Simply put, the last two games of this weekend’s Washington Nationals at Baltimore Orioles series comes down to “evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.”

That and the Nats anemic offense and the inability to hit a baseball 3 to 6 feet farther then they did a few times.

A series that began so promising on Friday night with 17 DC runs scored ended sour. I said on Saturday morning, basking in the brief afterglow, that those 17 runs would not help them win any more games. I thought of that as a warning, not a prophecy.

The Saturday game showed that John Lannan is probably on the decline in the sense that his guile and overachievement is no longer compensating for his physical tools. I hope that’s not the case, because he is an American Hero, but I have a bad feeling that is the case. I hope to be wrong because I’m sentimental about such things.

Sunday’s game was much more frustrating as the Nats left what seemed like a baker’s dozen runners on base. That may be a slight exageration, but the main point is they really let Jordan Zimmermann down. Zimmermann, who turns 25 today in his native state of Wisconsin (the Nats are visiting the Milwaukee Brewers for two games), was splendid through 6 innings, allowing only one hit. He only had 1 run of support behind him though. Nick Markakis singled and then half-player Vlad Guerrero hit a line-drive into the left field seats to win the game. Yes, I hate losing because of a DH.

So, the Nats drop 2 of 3 to the worst franchise in sports, meaning they’ll need to sweep in D.C. next month to take the season series. There were two highlights from Saturday and Sunday though: I had the radio synched up with Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler so that I did not have to listen to the Orioles announcers on MASN or the commercials. The second highlight is that the our city’s signature annual event of the year does not involve drunken 25 years old running across the tops of porta-potties.