What a season. As we head into the final stretch, everyone’s offering lots of thoughts on the season, the NL East, Manny, post-season awards, RFK and the new park.

The GM has some thoughts about what to look forward to in this final homestand in his weekly Examiner column.

“For our club, it will be important in a different way. We get to see how far we really are from contending while facing the division’s best trio. Also, individual players need to solidify their position with the Nationals next year. We have played with a lot of heart and character since May 11, accomplishing a winning record with the third lowest payroll in baseball and a starting rotation filled with rookies. Now let’s see how we do against the competition that matters most.

Who will be the last Washington player to ever homer at RFK? Will Zim or Wily Mo change a yellow seat to white one more time? Will (Justin Maxwell) “JMax” hit another slam? Will Shawn Hill continue to establish himself as team ace? Will Chad Cordero continue his scoreless streak? Come to RFK one more time and find out.”

How about 10 more times? And I think my money’s on a pinch hit homerun from Robert Fick a la his closing homerun in Tiger Stadium.

Ryan Zimmerman also shared his thoughts about ending the season, saying goodbye to RFK and looking ahead to the new ballpark in his column.

“I’d be lying if I said I’d rather spend another year in RFK. But at the same time I’ve had a lot of great moments here during my short career. Those are the things I’ll remember most…It’s been fun playing here for the last three years. But next April we’re going to be like spoiled little kids.”

Remember to vote for Zimmerman for Man of the Year Roberto Clemente Award. Don’t forget to vote for Dmitri for Hank Aaron award.

Also, Sports Illustrated’s John Donovan has a great article on Manny’s performance this year in his column.

“Consider this year’s success stories in the dugout. Bobby Cox with the Braves. Mike Scioscia with the Angels. Joe Torre with the Yankees. Tony La Russa with the Cardinals. None can top the Nationals, rock bottom after years of neglect as baseball’s unwanted stepchild of a franchise, with their personable, perpetually positive new manager. Acta has taken this team, which tumbled after that 1-8 start to 9-25 on May 9, and cajoled the group of largely unrecognizable names into playing .500 ball since then, a remarkable turnaround by any standard. The Nationals are 56-56 since May 9, better in that time than more than half the teams in the game.”

And if all of that wasn’t exciting enough….The Post reports that the Nats are trying to get next year’s Opening Day in the new ballpark featured on ESPN in a special Sunday night opener against an NL East team - like the Mets.

Still plenty left to experience — Ladies Night, Baseball 101, Batting Practice and our night with Bob and Don. This last week will be full of baseball memories to cherish for a lifetime.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2007 at 8:43 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.