With the 2012 All-Star Break rapidly approaching, it seems as if the baseball season is slowly winding down, even though it only began a few months ago. Sitting at a solid record of 48-33 and 4.5 games ahead of the second place New York R.A. Dickeys, I mean, Mets, the Washington Nationals are cruising along the top of the MLB and leaving nothing but destruction in its path.
But the Nationals are not the only thing that is creating destruction in the metro area. On June 29th, a violent storm known as a "Super Derecho" plowed through Washington D.C. and the tri-state area leaving widespread damage and depriving millions of people of power and air-conditioning during a record-breaking heat wave. Along with this violent storm came straight-line winds reaching in excess of 70 miles per hour, as well as frequent cloud to ground lightning. In the wake of this storm, which some people refer to as a "land hurricane," thirteen people lost their lives and thousands were forced to leave their homes to seek safety and shelter from the brutal heat while the cleanup began.
But in the face of devastation and destruction, there was a glimmer of hope in the form of post-season hopes. Although the Nationals were not in town during the storm, they were too busy taking two of three from the Atlanta Braves. With clutch performances from the usual suspects and the long awaited return of Michael Morse, the Nationals plowed their way through the conference rivals and added a couple more W's to their docket.
Once back in D.C., the Nationals were able to see the destruction that had befallen their home while they were away. As power crews worked day and night to restore power to millions of homes, and landscaping crews worked diligently to sweep up debris and cut down fallen trees, the Nationals hopped on the clean-up bandwagon and decided to sweep up the San Francisco Giants in three straight games, including showing their true potential in facing pitching ace Tim Lincicum.
With two more games until the All-Star Break, the Nats are looking to take the last two of the series away from Colorado, and go into the break with 50 curly W's on their belt. Not too bad for a team who hasn't finished over .500 since 2005. But regardless, there is much more to do in order to clean up from last week's storm, as well as half a season of baseball left. My pre-season prediction of 95-67 is looking pretty good right about now.
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