Local LGBT activists are upset over a document distributed by the Washington Nationals, according to City Desk. The document details the team's Vendor Procurement Program and features Major League Baseball's affirmative action policy, which includes this portion:The Licensee shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment or against any service recipient or applicant for services because of race, color, ethnic status, religion, sex, age, national origin, disable veteran status, Vietnam era veteran status,......

These are exciting times in Nationals land. The Nats are currently in control of the NL East! We realize that someone without any imagination, or joy in their life, might say that the team has been eliminated from the postseason, and is currently 15 games under .500. To them we would point out that all of the remaining games for the Nationals are against either the Mets or the Phillies, two teams separated by 1.5......

Damn Barry Bonds. Damn Cream’n’Clear takin’, media-manipulatin’, fan-hatin’ Barry Bonds. With apologies to sister site SFist, who has stepped up their excitement in anticipation of Bonds breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record, my recognition of his record-breaking achievement has gone from tepid acknowledgement to thinly-veiled animosity. It was bad enough that the Nats best baseball of the year – two straight series sweeps and a six-game win streak – was overshadowed this weekend by Balco......

Well, we may have been reluctant at first due to his, um, colorful past (as were many others). We also doubted his All Star chances. Now, though, we’re now firmly aboard the Dmitri Young Chuckwagon. In the same week he was named to the NL team for next week’s All Star Game in San Francisco, Young went 3-4 yesterday. His day was highlighted by a grand slam, cementing the Nats 6-0 win in front of......

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......

Ponder this one for a minute: Now that official online voting is open, if you had to select the Nats representative for the ’07 All Star game based on the team's first 52 games, who would it be? No National appears in the top five at any position in the early voting results, which is indicative of both the nature of the voting as a popularity contest and of the Nats' subpar 21-31 record.......

For a struggling offensive team like the Nationals, there's no greater place to play a few games than the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. And lately for the Nats, there's no greater foil than whiny Wayne Krivsky's Reds. For those reasons, I had quite the time watching the Nats pound the stuffing out of the Reds in last night's 12-7 win. The club's long-slumbering lumber has finally awoken--aided by Cincy's teensy bandbox of a field.......

With apologies to a certain antacid maker, this is how the Nats spell relief: S-E-R-I-E-S-S-W-E-E-P. Coming on the heels of an agonizing road trip and an eight-game losing streak, there was no better cure for the ailing Nats than coming home to RFK to face the streaky Marlins. By the end of the weekend, the Nats had picked up the three game sweep (which was actually their first series win of the year), as well......

The talk about the Nationals being the worst team in major league history seems to have been slightly exaggerated. That being said, they've been pretty awful in losing 5 in a row, including being swept by the Cubs this weekend. The Nats are 9-22, 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East and 5.5 behind the fourth place Phillies. And they face the surprising Brewers, who have the best record in baseball,......

For all the hand wringing over the Nats 9-17 April record (the second worst in baseball), the month's last game provided some vindication for many of the teams fans, and especially for centerfielder Ryan Church. At the beginning of April, Church's fate with the team was cloudy, with his supporters almost hoping he could be traded to find another opportunity. A quick glance at the lineup before a 3-2 win over the Padres late Monday......

Put the champagne on ice, kids. The Nats, at 4-9, are threatening to climb out of last place for the first time since last June, ahead of struggling Philadelphia. Both teams are 4.5 games back, but the Nats have one more win thus far. Try washing down your $90 million payroll with that, Phils fans! After a dreadful first turn through the rotation, the Nats starters have rebounded with some impressive performances as of late.......

[Editor's Note: With the Nationals readying to begin their third season in D.C., change is constant and questions abound. Last week, we took a look at this year's lineup in our Season Preview. Today, we discuss this year’s most pressing questions with some of the Nats' best bloggers: Chris from Capitol Punishment, Basil from Federal Baseball, and Brian from Nationals Farm Authority.] DCist: Since the Lerner/Kasten team took over the team, every move is justified......

We were glad to see him signed, and we hate to see him go, despite the fact that his memorable, 40-40 year didn't translate into a winning season for the Nats. While the home club was nominally trying to retain their star left fielder, Washington's offers ultimately came nowhere near the money Soriano will receive from his new team, the Chicago Cubs. His announced deal, $136 million over 8 years for an average of about......

As Nationals fans, we are but flecks of dust blowing in the wind. A tiny, insignificant bit of marginalia scribbled in the tome of baseball lore. That's what researchers found in a poll released yesterday by AP-AOL Sports. Out of the 2,002 people polled, the 32 percent that claimed to be baseball fans were asked several questions, including "Which Major League Baseball team do you root for during the regular season?" A whopping one percent......

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......

Redskins Stumble out of Preseaon The Redskins dropped their fourth and final preseason game last night, losing to the Baltimore Ravens 17-10. The loss sealed the first winless preseason in Joe Gibbs' 24 years as a coach. Though common wisdom dictates the insignificance of the preseason, there should be cause for concern among Redskins fans. The team scored a meager 27 points over the 4 preseason games, their lowest total since 1961. Their first-team......

We've been warned: Building a winning franchise from the ground up takes patience. Getting better means taking your medicine, and the Nationals have been gulping it down lately. This week the Marlins crammed a few spoonfuls of bitter syrup down the Nats’ throats, sweeping three pathetic contests that were bad even for August baseball. The Nats have now lost five straight and are a season-low 19 games below .500. Hopes of finishing the season somewhere......

Things are looking a little down for mainstream sports in the district. The Nats are cellar-dwelling. Our two favorite eccentric stars are sidelined. We can always count on DC United to keep our spirits up, but their success only nudges the District's collective batting average above the Mendoza line. With this in mind, we're eagerly looking beyond coverage of sport's established powers. Fresh off of their most successful season ever, the Washington Renegades men's rugby......

Livan Hernandez is Frank Robinson’s kind of player: crafty, with dogged determination and competitive fire. He wants the ball in every situation. He's eaten innings in big chunks, leading the league in IP for three years straight. He’s loyal, perhaps to a fault. He’s been one of the faces of the franchise in recent years, and was the first player to throw a pitch for the Nationals last year. Despite not having the best......

A new era begins this weekend at RFK, as the Lerner family ceremonially takes the reins of the team, the front office, stadium operations, and all things Natty. While visions of future pennants and new stadiums dance in our heads, we fans confront the current reality of a team that’s 17 games out in July and mired in last place. We know that things are likely to get much worse before they get better, as......

The Washington Nationals found themselves in a familiar position Sunday afternoon. After dropping their first two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Nats again were trailing in the third and final game of the series. Down 3-1 in the seventh, and in danger of being swept for the fourth time in a month's time, the Nationals turned to pinch-hitter Alex Escobar. With Jose Guillen on board with a walk, Escobar drilled a shot over......

For weeks, the Nationals have been bracing for a barrage of player moves before the July trade deadline. Just yesterday, the Post prepared for the onslaught with a detailed analysis of who's on the trading block. Yesterday afternoon, Kasten & Co. launched the opening salvo: young pitchers Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, and Daryl Thompson, along with veteran playa hatin’ Royce Clayton and utility infielder Brendan Harris were all sent packing. In return, the Nats picked......

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......

Incoming Nationals President Stan Kasten has made it abundantly clear that his strategy for winning in Washington begins with rebuilding the team's farm system, which is barely left intact after years of MLB ownership. On Monday night, the Nats laid a stone in the foundation, by signing 17-year-old slugger Chris Marrero of Miami. He played 3rd base in high school, but with Ryan Zimmerman projected there long-term in the big leagues, the team anticipates a......

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......

John Patterson may make his return by Friday of this week against the Orioles, and not a moment too soon. After last night’s 11-3 drubbing in Fenway, Nats pitchers have now surrendered 66 runs over the past eight days. That’s an average of over eight runs per game, for a team that ranked 9th in the majors in team ERA last year. The failures are across the board, with the bullpen and four of the......

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.......

Yesterday D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams laid bare his opinion on what type of parking facility he'd like to see around the new stadium in Southeast: "I strongly believe that it’s in the best long-term interest of the District to put these parking spaces underground, not above-ground as is frequently done in the suburbs,” said Mayor Williams. “It will serve the ballpark as well as the surrounding community for us to place this parking garage below......

The Nats finally enjoyed a day off yesterday after more than two weeks of consecutive gamedays. A winning May seems to have gotten the season back on track after a disasterous April, but the Nats still have to cover plenty of ground if they want to make a run at the top half of the division. Winning four out of the six remaining games on this roadtrip will be necessary to maintain some momentum heading......

A win is a win, right? Sometimes it comes in the form of Wednesday night's gem: an outstanding pitching dual duel between Houston star Roy Oswalt and Washington rookie Mike O'Conner. O'Conner was great, allowing only a three hits over 6.0 innings and holding the Astros to one run on a Morgan Ensberg homer. Oswalt was even better, mowing down Nats for seven innings before finally allowing Damian Jackson to score on a balk that......