>> Media conglomerate Viacom announced that it will donate $1.5 million in cash and promotions to help build the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall. [NBC4] >> A child described as a 20-month-old black boy was found adandoned in a stroller in Capitol Heights Tuesday morning. [NBC4] >> An improperly disposed cigarette was to blame for the fire that damaged Capitol Lounge and Trover Gift Shop last week. The fire began......

Baseball’s amateur draft hasn’t quite established the same caché as the NFL, with All Day Draft Coverage, mock “war rooms” and the like. This is partially because baseball’s deep player development system delays the impact of most draftees and partly because baseball’s draft has twenty bazillion rounds. Even without a media circus, though, the 2007 Draft looms large for the Nats and their plans for future development. Many of their decisions over the past few......

[Editor's Note: With the Nationals readying to begin their third season in D.C., change is constant and questions abound. Today, like last year, we take a look at the 2007 roster and all the new contributors. Next week, we’ll discuss this year’s most pressing questions with some of the Nats' best bloggers.] With the Nats preparing to head north from spring training in Viera for their third season on the Anacostia, it’s time to take......

UPDATE: WTOP is reporting that part of a building under construction in Rosslyn has collapsed, and that there are reported injuries, but at this point they don't know how severe. The building is at the corner of North Lynn Street and 19th Street. We'll update again when we learn more. MORE: "Arlington Police spokesman John Lisle says a slab of wet concrete partially collapsed on the 24th floor of the building on North Lynn Street."......

This much is known about the Nats’ managerial search: 1) With Piniella and Girardi having withdrawn, the position is unlikely to be filled by recognized "name". 2) The process has been conducted with Karl Rove-like secrecy. 3) Because of #2, the press is essentially groping in the dark for leads, and the final selection will most likely not have been on anyone’s lists two weeks ago. For the prospective candidates, the description of the Nat’s......

It’s the final week of the season for the Nats. Just six games remain in the next six days, so we thought we'd give you that many reasons to head over to RFK one last time. 1. Fonsi’s Career Year When Bowden and Co. went out and traded for Alfonso Soriano last year, we celebrated the bold move. In June, we made the case for keeping him, in the face of relentless pressure (some of......

In the waning twilight of the Nats' lost season, Saturday night's win will forever stand out in star left fielder Alfonso Soriano's memory. While many DC fans focused their sports weekend on last night's 'Skins/Cowboys tilt, about twenty-four thousand were on hand to see Soriano swipe second base, and with it, a little piece of history. It was his 40th stolen base of the season, and along with his 45 home runs, it made him......

Like many frustrated Nats fans, I’ve found myself cursing the in-game strategy of manager Frank Robinson fairly often. He operates impulsively, trusting his gut more often than statistics or matchups, with less than convincing results. Many of his peers are similarly critical: he’s been voted by major league players to be the worst manager in baseball two years in a row. His future in the organization after this season is uncertain. It’s clear enough that......

The Washington Nationals and Alfonso Soriano, outside his apartment: Fonzi: Wow. That was intense. Nats: Seriously. You were amazing. I don’t know how you kept producing through all of that. Fonzi: Oh, I was o.k. I was just worried about you. I mean, I love being with you. I love it here. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I didn’t like it when you were talking to all those other teams. Nats: I know. I’m......

Alfonso Soriano is still a Washington National. For this season, at least. After what we assume were some intense negotiations with over a dozen teams, Jim Bowden failed to trade the Nats’ star left fielder. The 4 p.m. trading deadline came and went without a deal for Soriano, or any other Nationals for that matter. As a waiver-wire trade will be logistically impossible to complete, Soriano will stay with the Nationals for the remainder......

Will he stay? Will he go? Will he sign? Anxious Nats fans are closer than ever to finding out Alfonso Soriano's fate. With next Monday's trade deadline rapidly approaching, trade rumors are reaching a fever pitch. This afternoon, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian is reporting that the Nats and White Sox are "extremely close" to getting a deal done. The potential spoils for the Nationals may include Brandon McCarthy, a 23-year-old, 6'7" righty with less than......

After getting thrashed at home by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to the tune of 11-1, the Nationals experienced something of a wake-up call. The Nats might have looked around and found out that they were in the basement of one of the worst divisions in baseball. They might have done some research and found out that Friday night's beat-down was at the hands of franchise whose entire existence has been marred by futility......

The highly anticipated Battle of the Beltway ended its second round yesterday with the Nationals losing the weekend series to the Orioles at Camden Yards. The series concluded this year's meetings between the two teams. Looking back on this budding rivalry, it is clear that the Nats and Orioles played themselves to a stalemate. Each team won its home series by taking 2 of 3 games. Each team finds itself struggling to stay out......

What a difference four days make. On Monday, the Nationals were surging. They had just taken two out of three from the Phillies and were four games under .500 for the first time since April. But then the Rockies came to town. When the dust settled, bullpen coach John Wetteland may have been the only one to lose his job, but the damage had been done. For the first time since arriving in Washington,......

Just a speed bump on the road back to a competitive season? Or a return to earth for a team playing way beyond its ability for nearly a month? In either case, the Nats did not look good in dropping the first two of a four-game set with Colorado on Monday and Tuesday. The Nats began the week having won six of their last seven series, winning at a .696 clip during that span.......

The following is the first in a two part point/counterpart series by DCist Sports regarding Alfsonso Soriano and his future with the Washington Nationals. Today Matthew Bourque argues for trading him. Jeff Beam will provide the case for keeping Soriano tomorrow. When Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals landed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained oblique muscle, baseball lost its most prolific hitter. On Monday, an inconclusive MRI had experts believing that......

A few weeks ago, the Nationals were down and out, battling to stay in front of the Florida Marlins. Now, after a weekend sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee, the Nationals, led by Alfonso Soriano's hot bat, are on the rise. Winners of three in a row and 12 out of their last 17, the Nationals face off against their NL East rivals this week in a set of six games that could make or......

Not for the first time this year (remember that stretch back in April that got them within three of .500?) did the Nats make us think a competitive season was possible, when they ran off a 7-3 homestand to close the NL East gap to single digits. After taking bragging rights from the Orioles and a series each from the Astros and Dodgers, the Nationals headed back out on the road to face division rival......

When the Nats completed the series win over their budding rivals from Baltimore last weekend, things were looking up. They'd won two in a row (and three of four), stalwart starter Livan Hernandez appeared to have returned to last year's All Star form, and Alfonso Soriano was proving why Jim Bowden coveted him so badly. The team seemed to have turned a corner on their poor start. But Momentum, she is a fickle lady.......

While watching two fourth-place teams duke it out over a weekend is rarely exciting, the Nats and the Orioles made a good show of it in the first Battle of the Beltways. In the end, the Nationals got the upper hand by taking two of three from the now tied-for-last-place Orioles. The weekend started like many others this season for the Nationals: with a loss. Alfonso Soriano provided the only offense for Washington with......

Livan Hernandez finally managed to stay out of early trouble last night, but his teammates couldn't cause any of their own against Carlos Zambrano. The 24-year-old right hander spread four harmless singles over eight innings to shut out the Nats 4-0 in Chicago and pick up his second win. No National had more than one hit. Alfonso Soriano struck out three times on the same day the Post commended him for not letting his......

You gotta give The Kid points for style. After nearly a month on the DL, Ken Griffey, Jr. returned to the Reds last night with a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th. Unfortunately, the Nationals were the unlucky victims of Griffey's 539th career home run. With Alfonso Soriano mired in an 11-for-58 slump and on the bench, the Nats scored three in the 11th to pull ahead 4-1. Three relievers tried......

"People keep asking me, 'What's wrong?' I'm going to have my numbers. People shouldn't worry about Jose Guillen." Somewhere, Gilbert Arenas is smiling. He would definitely appreciate the third-person proclamations Jose Guillen made in Monday's Post. Especially since Guillen had previously struggled so badly - through Saturday he had two homers on the year, was batting a paltry .227, and recently was dropped from cleanup to the fifth spot in the order. But Guillen emphatically......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jeff Beam. This is not how the Nats wanted to start things. After losing five of seven in New York and Houston to start the season, the Nats returned home to RFK for a mid-week tilt with the Mets. After last week’s parade of hit batsmen and subsequent suspensions, tension built between the teams to the point of a warning from the league extending the rest of the......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Ben Kabak. Down to their last three outs, the Nationals pulled off a dramatic 9-5 extra-innings win over the Mets last night at Shea Stadium. While Ryan Zimmerman's first Major League home run propelled the game into extra innings and Jose Guillen provided the game winning blast, the story of the game was once again Alfonso Soriano's attitude. The controversy erupted in the top of the 6th. After......

Damn it. Baseball doesn't make it easy on the Nats. Last year, the team opened their season with an extra long road trip to allow time for final RFK upgrades. This year RFK is in good shape (relatively), but Washington will still kick things off with six games on the road, beginning with three against the spend-happy Mets. In yesterday's afternoon opener at Shea, the Nats avoided Pedro and played well, but one more elbow......

Reviewing the week in DCist can't go without mentioning what is now the news of the week -- George Mason today toppled the nation's best basketball team, UConn, 86-84 in a nail-biting overtime upset. The victory caps what has been a surprising rise through the NCAA ranks for George Mason, and with Georgetown out of the picture, gives the Washington region someone to cheer for. This week we saw the Post's newest conservative blogger......

Yesterday, it finally came to a head. The issue everyone kept putting on the backburner finally rushed to the forefront of the Washington Nationals' spring training season. Alfonso Soriano, the highest paid player of the club, refused to take the field in his assigned role of left fielder against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla. Brandon Watson eventually took the field in Soriano's place, playing centerfield while moving Ryan Church......

>>The votes are in and as of now, it looks like the Washington Wizards will not be represented in this year's NBA All Star game. Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison, both elected last year, will have to make other plans for All Star weekend after the coaches left them off of their ballots this year. Arenas is a suprising omission given that he's fourth in the entire league in scoring in addition to the......

One of the joys of Spring Training is supposed to be taking a break from the icy darkness of wherever you're from to head south and dream of the warm summer nights that must be around the corner if baseball's begun. This winter, of course, we've all been able to keep our tans, and the kids never had to quit their stickballing in the alley, but it's still pretty exciting to think that it's nearly......