Admittingly, I'm very excited for tonight's game. Being from Connecticut, the only time I get to see the Nationals play is when they play the Mets on SNY. And this game is important for the Nats. Not for any other reason other than they need to stop this 5-game slump right here. The Nats will have their best pitcher this year on the bump, Livan Hernandez, who is sporting a 1.46 ERA through 7 starts. The Mets will have R.A. Dickey pitching in place of the injured Jon Niese. Dickey is a career journeyman, a knuckleballer who has made 48 starts since 2001. And Adam Dunn is back in the lineup after battling the flu the past few days out west. So all things are in the Nationals favor tonight, as well as tomorrow and this weekend. They need to get a nice winning streak started to give this ever-evolving team some well need self-assurance. With a two set against the struggling Mets and Orioles, they could get those five games they just lost back, Fast. Next week, Washington will travel to California to play the San Francisco Giants and then the San Diego Padres, two clubs who can flat-out pitch. After those two clubs, the Nationals fly to Houston to play the struggling 'Stros for three. In the next 14 games, if the Nationals can win 8 games, or more,that will put them in great position for a much easier June, and the much anticipated arrival of "the phenom", "the franchise", "the natural", whatever you want to call him. The government calls him Steven Strasburg. And when he arrives, it will be the biggest thing in D.C. baseball since the Nationals first took the field at RFK in 2005. I'm getting excited already. I'm clearing my schedule for the whole week.