Just a quick note to recognize that while so many things surrounding the Washington Nationals these days seem to be at the bottom of every measurable category, there is one area where they happen to excel — their radio broadcast team. I had the pleasure of listening to Charlie Slowes and Dave Jageler describe the two near-comebacks in Washington’s 7-5 loss to Arizona Thursday night. It was great radio. They were all over setting the scene, from the basepaths to the fans, and created a real sense of drama that comes through the airwaves. You can easily conjure up in your mind’s eye the game based on the descriptions of Charlie and Dave. And they were all over Angel Hernandez’s blown obstruction call that held Cristian Guzman up in the ninth inning. Dave pulled out the rule book and read the obstruction rule, which, from most accounts, should have been called, and Charlie offered to take a copy of the book to Hernandez after the game and read it to him. It wasn’t homer stuff — just edgy enough to call it like they saw it. I’ve heard a lot of radio teams over my years covering baseball, and it is still always tough for local baseball fans here who were spoiled by listening to the gold standard for Orioles games, Jon Miller. But I would put Charlie and Dave up among the better radio teams in the game — and there’s not much about the Nationals these days that you can rank that high. Somehow, the Lerners and Stan Kasten stumbled into some good luck here. Let’s home they become the voices that a generation of baseball fans grow up with. Too bad the same can’t be said for the post-game Nats radio show, when it is hosted by Byron Kerr. Is that the product that the franchise really want out there?
