You Only Miss Me When I'm Gone

I'm back. Overly tanned. Slightly dehydrated. And ready for a vacation from my vaction. But there were many things I learned while on my summer vacation. I thought I'd share.

1. There are actual living, breathing Nationals fans in Torrey, UT. Don't ask me how they got there. Don't ask me why they're there. Just know that they're there. Strangely, I think they get to see more games on TV than we do.

2. You can run into Nationals fans in strange places -- such as the Bristlecone Pine Tree Loop at Bryce Canyon.

3. Same park, different hat -- a group of Montreal (at least I'm assuming by Les Expos hats they donned) eyed me warily. No, I wasn't going to steal their wallet, and I most certainly wasn't behind the stealing of their team -- even if I'm enjoying the fruits of that theft.

4. It's really hard to get Nationals updates in the middle of nowhere. Most of the places we stayed didn't have a TV. Those that did just had ESPN, and the Nats highlights usually come on right after the Edmonton Oilers updates.

In 2+ weeks, there weren't any boxscores, and the only video I managed to catch was Cristian Guzman's game-losing statue impersonation against the Mets a few weeks back, and half an inning of the Braves game where they rallied only to lose. Strangely, it was refreshing.

And strangely, nothing happened. They're basically in the same position they were before -- which is to say, not a good one.

5. Red Nationals hats can get disgusting very easily. Between the red rock dust, 100 degree temperatures, hikes through the desert, and a bleaching sun, even Steve Kline would tell me to wash my hat.

6. I need to aim higher: In the short time of this blog, I've advocated trading for two stopgap players, both of which happened: Junior Spivey, and Deivi Cruz. I'm not so presumptuous as to think that anyone of any importance is reading this (crushing to your ego, I know), but in case anyone is, next time, trade for Albert Pujols, ok?

Well, what did I miss? Did you learn anything from watching the team over the last three weeks? If you had to tell someone who was wandering through the desert for a few weeks about the way this team has played lately, what would you say? Anything stick out?

In the meantime, I have a lot of boxscores to sort through. I'm debating about doing retro Whips and Ducks. But I don't know if I have that much time...! :)