Sunday Smorgasbord 8-5

• Finally, our long national nightmare is over and Freddy Adu is now taking his whining act to Europe. The kid who chose MLS and D.C. United over an English Premier League Developmental Squad is now heading to the soccer machine of Portugal. That's right, Portugal. And reading Freddy's interview in the (Com)Post, he still doesn't get it. Three years and a half years ago when he first showed up in D.C., Freddy said and did all of the right things. He happily lugged the equipment on and off the field and yet behind the scenes was never happy with his playing time or his role. He's sounds contrite, talks about "how much he's learned" but is still looking for "comfort." For Adu, "comfort" is doing whatever he wants and he believes that's what he's going to find in Portugal. Well, Godspeed Freddy, please don't whine again when Bob Bradley doesn't start you in South Africa.
• I was rather upset last night to see Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds* tie Hank Aaron's home run record in San Diego and it has nothing to do with them now playing the Nats at home this week. It was my sincere hope that the Baseball Gods would have a sense of justice and leave Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds* one short of the record. However, there is some hope, tomorrow night as the Nats will trot out John Lannan to start. Should he lose control of his inside stuff again; he very well could do to Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds* what he did to Chase Utely. Yes, I know that isn't very Christian of me but that could actually be a fate worse for Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds* than coming up one short.
• Speaking of the Nats, I think it's time to break them up. They've now won nine straight at RFK and six games overall in a row. The Nats are now 9 games under .500 and only a .5 game out of fourth place in the NL East. So what has happened to the team? Well, the schedule has gotten (somewhat) easier. Record wise, the Reds were on par with the Nats when they were swept and with the sweep of the Cardinals, the Nats now have more wins than the Cards. The Nats streak could very well keep going because the Giants are out of the playoff race as well and the Nats have a better record than them as well. It is when the Nats play teams that are in the playoff chase that they have real problems which means the fun is going to end sometime around this coming Friday. But now at 51-60 the Nats are currently 11.5 games back of the New York Mets (who are leading the Cubs as I write this) in the NL East with an elimination number of 41. The Nats are 9.5 games back of San Diego for NL Wild Card with a playoff elimination number of 43. Currently, 7 teams (4 NL, 3 AL) have worse records than the Nats do.
• After another 1-0 loss to Houston in the SuperLiga, D.C. United got out of their road doldrums with a 3-0 beatdown of New England today. I didn't get the chance to watch either game but it is good news for D.C. that they advanced to the Semifinals of the SuperLiga despite the loss to Houston. D.C. will face allegedly face David Beckham on August 15th. If David Beckham can't go, they'll have to settle for the rest of the L.A. Galaxy. But with today's much needed MLS win, D.C. pulls into a tie for third place in the East with New York, six points behind New England with two games in hand on both New York and New England. Now is the time for D.C. to make their move in the MLS standings.
• Spooked by last year's Preseason injury-fest, the Redskins, rested most of their starters in the scrimmage with the Ratbirds. Joe Gibbs once said that he would love to have more preseason games and fewer regular season games, but I fail to understand just what is accomplished with a one hour bus ride to go hit somebody else if the starters aren't getting many reps. But then again, Gibbs has won three Super Bowls and I've only watched them on TV...
• As mentioned above, this week the Nats head out for four games in San Francisco against Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds*. Expect the Nats to be in ESPN2 this week until Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds* breaks the record or doesn't play (which is assured of happening on Thursday when the Giants and Nats play a day game. That turnaround is too much of a strain on Big Head BALCO Barry Bonds*). The Nats then move onto Arizona to play a weekend series against the Diamondbacks that could get ugly. D.C. United welcomes David Beckham to smile, wave to the crowd, and then sit on the bench in street clothes as they try to beat L.A. in RFK Stadium for the first time in four years on Thursday night which should be on ESPN2 (unless the Arm Wrestling championships goes long). The Redskins will play their starters for about a set of downs on Saturday night at 8pm when they open up their preseason schedule in Tennessee against the Titans. That game for some reason has been picked up by the NFL Network which probably means we have to suffer through Bryant Gumbel once again.
• As always folks, please send all comments, criticisms, corrections, questions, suggestions, and recipes for bananas foster to "capsnut" over at gmail dot com.