Washington Nationals second baseman Danny Espinosa (8) forces out St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Allen Craig (21) at second and throws to first to complete a double play during the seventh inning at Nationals Park. The Cardinals won 3-2.

Losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in Nationals Park is fraught with memories of the catastrophe of last fall and the Washington Nationals and their fans got a taste of it again last night. With the chilly night air bringing back memories of the same cold from game 5 of the NLDS last year, the Nationals fell behind early, tied the game in the middle innings, but then could not hold on as, once again, the pitching faltered and the offense failed to produce hits and runs when needed. The final score last night: 3-2. It's Washington's fourth straight loss at home, after the humiliating sweep by the Braves last week, and drops the Nats' record to a pedestrian 10-9. 

The Nats managed only five hits all night and no player claimed more than one of them, a sign that the whole team is struggling against Cardinals pitching. 

The Cardinals got things started in the third inning when Pete Kozma and Matt Carpenter reached base and were driven home when Allen Craig doubled to deep center field, just out of the reach of Denard Span, to plate both baserunners. It seemed an ominous beginning for pitcher Dan Haren, who has struggled mightily this season after signing a one-year contract with the Nats worth $13 million. However, Haren slammed the door shut in the third after that and cruised through the fourth and fifth innings without trouble. With only two earned runs in the first five innings, it was Haren's best outing of the season.

The lofty expectations were broad, weren't they?  Much of the lofty expectation for the 2013 Washington Nationals were because the team was loaded from stellar starting pitching to a fearful offense.  However, the Nationals have been getting average pitching and the offense has disappeared.  Last night was no different. 

The Nats collected just 5 hits and 2 runs and dropped a 3-2 decision to the St. Louis Cardinals to drop their second straight game.  They have now lost 3 of their last 4 and dropped to 10-9 overall.  Both Nats runs came in the fourth inning.  Ian Desmond doubled in Jayson Werth to narrow the Cards lead to 2-1.  Prospect Anthony Rendon, filling in for an injured Ryan Zimmerman, collected his first major league hit and RBI, when he doubled in Desmond to tie the game at 2-2. 

Dan Haren (1-3) could not hold the lead, getting into trouble in the sixth inning to allow the Cards to take a 3-2 lead.  Craig Stammen relieved Haren in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and no outs.  Stammen forced a double play, started at home plate, then fanned Shelby Miller to get out of the sixth without further damage.  Unfortunately for the Nats, that was all the damaged that was required. Haren's ERA for the season sites at 7.36, clearly not what the Nats anticipated when inking Haren to a nice free agent deal. 

Stammnen, Ryan Mattheus, and Drew Storen pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just 2 hits.  But again, the Nationals offense simply disappeared. 

The Nats played game two tonight against the Cards.  Ross Detwiler will face Adam Wainright. 

Earlier today I was a guest on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt on News Channel 8 to discuss the Washington Capitals, Washington Nationals and the persistent rumors that one or more gay athletes in a major U.S. pro sport will come out of the closet soon. First up, the discussion of gay athletes. After that, the Caps & Nats. Enjoy. 

And now, the Caps & Nats.

This is the first in a series of articles analyzing the needs of the Washington Redskins and how they should be addressed in the 2013 NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday. Previously published: Quarterbacks.

Next up: RUNNING BACKS

ON THE ROSTER NOW

Starters: Alfred Morris, Darrel Young

Top reserves: Evan Royster, Roy Helu

Also on the roster: Keiland Williams, Tristan Davis, Dorson Bryce, Eric Kettani

Draft Needs: None. Morris set the franchise record for rushing yards in his rookie season and Young plays close to a Pro Bowl level. Bryce and Kettani will need an injury to make the team, the practice squad seems like the best they could do. Ditto for Davis, but Keiland Williams, who has played with the Redskins before, has a chance to stick. Royster is a capable backup and Helu has shown real potential, particularly as a third down back, but he needs to prove he's fully recovered from the injury that cost him almost all of 2012. 

Draft Prospects: This is a great draft to get a solid running back prospect in the middle rounds, but the Redskins have no big needs in the backfield. The Redskins could acquire someone like Marcus Lattimore or Le'Veon Bell in the 4th round, but with the Redskins sporting the top rushing attack in the NFL last season, it's hard to justify a pick at this position before rounds six or seven. 

The Wizards missed the postseason for the sixth consecutive season, finishing with a record of 29-53.

The 2012-'13 season will be remembered for "What If", what if star point guard John Wall hadn't been injured out of the gate. When Wall made his first appearance on January 12th against the Atlanta Hawks at the Verizon Center, the Wizards playoff hopes had already been extinguished for all practical purposes. The Wizards were 1-13 heading to December and were 5-28 when Wall finally took the court for the first time.

Looking ahead to next season, Washington has seven players under contract. That number will almost certainly be nine, as Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor will likely exercise player options for a final year of their existing contracts. Ariza has $7.7 million dollars on the table, Okafor with nearly $14.5 to play another season with the Wizards. The only other player on the current roster likely to be pursued is free agent to be Martell Webster. Guard Garrett Temple played well filling in for the injured Bradley Beal and may also receive consideration.

The Wizards will again choose in the NBA draft lottery, with the order of selection determined on May 21st. The Wizards have a 2.5% of getting the number one overall pick and will pick eighth if the order holds by percentage. The Wizards also hold a pair of second round selections, their own pick and the New York Knicks selection.

Who will the Wizards target in the NBA draft? Much depends on what happens with free agents Ariza, Okafor and Webster. If Washington does not retain Webster, a small forward may be their first round target. In the back court, much depends on Temple and also last season's second round pick Tomas Satoransky, currently playing in Europe. Regardless of which players are brought back, a solid backup point guard should be on the wish list.

Wizards 2013-'14 Projected Roster

C

Emeka Okafor 6'10" 255

Kevin Seraphin 6'9" 275

F

Nene Hillario 6'10" 250

Jan Vesely 6'11" 240

Trevor Ariza 6'8" 210

Martell Webster* 6'7" 230

Trevor Booker 6'8" 240

Chris Singleton 6'8" 230

G

John Wall 6'4" 195

Bradley Beal 6'3" 210

Garrett Temple* 6'6" 195

Tomas Satoransky# 6'7" 195

* Free Agent

# Europe

This is the first in a series of articles analyzing the needs of the Washington Redskins and how they should be addressed in the 2013 NFL Draft, which begins on Thursday. First up: QUARTERBACKS.

ON THE ROSTER NOW

Starter: Robert Griffin III

Top reserve: Kirk Cousins

Backups: Rex Grossman, Pat White

Draft needs: None. Griffin is apparently recovering at a remarkable rate, but even if he isn't prepared to start the 2013 season, the Redskins can turn to Cousins, who was very effective last season, and Grossman, who is very experienced and probably the best third-stringer in the league. White is training camp fodder who should be able to run the read-option during practices while RG3 gets back to 100 percent. 

Draft prospects: If the Redskins draft any quarterbacks this year it is likely to be very late on the last day and someone capable of running the read-option. There aren't many of those around, but Jeff Tuel would be a nice pickup if he's available. That's not likely, though.

When I heard The Examiner would be dropping  most of the paper this summer my first thought was: "What about the sports writers? What about John Keim and Rick Snider and the crew?" 

Well, looks like Rick will be moving into a different area, which means DC is losing a terrific sports columnist. Happily, John Keim will be sticking around, not leaving the area and not stopping his Redskins coverage. Keim announced on his Twitter page today that he will be joining the Washington Post on July 1 to help cover the Washington Redskins. 

Very pleased 2 announce that I'm sticking around. Will be joining @washingtonpost on July 1 to help w/the #Redskins coverage. Very pumped

— John Keim (@john_keim) April 22, 2013

This is great news, as Keim is one of the best beat reporters I've ever read. I'm relieved those of us who follow the Redskins will be able to continue to enjoy John's first-rate coverage. 

Veteran free agent cornerback Quentin Jammer will be visiting the Washington Redskins today, as the team looks to fill out a critical roster need leading up to the 2013 NFL Draft, beginning Thursday. 

The Redskins have less than $30,000 in salary cap space right now, so it is not clear how they can fit Jammer or any other NFL player under its cap, unless they choose to restructure some existing contracts, such as the ones belonging to OLB Brian Orakpo and/or LT Trent Williams. 

Jammer has spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the San Diego Chargers and has been a Pro Bowl in the past. However, quarterbacks have had a lot of success against Jammer the past few seasons. Opposing signal-callers had a 94.8 passer rating against Jammer in 2012, but that was superb compared to 2011, when quarterbacks had a 131.8 [yes, really!] passer rating against him. Jammer also gave up 8 TD passes in 2012, second-most among all NFL corners, and giving up touchdown passes -- particularly long ones -- was a major problems for the Redskins' defense last season. 

However, Jammer is a veteran, a former first round pick and still knows a lot about how to play the position in the NFL. He's still available for a reason -- he hasn't been terribly good lately. However, the Redskins are not in a position to be too choosy at this point and having a look at Jammer is a very good idea. 

Just four days away from the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft and the mock drafts writers across the Web have built a pretty consistent projection within the Top 6 draft selections.  Several mock drafts within our database are also projecting trades, mostly projected at the sixth spot, owned by the Cleveland Browns. 

The NFL Mock Draft Database has been updated this evening and our running total for mock drafts listed has hit 495 mock drafts.  We can only imagine the amount of updates that will come in over the next four days.  I would not be surprised if carpal tunnel syndrome is a listed ailment of mine come Thursday, given all the updates that will occur.   So stay tuned here, we will keep the NFL Mock Draft Database updated. 

The 495 mock drafts listed in the database are a broad array of writers, including major media sites like ESPN, Fox, Pro Football Talk, and CBS Sports, to newspapers, to official team sites, to the NFL Network, to professional NFL scouting sites, to long running NFL Draft sites, to fan created websites, to sports blogs, and to personal blogs.  We utilize several search methods in reaching out and finding all these mocks, perhaps too many methods.  Many of these mock draft writers have been listed in our Mock Draft Database for over a decade.  Some are new.  It's a broad array.  

What we did today to give you an indication of what mock draft writers are projecting in totality is to munch together all mock drafts that were updated between  4/18/2013 to 4/21/2013 and then provide the projected leaders.  When tallying all mock drafts updated between those dates, that is a mock munch of 88 different mock drafts.  

Although we have the teams listed in the chart, remember, some mocks are projecting trade, particularly at the #6 spot.  So the leaders are more the projected Top 6.  So who are these 88 mock drafts projecting to be the top 6 picks?  Well, here you go . . .

As you can tell, the mock writers have pretty solid consensus at most picks and seem absolutely convinced that Andy Reid will be taking the best offensive tackle in the draft, Luke Joeckel.   Mock Writers are also pretty high on Sharrif Floyd going to the Raiders at the 3rd slot overall.  We have not done a mock munch since mid-March, but the reality is, these spot have not really changed much at all, except the projection percentage have solidified at bigger percentiles. 

We will make an all out attempt to do one more final mock munch before Thursday, but given the amount of updates that will roll in this week, we make no promises. 

1. Mon 9/9 v. Philadelphia Eagles at 7.10 PM [Monday Night]
2. Sun 9/15 @ Green Bay Packers at 1 PM
3. Sun 9/22 v. Detroit Lions at 1 PM
4. Sun 9/29 @ Oakland Raiders at 4.25 PM
5. 10/6 Bye
6. Sun 10/13 @ Dallas Cowboys at 8.30 PM [Sunday night]
7. Sun 10/20 v. Chicago Bears at 1 PM
8. Sun 10/27 @ Denver Broncos at 4.25
9. Sun 11/3 v. San Diego Chargers at 1 PM
10. Thur 11/7 @ Minnesota Vikings at 8.20 [Thursday night]
11. Sun 11/17 @ Philadelphia Eagles at 1 PM
12. Mon 11/25 v. San Francisco 49ers at 8.30 PM [Monday night]
13. Sun 12/1 v. New York Giants [Sunday night]
14. Sun 12/8 v. Kansas City Chiefs at 1 PM
15. Sun 12/15 @ Atlanta Falcons 1 PM 
16. Sun 12/22 v. Dallas Cowboys at 1 PM
17. Sun 12/29 @ New York Giants at 1 PM

With the Washington Wizards season over, having secured their fifth consecutive season under 30 wins, and the Washington Redskins looking ahead to the NFL Draft, we have just the Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals involved in the current DC Pro Sports Stock Report.  So, let's take a look at who we have on the UP report and who we have ont he DOWN report.  

So who gets a THUMBS UP?

Alexander Ovechkin.  He is one of the hottest players in the National Hockey League.  Ovi has clearly embraced and has grow fond and comfortable in the new system of bench boss Adam Oates.  In fact, you can say that Ovi has returned to old form under Oates.  That is a good thing considering both will be in Washington for years to come.  Ovechkin is clearly the main reason the Capitals went from last in the Eastern Conference to the lead in the Southeast Division and own the NHL's longest winning streak, now at 8 straight games.  In the 8 games in April, in which the Caps are 8-0, Ovi has scored 9 goals and added 4 helpers.  He now leads the NHL in goals (28), is fourth overall in points (48) and leads the NHL in shots (198).  He also become the most powerful force on the power play, just like years past, leading the NHL with 15 power play tallies, 6 ahead of the nearest skater.  

Nicklas Backstrom.  Another big part of Ovechkin's surge has been the synergy with Nicklas Backstrom.  Backstrom has rejoined Ovi on the top line and has had a terrific April, notching 13 assists in 8 games, most of those to Ovechkin.  He has regained the mantle as one of the NHL's most prolific passers.  He is 11th overall in the NHL in points (44) and third overall in assists (38).  Backstrom has also posted a .513 faceoff percentage.