Nationals' September Celebration

For the next nine days a ballclub that should, by this time, have become depressed and uninterested will finish its home season in an antiquated stadium that lacks almost any amenities. If you squint, you may decipher the count on the batter on the tiny scoreboards. Replays are barely visible at rooftop height. If you search, you may find the one food court with edible fare.

Yet the last Nationals' homestand at RFK Stadium will not be a wake for a lost season and a bygone ballpark. Rather, it will be a prolonged and pleasant celebration for a team that vastly exceeded expectations, with a 56-57 record since May 11. By next season, the Nats may even dream of being a winning franchise.

So, if the spirit moves, pay your respects and raise a cheer. Give a hand to GM Jim Bowden, who built a team out of scrap and spare parts last winter. Give a send-off to rookie manager Manny Acta, who made his crew crave a 72nd win, one more than last year's more expensive team. The Nats need seven difficult wins in their final 15 games -- all against National League East contenders -- to reach their own private "magic number" of 72-90.

Don't neglect applause for pitching coach Randy St. Claire, who hot-wired a rotation out of 13 abandoned junkers, 12 of whom combined for two big league wins in '06. (The other guy had four.)

Someday, everybody in town will be able to rattle off the Nats' starters: Detwiler, Balester, Smoker and McGeary, or some such. But why not thank the "leading winners" from this season's rotation: Jason Simontacchi (six wins), Matt Chico and Mike Bacsik (both five) as well as Joel Hanrahan, Micah Bowie, Jason Bergmann and Shawn Hill (four) and Tim Redding (three). What balance! Even John Lannan, who began the year in Class A, won more games (two) than Opening Day starter John Patterson (one).

Washington will have finer teams in the next decade, clubs with $100 million payrolls, glistening free agents and homegrown phenoms. Those teams, some of them September contenders, will be more acclaimed. And they'll play in a riverside palace. But it's doubtful that many will contribute more to baseball here than this team whose top hitter was Dmitri Young. Do that meat hook one more time, Dmitri, as you lumber out a homer.

In spring training, many experts predicted that the Nats in September might be on pace to break the all-time record of 120 defeats. That prophecy now appears wrong by about 30 wins.

Instead, fans who watch these final games will find out whether Young can not only clinch the comeback player of the year award but stage a late push for the batting title as well. He's hit .373 in RFK's wide-open spaces this season. Seldom has a player turned his life around from so many Jobian sufferings. His reward: a two-year, $10 million contract to entertain us.

Don't forget to take a look at prodigious Wily Mo Pe?a, a self-described 265-pounder who awes teammates with his Bunyonesque proportions and Kevlar physique. In his first 83 at-bats as a Nat, Pe?a hit eight homers, several already conversation pieces. One liner in Miami skimmed over the left field fence in about two seconds as fielders did double takes, expecting a carom. On Wednesday, his double off the 434-foot sign actually went farther than his home run in his next at bat. Have the Nats found a Frank Howard-like left fielder who arrived not in the free agent market, but in a trade for minor league pitcher Emiliano Fruto? Bowden has coveted Pe?a, still only 25, since his days as Reds GM when Wily Mo had 45 homers and 117 RBI in 647 at bats -- spread over two seasons.

Of all the Nats worthy of a season-ending salute, nobody -- not Chad Cordero with 33 saves or Ryan Zimmerman with 87 RBI, not Ronnie Belliard who saved the infield or Brian Schneider who changed the diapers of the pitching staff -- deserves more credit than Bowden. While everybody talked about the "plan" of the Lerner family and president Stan Kasten, Bowden prevented the present from being a disaster. And he did it on as thin a shoestring as stingy Marge Schott ever provided him.

Bowden was told to scrub the Aegean Stables -- with a toothbrush. His mission: Slash payroll by $30 million to the third lowest in the sport, yet still field a respectable team. Oh, while you're at it, see if you can't unearth a half-dozen overlooked gems who could be part of a future contender.

Somehow, Bowden and his staff did it. Even though, without bad luck, they'd have had no luck at all. Cleanup hitter Nick Johnson never played. Shortstop Cristian Guzman hit .329, but missed 119 games. Everybody knows whom the Nats subtracted: Alfonso Soriano, Livan Hernandez, Jose Vidro, Jose Guillen, Ramon Ortiz, Tony Armas and a quality bench. But look what Bowden added -- at almost no cost. Besides Young, Belliard and Pe?a, he traded last September for center fielder Nook Logan, who's hit .291 since the all-star break. Bowden got Chico in the Hernandez deal and added Bacsik, Hanrahan, Redding and reliever Jesus Colome as discarded minor- league free agents. Bowden knows junk better than Fred Sanford.

Yet none of these may be Bowden's best long-term move. Young catchers are gold. Bowden spotted Jesus Flores, a 22-year-old Met at Class A who was exposed as a Rule 5 player. The Nats grabbed him, though it meant keeping him in the majors all season. No problem. Flores already has game-tying homers and game-winning hits. Maybe he needs more polish in the minors, maybe not. Maybe he'll be good soon, maybe later. But he will get there. The division-rival Mets have nobody comparable in their system behind 35-year-old Paul Lo Duca. That's how you steal a march on a mega-market rival.

This year the Nats mocked the experts all season and may introduce the Marlins to the NL East cellar. Next year, with a free agent or two, will 82, not 72, be the magic number? The Nats' world is changing fast. September call-up Justin Maxwell, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound center fielder from the University of Maryland, just had a pinch-hit grand slam. And elegant high-pockets southpaw Ross Detwiler, in one inning, showed electric stuff. These final days in RFK may be a time-capsule moment, the last chance, for quite some time, to see a Nationals team that starts a year with the luxury of extremely low expectations.