Well, thank God that was over.  Two days without baseball during the regular season? That’s just not cool.  On to the Padres!

-From us: the Nats being in first place isn’t a fluke.

-There were questions about Ryan Zimmerman’s shoulder, but it was well enough for him to sign autographs on Saturday…from his Bentley. [Nats Enquirer]

-Tell me if this sounds familiar: Chien-Ming Wang threw his first rehab start. [Nats Journal]

-A couple of years later, looking back on the Josh Willingham trade that brought the Nats prospect Croey Brown and Henry Rodriguez. [Nats Blog]

-More on Desmond’s hot start, which couldn’t have come at a better time to get people back to thinking he is core part of the future. [CSN Washington]

-A lot of things have been freakishly awesome about the Nats pitching staff. Among them: they haven’t been giving up home runs. [Nats Journal]

-With Pudge officially retiring yesterday, another look at our piece about his time with the Nats.  Rodriguez really helped this organization in transition.