In the wake of last night's small crowd - and before what promises to be another sparse showing tonight - Manager Jim Riggleman sent a message to fans. Asked about the importance of playing well in the final homestand of the year, Riggleman took a broad approach. He thanked Nationals fans while expressing an undeniable fact: Without a winning team, they will stop coming to games. "I think that sooner or later, we're going to be past the honeymoon period here," Riggleman said. "These fans have been tremendous. We've got to start winning some ballgames. You can't ask people to keep coming out. Our support has been amazing. When we come off the field after practice before the game, the comments that we get from fans, it's very supportive. It's appreciated greatly, believe me, because there's a lot of cities where we'd be coming off the field to different language. These people have been great. It's appreciated. But it's also understood it's not going to last forever. "People are just going to say, 'You know what, we're tired of hearing Jim talk about light at the end of the tunnel. And we're tired of hearing about players that we have coming.' We're going to have to win ballgames. That starts with me and my staff. We're going to have to get it done." --

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