You could almost hear the sizzle of doubt at Nationals Park last night: uber sub Jerry Hairston was being shipped to Milwaukee, Jason Marquis was considering boarding the red eye for Arizona, Roger Bernadina and Drew Storen were wondering whether they should make plans to rent an apartment in Minnesota and (worst of all), Yunesky Maya was preparing to take the mound for the slumping Washington Nationals. So there it was: a loss for sure.

But just hours later, Maya was celebrating his best outing of the year (and preparing for a stint on the disabled list — or in the minors), Davey Johnson was going on about “a very good ballgame,” Jayson Werth was being interviewed as “the player of the game” on MASN — and Roger Bernadina and Drew Storen were still plying their trade for the Washington franchise.

The short story is that Jayson Werth won the Nationals’ tilt against the New York Metropolitans with an attitude-lifting three-run first inning homer (it was all the Nationals would need in their 3-0 win), Maya pitched effectively through 5.1 innings and closer phenom Drew Storen registered his 26th save. It was hard to determine who was more happy: Werth or Maya.

“I’m tired of saying I’m close, but I’m working in the right direction,” Werth said following the victory. “I know why, I guess — it’s just a matter of having the right swing during the game.” Like Werth, Maya was in a sort of a rehab — spending most of the season trying to command his fastball and pick up his in-game pitching pace. On Saturday, all of that worked well: he threw 78 pitches, 52 of them for strikes.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Wilson Ramos went 3-3 in last night’s 3-0 win, proof positive that he remains amongst the Nationals’ most streaky hitters. He’s 5 for 6 over his last two games, which follows a stint in which he went 1 for 24. The Twins must have “traders” remorse. We read somewhere that Ramos’ name has been mentioned as one of the players the Twins would like to get in any trade for Denard Span. That would be a “no” . . .

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The Nationals search for a centerfielder and lead-off hitter is heating up, according to Ken Rosenthal, who says that Washington’s front office is interested in acquiring outfielder Denard Span from the Minnesota Twins. Rosenthal adds that closer “[Drew] Storen may be in play.” This is not the first time that the Nationals have talked to the Twins about Span: Rosenthal made a similar report earlier this month, though apparently without mentioning the price.

So what are the chances of a Storen-for-Span swap? In our estimation, exactly “zero.” G.M. Mike Rizzo has made it clear that Storen and Tyler Clippard are untouchable. Even so, speculation abounds. The Twins are retooling in the midst of a difficult campaign, one that saw the team battling nagging injuries to their stars. They need younger players and they desperately need relievers. But, honestly, the Twinkies will take help wherever they can get it, even at shortstop.

Which is why the inclusion of Drew Storen in a straight-up trade for Span seems like wishful thinking for Twins’ fans. It just isn’t going to happen. Storen is an important piece for the Nationals, and it’s hard to believe that after all the work in developing him, G.M. Mike Rizzo would swap him now. And how exactly do you replace Drew Storen?

Acquiring Span, however, might well be a coup for the light-hitting Nats. He’s a first rate on-base man, an exciting player and a good defensive outfielder. Span is young and fast and he’s under contract until 2014. The question that needs to be answered is whether Span has fully recovered from a June 3 collision with K.C. catcher Brayan Pena. Span has been unavailable to the Twins since, though he’s currently on a rehab assignment in Triple-A.

The Nationals search for an outfield bat has been serious: B.J. Upton is obviously on the team’s radar screen, as is Halo outfielder Peter Bourjos and Houston speedster Michael Bourn. Span might be cheaper than any of those three, particularly considering his long stay on the disabled list.

The move for Span has to be “deja vu all over again” for the Twins, who last talked with Washington last year when they were searching for a closer. The result was Mike Rizzo’s acquisition of youngster Wilson Ramos for closer Matt Capps. The trade was essential then for the Twins, but the development of Ramos has made Rizzo look like Nicolas Cage from “Gone In Sixty Seconds.”

The Washington Nationals sprayed 11 hits and scored six runs in the first inning to support the pitching of righty Jason Marquis — and took the final game of a three game set from the Marlins on Sunday, 8-4. The victory marked another solid outing for emerging staff ace Marquis, who threw 6.2 while giving up only two earned runs. The Nats finally loosened up their bats, with Roger Bernadina, “Pudge” Rodriguez and Jayson Werth (oh, and Marquis) getting two hits each. Rodriguez’s hit in the first drove in two to give the Nats a lead they never relinquished. Bernadina’s lead-off bunt single was the third for him in as many games. Bernadina is scorching the ball, and hitting .344.

The Nationals’ bullpen, which has been struggling of late, came through in relief of Marquis: Todd Coffey (who took a line drive off a spot just above his elbow), Tyler Clippard and Cole Kimball gave up just two hits and no runs in pitching just over an inning. After a rocky start of the 9th inning, Kimball looks like he could fit in, notching a strikeout and keeping his ERA in the early going to 0.00. The Nationals now await the arrival of the Pittsburgh Pirates who, since being the focus of an MLB gabfest for playing .500, have dropped five in a row.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Baseball fans have been told the news that Harmon Killebrew has ended his fight against cancer and will enter hospice care for his final days. The former Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins great had a Hall of Fame career, banging out 573 home runs. Everyone who ever met him says he’s one of the real gentlemen of the game, contradicting his baseball nickname of “Killer” Killebrew. Killebrew was never much with the glove (and was moved around a lot in the field in an effort to hide his defensive . . . indifference), but he was a terror at the plate, and played an astounding 22 years. His home runs were legendary.

For our purposes, there remain two mysteries: the first is the ongoing debate as to whether his stance provides the profile for the MLB Logo (some argue it is Ripken, others argue it was Killebrew — while the designer says it was “no one in particular” — but what does he know, and it’s a damn good story anyway), and the second is why the 1955 Topps baseball card set all have the Washington Senators listed as the “Washington Nationals.” No one has answered that question to our satisfaction, and even the back of the cards list the players as playing for “the Nats.” Not to overdo the point but . . . the 1955 Topps Killebrew is a beautiful card, right up there with the 1955 Sandy Koufax and 1955 Jackie Robinson. So here it is . . . again:

On this date in 1962, then-President John F. Kennedy was sitting in the Oval Office and thinking about baseball. With a Laotian Prince on his way to the White House for an important meeting, Kennedy thought ‘ah, to hell with it,’ called the secret service, ordered up a limousine and decided he’d go to the opening game of the Washington Senators 1962 season. Kennedy had an excuse: it was the inaugural game for the city’s new “D.C. Stadium“  (what passed for a sports “complex” in those days), a spiffy addition to D.C.’s claim to being a good baseball town. You have to wonder how Kennedy might have felt if he’d known that D.C. Stadium would one be named for his administration’s Attorney General (and his brother, Bobby), becoming Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in January of 1969. Of course, Kennedy could not have possibly known that — any more than he could have known that his own life would end at the hands of an assassin less than two years later.

Kennedy loved baseball (not as much as touch football, of course, but still . . . ) and while he was not an avid fan, he was enough of a follower of the game to ignore the Laotian prince (then cooling his heels in the opulent holding pen outside of the Oval Office) and stayed the full nine innings. It was a 4-1 Senators win. This wasn’t much of a Senators team, truth be told, as they were one of baseball’s afterthoughts: the original Senators had moved to Minneapolis at the end of 1960 (just in time to become the Harmon Killebrew powerhouse Twins) and baseball decided that since D.C. was building an “all purpose” stadium anyway (and because the powers that be were feeling guilty about not having a team in the nation’s capital), the new home of (your) Washington Redskins could also be the home of your expansion Senators.

So why was Kennedy so attracted to the Senators that he would insultingly rebuff an important visitor? The answer is simple: Kennedy loved Jimmy Piersall, the Senators starting center fielder. Piersall was a known quantity in the game — he made his name as a rookie with the Red Sox in 1952 before being shipped off for counseling for spanking a teammate’s son. He argued with everyone, incessantly, and when he was sent to Birmingham to clean up his act he climbed the roof of the grandstand to heckle the umpire. Before a game in Yankee Stadium reporters discovered him conversing with Babe Ruth’s monument. Later, after his time with the Senators ended, he celebrated hitting his 100th home run by running the bases backwards. He sprayed a water pistol on home plate after an opposing players’ home run, played air guitar on his bat, and once wore a Beetles’ wig for an at-bat.

There was always something about Jimmy that had nothing to do with his being “a character.” He battled mental illness most of his life, what was then called “mental exhaustion,” but was actually bi-polar disorder. After he entered a sanatorium in 1952 (he’d had fistfights with Billy Martin and four other teammates), Hollywood cashed in on his notoriety, making a film of his travails called “Fear Strikes Out.” He even appeared on the immensely popular game show “What’s My Line” (it’s worth watching), fielding questions from “celebrity” panel members Dorothy Kilgallen (a confidante of Kennedy), Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf and guest panelist George Smathers. “Probably the best thing that ever happened to me was going nuts,” he said in his autobiography. “Who ever heard of Jimmy Piersall, until that happened?”

In truth, John Kennedy knew enough about baseball to appreciate Piersall, who was one of the game’s best defensive center fielders. He won a Gold Glove in 1958 and 1961, led the American League in doubles in 1956 and stayed in the majors for 17 years. In the wake of Opening Day of 1962, Kennedy returned to the White House and, a few weeks later, invited Piersall to visit him. A second invitation was sent out to the veteran in 2005, when the 2004 World Champion Red Sox were honored. “This is a real thrill for a poor kid from Waterbury, Connecticut,” Piersall said at the time. “I’m a 75 year old man. There aren’t many things left.”

The Washington Nationals’ search for a top-of-the-rotation pitcher continues, with Kansas City ace Zack Greinke headed to Milwaukee, where he will lead a revamped Brewers’ rotation. The Brewers landed Greinke on Sunday (along with Yuniesky Betancourt and $2 million) in exchange for Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Jeremy Jeffress and Jake Odorizzi — a packet of four young, up-and-coming wannabes. Greinke is the second top pitcher acquired by Milwaukee this offseason: the Brewers landed Shaun Marcum in November. While the Royals gave up a top-of-the-line hurler, this was a haul for the Monarchs, who received an exciting shortstop, a near can’t-miss outfielder (in Cain), and two former first round pitching prospects. Milwaukee, however, received a best-of-the-best, top-of-the-rotation former Cy Young winner who — with Marcum, Yovani Gallardo and Randy Wolf — provides them with what should be a playoff bound rotation.

And the Nationals? Sometimes it’s what you don’t do that works out for the best. The Nationals were in the running for Greinke, but would have had to part with three of four top youngsters, including Danny Espinosa, Ian Desmond, Drew Storen and, perhaps, Jordan Zimmermann. The trade would have left huge gaps in the team’s middle infield and sacrificed a middle innings reliever who has proven to be a solid addition. Kicking in Zimmermann (if that’s what it had taken) would have meant that the Nats had given up on a “can’t miss” front-of-the-rotation guy, albeit one who has yet to really prove himself. In our estimation, the swap wouldn’t have been worth it. We’ll never know if Mike Rizzo would have pulled the trigger on such a deal, as Greinke vetoed a trade to Half Street because the Nats aren’t slated to go to the post-season.

Ben Goessling speculates that a Brewers-like trade with the Nats would have yielded a package that might not have been as steep (Zimmermann, Desmond and minor leaguer Michael Burgess), but then issues this judgment: “That would have put a bigger hole in the team’s major and minor league systems than getting Greinke would have filled.” We agree: sometimes the bad news is good. The addition of Greinke would have solidified the Nats rotation, but at a cost that would have been too steep. Zimmermann and Desmond aren’t untouchable, but the fact that they’re not on the first plane to K.C. isn’t exactly a tragedy. The Greinke swap to Milwaukee leaves the Nats pursuing Twins semi-ace Carl Pavano (who seems likely to re-sign with the Twinkies), Matt Garza (who’s being dangled by the Rays), or Arizona free agent Brandon Webb — who has a tin cup for a shoulder.

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

The minute that Matt Capps signed a free agent contract with the Washington Nationals he must have known that the team would eventually trade him. But that feeling didn’t lessen his commitment to the Nats. After a disappointing ’09 campaign in Pittsburgh (4-8, 5.80 ERA, while giving up an ugly 73 hits over 54.1 innings), Capps needed redemption, and Washington G.M. Mike Rizzo gave it to him. So, when the ax finally fell (just before the end of the trade deadline in July), Capps showed appreciation for his time in Washington — while saying that he looked forward to pitching the all-important 9th inning for a contender like the Twins. Then too (as Capps certainly realized), despite their earlier commitment to him, the Nationals could hardly pass up on the chance to obtain Wilson Ramos, a catcher of the future and one of the best young catchers in the minors. So, now that Capps is firmly rooted in Minnesota (and headed to the post-season), and Wilson Ramos has hit his first home run with the Nationals, how has the trade worked out?

The question seems particularly pertinent given the gaggle of Twins fans who still view Capps as an outsider. “Capps is making it an adventure,” one fan told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, “. . . but I’m not going to throw [him] under the bus just yet.” Another fan admitted that while Capps “has not sparkled,” he’s caused “a bit of anxiety,” while yet another expressed his distaste for Capps’ high wire act — “he just can’t close.” That view is widely shared, even among baseball gurus. “He’s soft,” MLB Network’s Mitch Williams said during a televised “look-in” on the Twins-Royals tilt on Wednesday. Williams had a point, at least at first blush: with the Twins leading the Royals 4-1 in the 9th, Capps came in to shut the door — and promptly gave up two runs. While the Twins eventually won (Capps induced a Mitch Maier can of corn to end the game), the former Nationals’ reliever looked shaky, and certainly not as effective as the Twin’s injured closer Joe Nathan — who’s a kind of legend in Minnesota.

The criticism of Capps is a little unfair: while Capps’ ERA is slightly higher in Minnesota (2.84 with the Twins, compared with 2.74 in D.C.), he’s cut down on the number of homers (5 in D.C., 1 in the Twin Cities), and registered 11 saves. True: while Capps’ other numbers are slightly up (walks per nine and WHIP), the Twins can hardly complain. While Minnesota ranks high in blown saves (with 17), they are 9-1 in the last ten games and remain at the top of the heap in the A.L. Central and near the top (third) in bullpen rankings. What’s not to like? Then too, while the Twins gave up a top prospect in Wilson Ramos for Capps, they weren’t going to get anyone better — and, with Nathan injured, they needed to make a move. And Ramos? While the final judgment on the Nats’ new addition won’t be known until at least some time next year, Mike Rizzo felt compelled to make the trade: Jesus Flores’ shoulder injury wasn’t healing and the Nats next-best prospect at catcher was (and remains) several years away from the bigs.

That said, there had to be more to the Rizzo calculus than simply snagging Ramos. After all, while Nats’ scouts oohed and ahhed up Ramos’ upside, he’d actually done little at Triple-A Rochester (.241?) to convince anyone he’d be a lock in the majors. And with the Nats playing indifferently by the mid-summer, and falling off from their .500 pace of April and May, Rizzo knew that keeping Matt Capps wasn’t going to yield enough wins to overtake the Phillies or Braves — let alone the Mets or Marlins. Which is to say: in making the trade, Rizzo waved the white flag — if the Nats had been within striking distance of the top on July 30, he might well have kept Capps. This is not to say anything against Ramos. He is giving every indication of being the catcher the Nats need, both next year and far into the future. But let’s be honest: while the addition of Ramos will fill a future need, the closer-by-committee that the Capps’ trade made necessary hasn’t worked out. While the Nats’ bullpen has been terrific, Drew Storen has proven to be better set-up man than closer, Tyler Clippard (occasionally brilliant) is just too inconsistent, and Sean Burnett (arguably the team’s best reliever) is a lefty. Which means?

Which means that if the Nats are going to contend next year they’ll need what Matt Capps provided — a consistent 9th inning arm to come in and close out a game. Right now, they don’t have one.