Hello from The Burgh

Greetings from Pittsburgh, the place of my birth (though only the first two years of my life before my family moved west to Phoenix). Despite the fact I haven't called this town home in nearly 30 years, it always feels like home when I come here. As other natives can attest, you can never truly leave Western Pennsylvania (even though plenty move onto other locales). Actually, I'm not the only member of the Nationals' traveling corps who comes from Pittsburgh. In fact, there are three of us who are originally from suburban Mt. Lebanon: myself, the Post's Chico Harlan and Nats director of baseball media relations Mike Gazda. Talk about small worlds! But enough about that. Let's turn our attention to the train wreck that currently is the Nationals. Wow, what a brutal homestand that was. One win in seven games. That one win featured a blown seven-run lead and then required a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the 10th. The six losses featured a grand total of eight runs by the home team. Add the final two games in Arizona at the end of the last road trip (both shutouts) and that's eight runs scored in this team's last eight games. Not good. The good news -- if that's possible right now -- is that the Nats get one of their injured position players back tonight. Ronnie Belliard returns from a strained calf. It'll be interesting to see if Manny Acta throws Belliard right into the starting lineup (either at second base or third base). He went 0-for-12 on rehab at Harrisburg, so it's not like his swing is in peak form. Still, Belliard might provide a more potent offensive threat than Felipe Lopez or Kory Casto. The other good news -- and certainly the news the Nats front office wants you to know about -- is that the Potomac Nationals last night clinced the first-half, Northern Division title of the Class A Carolina League. Led by the likes of Chris Marrero, Ross Detwiler, Adam Carr and (earlier this season before they were promoted) Cory Van Allen and Jordan Zimmermann, the P-Nats posted a 39-25 record. Thus, they qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2004. In their press release, the P-Nats touted themselves as the first Nationals affiliate to reach the playoffs since the club relocated from Montreal in 2005. But as Brian over at Nationals Farm Authority reminded me -- and he knows this stuff better than anyone out there -- the Nationals' Dominican Summer League squad last season won their title. So Potomac becomes the first American-based Nats affiliate to make the playoffs. Now, if only these 20- and 21-year-olds were major-league ready...