The next time some Philly Phan whines about injuries, I'm going to laugh in his/her phace.

With Ramos going down, the Nationals injury list is pretty impressive (Ramos, Morse, Werth, CMW, Storen, Lidge, Kimball, Marrero, DeRosa), and the one player about ready to come back (CMW) is the one player they really don't need. And the Nationals are coming up on the meatgrinder portion of their schedule. After the four games against the Padres and Pirates this week, the Nats are scheduled to play 33 games in 38 days, all against the NL East and AL East. Of those 33 games, six will be played against teams that are currently under .500. And those six games are three at Philadelphia and three at Boston - games that don't exactly scream "breather." Werth isn't due back until probably August, and Ramos will likely next show up in Viera next March. It seems from what I've read that Morse is hoping to be able to play DH in the interleague games in June (from June 8-24, nine of the Nats' 15 games will be in AL parks).

I'm not advocating panic ("When in Danger, When in Doubt: Run in Circles, Scream and Shout!") - as long as the starting pitching holds up (*knock on the Jinx FAQ*) the Nationals will be competitive in every series. But as fans we have to brace ourselves. As long as the team comes out of this stretch still over .500, I think they will be quite competitive the rest of the way. So even if the record ends up being battered over the next few weeks, let's not give up on the season. Even after the All Star Break, there's a lot of baseball that will have to be played before the Nationals get to Meaningful Games in September(tm). So - how many games do YOU think the Nationals will win during this stretch?