The Nationals lost Wednesday, and yet, Aaron Barrett earned a win

In no way was it planned. The two men barely knew each other, having only had a brief conversation in the weight room after Monday night's game. Aaron Barrett had struck out Brandon Barnes that night, leaving the bases loaded with Rockies. And yesterday afternoon, those two squared off again, before the series finale between the Nationals and Rockies had even started. The contest: an on-field stand-off, to see which player could remain on the field in front of his respective dugout the longest after the national anthem had been finished. Each man stood there, hat on heart, going toe-to-toe while first pitch inched closer and the umpires grew more agitated. "If you would have told me this morning that I was going to be doing that, I would have laughed," Barrett said. It all started once the anthem was complete and Nats reliever Jerry Blevins told Barrett that they would stay out in front of the dugout until an American flag had been carried off the field. The two men looked across toward the Rockies dugout and saw that a small group, including Barnes, reliever LaTroy Hawkins and one other player, had remained on the field and decided to do the same thing. Eventually, Hawkins and the other player went back to the dugout. Barnes remained. So Blevins told Barrett, the youngest member of the Nats bullpen, that he needed to stay out there as well. "Next thing I know, it turns into what it was," Barrett said. "It was pretty funny, I'm not gonna lie." The stand-off was on. Both Barrett and Barnes got help from their teammates as they stood there, unwilling to retreat to their respective dugouts. Blevins sprayed Barrett's arms and face with sunscreen and applied an oxygen mask over Barrett's mouth to keep his teammate feeling fresh. Barnes' teammates gave him water and sunflower seeds. Barrett was fed a piece of an energy bar and hitting coach Rick Schu gave him some Red Bull. First base coach Tony Tarasco came out, batting helmet flipped around backwards, to give Barrett an up-close-and-personal pump-up chat. "Just being Tony," Barrett said. "Trying to be an army drill-sergeant." Barrett told himself he had no choice but to stay on the field, "Otherwise, they're going to give me more crap if I lose." As first pitch neared, a teammate put a helmet on Barrett's head - you know, for safety - and Bryce Harper applied an elbow guard to Barrett's right elbow. Both Barrett and Barnes stayed locked in. Eventually, well after the anthem had ended, it was time for baseball. Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa finished his warmup pitches, Denard Span started to dig into the batter's box, and home plate umpire Paul Emmel motioned that Barnes and Barrett needed to get off the field. Neither moved. Finally, Emmel yelled over to Barnes, who was further out onto the field, away from his dugout, that if he stayed out there and a pitch was thrown, he'd be ejected. Barnes tried to get Barrett to play a long-distance game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine the victor, but Barrett was having none of it. Finally, Barnes succumbed, and headed back to his dugout. Barrett spun around, arms raised with a huge smile on his face, and bounded back into his dugout to high fives and pats on the helmet. He had won the stand-off. Schu and Barrett did the old "bash brothers" routine where they mashed forearms, and Barrett was 1-0 before the game had even started. "It was a big win for the team," Barrett said. "They were getting pretty serious behind me. He wanted to do Rock, Paper, Scissors for the end. But all the guys were like, 'You better not lose.' I didn't want to hear the wrath of the team if I would have lost. So why not? It was fun. It was good camaraderie." Barrett ended up needing to pitch yesterday, and allowed a run on two hits in the seventh inning of the Nats' loss. "Obviously, I wish I could've done a little better and got a win," Barrett said. "It would've been two wins for the day. But baseball's supposed to be fun, and it was pretty fun to be a part of that."