‘DC United vs Chicago Fire 01’
courtesy of Max Cook

D.C. United
Record: 0-4-0
Last Two Weeks: 0-1-0
Place:Last in the league, no points.

This was, thankfully, a week of rest for D.C. United, who’ve suffered ignominious losses at the hands of fate, and brutal beatings when they were outmatched. For a club that competed for a playoff spot last year, United’s shortcomings this season are numerous and deeply frustrating to watch. Without much spark on offense, they’re playing cautious football, with lots of strategy and footwork, but with no way to get it past the keeper.

Having been to the last several home games, the problems aren’t with Santino’s righteously colored kicks, or the cheering masses from Barra Brava and the Screaming Eagles; they’re deep in the heart of United itself. It’s frustrating to see a team struggle so hard to find their own identity under new leadership, and always-bespoke Curt Onalfo is struggling himself. He was very critical last week both of himself and of his players, after the loss to Chicago.

United plays a non-league match to play-in to the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday night against FC Dallas, and then hosts the Red Bulls on Saturday, and the KC Wizards next Wednesday, all at RFK. Come on down and see if we can’t get our boys a win, eh?

Onward to the Nationals continued .500+ play and the Redskins’ wheeling and dealing.

Capitals

Lead Stanley Cup Quarterfinals 3-2 against Montreal

Saturday night’s heartbreaker at the Phone Booth came with one upside: we got to see just how tough Eric Belanger is. This video? Is him ripping out his own tooth, after taking a puck to the face from Andre Bergeron in the first. Belanger lost seven of his teeth in Saturday’s loss. You can bet they’ll be playing for blood tonight.

The Caps will need to defeat Halak early, and force in his replacement, but as good as the Habs’ defense has been beyond the blue line, it’s going to be real work to get that far. The Caps will need to be a first period team tonight in Montreal if they want to shake the Habs loose. Game Seven would be Wednesday at the Phone Booth, but every day they delay their advance means rest for the Broad Street Bullies in Philly. Tonight’s game is on

‘Teddy #191’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Nationals
Record: 10-9
Place: Tied for 2rd in the NL East
Last Two Weeks: 7-6

Who are these men, and what have they done with the Nationals we were used to?! Not because we want the old guys back, mind you, but it’d be nice to know where not to direct police for a while. The Nationals have come out of the gate playing baseball like they fully intend to win some ballgames this year. Last year at this time, the Nats were 4-13 and looking woefully pathetic. Should the Nats win tonight in Chicago, they’ll have the best 20-game start in Franchise history, going 11-9.

Keep in mind that the Nationals have played 9 of those games without their franchise third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, and you’ve got a picture that is absolutely inexplicable from the statistician’s point of view. Zim’s been sidelined with hamstring problems, and is likely to return in the series against Chicago, from what we’re hearing. Despite that loss, the Nats are 5-4 without Zim, which is just incredible

You’ve got to have heart? Maybe. Boswell thinks so.

The Nats are on the road for a quick six, three in Chicago and three more in Florida. The series against the Fish in Miami is a big one, as the Fish are one of the other contenders for second place in the NL East right now. The biggest question for the Nats so far is: Can the starting pitching keep up? Right now, no one on the five-man is anywhere near invincible, with the potential exception of Livan. But, a rotation of Lannan, Hernandez, Stammen, Atilano and Olsen isn’t too terrible right now, either. Can Marquis get his head case situation fixed? We’ll see.

Redskins

It was draft week for the Skins! Thursday night brought some excitement for Redskins fans, as they drafted Oklahoma University’s Trent Williams in the fourth position hopefully shoring up the O-line for new Quarterback Donovan McNabb. Of course, they also traded off Jason Campbell for some 2012 draft picks, which covers some of the quarterback controversy, which is worth getting excited over, as well.

The Skins also took LSU’s Perry Riley (LB), UCLA’s Terrence Austin (WR), New Mexico’s Erik Cook (C) and West Virginia’s Selvish Capers (T, best name ever) in the fourth through seventh rounds, respectively. We’ll have a draft summary up later this week.

Tom Bridge

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.