How 'bout That! A Win...

But at what cost?

Being up 8-2 at the start of the 9th, maybe most of the players were already in the clubhouse. In the blink of an eye, 63 year-old Canuck Matt Stairs belted the 259th homerun of his long, somewhat unillustrious career (might I add, as an A's fan, Matt Stairs always had one of the prettiest swings in baseball... quick and compact, then extending and exploding through the zone).

And at 8-6, it suddenly became a save opportunity, only Mike MacDougal appeared a little tight and immediately began feeding the beast. With a mess of lefties coming up, Riggleman turned to the shaky arm of Ron Villone, who, as we discussed last week, has lost the ability to get lefty hitters out. After Utley reached, the Nats got their Christmas miracle, with Ryan Howard pounding a ball to second, unable to beat the relay by the shortstop that would have scored the tying run.

Ian Desmond paid immediate dividends, and aside from a shaky 9th, looks prepared to handle shortstop duties for the rest of the month. I'm not sure how they will handle Guzman's frail ego, but somebody will have to take their reps at second base. Some scoring after Desmond's bomb would have been nice... the Nats have proven time and time again that no lead is safe.

The disappointing aspect is that the Nats keep digging into the cupboard, but nothing is for as to what that hand might find. Tonight, Desmond was gold and Segovia was a fresh pile of mastodon dung. Jorge Sosa gave a few good innings before his started suicide bombing games. And we all know about the ticking time bomb that spells his name Livan Hernandez.

Hey, a win is a win... let's not give the Royals Bryce Harper just yet.