Spring Has Barely Sprung

This is post #600.   

It has been a long, cold and wet winter and spring is late arriving this year.  The cherry blossoms came and went, and they were as beautiful as always.  But it just did not feel as if spring had actually arrived.  Even the forsythia, that early harbinger of spring, took its own sweet time to bloom.  Now the trees have leafed out, the grass has turned green, and the tulips and other flowers are in bloom.  We had a couple days recently when the temperatures soared into the upper 80s, even into the low 90s, but it has turned cooler again, as if spring is not quite sure of itself.  I thought it was at least safe to say that winter is over yet yesterday snow was falling on the edges of the DC metropolitan area.  

The Boys of Summer have returned, still those early season home games at Nationals Park were a bit on the chilly side.  The Nats have been on the road but return home today and I cannot say the weather has improved that much.  Unfortunately, neither has our hometown team that currently sits in the National League East cellar with one of the highest ERA averages in the Majors and the most walks issued.  I heard on the radio this morning that the Nats are one of a handful of teams that has not had a day off since the season opened earlier this month due to the pre-season lockout and this has put added pressure on the bullpen that is still try find its rhythm.  The Nats still have seven more games to play before their first break and hopefully the pitching staff will have found its groove by then and we can all take a breath.  And maybe their bats will warm up now with the arrival of some seasonal spring weather this week and bigger home crowds cheering them on as they take on the Arizona, who is also in last place in its West Division, and San Francisco, who is tied for first in that division.  So, we shall see.

Still, we should probably enjoy the cooler weather while it is still with us, for when the oppressive heat and humidity of a Mid-Atlantic summer returns, we will look back on this time and wonder why were complaining.