Tracking the Nats’ historic chase of the ’62 Mets

Current Record: 58-70

Projected Record: 73-89 (.453, 14 GB)

Teams With Worse Records Than the Washington Nationals: Cincinnati Reds (.449), Florida Marlins (.445), Houston Astros (.445), Chicago White Sox (.444), Kansas City Royals (.444), Texas Rangers (.441), Pittsburgh Pirates (.437), San Francisco Giants (.437), Tampa Bay Devil Rays (.378)

2007 Nats Vs. Conventional Wisdom at Start of Season (Including This Blog Feature): 1-0

Parsing the Win: Fourth place! Fourth place! Why do you have that smile on your face? Because the NATS ARE FINALLY NOT A LAST-PLACE TEAM! We will hurt your pitchers! We will inspire others to set a “Bunch of singles and unnecessary dives” to rap music! We have the greatest T-shirts in the Mid-Atlantic! And as opposed to frilly-underthing teams like the Braves, our bloggers freaking care. In your face, Florida!

Barry Svrluga Adjective of the Day: “shaky,” “far from polished”