Among Crash Davis' numerous lessons to Nuke LaLossh in "Bull Durham" was this one: Never, ahem, mess with a winning streak. Now, it wasn't a winning streak but the Washington Nationals messed with their most famous streak in their season finale Wednesday and superstitious types wonder how that might impact their playoff hopes.
Forget about shutting down Stephen Strasburg. The Nationals let Teddy win. I don't call bully on that. I fear for them now. At least today, they beat the Phillies, 5-1, to clinch homefield in the NL playoffs. We'll see from here.
The Racing Presidents are a fixture at Nationals Park. Giant bobblehead figures of George (Washington), Thomas (Jefferson), Abe (Lincon) and Teddy (Roosevelt) race once a night. And much like the doom that greets Celery at Bisons games every night in the Chicken Wing Race, Teddy has never won a single race. Lost all 534 of them.
Until today, when he won with the help of a phake Phillie Phanatic.
Here's the official video from the Nationals (man, the PA guy is annoying).
Tweeted Teddy after the race (yes, he has a Twitter account): "I'm just getting warmed up! Time to get ready for the postseason! You ain't seen nothing yet! The Rough Rider has arrived!"
Pretty certain there will be more later today on LetTeddyWin.com and the Let Teddy win blog. Yes, there really are such things.
---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington
(Photo: Associated Press)
