In the past, Werth has arrived at the plate to Kanye West's "Stronger", Metallica's "Wherever I May Roam," and Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal."

But when he came up in the bottom of the fourth of the Nats' win,  there were only the sounds of silence coming through the house PA.

And we're not talkin' the Simon and Garfunkel classic.

Play by play man Dave Jageler broke the news that Werth decided earlier this week to go au naturel, audiowise.

"He's going old school," said Jageler.

If by "old school," Jageler means getting paid $20-something million to hit .220-something, then, yeah, let's go with "old school"!

After Jageler's intro, Werth popped up to the third baseman, dropping his average to .223 and earning another 30 large, the per-at-bat salary he'll receive under his awesome free agent contract.

Wonder why Werth changed his musical routine. Maybe he's superstitious and willing to try anything to turn this clunker of a season around.

Or perhaps the RIAA told Werth to drop all the tuneage, because until he starts earning his keep, no artist of note wants to be associated with him, kinda like what Tom Petty did with Michele Bachmann.

Would Hagar do that?

• District cost of vehicle safety checks: $400,000
• Average cost of new vehicle: $30,000
• Watching new vehicle get flattened by a clunker with busted brakes: priceless.

The saga of Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson wrapped up yesterday when the House officially disapproved of his conduct by a party-divided vote of 240-179. Perhaps New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wasn’t the only one who heard "boy" tacked on at the end?

Unemployment is up and so, apparently, is the appeal of jumping in front of a Metro car—the transit agency has reported eight suicide attempts in 2009 alone, an increase from previous years.

MPD reports a fatal police shooting in the 1700 block of Trenton Place SE on Monday when officers confronted a knife-armed man who claimed, falsely, it turned out, to have murdered and gutted his sister.

The D.C. fire department has been paying friendly visits to those people who eat their daily morning Wheaties and then call – and call and call and call – 911. Last year, there were 30 people who telephoned the Fire and Emergency Medical Services a total of more than 2,000 time, and emergency officials think it'd, well, be better if they didn't.

And finally, Kanye West cried on TV, claiming he felt bad for stealing teeny bopper Taylor Swift's microphone at the MTV Video Music Awards. Clearly, this is his cover for being super ecstatic that Jay Leno is on prime time.

Author Barbara Ehrenreich and Dedrick Muhammad of the Institute for Policy Studies, in a Saturday Times article on the recession's racial divide: "What do you get when you combine the worst economic downturn since the Depression with the first black president? A surge of white racial resentment, loosely disguised as a populist revolt. An article on the Fox News Web site has put forth the theory that health reform is a stealth version of reparations for slavery: whites will foot the bill and, by some undisclosed mechanism, blacks will get all the care."

A sign spotted at the weekend "Tea Party" event, where protesters – carrying pictures of Obama defaced to look like Hitler or the devil – insist there are no racial undertones to their vitriol: "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THIS SIGN SAYS YOU'LL CALL IT RACISM ANYWAY!"

Washington Post readers, responding to columnist Michael Wilbon, who said yesterday's Serena Williams foot fault call was a really bad one (even if her reaction was too): "Youtube clearly shows Serena stepping on the baseline. Is that a foot fault? Or are rules determined by race. Is Serena allowed to break the rules of tennis because she is African American, a woman, a champion and American or whatever?"

And: "Wilbon, you lie or don't know the rules. Don't play the race card! Find another job!"

Keli Goff, weighing in on the same subject at the Huffington Post, saying one "can't simply blame race." Throw class in there too.

With the Williams sisters it has always been less about what color they are and more about who they are: from Compton, not from Connecticut; wearing wildly colored fashion combos, instead of pristine tennis whites; talking loud and proud of their roots, instead of quietly trying to blend in; rocking braids and cornrows in the early days, instead of joining the ranks of Beyonce and (some of the rest of us) by getting a more socially acceptable, "lady-like" weave....

Yes Serena was wrong.

But so was the lineswoman.

And so is every tennis fan who isn't willing to honestly admit that Saturday's call never would have happened, nor been deemed acceptable for any other player under those circumstances.

But other players are not named Williams.

Who wants to go there on Kanye West and Taylor Swift?

Image via brinux on Twitpic