Byline: Thomas Boswell

With the debut of the Washington Nationals, a professional baseball team is representing Washington, D.C., for the first time since Sept. 30, 1971.

Washington Post sports columnist Thomas Boswell was online Friday, June 24, at 11 a.m. ET to take your questions and comments on the team, Major League Baseball and his recent columns .

Newsletter:

Washington Nationals See a Sample / Sign Up Now

The transcript follows.

____________________

NOVA: Do we have any shot at getting Adam Dunn? I think he would look great in our outfield and it sounds like he wants out of Cincy.

Tom Boswell: Right now, there's no reason to mess with an outfield of Guillen, Wilkerson, Church and some Byrd. You need to find out how good Church really is. (What a catch in Pittsburgh!)

This team needs more pitching. First, decide over the next few starts what you have in Drese. Right now, who knows? If he pitches like he did in Texas, then you have no 5th starter unless Day comes back. That's a big problem. If Drese pans out, then fine. Next, you really need middle-inning relief help. Maybe its already coming back in the form of Eischen and Osuna. But without additions there, you're going to wear out Cordero, Ayala and Majewski.

The Nats hitting is underrated. Their road hitting is fine.

_______________________

Lanham, Md.: With Vidro coming back into the line up, which obviously help, who is the odd man out? Do you know the status of Joey Eischen. It seems he's been out nearly two months with a broken right arm. Do we even have another lefty starter? If we are going to make a run after the all star break, we need another LHP.

Also, is RFK still leading the league in not allowing home runs? Since most of Guillen's home runs are away from RFK, I think has three here, is there anything to his comment about re-measuring the distance to the fences?

I guess we can thank the Supreme Court for helping with the new stadium?

Tom Boswell: The Supreme Court decision is a big help. There should be no problem now in acquiring land for the new stadium at sane prices. Nice to see a problem get SOLVED. It also takes away one of the m ain Screaming Points of the anti-ballpark crowd who like to use scare tactics and misinformation. They'd like you to believe that the 14 acres in SE will cost a trillion dollars. Now that foolishness is off the table. They'll have to come up with something else.

_______________________