When you cover the worst team in baseball, how do you even begin to write each day? With this bullpen and defense, how does one fend off nihilism? Nats beat reporter Chico Harlan, finally a worthy daily Post baseball successor to Dave Shenin, has developed a coping technique somewhere between being and nothingness. Ledes on recent gamers:

June 18: "The place mattered." June 17: "The Washington Nationals treat quality with a predatory intolerance." June 15: "On Sunday, for perhaps the final time, Manny Acta sat in the manager's office and called it his own." (Emphasis Harlan's.) June 14: "There is a difference between defeats and losses." June 13: "For all their drawbacks, the Washington Nationals warrant at least one superlative."

June 8: "The winning streak, or at least what counts for one inside the beltway of bad baseball, had a lifespan of one night and one short morning. A beer before closing time and a coffee with breakfast."

June 7: "Yesterday, 25 members of the Washington Nationals reported to the ballpark for another regular workday and encountered nothing regular whatsoever." (We were there.) June 6: "Maybe you've heard that the Washington Nationals have the worst bullpen in the major league." June 5: "Randy Johnson never cared much for convention."

June 1: "Baseball designates no special day for reckoning."

May 31: "Because they kept the score close on Saturday night, and because they executed a rough majority of the defensive plays that big leaguers should execute, and because their combustible and adventurous style again helped the entertainment quotient, the Washington Nationals shouldn't be entirely upbraided for their latest loss, a 9-6 decision against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park." May 30: "So long as night after night that passes without a win, the Washington Nationals — and in particular, the subset of rookies in their pitching rotation — must grow without the gratification." May 28: "Enough things had gone wrong for the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night even before people started watching the lowlights twice." May 27: "Adam Dunn is not some old warhorse." May 26: "On Monday, the game-changing play actually lasted six minutes."

May 24: "If Ross Detwiler lasts much longer in the big leagues, he'll forfeit the memory space for every big moment." May 23: "The Washington Nationals had no game plan to defend themselves against the guy who beat them yesterday."

May 22: "Joel Hanrahan is a closer who just earned his job back, and now must prove he can close games." May 21: "The rise and fall of emotions ended with a fall, because it always does."

May 20: "Last night, the Washington Nationals recovered just enough to make it close and maximize the pain." May 19: "Six professional pitchers performed for the Washington Nationals last night."

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