Another scoreless Nats night made it difficult for even the most avid fans to focus on the game. Granted, we still watched and cheered last night, but there wasn’t all that much to see and now, there isn’t all that much to write.

A young Nats fan though provided plenty of entertainment in our section. A two year old girl, whose parents watched the game directly in front of us, wandered to our seats and amused us throughout the late innings. We got high-fives for good plays and when we cheered, she would cheer and scream with us. Her dad turned around, shocked to see that she was sitting down, watching the game, and cheering (we’re a good influence). I tried very hard to get her to cheer for “Zim” (Zimmerman would have been too hard), but she would only say “bug.” When you look up in left field, you can see all the bugs circulating by the stadium lights. To this young fan, watching the bugs fly around was more fun than Ryan Zimmerman (what was she thinking?). I don’t think we created a super-Nats-fan, but I think she had fun. Despite the loss, we did too.

Manny Acta was at ESPN Zone yesterday for a question and answer period. I was lucky enough to go as my office is just a block or two away. I also brought along a couple of coworkers, in hopes they will become addicted to the Nats like me.Anyway, on to Manny. As expected, he was positive and inspiring. Manny was great at complimenting the whole team and managing staff. In particular, he noted Randy St. Clair’s great one-on-one coaching style. He also emphasized injured pitchers, such as Shawn Hill and Jon Patterson, would not be rushed through the healing process. Manny did say Patterson pitched a couple of minor league innings the other day, in preparation for coming back.After about 30 minutes of questions and answers, Manny signed autographs for fans. For pictures of the event, check out Miss Chatter.

Raised in western Pennsylvania, I am so happy to hear that Manny Acta’s favorite field (aside from our new Nationals Park) is PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Pirates come to town next week and perhaps then I’ll share more of my own baseball experiences - starting with this random piece of information. My childhood baseball idol was Pirate Short-Stop, Jay Bell. I can still remember watching Bell at Three Rivers with my Dad.

In his career, Bell batted for .265, with 195 home runs, 868 runs batted in, 1123 runs scored, 394 doubles, 67 triples and 91 stolen bases. He also won the Gold Glove award in 1993 and was selected to the All-Star game the same year and in 1999.

He retired at the end of last season as Bench Coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

…about last night’s 10-0 loss to the Dodgers. Granted, we had no grand delusions about sweeping LA, but a run would have been nice. Penny’s stellar work completly shut our offense down. Guzman let so many hits pass through his territory. The long 7th inning was painful to watch as Washington gave up 6 of the 10 Dodgers runs.

Looking to the rest of the homestand:

“It will be a good test for us,” Zimmerman said. “L.A. is good. San Diego is good. They have quality arms. We are going to really stick with our game plan and battle. We are going to have to beat some good pitchers. It will be a good test, but I think we can do it.”

In other news, the speakers in left field seem to be working again! Ray Knight told us not to get our hopes up, but we could actually hear music and in-game entertainment features from 445 last night.

Also, one of the Stephs should have a full report on the Manny Acta ESPN Zone lunch sometime soon!

Check out a feature story on the Washington Nationals by AP Reporter Joseph White in today’s USA Today. White writes:

And yet, the Nationals are not going to be historically bad, certainly not at this pace. Sure, they met everyone’s expectations with a 1-8 start, but since then they’ve played almost .500 ball. A 7-3 homestand was followed by a 5-2 road trip, capped by the franchise’s first series win over St. Louis in eight years this weekend, raising the record to 21-30. 

Things are going well and it really was only a matter of time until it all started coming together.

“Everything is clicking right now,” said Acta, who has remained defiantly upbeat, even during the miserable first week of the season. “They’re playing the roles we want them to play. Hopefully we can get back some of those guys from the DL and - hey, it’s early. From Day 1, I don’t care what anybody else said or predicted, I want to play over .500. If I don’t do it, then let me know in September.” 

We can’t say enough about our faith in Manny Acta, who has created a team of guys that believe in each other.

“We never gave up on ourselves,” Young said. “Manny said there would be times when we’d play well and things wouldn’t go our way, and there would be times when the stretch we’ve been on was going to happen. We never got too high, we never got too low, especially when we started out 1-8. That’s a testament to our manager believing in us and letting us go out there every day and play.”

Maybe rain delays are good luck for our Nationals. After that marathon game on September 28th last season against the Phillies, the game didn’t start until 11:30 pm and went until 2am the Nationals pulled out a victory. The Nats beat the Phillies after a rally in the 6th inning. Then who could forget this season’s most memorable rain delay to date. On Saturday May 12, the Nationals and the Marlins were tied and had to wait out at a nearly 3 hour rain delay. Ryan Zimmerman’s 9th inning grand slam gave the Nationals the win at 2 am. Then during last nights game against the Cardinals it looked like the Nats would get crushed. However, they rallied, sat through another rain delay, and managed to come back for a respectable 8-6 loss.

Given our history of rain delays I think today’s game proves that rain showers bring good luck for our boys. The last series game against the Cardinals remained scoreless until the 5th inning. Matt Chico had another great start. Once again the weather forced the team to wait an hour before finishing the game. After the delay, Ronnie Belliard blasted his former teammates with a two run homer in the 5th. Then Ryan Langerhans put the game away in the 8th inning with a fantastic grand slam. Congratulations to the Nationals on their second series win on the road. We are excited to have them back in town on Tuesday to kick off the series against the Dodgers. Maybe there will be a chance of showers in the forecast…

Sure, it is disapointing to wait for a rain delay — in the top of the ninth, with 2 outs. But it wasn’t 8-1 anymore; it was 8-6.

Take away a few terrible calls at the plate (even Manny was upset) and it would have been anyone’s game.

Despite those calls, the guys still came back from a big hole to put the game within 2 runs and that’s encouraging.

And throughout that wait we were treated to Nats Access, where Dmitri Young sang “Ray King Kong” to Ray King and Jason Bergmann told us about his mom’s crush on Don Mattingly.

Ted Lerner is featured in the June issue of the Washingtonian. The article details Lerner’s humble beginnings on Georgia Avenue to his empire today. The article tells of Lerner serving as an usher at the all-star game when Dizzy Dean was hit on the foot by a line drive and hours spent at Griffth Stadium watching Senator’s games and old greats like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams.It was great reading about Lerner- a self-made man with a true love for baseball. Purchasing the Nationals was a risk, but also a labor of love.

said starting center fielder, Nook Logan, tonight after his big hit. The Nats went on to win 5-4 in St. Louis.Key moments included an outstanding diving catch by Austin Kearns, who then completed a throw to first for a double out and Schneider Man’s big homerun. Lopez sparkled at second and defense, all around, provided Micah Bowie with the support necessary to win the ballgame.We are continually impressed with our starting relievers who have stepped up in the absence of Bergmann and Hill to really pull through. Cordero continues to rock on the mound.Manny kept saying that offense and defense were strong; they just needed to be strong at the same time. It looks like that moment has arrived. Get ready to change some minds and gain some respect. The Nats are back on track.

The Nats wrapped up their series with the Reds last night, winning 4-3. We’re hoping that series (and all that offense) gives the boys lots of confidence as they travel to St. Louis to take on the Cards. Prepare for a mini-war between the Three Girls and our friend and Cardinal fan, RedBirds Fun.Also check out Ryan Zimmerman’s new article in the Examiner. Apparantly, he loves getting heckled at other parks (but wishes hecklers were more creative) and wants to be chosen in the 2008 All-Stars so he can play in Yankee Stadium.