Compiled By PAUL MONTELLA
April 15

Last winter, the man largely credited with morphing the Washington Nationals from perennial losers to the talk of the town left D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray a voice-mail message.

On the last day, hope and desperation swirled through Washington like the October breeze that forced men to don double-breasted topcoats and tug down their fedoras under bright sun.

The parties in the Roger Clemens perjury trial Monday settled on 12 jurors and four alternates who are mostly female and not baseball fans.

The Boston Red Sox are in Washington on Tuesday to play the Nationals in the teams' final exhibition game. And if you've heard once, you've heard 100 times about Red Sox great Ted Williams taking over the Expansion Senators in 1969 and managing them to their only winning record (86-76) - indeed, the best record by a Washington ballclub since the 1945 war year.

The Minneapolis lawyer stood on the outdoor podium and waved his hand in the direction of Howard University Hospital behind him on Georgia Avenue NW.
Fifty years ago, on Sept. 21, 1961, the old and new Washington Senators met in the last baseball game at Griffith Stadium, the old ballpark at Seventh Street and Florida Avenue Northwest where Howard University Hospital now stands.

Is anything in professional sports less appealing than exhibition football games? Too bad the lockout was settled so early. A better time would have been six days or so before the start of combat that counts.