Sunday Smorgasbord 9-24

• First and foremost, Get Well Soon and Speedy Recovery Wishes go out to Nats First baseman Nick Johnson who suffered a horrible season-ending injury yesterday. But let’s not forget about the other half of the collision. Austin Kearns was hustling for the ball just as hard as Nick was. Austin wasn't hurt physically, but he was emotionally distraught afterwards and that can be as bad as any physical injury. Let’s hope he's back to normal soon as well. Johnson will be out for 3 to 4 months.
• The Nats forged at least a split today in their series with the Mets in New York. Now at 68-87, the Nationals are 25 games out of first place in the NL East with 7 games left to play. The Nats are 14 games back of the NL Wild Card. Only the Royals, Devil Rays, Cubs, Pirates, and B.O.'s have worse records than the Nats.
• Congratulations to D.C. United who last night wrapped up the Eastern Conference Regular Season Title with an ugly 4-3 win over the New York Red Bulls. Coach Peter Nowak rested Jaime Moreno by bringing him off the bench in the second half. United went ahead after Moreno entered the game. However they again lost their composure as Facundo Erpen was the latest D.C. United player to receive a red card. D.C. is now only playing for the MLS Supporter's Shield and their magic number for that is now down to 3 points. Chicago and Dallas joined D.C. in the playoffs this weekend with their victories. Nobody has been eliminated from the playoffs yet, but D.C. cannot face Chicago until the Eastern Conference Finals on November 4th. That match up would take place at RFK Stadium should both teams advance past the first round.
• Maryland Head Coach Ralph Friedgen said he would rather win ugly than lose playing good. And by all accounts, that's exactly what they did winning 14-10 over Florida International. Reading the message boards, it seems as though the Terps were not too inspired to be playing the Panthers. Looks as though it is going to be another long football season in College Park.
• And speaking of ugly, the Redskins 31-15 win over Houston was exactly that. The game would have been in the "laugher" category had the Redskins not committed so many penalties. While it is good for the Redskins to get the win, they need to get some discipline and they need to remember they beat a team too stupid to draft Reggie Bush. Looking on the bright side, Clinton Portis looks to be 100%. It is amazing how one player can change the whole persona of the team. How much do you want to bet that Mark Brunell's 22 consecutive completions (a new NFL record for a single game) were due to the running of Portis and Ladell Betts? Now if the defense can get Shawn Springs back, it would be interesting to see just how much damage this team could do.
• On Friday the Caps continued their parade to the penalty box but won 5-4 in OT in Pittsburgh. Today Caps only gave up 5 power plays in Hershey but but still lost 3-1 to New Jersey. Since my last posting, Caps cut Chris Bourque, Frederic Cassivi Maxime Daigneault, Eric Fehr, Timo Helbling, Jamie Hunt, Quintin Lang, Lawrence Nycholat and Dave Steckel. All of these players were sent to Hershey. There were some who thought that Fehr might crack the opening night roster, but with Richard Zednik and Alexander Semin the Caps don't have much space for wingers on the top two lines. Playing Fehr on the fourth line would have been a waste. And speaking of Semin, he was written up today in both the (Com)Post and the Times. Good job guys...
• And finally, this week the Nats season will come to a merciful end. Tomorrow night they wrap up their series and the road schedule with the Mets in New York. They then come home and play a three game set starting on Tuesday night vs. the Phillies. As previously mentioned, A.O. throws out the first pitch on Wednesday. The Nats then welcome the Mets into RFK to wrap up their season with a weekend series starting Friday night. D.C. United travels to Houston to play the Dynamo on Saturday night for their last regular season road game. The Terps enjoy a bye week while the Redskins face the Jacksonville Jaguars at home on Sunday in a 4:15 pm kickoff. The Caps will wrap up their preseason schedule by playing the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, then hosting the Flyers on Friday, and then hosting the Carolina Hurricanes next Sunday afternoon at 1 pm.
• As always, please send all comments, complaints, criticisms, questions, suggestions, and bad jokes to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com. If I remember to check the inbox, I might just read what you send. If I can upgrade my video card, I'll do a review of NHL 07 and might just respond to your e-mail.