Washington Nationals bring the pain to the Yankees

A woeful Washington team beats the mighty Yankees? As my writing partner noted, are we watching a real-life revival of "Damn Yankees" or what!

It was bad enough watching John Lannan play mind games on the Yanks in person Wednesday night. But I can only imagine how miserable it must have been to be at Thursday's game. Waiting for 5 1/2 hours through the rain, only to see such uninspired baseball? Getting shut down by Craig Stammen, a pitcher whose name sounds like a flower part? Even getting to sit in the lower level seats and getting a raincheck for a future game wouldn't have made up for that misery. Come to think of it, if the fans had known exactly how uninspired the game would be, maybe they would have rushed for the exits instead of down to the field level seats!

To top it all off, Brett Gardner had to be carted off the field after hitting his head against the left field plexiglass while making a play. What a nightmare.

The saddest thing about this series is that I'm not the least bit surprised at how the games turned out, partly because I still have bad memories about witnessing the Nationals getting two walkoff wins in a row against the Yanks in 2006. Here's what I wrote before this week's series:

I am not as confident as some other Yankee fans that the Bombers will kill the Washington Nationals this week. Yes, the Nats are the worst team in baseball. But they have three pitchers the Yankees don't know, and they have a bunch of guys, like Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, who could very well hit an awful lot of homers in the new Yankee Stadium.....

So, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Yanks lose a game or two (or, heaven forbid, three!) to the Nationals. Well, they probably won't lose three. But two isn't out of the realm of possibility.

The Yanks can't even blame the long ball on the loss - it was the first homerless game of the year.

I was also peeved by the postgame. There was way too much praise of the Nationals, instead of self-criticism, going on, most notably when Joba Chamberlain seemed way too pleased with his efforts:

"They had some good at-bats," he said. "It's not always me. They do a great job of knowing their plans."

Good grief.

Joe Girardi ticked me off as well. He was asked when Alex Rodriguez would be getting a game off, and he didn't seem interested in doing so any time soon, suggesting that he would just have to play through this.

What planet is Girardi on? A-Rod is coming off major surgery, yet he hasn't gotten a single game off in the 38 games since returning to the lineup. He's only gotten to DH once since coming back. And his numbers are tumbling - he's gotten exactly three hits in his last 10 games, something he himself has blamed on "fatigue more than anything."

So why in the world hasn't Joe given him a day off? Heck, since the Yankees mailed it in for the Nationals series anyway, they might as well have rested A-Rod then!

Now the Yankees are off to Land Shark Stadium (yes, that is the park's new name!) to play the Florida Marlins. Why am I thinking there's fins to the left, fins to the right, and the Yanks are the only bait in town?

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts - and gripes - about the Yankees!