a lot of hitters (91, to lead the AL last year). John Heyman over at Baseball Insider gives the Nats an attaboy, saying the team improved its rotation to the point where it may be a contender. Keith Law, meanwhile, says he’s not that impressed with Gonzalez (you have to wonder why, but it’s Keith Law), while Buster “Blind Dog” Olney (who actually sometimes finds a bone) says that Gonzalez reminds him of Twinkies starter Brad Radke — which is to say that Buster doesn’t know what to think.

We prefer to issue our judgments over a glass of scotch, which is where (last night) we received this opinion from one of the team’s season ticket holders. “The price is high,” this fan said, “maybe too high.” The fan then pointed out that “Rizzo would not have done this had he landed [Mark] Buehrle.” True. Which is not only to point out that scotch is a powerful truth serum (not always a good thing, mind you), but to suggest that if Rizzo & Company had bid higher for the former Pale Hose veteran, the team would not only have a front-of-the-rotation arm that is (arguably) better than Gonzalez, but they would have been able to hang on to both Peacock and Milone — whose arms will now be tested in the cavernous confines of the Oakland Coliseum.

Sometimes the most obvious conclusions are the ones you stick with — that Boswell’s criticism remains on target precisely because when Rizzo couldn’t pony up the bucks for Buehrle he had no choice but to part with four prospects for a front line pitcher. Gonzalez is a great addition and we applaud it, but spending the money on Buehrle and hanging on to Peacock, Milone, Norris and Cole would have been the wiser move. Yeah. True. But we’ll take it and hope that the Lerners are so irritated by what Boswell wrote that they’ll be determined to prove him wrong.

The Nationals closed out their home half of the 2011 season with a decisive, 3-0 win over the Braves — bringing the 35,000-plus fans that came to see them to their feet in sustained standing ovations for their home nine. The victory, the team’s 78th, was sparked by the pitching of Ross Detwiler and home runs from Wilson Ramos and Michael Morse.

Following the victory, Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson praised his club for their year. “There is a lot of fire in this ballclub,” he said. “They are not satisfied with this year. You could probably ask everybody in that room and they wish the season started again. That’s the sense I get from this ballclub. The young nucleus is coming along. It’s just a tribute to the whole organization to be at this point.”

In many ways this was a classic Nationals’ victory: Ross Detwiler pitched out of two jams to notch the win, with the Nationals’ bullpen of Henry Rodriguez, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen locking down the last home triumph. Rodriguez was particularly effective, striking out three while throwing his fastball, in one instance, at 101 miles per hour.

“Once you get into that bullpen of theirs and you’re facing Rodriguez, Clippard and Storen, the swings get a little tougher. Those guys are pretty good,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. After the game, Phil Wood thought that the Rodriguez outing was particularly impressive — and that “there would come a time” when we’d see the swap that brought him from Oakland as one of the best trades in the team’s history. Wood was being understated: that is apparent now.

Following his home run in the bottom of the seventh, which put the game nearly out of Atlanta’s reach, Michael Morse was given a curtain call, his first ever. “It feels great to win,” Morse said afterward. “The team played great. It’s good momentum to show Washington that we are putting together a good team.”

The Wisdom Of Section 1-2-9: Nationals’ fans are getting louder and more outspoken — the result (perhaps) of the recent winning streak and hopes for next year. It was in the 7th inning that they made their feelings known to the few Braves fans in attendance, standing and chanting “Let’s Go Cardinals! Let’s Go Cardinals!”

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The headline on the Washington Nationals’ website is all about John Lannan, and how he struggles against the Philadelphia Phillies. But the story on Saturday night, when the Nationals were dumped by the Ponies (by an it-wasn’t-even-close 5-to-zip score) had little to do with Lannan — and an awful lot to do with Roy Oswalt.

Oswalt, who’s suffered through a 2011 campaign with a bad back, was at his best on Saturday, scattering eight hits over eight innings while shutting out a Nationals’ team that couldn’t put together any kind of offense. Oswalt’s outing was good news for the Phillies, who will depend on their starters in the post-season. “He’s back,” Phellow Phil Cole Hamels said. “I think that’s pretty much it. He’s back. When he has the velocity, you know it’s game time.” The only threat against Oswalt came from Ryan Zimmerman, who was 3-4 and continued his rocket-like ascent into the top tier of N.L. hitters.

Facing off against Oswalt, Lannan was just average — which wasn’t nearly good enough. The Nationals lefty, who has compiled a good season (8-9 with a 3.61 ERA), couldn’t keep the heavy hitting Phillies off the base paths. That said, his five inning three earned run outing deserved better, as the team played poorly behind him. The resulting loss came at the hands of Wilson Valdez, whose triple scored two and Hunter Pence, who parked one in the left field bleachers.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Nationals packed the ballpark on Saturday (setting a single game attendance record), as busloads of Phillies’ fans came down from the north to root for their best-record nine. The Nationals are 22nd in attendance this year, which isn’t all that bad when you consider their record. The Nationals have put people in the stands at a much better clip than other (better), teams . . . including the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Rays and Indians . . .

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Chien-Ming Wang still isn’t ready for prime time. The former Yankee and new Nationals’ righthander struggled through five innings against the Braves yesterday, giving up seven hits and two runs through five innings — and the Nationals fell to Atlanta in the final game of their three game set, 6-4.

While Wang recovered from a shaky first inning (in which he gave up two runs), he had trouble in the fifth, which proved the key to the game. Wang threw wildly on a Brandon Beachy bleeder for a two base error, Jose “George” Constanza followed with a single and, after a force play and an out at the plate, Dan Uggla plated the two stranded runners (and himself) with a three run homer.

The Nats fought back, rapping out a four run sixth inning, with a walk by Danny Espinos, singles by Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, a Beachy wild pitch and a Jayson Werth home run. But four runs weren’t enough to secure the victory. Despite the loss, pitching coach Steve McCatty was upbeat on Wang. “He had better sink,” McCatty said after the game. “The offspeed pitches were a little flat. He got hurt on that. If he makes a play in the fifth inning — no damage.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Jason Marquis debuted for the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday, and it didn’t go well. The former Nats’ righty gave up ten hits and seven runs over four innings, as the Snakes fell to the McCoveys, 8-1. Marquis wasn’t the only thing traded to Arizona; so too was the explanation for why he does poorly: his sinker wasn’t sinking . . .

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Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, who led three teams to the World Series, died this week at the age of 82. Perhaps most remembered for leading Charlie Finley’s Oakland A’s to World Championships in 1972 and 1973, he cut his managing teeth as the skipper for the 1967 Red Sox. Just two years retired as a player (the last two with the Sox after stints with several teams) Sox owner Tom Yawkey tapped Williams to try to do something, anything, with the ninth place boys from Boston.

Williams, always known for his pugnacity, showed it early after being named manager. Giving his thoughts on the upcoming 1967 season Williams was confident in his squad saying, “We’ll win more than we lose.” The Boston press corps was incredulous. The Sox hadn’t done much in the way of winning since the ’46 campaign when they lost the Series to the Cards in seven games. And in 1966 they finished 72-90, 26 games out of the running. They were, in a word, bad.

A 10-game turn-around wasn’t impossible of course. But the Sox would field essentially the same team as the year before, Williams had never managed in the Bigs and, after all, this was Boston. Who did he think he was? A Depression-era kid, all Williams knew was hard work and the “kids” (as the Sox were affectionately known given that the vast majority of them were in their 20s) were in for a lot of it. A no-bull type of guy, all Williams expected from his team was their best. He got it.

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When the Nationals can’t pitch, they can’t hit — and when they can’t hit, they can’t pitch. But when they do both, they still need the ball to bounce the right way, and that hasn’t been happening lately. With their game knotted at four on Sunday, the Anacostia Nine simply needed to get out of the 9th and win it in the bottom of the inning, but a squibber off the bat of Ryan Ludwick and past a diving Ian Desmond scored Jorge Cantu to give the San Diego Padres a 5-4 win.

Was there any good news? If you think that a win is the best and only news there can be, then “no,” there wasn’t. But at least the Nationals began to hit, with Jayson Werth going 3-4 and Michael Morse continuing with his hot hitting. But Drew Storen, who has been struggling of late, was saddled with the loss — although reliever Tyler Clippard seemed to emerge from his late inning doldrums to register two innings of one hit ball. The jury is still out on Yunesky Maya, meanwhile, as the Cuban defector (who was called up from Syracuse) started strong, but then faded in the 5th.

The Wisdom of Section 1-2-9: The Nationals are now 5-11 in one run games, and still have to find a way to win the close ones. And there’s grumbling amongst Nationals fans, who wonder whether the team’s skipper is so enamored of speed and the hit and run that he runs the Nationals out of some games. The groans along the first base line were audible on Saturday, as fans grumbled when Michael Morse was caught stealing with Jerry Hairston at the plate and Matt Stairs on the deck. “He just ran us out of the game,” a Nats’ ticket holder groused . . .

There was a lot of talk amongst season ticket holders about Jayson Werth’s comments earlier this week. “He said his comments weren’t aimed at Riggleman, but I don’t buy it,” a regular in Row BB commented. “Ah, he’s just frustrated,” a fan responded. “He’s always been that way.” Another fan, a visitor from New York, chimed in: “Well, Bobby’s available.” This brought puzzled looks and a response: “Valentine? Forget about it. If you think Werth is angry now, just wait until Valentine gets here. Rizz [Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo] will never give up on Riggleman.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Josh Willingham says he loves it in Oakland, where he’s become the centerpiece of the White Elephant’s all-pitch, no-hit franchise. But Willingham hasn’t exactly been hitting the cover off the ball, which is why the Athletics got him to begin with — he’s hitting .238 and been reaching for pitches out of the zone. Playing in Oakland’s “Coliseum” might have something to do with it: in most ballparks a ball will get lost in the lights; in Oakland, a ball gets lost in the darkness. And the fences are far, far away: out where the California National Guard patrols.

But Oakland is playing good baseball and getting good pitching, which has taken the pressure off the struggling Willingham. The good news is that when Oakland doesn’t get the stellar pitching they’re used to, Willingham has a habit of putting a ball back where no one can get it. As he did this afternoon against the Orioles, parking a heater from uber rookie Zach Britton in the left field seats.

The Connie Macks went on to win, 6-4 and sweep the suddenly struggling Orioles. The A’s are worth watching; they lead the A.L. in ERA and a lurking close enough to the top of the A.L. West to make the Gunslingers and Belinskys sweat. The A’s never seem to run out of pitching: today they started Guillermo Moscoso. Oh come on, you remember Guillermo Moscoso — right? No? Well, join the club.

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 . . .