New York 8 WASHINGTON 4 (CBS Sports Boxscore)

Mets Get It Right Vs. Nats – The Post

Defeat doesn’t sour prospects for future – The Wash. Times

The Nats lost the third game of their series with the Mets 8-4, but the bigger news seems to be Stan Kasten‘s luncheon with the media. Kasten was largely non-committal about everything other than not planning on going hard for free agents which makes people wonder how he will raise payroll like he promised. He was also not giving numbers on how many season tickets have been sold for next year or if the ballpark will have its corporate name by Opening Day. Frankly, this all strikes me as a little grim. “Do not for a minute think I’m happy with where we are,” Kasten said. “We have very far yet to go. We absolutely do. We recognize that more than anyone.”

Kasten was on Washington Post Live last night after some technical problems. He scapegoats (in a fairly good natured way) the The Post for most of the 10:12 long video.

Barry Svrluga’s chat wasn’t exactly dripping with optmisim yesterday either.

Kasten is working on selling the the low-end suites (The Wash. Times) and season ticket assignments. Some positive news:

Kasten also revealed he has met with representatives and ambassadors from nearly every country known to produce Major League Baseball talent as part of an effort to broaden the pool of players who would consider signing with the Nationals.

I like this a lot because no other team has this advantage.

Back to the game, Matt Chico made his 29th start, tops among rookies. It wasn’t a great one though as he gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He is still very much in the mix for next year’s rotation.

Bob Carpenter will not be returning to the MASN booth (The Wash. Times) next season. Everybody else on the broadcast teams will be though. I don’t have strong feelings either way about Carpenter, yes he does talk about the St. Louis Cardinals too much, but he has been very good to bloggers like MissChatter and We’ve Got Heart ladies.

Jason Bergmann realizes that pitching well this September will help his cause to remain in the rotation (The Post) next year.

Thomas Boswell writes about his RFK Stadium memories (The Post). He lived 17 blocks away when it opened and started his career covering the Senators, Redskins and Diplomats there.

Wondering what Sunday’s RFK finale (The Wash. Times) will be like? Former Senators, t-shirts and a post-game ceremony digging up home plate.

Jim Bowden has a column in The Wash. Examiner today.

USA Today noticed the Nats are could be the spoiler for the Mets or the Phillies.