Rock Bottomiest

Another Ryan Drese start, another loss. He's maddening to watch. When he's on and his arm angle is high, the batters are helpless to pound the ball into the ground. I don't know whether it's injury or laziness, but he can't keep his arm angle high for very long. As soon as it drops, he gets knocked around. And when he doesn't have control, like he didn't yesterday, it gets ugly early.

That being said, the team had a chance to win. And perhaps had the Lame Duck winner, Brad Wilkerson, done anything other than pop up anytime runners were on, the result would have been different.

It's hard to get excited about another in a growing list of losses, but there were signs of things hidden in the game that sort of resembled the way the team played in the first half.

I really don't like the idea of taking moral victories -- yet.

Nationals Inquirer prays to the baseball Gods, asking for relief.

Nationalz tries to keep a positive outlook.

Nasty Nats stays positive too, and sees hope for the future.

Nationals Interest notes the recent offensive troubles of some of the team's key hitters.

Looking to the future, Nationals Farm Authority looks at Bowden's plan for his prospects, and links to a John Sickels recap of his pre-season top-20 Nationals prospects.