Sally Jenkins rides with Lance Armstrong again this morning. Jenkins, who has written several books with Armstrong, references the druggie rumors more here than in the scads of her previous columns on the most accused drug cheat in the history of sport.

"It's what [Armstrong's] whole comeback is all about really," writes Jenkins, "coming face to face with things, especially the doubters. 'Am I doping now?' his body language seems to say."

And the world, in all sorts of languages, seems to be answering: "Hell, yes, you're doping!" That March incident, where Armstrong stalled French drug testers who'd surprised him as he trained for the Tour de France and asked for urine samples, crushed the odds that the comeback would change anybody's mind. By now Armstrong has the same chance of clearing his name as Michael Jackson.

Dirty pee or not, Armstrong's amazing, ain't he? To paraprahase the old lady in the diner in "Sleepless in Seattle" "When Harry Met Sally": I'll have what he's having.

***

Joel Hanrahan got his first win as a National yesterday, a week after he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates.

AFTER THE JUMP: Chico Harlan lights up the Nats? The Hogettes aren't dead, just broke? Do the Baysox fear the ACLU after MattWietersCollectibleFigurineNightGate™?

This oddball occurrence came as the Nats won a game in Houston that began on May 5 at Nationals Park, but was suspended in the bottom of the 11th inning because of rain. The final score: 11-10.

Since the Astros weren't scheduled to visit DC again this season, the suspended game was completed on Houston's home field, with the Nats technically the home team. Hanrahan was the Nats pitcher of record when the game left off on May 5, and since Washington scored the winning run yesterday without having to take the field again, he was still the pitcher of record when the game ended and gets credit for the victory.

Got it? Me neither.

What I do get, however: Hanrahan clearly has no practice winning. He told reporters in Pittsburgh that he was glad to get the win and "to see the Nationals get another victory in the win column."

Alas, the Nationals are still first in the majors in victories in the loss column — in no small part because of Hanrahan's horrificness when he wore the uniform.

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Awesome Trivia from the early game: The Nats are the first team to have a walk-off win as visitors since 1975, when the Yankees beat the Twins in a game that started in New York and ended  in Minneapolis.

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Normalcy returned in the regularly scheduled nightcap in Houston, as the Nats were routed, 9-4. Chico Harlan's game story in the Washington Post was beautiful and brutal. Harlan reiterated Christian Guzman's and Adam Dunn's shortcomings with a glove (Dunn has "all the outfield range of an oak tree") and got Manny Acta to sound very defensive when defending his defense. "It is what it is," Acta told Harlan. "I don't know why you keep bringing that up."

Keep bringing it up, Chico!

***

As reported in this very space every hour on the hour, the Bowie Baysox have decided not to restrict civil liberties during Scott Van Pelt Bobblehead Night on July 26. To recap, again: Team management had been burned by bobblehead hoarders during Lindsay Czarniak and Pat Sajak giveaways, so they decided to go all Mussolini on their own patrons when it came time for Matt Wieters Collectible Figurine Night a few weeks ago. Folks who showed up for the Wieters event were told that they could have one figuring no matter how many tickets they purchased, and that to get that one figurine they had to come into the stadium and abide by a "No exit!" policy until all the faux Wieters were given away.

As asserted every hour on the hour, Cheap Seats Daily is totally against restrictions of civil liberties — except those that punish bobblehead hoarders. We love those! So there was considerable angst in this space when Bowie management revoked the No Exit! edict for Scott Van Pelt Bobblehead night, thereby opening the door for the grown up weirdos to load up their plastic bags with mini-Van Pelts and deprive little kids of canoodling with the hairless and club-wielding and downright creepy looking dolls fashioned after the ESPN host.

But, disappointed as we are by Bowie's backtracking, recent legal actions involving the Yankees explain the decision. Simply, the Baysox don't want the American Civil Liberties Union on their ass. I think those fears are unfounded.

Sure, the ACLU has in the past supported NAMBLA and Ollie North — but could the group in good conscious take up for....BOBBLEHEAD HOARDERS?

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The Hogettes (yes, apparently the guys are still at it) are panhandling for sponsors. Why don't they do another Ford commercial?

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The streaking Nationals captured their seventh loss in a row. The long skein was in jeopardy until Joel Hanrahan's bases loaded wild pitch in the top of the ninth.

I'm no Casey Stengel, but does anybody get why Manny Acta keeps throwing Hanrahan out there as the closer? How many dead will it take 'til he knows that too many people have died?

I, for one, miss Charlie Slowes' "Curly W!" calls on the radio.

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DC United took a four-goal lead and didn't blow it all in beating HATED RIVAL the New York Red Bulls, 5-3, at RFK. The game was billed as a play-in for the U.S. Open Cup, a tournament that goes back to 1914, and which United won last year. I always thought the defending champion automatically qualifies in major soccer tournaments — World Cup, Champions League, etc. Only about 5,000 fans showed up for the game, so maybe United fans figured the same.

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DeMatha's own Danny Ferry has been named NBA Executive of the Year by the Sporting News. The Cleveland Cavaliers GM, Bob Ferry, won the same award twice during his days as general manager of the Washington Bullets, despite making these first round picks over his years here: Tom Hammonds, Mugsy Bogues,

Anthony Jones, Melvin Turpin (over John Stockton), Kenny Green (over Karl Malone), Randy Wittman, Wes Matthews,and Roger Phegley.

But, as Dad found out twice, if the team wins, the GM wins awards.

(But who would draft somebody named "Roger Phegley"?)

Danny Ferry was originally drafted out of Duke in 1989 by Spingarn's own Elgin Baylor, longtime GM of the L.A. Clippers. But Ferry opted to play in Italy rather than sign with Baylor's perennial doormat.

Baylor won the Executive of the Year Award in 2006, then the Clippers fired him at the beginning of this season. His replacement, Mike Dunleavy, had the foresight to win the 2009 NBA Lottery.

Baylor, the greatest player DC ever produced, surely earned his legend status. But, as the Clippers' draft lottery win hints, good things happen to teams when he leaves. Awesome trivia about Baylor: The game after he retired as a player in the middle of the 1971 season, the Baylor-less Los Angeles Lakers began their NBA-record 33-game winning streak. The Lakers then went on to win the NBA title that season. Baylor, for all his greatness, never won a championship.

Sorta Awesome Trivia about Baylor: The R&B singer Ginuwine, a local product who grew up in PG County and had several hits a decade ago, was born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin.

***

Another local boy, Chantilly's own Brandon Snyder, might yet live up to the potential he showed in Little League .

Snyder is only 22, but folks around here have been watching him play ball for a long time. After his Little League exploits, he went on to be a superstar at Westfield High and then the Baltimore Orioles made him their first round pick in the 2005 MLB draft.

Snyder gave up scholarship offers from the best college programs in the land to sign a seven-figure deal with the pros. But things didn't go all that well for Snyder as a pro, as he went through several position changes and had serious shoulder problems.

After three years in the O's organization, he was still toiling in Single-A ball.

But just when he seemed destined for Bust-hood, Snyder is making folks take notice again. Back in the area and playing for the O's AA affiliate, the Bowie Baysox, he's currently leading the Eastern League in batting average (.373), RBIs and slugging. Having seen Snyder hit a last-inning homer to win a CYA Little League championship when he was a little kid, I'm rooting for him!

***

Things are also looking up for swimming in the Potomac River: The river will be open for business for TWO days this year! DC has just been awarded the North American stop on the Dextro Energy Triathlon tour, an Olympic qualifying series. Organizers have just released the course for the event, to be held on Sunday, June 21, and it starts out with competitors diving into the Potomac River.

Folks used to dive in the river all the time — a century or so ago. But runoff from farms and factories early in the last century turned the Potomac in the DC area into one of the dirtiest water bodies in the land. When he signed the Water Quality Act of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson said: “I pledge that we are going to reopen the Potomac for swimming by 1975.”

Obviously, that never happened. Instead, in 1971, federal and local authorities made swimming in the river a crime punishable by a $300 fine. But with the advent of the Nation's Triathlon being held here each September in recent years, it became legal to jump in the Potomac on that race day only. Nation's Triathlon and Dextro Triathlon spokesperson Jennifer Devlin says all the permits have been obtained to open the river for swimming for the new race, too.

I love the idea of swimming in the Potomac. This is a good thing.

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