Braves series:
Nationals lose 4-10 to the Braves in the first of the 4 game series. The Braves are in third place, 16 games behind the Mets and 4.5 games ahead of the last place Nationals. The Nationals lost their previous series against the first place Mets, but did pick up 1 win in the three game series. Hopefully that means that the Nationals will at least pick up two wins against the Braves (it doesn’t work that way).

As mentioned, the Braves won on Monday by a score of 10 to 4; the less said, the better right?

Ortiz (recall when he was called the ace of the team?) picked up his 10th loss of the season after pitching just 4.2 innings and giving up 7 runs off of 9 hits, 3 walks, 2 home-runs and just 4 strike-outs. Wagner relieved Ortiz and finished the fifth inning and pitched the sixth. Wagner let 1 runner score in 1.1 inning of work, lowering his ERA to 12.00. Travis Hughes pitched the 7th and 8th, and gave up 2 runs off of 3 hits (1 home-run; the pitchers, together, gave up 4 home-runs). Rick Schroder had nothing to do with the game, but Chris Schroder pitched the ninth inning. Schroder (Chris) gave up 1 hit in that 1 inning of work - lowering his ERA to 6.00. Monday’s game was Chris Schroder’s 3rd game in the majors. He pitched on August 8th: 1 inning, 1 strike-out (7 pitches, 5 strikes), on August 12th: 1 inning, 2 runs off of 2 hits - 1 strike-out (22 pitches, 17 strikes), and yesterday (11 pitches, 9 strikes).

Offensive highlights: Soriano went 2 for 4, scoring twice, walking once, and knocking in 1 run. and hit a double (30th) and a single. Sorinao also picked up his 29th stolen base of the year. Just one more for that magical 30-30. Castro went 2 for 4 (he is now 3 for 12 as a National, and 26 for 92 in the majors). I’ll give the player of the game trophy (or award, or whatever) to Church for his 9th inning pinch-hit 2-out home-run with the game winding up and the score 10-3. The announced attendance was 21,550, and most of those ticket holders were probably in their cars when that home-run was hit.

Anyone with pictures, and/or for other reasons want to include the name of the umps when referring to this game: behind the plate: Tony Randazzo. 1B: Jim Wolf. 2B: Joe West. 3B: Ed Rapuano.

And for those keeping track of this stat, the Nationals left 10 runners on base.

Series continues tonight at 7:05 pm with 2-3, 6.12 Cormier pitching for the Braves against 2-2, 5.56 Pedro Astacio pitching for the Nationals.

Washington Post recap for Monday’s game:

Jones smashed home runs in three consecutive at-bats, Diaz collected hits in his first four at-bats to tie a National League record and by the time the Braves' 10-4 demolition of the Nationals was complete, Ortiz's deficient effort had been long forgotten by the thinning crowd of 21,550.

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Washington Times recap for Monday’s game.

Diaz entered the game with six straight hits, so he was already on a roll by the time he walked into the ballpark. By the time he walked out, he had etched his name into the record books, thanks in large part to a Nationals pitching staff that kept deciding to pitch around Adam LaRoche to get to him.

Presidents’ Race
See pictures "From the inside".

A look at the headlines:
Pedro Martinez viciously injuries baby cow: “Mets Ace Pedro Martinez Injures Calf”. Oops, sorry, the article is actually about:

The New York Mets ace tweaked his calf during warmups, got roughed up for six runs and left his terrible outing against Philadelphia after getting only three outs.

- The article title confused me.

This day in History: “Phil Wood: Still a fab moment at RFK Stadium”: Beatles played RFK 40 years ago August 15th. Tickets were in the 3-5 dollar range, but the band attracted only 32,164 fans at RFK (called DC stadium at the time).

The idea of a ballpark rock concert was still unusual; The Beatles had played the first-ever stadium show a year to the day prior to playing D.C. That one was at Shea Stadium in New York, before 55,000-plus fans. They sold tickets behind the band at Shea, which accounted for the huge crowd; a year later they drew 32,164 here, with the outfield seats essentially vacant.

Washington Post - 2 players angry on Sunday: "Nationals Try To Toss Aside Controversy"

Catcher Brian Schneider, who got upset with reporters before storming off after Sunday's 3-1 loss to the Mets . . . The other incident Sunday involved utilityman Damian Jackson, who tossed a chair before the game.

Washington Times - All about the fielding: “New players lead to more errors”

Last season, the Washington Nationals committed the fewest errors in franchise history with 92. The Nationals surpassed that total with 93 after three miscues in Sunday's loss against the New York Mets. Entering last night's game against the Atlanta Braves at RFK Stadium, the Nationals were tied with the Florida Marlins for the worst fielding percentage in the majors at .978.