Nats Go Against the Averages

"We never think we're out of a ballgame," rookie outfielder Ryan Church said.

· Home-field advantage: That the Nationals are 18-9 at RFK Stadium is, the players and coaches say, to some extent due to the fact that they are drawing 32,067 fans per game, as opposed to 9,356, their average in Montreal last year. The total attendance to this point, 865,829, is more than 117,000 fans more than the Expos drew all of last year, and "It makes a difference," Robinson said. "The players will tell you that."

But the ballpark itself -- its dimensions, the way the ball carries -- may have contributed to more Nationals wins than any energy the fans have provided. RFK has yielded fewer home runs than any other major league park, just 30; Dolphins Stadium, home to the Marlins, is next lowest at 39. For a team constructed to win as the Nationals are -- with pitching and defense, not with home run power -- it's a perfect fit.

"You think that hasn't hurt our opponents?" Bowden said. Arizona's "Troy Glaus hit three that would've been out of another park. [The Cubs'] Derrek Lee hit two more." At RFK, they are merely long outs.

Yes, Nationals right fielder Jose Guillen -- who has only one homer at RFK -- feels as if he has been robbed of four home runs because the ball doesn't carry well at home. But the Nationals -- who have players such as Johnson, Guillen and Brad Wilkerson that hit well to the spacious gaps -- have generally benefited. Only one National League team, Cincinnati, has combined for more doubles and triples than Washington.

· Chemistry: Early in spring training, it was apparent the Nationals, for the most part, liked each other. But what has developed was hard to predict. "This," Bowden said, "is a great clubhouse," and he compares it frequently to the 1999 Cincinnati Reds, a group he assembled that overachieved and won 96 games.

But some things have developed that were completely unpredictable. Guillen, a perceived problem in nearly every clubhouse he has previously inhabited, has become a leader in Robinson's eyes. Veteran infielder Carlos Baerga, signed to a minor league contract in February as an afterthought, is the buoyant presence in the dugout, keeping spirits up late in games, too essential to think about cutting now.

Bowden is so loath to mess with the chemistry that it is affecting his personnel decisions.

With second baseman Jose Vidro out until the all-star break, the team desperately needs a middle infielder. Yet Bowden appears to have given up the idea of pursuing former Reds second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez because of Jimenez's history of attitude problems.

And even in a clubhouse as diverse as any in baseball -- the Nationals have more foreign-born players than any other club -- the players click.

"I've been on teams where, not that guys didn't get along, but they didn't really interact as much," said third baseman Vinny Castilla, a veteran from Mexico. "Here, the Latin guys like the American guys, and the American guys get along with the Latin guys. There's no problems. It's important."

How important, exactly, is hard to say, as is nailing down exactly how all this has happened -- or if it can continue. It is not, after all, 1933, when Washington had a team that could cruise to the pennant. It is, however, more than two months into the season -- two surprising months that have Washington baseball fans, new and old, atwitter again.

"It's nice to be near the top," Robinson said. "It's nice to be on top, if you get there. It's better than being there in last place. But we have to understand where we are and what the circumstances are. We can't get carried away with it."