Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse both homered, and righty youngster Jordan Zimmermann pitched effectively into the sixth inning to lead the Washington Nationals to their eighth straight victory with a 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Nationals Park on Saturday. The victory continued a streak that began in San Diego and included a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Nationals are on fire and are now one of baseball’s hottest teams.

Saturday afternoon’s victory gave Nationals’ fans more of the same. The triumph featured a strong starting pitching performance (Zimmermann admitted that he didn’t have his best stuff — but it was good enough to baffle the O’s), the Nationals were able to hit the long ball (Michael Morse’s homer in the bottom of the sixth put the Nats on top to stay), and the team’s bullpen came through once again: Henry Rodriguez registered the hold, and Drew Storen notched his seventeenth save.

“It was hard work for him today,” Nats’ catcher Ivan Rodriguez said of Zimmermann’s outing. “He got behind in the count — ball one, ball two — but that’s how good he is. He can come back and challenge everybody with the fastball. He did good. For the way he was today, to fight and fight and fight to get his mechanics back on track, he did a tremendous job.” While Zimmermann might not have had his best stuff, the sign of a pitcher who has “arrived,” is that they are able to win without it.

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Roy Halladay was not his usual self on Monday, but in the end that didn’t matter: the visiting Philadelphia Phillies squeaked out a 5-4 one-run win at Nationals Park — to bring his record to 11-1 against the Nationals. The one run loss was yet another bitter pill for the Southeast Nine, who are now 5-13 in one run games. It was Washington’s sixth straight loss to the Phillies.

Strangely, and despite his dominance of the Nationals, Halladay struggled, giving up home runs to Michael Morse (who continues to hit the ball on the screws), Danny Espinosa and Laynce Nix. Behind at the end of the 6th, the Phillies were able to put two runs on the board off of reliever Sean Burnett, who continues to (oddly) struggle against lefties. And Burnett walked two batters, a habit the Nationals can’t seem to shake. But Burnett’s collapse could not eclipse yet another solid outing for Livan Hernandez, who remains the staff stopper.

The Phillies’ line-up lifted Halladay, when just the opposite has traditionally been the case: “It was a grind, it really was,” Halladay said. “Fortunately we did enough offensively. They picked me up a couple times. It was a nice way to end it, for sure.” The Nationals will face off against the Phillies again on Tuesday, when Jason Marquis goes to the mound against Cliff Lee.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: You’ve got to hand it to Phil Wood. The ubiquitous MASN pre- and post-game commentator, and host of radio’s “Nats Talk Live,” has a way of calming the most tension-filled discussion. Wood is not only the dean of Washington baseball historians (and is distinctly un-telegenic, to boot), he has a tendency of getting things right. This afternoon, after the Nationals dropped yet another one to the Phillies, Wood was philosophical. “Listen,” he said to one caller, “this is the Phillies. They have a solid team that’s built for the playoffs.” Wood has a pretty good piece on this, on his MASN blog, and it makes sense . . .

Wood was also less than impressed by Nationals fans who complained about the thousands of Phillies faithful who filled Nationals Park, to root for their favorites — and jeer Jayson Werth. Woods compared the crowds to those that once graced the Capitals’ Center back in the 1970s, when Flyers fans outnumbered the home boosters. Now, with the Caps winning (er, well . . . er), Flyers fans are nowhere to be seen. We’re inclined to agree: when the Nationals put a winning team on the field, the Phillies fans will be squeezed out of tickets. “What do we expect?” Phil said. “You can’t not sell the tickets.” He’s right of course, but still . . . it’s hard to swallow.

Should “They” Let Teddy Win? One of the more interesting post-game callers suggested that it’s about time that the powers-that-be (and we know who they are) allow Teddy to win the president’s race. Phil Wood and F.P. What’s-his-name actually thought that, since it was Memorial Day, that might happen. Our favorite blog on this vital issue was bubbling over with anticipation that Teddy might finally break out of the pack: even Jayson Werth stepped out of the dugout on Monday to follow the race.

Teddy lost (of course), but the caller said that maybe letting him win would change the fortunes of the team. That is, perhaps Teddy has come to symbolize a franchise that hasn’t put up a winning record for, well . . . for a long time. Wood didn’t exactly dismiss the theory, but he presented one of his own. That the Nationals should add George Bush as a fifth racing president. When Bush lost (Wood suggested), a member of the Supreme Court could come out of the stands and declare him a winner. Not a bad idea.

Our own view, here at CFG, is that Teddy should win — but only during the first game of a World Series played at Nationals Park. Yeah, that’s a long ways away. Or, as one of our fellow fans said earlier this year (when the game was going against the Nats): “Yeah, it’s 3-0 for God’s Sake, so f –ck the racing presidents.”

Sooner or later there was bound to be an N.L. East team that was worse than the Nationals, and now it turns out there likely will be. This is hardly a palliative for long-suffering Nationals fans, particularly since the death spiral of the team in question has as much to do with its off-field woes as it does with its on-field performance. Or more. The New York Mets have had troubles putting together a coherent line-up for some time now, but news that the Mets’ owners, the Wilpon family, are having trouble balancing the books is probably the last piece of evidence anyone needs to show that the Mets are not what they once were. Of course, we’ve said this before: last year, CFG announced immodestly that the Nats would finish ahead of the Mets in the “N.L. Least” — words that we had to eat ignore when a final accounting came do. Never fear: this is the year of the Nats.

And, in many ways, it’s also the year of the Mets. Rumors started to circulate early last season that the Mets were having financial troubles, the result of Bernie Madoff’s siren song financial promises to Mets owner Fred Wilpon. It’s not known exactly how much Wilpon lost in the Madoff scandal, but it was appreciable enough for Wilpon to ask Major League Baseball for a $25 million loan. Commissioner Bud Selig, a Wilpon fan, tossed over the money, hoping to stabilize the franchise and keep the team out of bankruptcy. It was that bad. Selig then recommended Wilpon hire baseball guru Sandy Alderson — and, as any businessman will tell you, when the bank holding your paper makes a suggestion, you usually take it. As it turns out, the $25 million-plus-Alderson may not be enough. New York newspapers are awash with reports that the team faces a mid-season fire sale of some of its best players just to stay afloat; that, or the Mets will relieve their financial distress by finding new owners.

The impact of this is being felt on the field. New York’s John Delcos’ writes: an ownership transition may be in the works, which means the Mets “will attempt to deal Carlos Beltran this July, doing everything it can from having Francisco Rodriguez’s $17.5 million option kick in, and after the season ridding itself of Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo.” Can franchise cornerstone David Wright be far behind? Writing in the New York Post, Joel Sherman says Alderson’s job will be to slash the Mets’ payroll from $140 million to $70 million — which means everything (and everyone) will be on the table. The Wilpons, Sherman writes “are fighting ardently to retain the team, and it would not be unique for an ownership in financial hell to make its costliest players available. For the Mets, that would mean not only the free-agents-to-be, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes, but also Jason Bay, Francisco Rodriguez, Johan Santana, and, yes, even seeing what would be available for organizational icon David Wright.”

There isn’t anything here that is fair to Mets’ fans, who don’t like the Wilpons to begin with: they’re the ones who will have to watch as the Mets are made to pay for the Wilpons’ poor judgment. Nor is it particularly just to note that the Chokes (we promised not to use that term, but then . . .) were breaking down even before Bernie’s appearance — Jose Reyes is not the same player he was in 2006, Carlos Beltran continues to fight injuries, David Wright is having trouble hitting the long ball in the new stadium, Johan Santana’s arm is hanging by a thread and Oliver Perez is, well . . . you know. “I don’t think any NL East team would trade all the players in their organization for those of the Mets,” Sherman writes. “Even the Nationals can imagine their next three-to-seven years being better than the Mets’ simply by having Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg under control.” Which is only to conclude with this irony — while Nats fans complain endlessly about the Lerners (the “slow Lerners” as one of our readers recently commented), compared to the Wilpons they look absolutely enlightened.

. . . and last in the N.L. East. The Washington Nationals fell to the Philadelphia Phillies 7-1 at Nationals Park on Wednesday night, but that was hardly a surprise. The surprise came when the cascade of Nats’ fans decided to stream from the park at the end of the game — shunning the last-at-home festivities planned by the Lerners and hosted by the glass-half-full team skipper Jim Riggleman. The departing throng joined those other fans who had left after the seventh inning stretch, knowing that the Half Street Nine were not going to catch the Ashburns, and knowing also that Riggleman & Co. would be recycling the message from last year’s end-of-game spiel — we’ve made great strides, the future is bright, we’ll be better next year (just you wait and see) and, oh yeah, thanks for coming. It’s not that the words weren’t heartfelt (they were), it’s simply that a large host of Nats fans (defined as those in the ballpark not rooting for the Ponies), are more skeptical than ever.

The Wisdom Of Section 1-2-9: Perhaps skeptical isn’t the right word. Cynical might be better. The section, at least last night, was livable — there were lots of Phillies fans in attendance, but they seemed mild in comparison with other nights. “They’ve clinched it, so they don’t have to be the selfish, rude and insulting little sh–s they always are ,” a fan said so every P-sketched hat would hear it. “Hard to blame them though when they’re invited in and there are plenty of seats.” A Nats fan sporting a Zimmerman jersey responded by raising his voice. “Yeah, maybe so. But you don’t see us doing this in Philadelphia.” This brought a laugh: “Three reasons. There aren’t that many of us. Citizens’ Bank is sold out. And why make the trip when ‘you can buy a family fun pack?’” More laughter — and then a general silence until the third inning, when it was clear that Ross Detwiler was going to pitch like . . . Ross Detwiler. So who’s going to be out there next year? “There’s Marquis and there’s Hernandez,” a fan said with practiced assurance. And nods, before a lone voice with a single question: what about Lannan? And then the low murmur amid the silence. “What about him?”

They’re either going to sign Dunn or sign a replacement free agent, one fan said. A fan next to me guffawed. “Why would the Lerners do that?” he asked. “Listen, this is real simple. They’re making a profit and they’re not doing anything special — and they can always count on Philadelphia fans to fill the park. Or Braves fans. Or Mets fans. Or Cub fans. They [the owners] really suffer when the Astros come to town.” Another fan shook his head. “I hear they’re interested in [signing] Carl Crawford, or Carlos Pena.” Another guffaw as a woman two rows down smiled to herself, then turned and shook her head. No way. Another fan, still in his business suit, agreed. “Carl Crawford? C’mon. Here’s what they’ll do. They’ll say that they offered Adam Dunn a contract for three years and he wanted four. And he’ll be gone. And Michael Morse is cheap. He can play first. Maybe we’ll resign Willie Harris.” A fan with a Phillies hat, listening, nodded his head. “He just needs to get his swing back,” he said — and there was more laughter.

In the fourth inning, The Racing Presidents stood in a line holding farewell signs in tribute to Stan Kasten. “We’ll Miss You Stan,” the signs read, and the crowd rose to give the outgoing Nats’ president a standing ovation. There was disbelief among the three Nats fans one row back. “Yeah, we love you Stan. But the Lerners? Not so much.” So then it started in earnest, in the 6th and 7th innings, as the fans in 1-2-9, now in the swing of things, compared notes, position-by-position. Nyjer Morgan? “Really? Give me a break. He’s gone.” Roger Bernadina? “He plays center, Willingham is in left and Morse plays right.” And at first? Silence on this, and then a consensus. “They’ll sign someone like Pena, he’s cheaper, but don’t worry — they’ll say they did it because he’s better defensively.” An unheard from voice chipped in: “He’ll break his league in May.” Nods and more nods. But then everyone agreed: Desmond and Espinosa were set up-the-middle and the bullpen was solid. A voice in the back piped in: “Riggleman says Batista is an innings eater.” The man next to me nodded. “Innings eater is code for ‘he’s not very good,’” he said.

By the 9th inning (and really, even before), the reality had set in. The game was lost, the Nats were headed to New York to finish the season, and once again Washington was in last place. It’s hard to deny the facts and Nats fans don’t really need a graph to chart the future, or understand the present. But for those of us who like these kinds of things, here’s a graph of just where this franchise stands. It recently ran in the New York Times and comes to us by way of our friends at Nats Triple Play.

Putting A Price Tag On Winning

From 2001 to 2010, the Yankees spent 42 percent more than the second-highest spender, Boston, and have also won more games than any other team — 6 percent more than Boston. Some of the lowest-spending teams, like Kansas City and Pittsburgh, were also among the worst. But there have also been some notable exceptions. Teams below the line, including Baltimore, Detroit and the Mets, have won less than might be expected. Teams above the line, including Florida, Minnesota and Oakland, have won more. Black outlines indicate teams that won a World Series in the last decade. Boston won two, and the 2010 World Series has yet to be played.

Michael Morse’s home run and his three RBIs, combined with the steady pitching of Ross Detwiler, resulted in a 7-2 spanking of the Houston Astros on Thursday at Nats’ Park — and a three of four game series triumph. With Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn out of the starting line up as a result of minor injuries, the kids led the team: in addition to Morse’s dinger, Roger Bernadina added a home run in the 6th and Danny Espinosa added one in the 7th. Ross Detwiler, slowed by a hip injury for most of the season, pitched six respectable innings, while a number of stellar defensive plays were made behind him — including a down-the-line pick-up from Alberto Gonzalez at third, good enough to be included as a BBTN “Web Gem.” But Morse was the hero. “I’m just trying to finish strong — finish on a positive note — and try to continue to show them that I could be an everyday player,” Morse said following the victory. “I would love to get 500 at-bats in a season one day and see what happens.”

The Kasten Resignation: The Nationals are soft pedaling Stan Kasten’s decision to resign his position as president, and so is Kasten himself. Kasten told reporters that the decision was made a year ago and that he simply wants to move on to other opportunities. But Adam Kilgore has this right — Kasten’s resignation shows that the Nats are at yet another crossroads, with the Lerners now under pressure to follow the model he set of developing younger players and increasing the team’s payroll to take advantage of the little on-the-field progress the team has made. Kasten “did everything,” Kilgore says, and he’ll be hard to replace. There are some dissenting voices. “The fact of the matter is that the natural progression of the Nationals’ franchise over the last five years left Kasten more and more marginalized within the front office,” Mark Zuckerman writes over at Nats’ Insider. “The team simply didn’t need a president in charge of day-to-day operations anymore.” Zuckerman makes a strong argument, characterizing Kasten as less important over the last year.

We’re agnostic: the litmus test of success for this franchise is not in the front office, but on the field. If the Nats can produce a solid and successful 2011, then Kasten’s legacy will be assured, and if they don’t . . . well, they’re be a lot of rethinking about why Kasten left. Then too, the real question here is not who runs the front office, or even who fills the role of being the face of the front office (that’s Mike Rizzo), but whether the Lerners are willing to increase the payroll sufficiently to bring in the players that will fill out a roster comprised of young and talented position players and even younger (and untested) arms. The question is: do the owners of this franchise want to be the Minnesota Twins (who spiked their payroll in 2010 to some $97 million — from $65 million in ’09), or do they want to remain the Kansas City Royals — the perennial bottom feeders of the N.L. Central? That question remains unanswered. Then too, and for the record, the Royals actually have a higher payroll than the Nats ($74.9 million vs. $66.2 million), while they’ve actually won two fewer games.

Stan Kasten will resign his position as President of the Washington Nationals effective at the end of the season, according to numerous reports. The announcement is expected momentarily, according to Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated and according to the team’s website. Kasten has been president of the Nationals for five seasons. No reason was given for Kasten’s decision to resign, but it seems likely that his departure will chip away at the already frayed reputation of the Lerner family, the owners of the franchise. Reports of Kasten’s resignation first surfaced during last night’s game at Nationals Park, when Kasten shared his views on the state of the team — and his continued role as its president — with a number of friends.

Rookie and second base phenom Danny Espinosa’s two run homer in the seventh inning provided the Washington Nationals with their second straight victory over the Houston Astros 4-3 on Tuesday night at Nationals’ Park. The Espinosa homer, which came with one on, broke the young rookie’s hitting slump — and provided the Nats with a measure of pride: this was the second win in a row for the team, and it came against a surging Astros’ Nine which has the second best record in the N.L. Central since late July. Jason Marquis provided a strong outing on the mound, throwing six innings and giving up just two runs. “I was consistent early in the count,” Marquis said, following the win. “I controlled the counts and was able to get some quick outs. The defense did a great job. It was definitely nice to get back-to-back wins.” And once again, the Nats bullpen came through — with Doug Slaten (who walked the only batter he faced), Tyler Clippard, Joel Peralta and Sean Burnett closing out the game. Burnett notched his third save.

Will He Stay Or Will He Go: Tom Boswell writes that Stan Kasten is reconsidering his future with the team and is considering resigning his position. The rumor that Kasten is rethinking his employment is so pervasive that it reached into the stands during last night’s game — with one Nats’ watcher saying that Kasten would actually resign his position not just soon, but today. The reason for Kasten’s rethinking, Boswell speculates, is Kasten’s desire to move on to a new challenge, as well as frustration over his continuing skirmishes with team ownership about the tight wad philosophy that has landed the Nats in last place in the N.L. East. “My preference for the Nats’ sake: He stays. My firm opinion: He’s gone,” Boswell writes. There seem to be three possibilities here: Kasten is fed up with the Lerners and wants out, he wants to take on a new job with a different team or (and it’s a distinct possibility), he’s sending a signal to the Lerners that they will either increase payroll or he’s gone. “If Kasten leaves,” Boswell writes, “. . . the Nats’ reputation will take a hit within the industry.” And with the fans.

Lightning In A Bottle: All the oohing and ahhing about the emergence of youngsters Tyler Clippard, Doug Slaten, Sean Burnett and Drew Storen is more than justified; the four relievers have steadied the Nats’ bullpen and provided headlines for a team without a starting rotation. But all the talk of just how good the Clippard-Slaten-Burnett-Storen quartet has been ignores the steady contributions of perhaps the Nats’ most effective middle-innings reliever — Joel Peralta. Last night’s win over the Astros provided a useful antidote, as Peralta was the focus of a MASN post-game interview and in-game praise from the Bob Carpenter-Ray Knight MASN tag team. Peralta has been a wizard, with last night’s outing symbolic of his competence: Peralta gave the Nats 1.1 innings, registering his ninth hold and striking out three. Success has come late for Peralta, who toured the U.S. (Butte, Boise, Cedar Rapids, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, and points in between) for several teams before arriving at the Nats’ doorstep at the age of 34. The Nats signed Peralta in the off-season and he was so good at Syracuse that he could no longer be ignored. His numbers are stunning: in 45 innings he’s given up just 27 hits, while fanning 44. Over the last ten games he’s lowered his ERA from 2.57 to 2.00. Which is to say: Peralta’s steady presence means he’s here to stay.