Oh, some good came of the whole embarrassing incident when Dunn's jersey fetched $8,000 at a charity auction the next month.
But you talk about bad karma. The Nats were probably expecting to see upside-down W's on their caps next.
So this is a team with a lot of problems, to put it mildly.
The pitching's been shaky. The team ERA is 5.19, which ranks 29th out of the 30 major league teams. (Only the Indians have a worse team ERA. And the Orioles can't laugh - their team ERA ranks 28th.)
Mostly this is because of the Nats' bullpen, which blows up with astonishing regularity and leads the majors with 24 losses. Washington's 11 saves are the fewest in baseball.
Did we mention that Manny Acta, a class guy, might be fired any day now?
Yes, I think we did mention that.
The question is, how many Nats relievers will he strangle once they fire him? Unless he takes it out on one of the media jackals who have been speculating about his job security for weeks.
(Note to Manny: This is my first time speculating about your job, honest. But just in case you come looking for me, I'm a little skinny guy with blond hair. Five feet 5, 120 pounds, tops. Really, it wouldn't be worth your time.)
As if all that's not enough, the Nats are also having problems attracting fans to their gleaming new ballpark, which opened last year.
Sure, they drew great crowds for the recent series against the Red Sox - 41,517 on Tuesday and a record 41,530 on Wednesday. But that's because Red Sox Nation travels better than an army of well-heeled retirees.
To that point, the Nationals were averaging 8,000 fewer fans per game than last year, a dramatic drop-off for a team still trying to find traction with its fan base.
So it looks like the Orioles are catching the perfect team at the perfect time.
Three games against the Nats in June.
And no one's rooting harder for the O's than the '62 Mets. The ones who are alive, anyway.
Listen to Kevin Cowherd from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays with Jerry Coleman on Fox 1370 AM.
