Jordan Zimmermann notched a complete game against the Angels on Wednesday night, but the young righthander’s brilliance wasn’t enough. The Halos were able to beat Zimmermann and the Nationals, 1-0, in a classic (God, this game went fast) pitchers’ duel. The Nationals were simply unable to solve Los Angeles righty Dan Haren, who pitched 7.1 innings of two hit baseball. Haren took the win, Zimmermann took the loss.

The Nationals finished out what had promised to be a successful road trip by being swept in Anaheim. The Nationals were outscored in the series, 16-8. The loss on Wednesday dropped the team to a single game under .500. “I ran into a pretty good pitcher today,” Zimmermann said after the loss. “He had our hitters off balance all day. It was a battle for both teams to score some runs.”

Once again, the Nationals’ bats have gone silent. Haren and two Angels’ relievers held the Anacostia Nine to three hits on the afternoon — with Haren throwing 120 pitches, 77 of them for strikes. Haren’s high pitch count was a sign of Nationals’ patience at the plate, as Anaheim’s righty went to multiple 3-2 counts. But Haren was always able to make a good pitch when he had to. In truth, Zimmermann was much sharper, but without the run support that didn’t matter. The Nationals return home to face the Pirates and then, for the July 4 holiday, the visiting (and semi-revived) Chicago Cubs.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Red Sox are struggling against National League teams. They play a rubber game in Philadelphia today against the Phillies, but have dropped two series in a row against teams in the senior circuit. They recently lost two of three to the Padres, and then two of three to the Pirates. They were dumped 5-0 on Tuesday at the hands of Cliff Lee, and then 2-1 last night when Raul Ibanez went deep on John Lackey . . .

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A dramatic two out home run from Danny Espinosa tied the game in the bottom of the 9th inning in Anaheim on Monday night — but it wasn’t enough to keep the Nationals from dropping their series-opener to the Angels, 4-3. Once again, the Nationals had a hard time getting hits when they needed them, as Los Angeles starter Ervin Santana corralled the Nats’ lineup through eight innings. The loss was the first by new Nats’ manager Davey Johnson, who took over the reins of the team after the just-completed White Sox series.

Starter John Lannan did not have his best stuff on Monday night, but he kept the Nationals close, throwing 5.2 innings before giving way to reliever Ryan Mattheus. Lannan gave up 11 hits, but that only accounted for three earned runs. The Nationals, meanwhile, were ineffective at the plate, where they scored most of their runs by using the long ball: Michael Morse homered in the second, Ryan Zimmerman homered in the fourth and Espinosa homered in the ninth.

All of the dingers came without runners on base, so that by the 9th the Nationals were trailing 3-2. Espinosa’s homer, a ball down in the zone that he crushed into far right field, tied the game. It was his fifteenth of the year and came off of Angels’ reliever Jordan Walden, who gave up his third blown save in a row. Espinosa’s homer is the most for a rookie second baseman before the All Star break.

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All is forgiven in Boston: late on Wednesday night, the Boston Globe reported that “the Nation” had inked a contract with Tampa Bay Rays’ uber-star Carl Crawford. The Globe says that Crawford will become a Red Sox for seven years and $142 million. Outside of Cliff Lee and Jayson Werth, Crawford was the class of the 2010 free agent class, hitting .307 with 19 home runs and 47 stolen bases. The Red Sox and Crawford haven’t exactly had the best relationship; back in May of 2009 (Red Sox fans will surely remember), Crawford stole six bases on the Red Sox — in what one baseball site headlined as “Grand Theft Boston.” The Red Sox were not pleased, whining (note: the Nationals complain, the Tiants whine) that Crawford stole his sixth base unnecessarily. The one palliative that Red Sox fans can point to (now that Crawford is in the fold) is that the loudest complaint came from former Red Sox hurler Brad “Bad” Penny, a veteran of the Massachusetts Penal League. Penny, who some people describe as “a southern gentleman,” wasn’t so much ripped at Crawford’s sixth steel, as he was at his fifth — when Crawford stole third, off of . . . Penny. After the game, however, Red Sox skipper Terry Francona dampened the complaints, explaining that Crawford is really fast.

What’s really juicy about the Crawford signing is that the reporter who broke it, Peter Abraham, wrote back at the beginning of the season that if he were the Red Sox — and was given a choice between Jayson Werth and Crawford — he’d take Werth. While this doesn’t exactly relegate “the Nation” to the status of province, it sheds light on all those nasty comments made about Mike Rizzo for signing the former Phillie. The signing of Crawford should not be unexpected: it reflects Boston’s yen for getting in on the action, particularly if they feel that the dreaded pinstripers are somehow gaining on them (or are extending their furlongs, as the case may be). After all, Soxologist Peter Gammons was saying on MLB Network, just hours before the deal was reported, that the Yankees (being the Yankees) were going hard after Cliff Lee. With C.C. already in the fold, the Yanks would have to be the odds-on favorites to take the A.L. East. The Red Sox deal also eliminates the Belinskis from the Crawford sweepstakes, despite the fact that Crawford was considered a natural fit for L.A., and despite the fact that the Angels’ front office was leveraging their front-runner status by telling everyone that a Crawford-to-the-Angels deal was nearly a lock.

But for all the talk about Werth and Crawford and the Red Sox and Lee, there’s a bit of suck-in-your-stomach bad news here. The loss of Crawford, and the probable trade of starter Matt Garza, probably puts Tampa out of the running for any late season berth. And the deal highlights the struggles of mid-size and small market teams (like the Rays), who (while they might catch lightning, maybe once or twice) are eventually relegated to being development squads for the likes of Hal and Theo. Just ask Kansas City, which monopolized the other headline today: for signing all-world-average, but really cheap, Jeff Francoeur. You have to wonder: will that be tomorrow’s headline in The Kansas City Star? Here’s the latest: according to MLB Trade Rumors, Boston’s deal for Crawford won’t become official until Friday, after Crawford passes his physical.

Who are these guys anyway? Over in Minnesota (they have a team — and it plays in a division called the A.L. Central), the Twinkies have been pounding the snot out of anyone who shows up in Target Field. After the Nats win on MASN (that oughta up their Arbitron ratings), I switched over just in time to hear the Twinkies’ announcers talk about “that kid Valencia” — a rookie third baseman who recently stroked four homes runs in four at bats. The pride of Boca Raton was picked in the 19th round (the 19th round) of the 2006 draft. Valencia moved effortlessly through the Twins system, until he showed up this year in June, and commenced putting on a hitting display. The Twins have just about everything else, so why not a little hitting? And — oh yes: the Twins won tonight, so they are almost (but not quite) the division champs, depending on how the Pale Hose fare. It doesn’t matter, stick a fork in the White Sox. They’re done . . .

Speaking of new guys: The Angels are taking a look at a catcher by the name of Hank Conger, who was drafted ahead of Valencia in 2006 (25th overall). Conger isn’t like most catchers, he’s fast. He smacked a hard triple tonight against the Rangers and by the time that Dwayne Murphy retrieved it, Conger was rounding second. It was a little strange watching Conger, because he reminded me of (okay, this is a little . . . well . . . remote) former Cub, Marlin and Dodger first bagger Hee-Seop Choi, who had a wicked quick bat — albeit not one that gave him a long career in the majors. Choi played only four seasons in the bigs, and will no doubt be remembered as the guy the Marlins got for Derrick Lee (what the hell was Miami thinking). Sure enough, Conger (it turns out) is Hyun Choi Conger, a California native who (despite the obvious resemblance) might be Hee-Seop’s younger brother: a straight-up stance and an out-of-the-batter’s box speed that makes infielders hurry their throw. Conger’s numbers in the minors are outstanding, his defense is reportedly first-rate and he’s moved through the system quickly. The Belinskis are auditioning Conger for their number two (behind former Gold Glover Mike Napoli), which isn’t a surprise — Jeff Mathis is hitting Willie Harris numbers (actually, a little better –  at .193). Hee-Seop Choi, by the way, now plays professionally in Korea . . .

Nats fans will be saddened to note that Felipe Lopez, the former slick fielding second sacker for our very own Half Street Nine, was released today by the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals weren’t going to keep the struggling Lopez in any event, but his official release struck me as oddly timed, coming two weeks before the end of the season. A slap, really, at an MLB veteran who has (from time to time — including this year) played well. Sure enough: the Cardinals said they were fed up with Lopez’s attitude. Hmmm. Imagine that. The ten year veteran (he started in Toronto in 2001 before moving on to Cincinnati), had an okay career that could have been a lot better. His years with the Nats were fairly typical: he played with fire in his first months, then tailed off, then got lazy. It would be a surprise to see any team give him another shot . . .

The New Twinkie: Danny Valencia

Let’s see, it was just about forty-six years ago right now that the Philadelphia’s Phightin’ Phillies pulled off one of the great down-the-drain moments in late-season baseball. Unlike the Braves recent troubles, the Phillies’ ’64 fold actually began not in August but in late September. The Ashburn’s held a 6.5 game lead on September 20, but were summarily crushed in a home series against the Cincinnati Reds, punctuated by an unexpected steal of home by Redleg Chico Ruiz. The Phillies were so unhinged that they were swept by the Reds, then by the Braves, then by the Cardinals. They lost ten in a row, but won the last two games of the year. Big deal. They were done. Or, as they said that year in Philly: they were “Phinished.”

It won’t happen this year, Phillies fans claim. The Phillies are a tougher team than the ’64 version: they are fortified by a World Series Championship two seasons ago, and another visit to the Fall Classic last year. Their starting pitching is better. In ’64 they had Bunning — this year they have Bunning-plus (Roy Halladay). In ’64 they had a great rookie in Dick Allen, this year they have Allen-plus (Ryan Howard). In ’64, the Phillies had been the top dog in the N.L. for most of the year, this year they had to fight through adversity. And they’re only three games short of having the best record in baseball. What could go wrong? The unpredicted, the weird, the downright head-scratching and never-to-be-seen again: that’s what could go wrong.

When the 1964 version of the Philadelphia Phillies returned to Philadelphia from a long road trip on September 20 of “the year of the collapse,” the front office had already printed World Series tickets. The city was preparing to celebrate. Everything looked in place for the first post-season in Phillies’ history. The  Phillies came out on September 21 to do battle with the Robinson-Rose Reds. The Phillies were confident, the Reds were in second place, just ahead of the Cardinals — but they looked like they were fading fast. And then it happened. The game was a scoreless tie in the 6th, with Hiraldo “Chico” Ruiz on third and bopper Frank Robinson at the plate. All Ruiz had to do was wait for Robinson to knock him in. But in a still unexplained spurt of creativity, Ruiz broke for home, while Robinson (doing a quick double-take from the batter’s box) stepped back to give him room. On the mound, Phillies’ starter Art Mahaffey (all 6-2 of him) panicked, throwing the ball wildly over the catcher. It was the game’s only run.

“It’s one of those things that simply isn’t done,” Philadelphia sport’s reporter Ray Kelly wrote the next day. “Nobody tries to steal home with a slugging great like Frank Robinson at the plate. Not in the sixth inning of a scoreless game.” And then Kelly added: “Maybe that’s why Chico Ruiz got away with it.” It wasn’t like the Phillies didn’t let Chico know what they thought. Ruiz, a popular player in the Reds’ clubhouse, took a fastball in the ribs the next day, while Phillies’ manager Gene Mauch hounded him from the home dugout. Even Ruiz’s own teammates were upset, as well as Cincinnati manager Dick Sisler. Ruiz took it all, without comment. What was odd about Ruiz’s steal of home was that it was the second one in a row that had victimized the Phils, who had lost to the Dodgers in L.A. on the 20th — when Willie Davis stole home at Dodgers’ Stadium. But it was the Ruiz steal that seemed to seal the Phillies’ fate: they never quite recovered and, as the years went by, Ruiz’s steal became the stuff of legend.

While Ruiz was popular, he had a way of getting into scrapes. He lived his life like it was September 21, 1964 — he was always doing something unpredictable and getting attention. In 1970, after he was dealt with Alex Johnson to the Angels, Ruiz was involved in a controversy with the talented line drive hitter, whose strange behavior (he would shout obscenities at his teammates — apparently for no reason at all) was destroying the Halo’s clubhouse chemistry. In mid-June, Johnson accused Ruiz of pulling a gun on him, an allegation that Ruiz denied. Teammates were unimpressed with Johnson’s claim. “If Chico did anything wrong, it was that he didn’t pull the trigger,” an unidentified Angel said. What is so odd about the story is that Ruiz and Johnson had once been good friends: Ruiz had even served as a Godfather for one of Johnson’s children. It was the end of their friendship and it was the beginning of the end for Alex Johnson. The talented player already had a reputation for dogging it during a game, and for bitter exchanges with his teammates over trivialities.

Eventually, after years of bouncing around from one team to another (and never quite reaching his potential) Johnson left baseball — a bitter and controversial figure. That wasn’t true for Ruiz, whose reputation as an all around good guy (and the man who stole home against the Phillies) followed him around ever as much as Johnson’s reputation for being nasty followed him. Ruiz enjoyed baseball and he was good at it. In late 1971, after years of work, he became a U.S. citizen. He was proud of his accomplishment. And while Ruiz wasn’t a great baseball player, his talent as a steady infielder was in high demand. After ending his stint in L.A. he negotiated a new contract with the Kansas City Royals. In February of 1972, just four weeks before he was due to report to Spring Training with his new team, he was killed when he crashed his car into a sign pole on a road outside of San Diego. One of those who attended his funeral was his old friend Alex Johnson.

Craig Stammen, just recalled from the Nats Syracuse Triple-A farm club, threw seven innings of brilliant baseball and super sub Alberto Gonzalez went 4-4 as the skidding Nats ended their five game losing streak with a 7-2 win in Atlanta. Stammen finally mastered what had been bothering him in successive starts prior to his demotion — he kept the ball down in the zone and threw strikes, keeping the Bravos hitters off balance. Stammen threw 99 pitches, 57 of them for strikes, before giving way to Sean Burnett in the 8th inning. “Craig was just outstanding,” skipper Jim Riggleman said after the win. And the skipper praised Alberto Gonzalez, who looked rusty at the plate on Monday. “He’s a great fielder,” Riggleman said, “and he can hit a little too.” This marked the second successive start for Gonzalez, who has done some spot pinch hitting. But Riggleman was uncertain whether the Gonzalez start was the beginning of a new trend. “He’s kind of the fourth guy among four guys, so it’s tough for him to get playing time,” Riggleman said.

In breaking loose for seven runs, the Nats end a despairing streak of one, two and three run games that saw them sink further into last place in the NL East. Relief seems to be in sight: Nyjer Morgan’s bat is finally heating up (he was 2-5 on Tuesday), Josh Willingham put one into the seats at Turner Field (his 14th), Ryan Zimmerman plated two RBIs — and then there was Alberto Gonzalez, whose 4-4 stint brought his BA to .292: oh, and he can field a little bit too. To cap it all off, Roger Bernadina is starting to look like a keeper (slapping balls to left field) and Tyler Clippard pitched a nifty clean 9th. The news gets even better from there. The Nats went errorless in nine innings, which must be some kind of record.

Today I Settle All Family Business, So Don’t Tell Me You’re Innocent: If you google “The Kid,” you get sites for a Charlie Chaplan movie, news that Angelina Jolie’s little girl wants to be a boy (“she likes to wear boy’s everything,” Angelina poofed), and a reach on Ted Williams who, it seems, was called “the kid” until someone thought of something better — like “The Splendid Splinter.” (Which reminds me: wasn’t Gaylord Perry once referred to as “The Splendid Spitter?” No? Okay, maybe not). But nowhere on the internet does anyone talk about our Anacostia Nine who, it is reported, are calling Stephen Strasburg “the kid” in the privacy of the Nats’ clubhouse. We’re betting the name will stick, confirming Angelina’s little pout about “Shiloh,” who “thinks she’s one of the brothers.”

Stephen’s nickname confirms that he too (and for sure) is now one of the Nats brothers (that’s what being given a nickname means) — albeit without the apparent transgender issues of Shiloh Vomit Pitt. And it’s a good thing. Strasburg took the heat after his Monday outing, as Braves fans everywhere (there aren’t as many as there once were for “America’s Team“) laid into “the kid” for giving up five runs (er, three earned) in the 7th inning of Monday night. Even some Nats fans were disappointed. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God — what happened? So here’s the deal: we here at CFG have taken a poll of our staff (final vote? 3-0) and determined that we would take, any day, an outing from any pitcher on our staff who could throw 6.1 (!), give up three earned runs (!), and strike out seven. You never know, if we have outings like that every game, we could actually win the division. Yeah, there’s no question about it, Monday’s performance shows that we need to send “the kid” to the minors to “straighten out his stuff” and “build his self confidence.”

Say It Ain’t So Mike: The Nats are apparently “entertaining offers” . . . no, that’s not the right phrase. Damn. Let’s start over. The Nats are “actively considering” … no, that’s not right either. Okay. Here it is. The Nats are talking to at least two teams about a trade that would involve Nats first sacker and potential All Star Adam Dunn, the heart and soul of your Washington Nationals (if you don’t count Ryan Zimmerman, Pudge Rodriguez, Stephen Strasburg, Ian Desmond, Josh Willingham, Livan Hernandez . . .). The report must be true: MLB Trade Rumors has it by way of Ken Rosenthal, who has it from the Chicago Sun Times, who has it from the White Sox.

The Angels are already interested, Rosenthal says, and Joe Cowley of the Greatest Newspaper in the Greatest City in America (it’s ahead of the Trib, dontchaknow), says that the Nats and Pale Hose are exchanging names, though the Sox don’t have much to give in the way of pitching prospects — they were all traded to the Little Monks from San Diego for Jumpin’ Jake Peavy. No one likes this kind of talk, least of all Adam Dunn, who doesn’t want to be a DH and likes it just fine here in D.C.  We like him here too, Mike — as he is headed for another season of 40 home runs (oops, he had only 39 last year) and is one of the surprises, perhaps the surprise on the team: unlike the other nine we slap together to play the Baltimore Pathetics, he’s fielding his position like a pro. And who would have guessed that? Then too, don’t we have enough pitching prospects? I know, let’s try Danny Cabrera. In fact, the only positive thing we could really gain from such a trade is an end to that obnoxious public address announcer and his “now batting for your Washington Nationals …. Adaaaam Dunnnnnn.” Hey, on second thought . . .

There’s lots of things that happened on this date in history: in 1912 the Titanic set sail from Southampton (to meet its untimely demise five days later) and in 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was published. Oh yeah, and in 1961 the expansion Washington Senators took the field for Opening Day at Griffiths Stadium. Of the three events, the last is the most forgettable, even if it most closely resembles the Titanic’s ghastly fate. These were not your daddy’s Senators (those Senators had boarded a plane for Minneapolis, where they became the Twins), and they certainly weren’t memorable: the Senators were cobbled together from an expansion draft of team leftovers when the men who then ran baseball decided that a team in Washington would balance the new high-end la-de-da franchise set to open in Los Angeles — and called (get this) the Angels.

Washington seemed an afterthought: a balancing act to the new west coast team — and its expansion draft reflected it. There just wasn’t that much talent available, and the talent that was available played in New York. Former Cubs great Dale Long came over from the Yankees to play first base, the beautifully named but limping Coot Veal came from the Tigers to play shortstop (which he did, but not often — and poorly), the aging Gene Woodling (38) came down the road from Baltimore to play the outfield and righthander Dick Donovan came in from the Pale Hose to anchor the staff. It wasn’t a surprise that the expansion Senators finished ninth that year — the surprise was that the Kansas City Athletics (then a virtual farm team for the Yankees) were actually worse: though both teams had the same 61-100 season. The Angels, on the other hand, finished ahead of the Senators by some nine wins. They had drafted better (Leon Wagner, Eddie Yost, Earl Averill, Ken Hunt!) and started to build a farm system.

Senators’ fans registered their disdain for the “Afterthoughts” by voting with their feet. The new expansion team drew just 597,000 fans, though the team’s owners thought this might improve — the next year the Senators were slated to move into the newly built “D.C. Stadium,” a then-state of the art facility that would later be named for Robert F. Kennedy. In all, there are only two good reasons to remember the ’61 Senators: Gene Woodling — whose career was revived by a surprising.313 season — and Dick Donovan, as classy a pitcher as there was in baseball. But Woodling’s surprise year was truly a surprise. A 38-year-old could not carry on forever and while Woodling would be remembered for his years of near-greatness with the Indians, he could not replicate them with the Senators. By 1963 he was out of the game.

Not so for Dick Donovan, a righthanded fastballer whose best year as a pitcher was still ahead of him. Donovan, who was originally signed as an amateur by the Boston Braves in 1947, had one day in the sun, though it was a long time coming. After three years of mediocrity bouncing between Boston and the minors, Donovan was signed by the Tigers, who (after eyeballing their wild new “ace”) sent him back to the Braves. “No thanks.” But in 1955 the Chicago White Sox took a gamble on Donovan and were rewarded, in large part because the New England righthander had developed a sneaky slider to complement his above-average fastball. The result was a 15-9 season and a spot at the top of the White Sox rotation. He thereafter served up four steady (and two not-so-steady) seasons before arriving in Washington.

Donovan’s claim to baseball fame, however, came in the third game of the 1959 World Series, when he pitched the best game of his career. Facing off against Dodger great Don Drysdale, Donovan gave up just two hits in 6.2 innings, while Drysdale served up eleven hits to the normally hitless Hose. But the White Sox were the hard-luck losers: after Donovan ambled to the dugout in the 6th, the Chicago bullpen collapsed and the Trolleys took the game 3-1. Donovan must have sensed the impending doom. While waiting for their new stadium to be completed in Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers played at the converted Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the short porch in left was guarded by a looming forty foot screen. As Donovan was warming up prior to facing Drysdale, he looked out at the screen and shook his head: “I wonder how a fellow ever gets the side out,” he said. “I guess you gotta be a positive thinker.”

Donovan was only 10-10 for the ’61 Senators, but he led the AL in ERA and might have become a feature of the new team’s rotation. But the Senators’ front office didn’t think he’d get much better and they dealt him (with Jim Mahoney and Gene Green) to Cleveland for Jimmy Piersall. It was a mistake. Piersall hit .244 for the Senators, while  Donovan won 20 games for the Indians. He was just so-so in the two years that followed and, after pitching only 22 innings in the ’65 season, he retired to his boyhood home in Massachusetts. For the next twenty years, Donovan was a successful businessman and a well-known figure in Weymouth. He died in 1997 at the age of 69.