Eighteen innings, zero runs

Masochists, this stuff is all for you.

In the last two games, Washington has played four hours, 18 minutes of baseball. During that time, they've produced the following totals:

000 000 000 - 0
000 000 000 - 0

I was thinking about putting that in the paper, but thought better of it. The visual is just too dizzying; presented in the space of a newspaper column, readers would probably view it as some printing error -- some sort of layout code that got jumbled in with the text.

The Nats have a day off tomorrow, and then start a seven-game homestand that can perhaps put a Band-Aid on this mess. Any thoughts, NJers? Will this team's offense flounder all season? Is the lacking offense the result of a slump, or the result of something more substantive? (Like a lack of talent, or a critical mass of injuries?)

One more news bit before I sign off from Chase Field.

It's official that Ryan Zimmerman will have an MRI tomorrow. Team orthopedist Ben Shaffer will examine the injured left shoulder once Zimmerman is back in DC.