If you're like me, you haven't spent a lot of time this season thinking about the Washington Nationals.  But that doesn't mean they're not an interesting team--quite the contrary.  As Brewers fans well know, losing teams can have a lot going for them, and the Nationals have more than their fair share of promising youngsters and surprising (well, somewhat) veterans.

To help introduce us to this team, I turned to Cathy of Miss Chatter, an excellent Nats blog.  Here's what she had to say:

Q: Usually I start with something more general, but I can't restrain my curiosity.  Jesus Flores, last year's Rule 5 pick, has been filling in at catcher, and now I read that he may keep getting playing time when Paul Lo Duca returns.  Tell us about Flores -- what are your impressions so far, and do you think he's ready to leave the minors behind for good?

A: Jesus Flores has worked out wonderfully for a rule 5 pick. He was respectable as Brian Schneider's backup all last season, and since he's come up this season with Paul Lo Duca on the DL, he's made it hard to send him back to the minors. I think he's proven he can hit at the major league level and the pitchers have raved about his game-calling skills. The pitching coach (Randy St. Claire) and manager Manny Acta praise how he sticks to the game plan. I would far rather have him and Wil Nieves as backup than Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada, who haven't been hitting and can't seem to throw runners out (but Lo Duca does give juicy quotes). If this season is all about giving the younger guys a shot and seeing what shakes out, why not? I guess there's about six million dollars tied up in the other contracts why not.

Q: Speaking of youngsters from other organizations, how are Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes fitting in?  Something must be working, because they seem to have been controversy-free for quite a while now.

A: Yes, Elijah Dukes and Lastings Milledge have been controversy free so far. Dukes has an ex-cop assigned to him 24 hours a day as a mentor, counselor, and friendly ear. He's wrapped up all his court appearances and community service time, so hopefully he can dedicate himself to the team and baseball without any distractions. I think for both of them, a lot of it was getting them out of the environment they were in, although the transgressions of the two aren't really comparable. It'll be interesting to see if Dukes can stay out of trouble and turn his season around at the plate. We haven't yet seen the raw power and stroke Jim Bowden raved about when he took a chance on him. Milledge seems to have a hoot of a personality and I have no issues with that - in fact, I was impressed he high fived fans.

Q: I would understand if you had a negative view of the Brewers, since the Milwaukee alums in your organization this year are Johnny Estrada and Ray King.  Really, I swear they were overweight and ineffective before we got them.  Do you think Estrada was worth picking up, and do you wish (as I do) that Ray King would pitch as long as Jesse Orosco did?

A: Ha, thanks for them! No, I absolutely don't think Johnny Estrada was worth picking up, but at the time, who knew Wil Nieves would have a breakout season as a backup catcher? Plus, Estrada was recovering from elbow surgery when he was signed and he's still sidelined and on the DL due to that. It's a shame that Ray King was let go, but as a lefty specialist who wasn't particularly effective with right-handed batters, the Nats didn't have room for him on the roster. For the first several weeks, our starters couldn't get more than 5 or 6 innings in before turning things over to the bullpen and we needed more long relief. Ray King recently said he'd like to do sports commentary or play by play and I heard he was on Baseball Tonight the other day. I wish I had caught that! (I haven't yet found a YouTube or Red Lasso of the segment).

Q: Over the weekend, the Brewers are going to face Odalis Perez, John Lannan, and Tim Redding, all of whom have pitched quite well so far this year.  Can you give us an idea about what to expect from these guys?

A: I can't tell you much about Odalis Perez other than he's pitched above expectations so far. I expected Tim Redding to do well based on the last half of last season and he seemed pretty confident in the off-season that he would win a spot in the rotation. He's proved he deserved it. John Lannan is an awesome story unless you're a Phillies fan (he broke Chase Utley's hand hitting him with a pitch in his debut last year and was ejected from the game). Lannan keeps his cool and focus at a level far beyond his years and experience. All of them are more control pitchers than flame throwers.

Q: To wrap up, let's go big picture.  Jim Bowden has always gotten mixed reviews as a GM, but I've been impressed with the job he's done amassing youngsters and putting together a passable pitching staff on the cheap.  Do you think the Nats are on the road to contending in the near future--if not, what has to change to get them pointed in that direction?

A: Baseball is a funny thing - a constantly changing beast. Expectations constantly shift due to injuries, slumps, etc. I would like to think the Nationals will be ready to contend in two years based on "The Plan", but they still have some holes in the farm system, particularly in the infield. The future pitching is shaping up to be ready in two years, if not sooner, plus the outfield has plenty of options. Ryan Zimmerman will hopefully be entrenched at third base, but who will be the shortstop? Second baseman? Hard to say. 

Unless they start making major trades or signing big free agents, when they contend is hard to predict. Bowden and Rizzo have done a great job amassing young arms and without as many high picks this year, it'll be interesting to see who they get in the draft in a couple weeks. They are also aggressively pursuing talent in the Dominican. Jim Bowden still gets mixed reviews - many fans are critical of how his trades have worked out for the team, but everyone agrees he's done well with the drafts he's overseen. Kearns and Lopez were supposed to be the steal of the century when he traded for them with the Reds.

Thanks, Cathy!

So, the Brewers are 1-0 now in the Gagne shutdown era, just saying...

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps

Defensive Indifference thinks the decision to leave Ben Sheets in to throw 120+ pitches and finish the game last night was the wrong call. I'm not sure where I stand on it. I guess we'll see the results in 5 days.

Brewers Bar has raised a straw man and beaten the crap out of it, saying that "many people" feel race was a factor in the Brewers decision to sign Ryan Braun to a long term contract before Prince Fielder. Does anyone out there know anyone who thinks that? I don't. I'm listing Scott Boras as the primary factor.

I've heard a lot of theories this spring on why Eric Gagne isn't pitching well. I've heard his glasses fog up, he misses HGH and/or steroids, his breaking stuff isn't as good, etc. But this theory is new. Perhaps Eric Gagne...is Fidel Castro?

On injuries:

Moises Alou left yesterday's game with a cramp in his calf.
Angels IF Erick Aybar is on the DL after dislocating his right pinky finger.
Mets OF Ryan Church and Braves IF Yunel Escobar missed yesterday's action following a collision Tuesday.
Tigers P Clay Rapada has been placed on the DL with biceps tendinitis.

If Doug Melvin is looking for relief pitching, a couple of options might be available: The Mariners DFA'd Cha Seung Baek and the Rangers DFA'd Franklyn German yesterday. Here are the BR pages for Baek and German. We could do much worse. For example, we could sign Ray King, who appeared on Baseball Tonight last night to discuss what it's like to pitch overweight.

Every now and then we have a conversation around here about what the JS and other outlets would look like if the people who covered the Brewers weren't afraid to be all-out negative. If you really want to see how the other half lives on this one, go back and click on the first link about Cha Seung Baek, and read some of Geoff Baker's other work, as well. Someone needs to talk him off the ledge.

Jose de Jesus Ortiz says the Astros are ready to compete. Admittedly, he works for the Houston Chronicle, so he's probably a little biased, but they're certainly better than most expected.

Soapbox time: If you've read the Mug more than 3 consecutive days, ever, you know I'm not a fan of Dayn Perry. Here's the first two paragraphs from his most recent column. I've added the bolding: So the Cubs hot start is only significant because it's been 100 years? No Dayn, you're wrong. The Cubs are significant because they're significantly overachieving, on pace to win 101 games, lead a division with two surprisingly successful teams and they just might have first and second place in the final balloting for NL Rookie of the Year. It's almost Memorial Day, Dayn, can we shut up about curses for five minutes and just cover the game on the field?

Oh, and here's a 1997 Marlins World Series Ring on Ebay.

Drink up.

I've got a lot of tabs open right now, which means there are a lot of links to get to.  Let's get at it.

• FanGraphs Win Probability graph
• BR Box Score
• BDD Daily Recaps
• BP Postseason Odds: 84 wins, 26% shot at the playoffs.

The big news this morning is that it's official, Turnbow is DFA'd and Dillon is back.  It's disappointing that D-Bow hasn't been able to turn it around, but I do think it's well past time we cut our losses here.  One interesting thought that has been popping up a little bit lately is that Melvin is too slow to cut the cord on his reclamation projects--Podsednik is a similar case that comes to mind.  Branch Rickey was famous for saying it's better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late, and while you get bit occasionally for making that mistake, it's better than being saddled with someone as ineffective as D-Bow is right now.

A few writers at The Hardball Times ganged up to write a massive profile of Ben Sheets, including pitch f/x data, mechanics analysis, and injury commentary.

The Junkball Blues looks at how the Crew has done against closers.  It's interesting work, but he draws the wrong conclusions.  In 13 closer appearances, we've been shut out 7 times and have scored 6 times.  That's astonishingly good, to my eyes.  Would you happy if your team's closer gave up a run or more every other appearance?  That's essentially what we're turning opposition closers into.

Some injury news:

• Troy Tulowitzki will be out for a month, maybe two.
• Phil Hughes has a broken rib , and will probably be out for at least two months.
• Jimmy Rollins won't be back as scheduled, and there's no clear timetable for when he will be.

I'm not going to wade very far into the muck of the Bissinger/Costas/Leitch controversy, but I will point you to this great piece by Joe Posnanski, who straddles the blogger/reporter divide quite gracefully.  And I'll say one more thing.  Bissinger may have been honing his craft for 40 years, but his LaRussa book, Three Nights In August, was truly dreadful.  Possibly the worst baseball book I have ever read.  There is nothing more insulting than a quasi-analytical hagiography about an overrated, self-aggrandizing figure like TLR.

A couple of ex-Brewers notes.  Richie Sexson hit his 300th career home run, and Greg Aquino cleared waivers (big surprise--his ERA is roughly the same as Turnbow's) and is headed to Norfolk.  I don't remember seeing this in an earlier Mug, but Brady Clark is also in AAA--he talked about retiring, but has opted to spend some quality time with Claudio Vargas in New Orleans.

I think the Nationals Enquirer had too much to drink.  Careful kids: drinking and photoshopping don't mix.

Derrick Goold has a nice article about Rick Ankiel and Pat Jordan's writing about him.  When we played the Cards recently, I was thinking about the stories in baseball today that we'd still be talking about 40 or 50 years from now, and Ankiel is definitely one of them.

It's amazing how rarely I agree with Richard Justice.  A couple of days ago, he decided to rip on the Astros FO for choosing Max Sapp, a high school catcher, in the first round of the 2006 draft.  Amazingly, he uses the phrase, "they blew it" to describe the results of a draft pick made two years ago.  True, Sapp is struggling in A ball, but dude, he's two years out of high school.  He's younger than a lot of the guys who will be drafted this year.  And anyway, first-round picks fizzle sometimes.  We're doing just fine without the services of Jeremy Jeffress, who we chose well before the Astros picked Sapp.

Finally, a happy story.  John Wilson is a 53-year-old senior at Penn State Altoona, and a key part of their baseball program.  He's friends with Dusty Baker, too, though I guess I can forgive him for that.

Drink up, but don't drink it too fast.  This cup runneth over!

So, don't get me wrong, I'm excited for a win, but 3:40 for a nine-inning game? There's a lot of stuff I could've done in that time.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 85.2 wins and a 22.9% shot at the Central.

Today's interesting side note from BP Odds: A month into the season, BP has the Rays as the most likely playoff team from the AL East, at 42%. The Yankees and Red Sox are both down in the 30's.

Of course, last night's win was largely sparked by the return of Mike Cameron. The JS Blog has quotes from him afterwards.

After the game, Sheets also reported no pain, so hopefully last night was just a rough first day back and he'll be back to normal for the next one.

I have yet to see or hear a report on the condition of umpire Jerry Crawford, who left last night's game early. Most media outlets are just saying he wasn't feeling well, but Baseball Musings says he was complaining of chest pains.

There's no respectful way to transition from a story about chest pain to a story about Derrick Turnbow. There just isn't.

The Brewers are #12 in the latest Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

On Injuries:

Nats closer Chad Cordero is headed to the DL with a strained muscle in his shoulder.
Alex Rodriguez's quad injury finally landed him on the DL.
John Smoltz, currently on the DL, is contemplating making the unprecedented move from starter to closer to starter and back to the bullpen again.

If you go out for a walk today, try not to trip over a former Brewer looking for work: Chad Moeller, recently DFA'd by the Yankees, could join Raul Casanova on the Mets. The Orioles DFA'd Greg Aquino yesterday. And Ray King refused to report to AAA and has been released.

It's an annual ritual of spring: Ken Rosenthal seems to think Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey could be on the move soon. I'd be more likely to believe it if we didn't have this conversation every spring, and if the Reds hadn't just signed Cordero and Dusty Baker to win now. But, just like Bronson Arroyo, trade rumors swim in circles.

That's all I've got for today. As always, feel free to leave a comment if you have something to include in a future Mug. Drink up.

Well, the Cubs lost yesterday too, so we're still two games back entering a 3 game series with the Fish tonight. Come and get your Mug.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 85.1 wins and a 22.6% shot at winning the Central.

If you haven't yet, go vote in this week's Fan Opinion Poll. And even if you have voted, go check out the results, which show a pretty interesting one week shift in Ned Yost's approval rating.

I'd never heard Scott Olsen called "Mr. Furious" before, but he's starting for the Marlins tonight, and Bugs and Cranks called him that, so I'll go with it.

The Junkball Blues thinks Rickie Weeks is on an upturn. That'd be nice.

The Official Site reports that Chris Capuano has begun a throwing program in his effort to avoid his second Tommy John surgery. Best wishes to him, but after a full ineffective year WITH the appropriate ligaments and whatnot, I can't imagine him coming back to be effective without them.

It must be a slow news day: Bugs and Cranks is pulling out old baseball cards featuring Troy O'Leary and Matt Mieske.

Today's Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury Reports are sponsored by the letter C and the number 2:

Rangers C Adam Melhuse has a bruised hand and could head to the DL.
Mets C Brian Schneider has an infected left thumb and will be placed on the DL.

Related to the Melhuse injury: I took a friend to the Iowa Cubs/Oklahoma Redhawks AAA game in Des Moines last weekend. She didn't really know much about baseball, but was a big fan of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, based purely on his very large name. Sometimes you take what you can get.

Maybe they've been watching the Brewers: The A's tried out a lineup with nine right handed hitters last night against the Twins. It seemed to work. It certainly worked better than anything Ryan Howard has tried in April.

The market for closers grows as we speak: Gaslamp Ball is ready to pull the plug on Trevor Hoffman.

Former Brewer notes: The Mets have DFA's Brady Clark, and the Nats have sent Ray King back to AAA.

If either of them (or you) are looking for work, The Twins are hiring an administrative assistant. Job duties include receiving AND opening mail. I frequently struggle with the second one.

That's all for today. If you've got something to throw into tomorrow's Mug, drop it in the comments.

Drink up.