Another Bizarre Day for Nats Ends With Win

"I don't know if we'll ever experience that kind of atmosphere again," catcher Brian Schneider said.

As for the baseball, the Nationals won because rookie left-hander Mike O'Connor allowed only an unearned run in his five innings of work, and because relievers Billy Traber, Saul Rivera and Jon Rauch shut out the Phillies the rest of the way. Nationals right fielder Ryan Church hit a solo homer in the second, and Schneider, swinging the bat as well as he has all year, provided the difference with a tie-breaking, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth.

All that meant the Nationals won two of three from the desperate Phillies, who head to Florida for their final series sure to be dragging and likely needing a sweep to have a realistic chance of catching the Dodgers.

Yet it wasn't because their fans gave up. Holding signs -- "We Have a 9 a.m. Class in Philly" -- they cheered and chanted despite the ridiculously late start. When Nationals' mascot Screech approached a group of them, they taunted, "You're no Phanatic!", paying homage to their own mascot, the Phillie Phanatic.

"I asked a couple of them if they had jobs," Schneider said. They assured him they did. They were just calling in sick this morning.

In the end, though, they might have been sick about their team's fading chances. The music, this time, thumped in the Nationals' clubhouse, where the Washington players celebrated their role in sticking it to another team, for fighting against a club that had much more at stake in this game.

Or, maybe, they just celebrated the conclusion of the evening.

"It's over," said Church, slumped at his locker. "Let's go to sleep now."

The clock read 2:25 a.m.