"The Nationals are headed to play the Mets in New York, where this weekend, the biggest current story in baseball unfolded across town, in the Bronx. You already know about the details of the tabloid-ready headlines caused by the Jorge Posada flap. Handling the insubordination of 39-year-old catcher, for several days, became the Yankees' biggest problem.

The Nationals, meantime, floated through their games this weekend without anyone noticing Ivan Rodriguez, aside from maybe the two hits he smacked and three runs he drove in Sunday. Rodriguez, since he sat in favor of Wilson Ramos on the second day of the season, has had many chances to express frustration or disappointment about his diminished role. On each occasion, he has been a model teammate.

In both his play and his attitude toward his role, Rodriguez has been the anti-Posada. Rodriguez, at 39, remarkably remains one of the best defensive catchers in the league, having thrown five of 12 base stealers. Offensively, Rodriguez is more limited. He's hitting 238./273./.397 , and his .670 OPS ranks 17th among National League catchers. You do a lot worse with a part-time catcher.

Rodriguez has ceded most of his playing time to Ramos, though, having started 17 of 41 games this season, batting eighth in seven of those. He sits 168 hits away from 3,000 for his career, a milestone that he deeply cares about, and every missed at-bat is another chance he could have had to take one step closer. But not once has he complained, or even hinted at displeasure with his place on the Nationals."