On Friday night, I was a willing participant in the suck-fest that is the Washington Nationals. I watched them lose their eighth in a row amid another sea of bad fielding and inability to hit in the clutch (or often at all). They subsequently made it No. 9 on Saturday, marking their third nine-game losing streak of the season, and today they go for Big No. 10.

Amid that, it’s worth pointing out the records of the Nats since they hit Washington: 81-81, 71-91, 73-89, and they’re now on a pace to lose well over 100 games. That is not a trend of a team that is progressing. It’s a trend of a team that is regressing, right down into Washington Senators territory, as the Nats remain a stone cold lead-pipe lock to get their fourth straight last-place finish.

And so, I proclaim this now: I’ll put up with this in 2008, but this is the last year of waiting before I support this team so consistently with my wallet. There must be a clear upward improvement in 2009, and the Nats need to do something in their off-season to improve their hitting now, or this is a franchise that is going to fall into a long-term collapse. It is an embarrassment to watch this selection of no-future pathetic hitters step up to the plate in a major league ballpark, and the Nats are the laughingstock of baseball now. It’s time for results, or it’s time to find management that can get results.

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Amid this, the Nats’ front office is at least doing one smart thing: It is selling the ballpark experience right now, not the team. There were fireworks after the game Friday; on Saturday, a post-game movie was shown on the big replay screen; today, kids can run the bases after the game. This is all stuff you see in the minor leagues, where the constantly changing cast of players make it harder to build fan loyalty, but it’s a smart play. I definitely am going to the games this year to enjoy the ballpark, not the game itself, but the experience sells itself for only so long.

Update at 5:45 p.m. , 8/17: 10 in a row.