Column | The Nats' young players have been improving. That's quite a development.

In a lot of ways, this is the difficult part of the Nats' rebuild. Yeah, they took an 8-3 victory to win a series against the Colorado Rockies, one of five teams in baseball who entered the day with a worse record than Washington. On a beautiful August afternoon, with a scant crowd of 18,349 on hand at Nationals Park, that's better than the alternative. The tough aspect, though, is that this is the fifth straight August in which the Nationals aren't close to contention. Losing grew old long ago.

So much of these kinds of seasons are consumed by questions like, 'Who should be traded?' and 'What should the return be?' that it can detract from what's playing out right in front of us. This summer has, been about finding players already on hand, taking the skills they have - and making them better.

You can start to dream on some of these guys,' Gray said. Irvin, with a 3.81 ERA over 151 innings, is worth dreaming on. Mitchell Parker, an afterthought of a lefty in spring training, could be too; he has allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of his 23 starts. Top prospect James Wood - with a walk, a two-run single, a hit-by-pitch and a run scored Thursday - now has an OPS of .837.

We're competitive,' Jake Irvin said. 'We're here to compete.' They're also here to develop. As the Nationals continue their rebuild, focusing on player development and internal growth is essential for long-term success while facing the immediate challenges of a losing season.

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