A Wild-Card Race Worth Chasing

A few minutes earlier, Robinson had been asked why the clubhouse atmosphere does not seem to reflect the importance of these games. "There's no why," he said. "It just doesn't. The energy, the focus, the talk, gearing up for a ballgame, to me . . . it's not there."

Does it surprise you, Robinson was asked? "Yeah, it does," he said. "Because this is an opportunity that doesn't come along very often. And they've worked awful hard a long time this year, and it's still there, it's still possible. We're looking for that little extra. And you don't see it."

Twenty minutes go by, and now Nick Johnson and Jamey Carroll are watching tape of Seo, from his April 29 start at RFK Stadium. On the tape, Brian Schneider is at the plate. "Fastball," Johnson says. Seo throws a fastball, and Schneider hits into the right field bullpen for a homer. Now, Hernandez walks through the clubhouse, dressed in those blue athletic shorts and an orange "Nationals" T-shirt. He looks at the screen and sees Seo pitching to him. "Throw me a [expletive] change-up, baby!?" he yells to the screen. "Don't leave it in the middle [of the plate]!" Seo throws the change-up. "Bam!" Hernandez yells, as he watches himself rip the pitch into the home bullpen for a homer.

Robinson is asked whether, in retrospect, the rule he put in place banning music from the clubhouse -- which he did for the purpose of trying to get the players to focus on the games -- put a damper on his team's personality.

"No," he said. "That was the wrong type of preparation. Fun-loving, talking about everything else besides baseball, listening to the music, playing cards and all that stuff, that's not focusing on the game itself. . . . Start looking at tapes of the opposing pitcher, and talking about the game itself and where we are and what we have to try to go out and do."

The Nationals may not like it, but they are 8-5 since the Day the Music Died, including a 6-5 win on this cloudy afternoon in New York.

"You see those standings. They keep changing," says Nationals outfielder Ryan Church. "One day, Houston will be up there. And Florida the next day. Then Philly. If we could somehow get in there, get in that mix, then we'll have a great opportunity."

Thursday Night: Braves at Phillies

This is the definition of wild-card mediocrity: The Philadelphia Phillies began a 12-game road trip in late August that everyone said could decide the fate of their season.

They went 6-6 on the road trip.

They returned home for a 10-game homestand at Citizens Bank Park, which everyone said could decide the fate of their season. The homestand ended Thursday night with a loss to the Atlanta Braves, failing to complete what would have been a huge four-game sweep.

The Phillies went 5-5 on the homestand.

"I'll say it again," says catcher Todd Pratt, as the Phillies dress to hit the road for a nine-game road trip to Florida, Atlanta and Cincinnati. "This is going to end in Washington" -- where the Phillies play on the season's final weekend.