In Which the Return of a Certain Centerfielder is So Depressing That It Can Only Be Alluded To

There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the Nationals won last night. The bad news is almost everything else.

First, game stuff. I honestly don't know how this team is winning. We had one extra-base hit last night, Jose Guillen's homer. We had on extra-base hit in the previous game, a Cristian Guzman triple. Brad Wilkerson is on an 0-5 streak. Let me define my terms: the "0" is the number of hits, the "5" the number of games; Wilk is all the way down to 295/368/505 - still good, but he ain't the MVP anymore. Esteban Loaiza was good last night, but only went six innings - not the inning-eating we were expecting, but I'll take fewer innings if he keeps his ERA under 4. Anyway I expect a demoralizing losing streak in our future.

Terrmel Sledge won't be around for it, and neither will Joey Eischen. Both are on the disabled list. Sledge is a better player than Eischen, but more easily replaced: he and Ryan Church were being used interchangeably already. The loss of Eischen, on the other hand, leaves us without a lefty in the bullpen. So how does our esteemed GM respond? By bringing up two near-useless outfielders from New Orleans. Don't expect me to explain how this man thinks, but if he was just trying to provoke Craphonso "Chris" Needham, mission accomplished. It's not all bad, though. With Guillen and Castilla playing really well, this will give us all a nice, safe target to bag on. This isn't the end of the early-season reshuffling. Brittle starter Tony Armas is on his way back, leaving us without about 12 starting pitchers in addition to our 15 outfielders. I can't imagine we'll go long with a lefty-free bullpen, so expect some movement on that front as well. This has been a pretty boring couple of paragraphs, and I can't think of any way seemlessly to blend in some swears. Sorry.

It seems that I start every announcement of a new link with the phrase "I've been remiss." It ain't broke, so it remains unfixed. I've been remiss in not linking to Nasty Nats. It did start when I was off getting married and all that girly stuff, so I have an excuse. Anyway, check it out. It's got pictures and a Joey Eischen obsession and buckets of irreverance, which I may not have spelled right.

I trust that you're all working diligently on your questions for Dayn. Don't let me down, people.

Late game again tonight. Get to Yuda's and join the fun.