Brand New Trea

The Nationals' ascent continues.

Despite having a stronghold on the first wild card spot, the Nats' week has been anything but calm. A series with the New York Mets left them hurting slightly, and looking human for the first time since that May 24th benchmark they've been clamoring about.

What happened? Well, as good as the Nats have been in the clutch, as Victor Robles was last night, the Mets are learning to be better. The Mets have guys like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil who can get clutch hits, and took 2 out of 3 CLOSE, CLOSE games from Washington. And that's just what the Nats needed: another team EXACTLY LIKE THEM, complete with mid-year come-up.

And it's very easy for the better team, in this case the Nats, to lose the spotlight, and the Wild Card, to the streakier team. The 2015 Pirates were the better team, but on came the Cubs and they were history. The Nats may be the overdog here, but I worry what the momentum is gonna look like in a month. Will the Mets still be in it? Will the Nats still be ahead of the curve?

I mean, looking at what they've got...they'll be alright, I think. Trea Turner's hit for his second cycle this year, I think. Strasburg, Corbin and Sanchez are all strong, and are fine without Scherzer for the moment. Hunter Strickland, Daniel Hudson and Fernando Rodney have been impressive additions to the bullpen. Asdrubal Cabrera seems to be fitting right back into the Nats lineup after his stint there in 2014. And Anthony Rendon is still a bonafide star.

I'm hoping they can stay hot over the next month, because...I've grown less sour over the whole Phils thing, and I think they're in it for the long haul.

Coming Tomorrow- His first human season...is still pretty good. Cleveland's certainly not complaining.