Sunday Smorgasbord 9-3

• In a reprisal of last year's home opening series, the Nats sweep the Diamondbacks. From the Department of Useless Information; the Nationals are the first team since 1918 to win four games in a row when trailing in the 8th inning. Furthermore, the Diamondbacks have yet to win in RFK Stadium. Earlier this week I mentioned the ads that the Caps have taken out at RFK. Could this be why? Does this mean that the Nats will be plugged at Caps games? Now at 59-77 with 26 games remaining, the Nationals are 25.5 games out first place in the NL East. Any combination of two Nats losses or Mets wins will eliminate the Nationals from the NL East title. The Nats are 11 games back of the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card standing and their elimination from playoff contention is 16.
• The Redskins pre-season is mercifully over. All week leading into the Ratbirds game, we were told that the Redskins weren't showing anything. As if we couldn't figure that out for ourselves...
• And speaking of vanilla, that is the excuse the Terps are hanging onto regarding their 27-14 victory over William & Mary yesterday. I know a win is a win is a win, however, when you're playing a D-1AA school at home, you need to win by more than two touchdowns. Fridge is saying that he didn't want to show anything so he kept everything basic, but there is enough to worry about. First of all, 4 turnovers. While some are equivocating that there is still no excuse for it. So what the backup quarterback was responsible for half of them? That doesn't inspire confidence in depth now does it? Secondly, while the offense was giving the ball away, the defense wasn't taking it away. That dovetails into my last point, CW holds that a Division 1-A school is going to have more talent than a 1-AA school, even running vanilla schemes, you should get a better result than a 13 point win at home.
• Though the ACC didn't impress much yesterday. Georgia Tech hung tough but lost to Notre Dame, Virginia lost Pitt, North Carolina lost to Rutgers, and Dook couldn't even beat a 1-AA team at home.
• Congratulations to D.C. United who clinched a playoff spot last night due to Kansas City's loss to the L.A. Galaxy. On the same field earlier tonight, D.C. United snapped their 5 game winless streak. With the 2-1 win over Chivas USA, D.C. United is now 14-3-8 with 50 points with 7 games left in the regular season. Their magic number for the Eastern Conference title is just six points. Their magic number for the MLS Supporter's Shield is down to 16 points.
• This week, the Nats host the Cards for a three game set at RFK before heading out on the road for a 4 game set in Colorado starting on Thursday for their last extended road trip. The Terps will try to overmatch Middle Tennessee State on Saturday night at Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium. D.C. United travels to Chicago to play a U.S. Open Cup Semifinal against the Fire. They will then look to avenge their loss in July to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night at RFK Stadium.
• Finally, as always, please send all comments, complaints, questions, criticisms, and guilt-trips to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com. If the over-active spam filter doesn't kick in, I might just read your message. If I ever find the time, I might just respond.