News of the Day

There are a number of interesting points about the Nationals in today's Washington Post.

First, the Post reports that Nick Johnson suffered a setback in his rehab and won't be available immediately after the All-Star break. This is very bad news, because the Nats badly need Johnson's bat.

Second, Jim Bowden apparently is still pursuing Preston Wilson. We had hoped that the lack of a deal by now was evidence that the deal was off, but such apparently is not the case. Bowden is willing to pay $2.5 million of Wilson's remaining salary, but that's $2.5 million too much, in our view. As we said this weekend, Wilson's numbers outside Coors Field are awful, and they'd likely be especially bad at RFK, which is proving to be a pitcher's park where home runs are scarce.

Third, there is this about Frank Robinson's decision yesterday to bring in Joey Eischen for the sole purpose of walking Tomas Perez:

"Left-hander Joey Eischen didn't know why he appeared in Sunday's 5-4 loss to pitch to one batter, intentionally walk him, and then come out of the game. 'Don't ask me,' Eischen said.

"After Eischen came in and walked Tomas Perez in the eighth, Robinson said he was trying to get the next hitter, switch hitter Jimmy Rollins, out of the game. But Rollins has a sore hand that prevents him from hitting right-handed, so having him face Eischen would have been preferable. Still, Robinson brought in right-hander Chad Cordero. Rollins walked."

As we said yesterday, we didn't get it either.