[QuestGAV]

The Nationals season was set to begin on April 5 with a home series vs. the Cubs. Prospects for victory seemed a bit bleak with the Cubs holding the pitching advantage for each matchup.

Game one of the Nationals era proved to be less than spectacular. A 12-2 Cubs win was highlighted by a 5-5 performance by Todd Walker, including 5 runs and 3 RBI as he hit for the cycle. His 3.200 OPS for the day made Baby Jesus cry. Mark Prior threw 122 pitches over 7 innings, giving up only 2 runs on 8 hits and a walk. Much of his production came at the expense of Estaban Loiaza who gave up seven runs over 3 2/3 innings. Termel Sledge's 2-5 with 2 RBIs was the lone "highlight" experienced by the Nationals. We could be in for a long summer folks.

Game 2 saw a much improved performance from the staff and defense with Tomo Ohka and John Patterson combining for 9 innings of one run baseball. Sadly, Carlos Zambrano outpitched Prior and the Cubs blanked the Nationals on 6 hits. Sammy Sosa notched his fifth RBI in the first inning, providing all the spark the Cubs would need.

Apparently the Nationals saw some pitches they liked in game 3 as Kerry Wood was chased out of the game with a lucky number 7 on the board (though only 3 were earned). Scott Williamson couldn't put out the fire as he gave up another 3 in the third inning. The Nationals notched a 10-4 win, sparked by 3 players with 3 RBI apiece.

The next step was a trip to Colorado. The 7-4 loss saw a magnificent performance by chin-Hui Tsao as he gave up 1 run over 8 1/3. Nick Punto and Charles Johnson had 3 RBI apiece and Jared Sandberg hit his 2nd home run of the year.

Jeff Francis and Jimmy Gobble squared off in game 2 of the series. Francis and the Rockies came out on top with an 8-3 win. Not all the news was terrible however, as BJ Upton hit his first home run of the year and drove in all 3 Nationals runs.

Not being the Yankees, we had no choice but to trot out Loiaza again for the final game of the Rockies series. After 4 2/3 innings of one-run, 4 hit ball Loiaza asked out with a sore shoulder. Amazingly enough, we had a 2-1 lead at the time and the lead was held by the bullpen with Luis Ayala's 3 1-hit innings being the backbone of the win. Even the team's 4 errors (including 2 by Jared Sandberg) weren't enough to give the game away as the Nationals improved to 2-4 as they closed out their first week of play.

A horde of players were reassigned or released during this period as clubs worked to get the chaff off their 40-man rosters. Very few of the players entering free agency were even recognizable, nevermind desirable and the Nationals decided to stick with what they had. Carlos Guillen was traded along with two prospects to the Rockies for Joe Kennedy in the week's most intriguing trade.

Though Loiaza's injury wasn't serious, simply a sore shoulder that hopefully will last only a week or so, some other teams were not nearly as lucky. An errant pitch broke the cheekbone of Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez and he'll be down for 6 weeks. Philadelphia's Randy Wolf also will be out nearly 6 weeks with a strained tricep suffered pitching against Atlanta. While a serious blow to the team, the Phillies received worse news the following day as an X-Ray of Vicente Padilla's shoulder showed a significant bone chip problem. Surgery was scheduled immediately and it is hoped that he will be 100% for next season.

The Oakland Athletics might have been the recipients of the biggest blow of all. Billy Beane's halo dimmed considerably as an MRI showed a torn ligament in the elbow of Barry Zito. The injury came days after Danny Haren, centerpiece of the Mark Mulder trade, was released following the internet distribution of a videotape Haren made involving a donkey and a pool cue. After a week of play, Oakland sits at 2-5 without any members of the B ig Three to bail them out. When asked about their chances to make the playoffs this year, Beane lamented, "Honestly? We're f***ed."