People can talk doom and gloom all they want. If you are, you’ve missing what the Nats are all about. We’re a young, blue-collar team whose uniforms will be dirty before the national anthem begins. We’re excited about the season and developing young players.

That said, let’s take one last look back at spring training by handing out awards:

Best performance » Ryan Zimmerman. He has more power, he’s running faster and his arm is getting stronger. His bat is quicker. He’ll be an impact player for a long time.

Best adjustment » Felipe Lopez. He’s done a tremendous job making the adjustment from shortstop to second base and turning a double play. His range will really help our pitching staff this year.

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Most pleasant surprises » Starting pitchers Shawn Hill and Matt Chico, who won the second and third spots behind John Patterson. Chico showed a knack for pitching inside and changing speeds; he has great poise. We had him projected to Class AAA. Shawn is healthy and pitching like we thought he could.

Best prospect » Chris Marrero, who hit bullets all spring to all fields with tremendous power. He’ll open in Hagerstown, but he has a chance to make the big leagues at 20 years old.

Best batting practice session by a high school hitter » Michael Burgess from Hillsboro High School in Tampa. He’ll definitely be a first-round pick.

Favorite cameos » Bill Parcells, Bobby Knight and Josh Bolton.

Best reaction to a clubhouse rule » Hitting coach Mitchell Paige threatening to resign when he learned you can no longer smoke in the clubhouse or by the batting cages anymore.

Best birthday » Ryan Zimmerman’s great-grandmother celebrating her 99th birthday. She was presented with one of Ryan’s jerseys, signed by all the players.

Best Rule 5 selections » A tie between catcher Jesus Flores and pitcher Levale Speigner. Both made it because they earned it; they were awesome.

Best lunch story » After driving 2 1/2 hours to a game in Winter Haven, we sat through a one-hour rain delay before the game was finally postponed. So we went to lunch and Bob Boone and I ordered grilled cheeses. My sandwich had two slices of cheese. But they ran out of cheese so on Bob’s sandwich, they took cheez whiz and put it on a piece of bread.

Funniest events » The kangaroo court with judges Jose Rijo and Barry Larkin. It was 45 minutes of laughter in the clubhouse. If only I could tell you the stories …

Best story » Dmitri Young being given a second chance and winning the first base job. His presence, and his bat, will help.

Saddest moment » Squire Galbraith, driving home from a game against the Braves at 4:30 p.m. and realizing he forgot it was his wife’s birthday. She’s back in Columbus raising their four children. Sometimes, you’re so consumed by baseball you forget family comes first.

Best Space Coast moment » Watching a satellite rocket take off from Cape Canaveral with my boys from the stadium.

Tree I’ll miss the most » Palm tree.

Tree I’m looking forward to seeing the most » Cherry blossom.

Johnson lands on DL

Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson was put on the 15-day disabled list by Washington on Wednesday, as expected. Right-hander Luis Ayala (reconstructive elbow surgery in March 2006), left-hander Mike O’Connor (left elbow surgery in November) and outfielder Alex Escobar (right shoulder surgery in September) also were put on the 15-day DL.

Spring Training

Marlins 1, Nationals (ss) 0 » The Nats fell to the Marlins despite only allowing three hits.

Nats (ss) 2, Orioles (ss) 2 »

Washington’s Jesus Flores notched his second home run of the spring as the Nats tied the game in the bottom of the seventh.

As told to The Examiner’s John Keim.

Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden provides an exclusive column to The Examiner each week, ranging on topics from the Nats to the state of Major League Baseball.