That may seem like an ideal age for someone whose pro soccer career appears to be getting off the ground, but the D.C. United attacker will tell you it's about time. After all, he's in his eighth MLS season.

Quaranta was the first Freddy. A teenage phenom from Baltimore, he was drafted by United in 2001 and showed promise as the youngest player in league history, tallying five goals in 16 appearances. He represented the U.S. in the Under-17 World Cup that fall, and the sky was the limit.

Then the injuries started. A hernia, a hurt knee and a string of other ailments limited him to just 28 games over the next three years. By 2006, Quaranta, who wasn't known for his work ethic, had worn out his RFK Stadium welcome. He was traded to Los Angeles, dealt again to New York, then waived four months ago after injuring his foot.

The closer has always been there in the ninth inning, finishing out ballgames and all too often toeing the treacherous line between victory and deflating defeat. He's recorded 47, 29 and 37 saves in the last three years, respectively. What would the Nationals do without him?

Time to find out. Cordero tore the latissimus dorsi muscle in the back of his shoulder during Tuesday's game. The club said he could miss four to six weeks but is prepared for a longer absence.

"The guy's probably going to be out two months," manager Manny Acta told reporters Wednesday.

So, when the Wizards pulled out an ugly 88-87 victory in Cleveland on Wednesday, they breathed their biggest sigh of relief to date.

Two more grinding performances like that one — in which Caron Butler scored a career playoff-best 32 points and made a game-winning layup — will get them into the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Of course, the Cavs have eliminated Washington in D.C. each of the last two seasons. They play at Verizon Center on Friday night.

Butler's shot — almost identical to the attempt LeBron James missed on the other end of the floor at the buzzer — was the team's final attempt in a game in which the Wizards made just 41 percent of their field-goal tries and turned the ball over 13 times in the first half. They were playing without Gilbert Arenas, who announced before the game that he was done for the year.

Mea Culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.

I was wrong, at least this year and in this most unusual situation.

Surely, it's no coincidence that the Wizards' two wins over Cleveland — including Wednesday night's thriller to stave off elimination — came when Arenas wasn't even a factor.

Agent Zero's presence has been a distraction all season. When he's healthy, he's one of the NBA's great players.

Anyone who's watched Washington the past month knows Arenas was anything but great, and the Wizards were worse trying to fit him in after he missed most of the season.

GIVE THE REDSKINS credit.

At least they drafted like a team that doesn’t consider Jim Zorn a one-year experiment between Joe Gibbs and Bill Cowher.

Wide receiver was an area of need for a group switching to the West Coast offense. Sure, they went a little hog wild taking two wideouts and a tight end with their top three choices. Maybe they were hedging their bets.

The Redskins know better than most teams just how difficult it is to translate a receiver’s success in college to the pros.

Since 1992, Washington has selected a receiver in the first round three times: Desmond Howard (1992), Michael Westbrook (1995) and Rod Gardner (2001). "D'oh" best describes those picks.

Perhaps a more apt comparison may be the selection of Taylor Jacobs, who was deemed a first-round talent by Mel Kiper but slipped to the Redskins in the second round in 2003. He’s since fallen out of the league.

Devin Thomas appears to be a steal with the 34th pick, and Malcolm Kelly once thought he’d be a first-rounder. Maybe both will turn out great, but recent history is against it.

A strong defensive line is really overrated, anyway. It’s not like the Giants won a Super Bowl due to a great pass rush.

Sarcasm aside, choosing the best player available is a sound strategy. Safety wasn’t a need last year when the Redskins took LaRon Landry.

Imagine where they’d be without him now.

Photo by Joel Richardson/The Washington Post

Even if I wasn't from here, there is a big fan base here. And being from here, it's exciting to be able to come back with something happening in history. And my brother [Marcus Foran], who was a national prep wrestling champion at DeMatha, is also on the card. We are bringing MMA in a big way to the area.

» EXPRESS: What makes this the biggest MMA event ever in the area?
» FORAN: The reason it's the biggest is the fighters on the card. They've never had fighters on this level, who are veterans of these events. There will be some of celebrity guests [including Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski), who are world champions of their sport. Nobody has done anything this big on any level in terms of fight card, event production and special celebrity guests.

» EXPRESS:There were about 2,500 people at the first MMA event at Patriot Center last year. What are your expectations for this?
» FORAN: I'm expecting about 5,000 — maybe more, you never know. It's interesting question. I'm waiting to find out the same thing. Knowing what we've done in markets not nearly as big as the D.C. market and basing expectations on where sport is and the big fan base in D.C., I feel 5,000 is a very reasonable number.

Join Express' Matt Swenson and Ian Herbert at 11 a.m. to share your opinions on the Redskins' war-room tactics.

ON THIS DAY before one of our sports holidays, the NFL draft, let us give thanks to a few axioms that shall be true for all time.

There will always be room for another criminal in the Dallas Cowboys’ locker room, the New England Patriots will scour the New York Jets’ war room video trying to steal signals, and the Cincinnati Bengals can’t help but bungle things up.

The last item is of the most importance to Redskins fans.

As we all know, Washington, which heretofore has portended to finally believe in the draft, appears to be desperate to take disgruntled wide receiver Chad Johnson off Cincinnati’s hands.

In Dan Snyder’s typical style, the Redskins have no interest in fleecing the Bengals in a trade. They’d rather overpay — and drastically at that — to get a poison pill.

A first-rounder and a third-rounder who could turn into a second No. 1 choice were offered to Marvin Lewis and company, who, for some reason, rejected the proposal.

Lewis essentially saved the Redskins from themselves.

Johnson is a fine player — I’d trade a second-round pick for him — yet, let’s put this in perspective. Randy Moss cost the Patriots a fourth-round pick one year ago, and he’s far better than Ocho Cinco.

The scary part is that, knowing Snyder, the Redskins won’t give up. They may well offer all of their first-round picks for the rest of the decade to get the loud-mouthed talent.

At least we can always count on Cincinnati to make the wrong decision.

Photo by Doug Pensigner/Getty Images

But, especially inside United locker room, few think that will last. The fact that last year's MLS Cup (Houston) and Supporters Shield (United) winners are propping up their respective divisions likely is more related to their participation in the CONCACAF Champions Cup than a lack of talent. D.C. has plenty of time to get its act together.

"This league is pretty forgiving in terms of slow starts and slow middles and everything else. All that matters is how you finish," said goalie Zach Wells, who was with Houston in 2006 and 2007 when the Dynamo got hot late and won consecutive championships. "We've got a lot of soccer ahead of us, and, each game, we learn something about ourselves and we learn how to tinker with the team."

Frustrated. And presumably frustrate, frustrating, frustration and the like.

"I don't know what that word means," he said.

Since becoming manager last season, Acta has interrupted a reporter's question to inform him of that fact on more than one occasion, citing the length of the season and the utter uselessness of the emotion.

Still, after the team had lost its 16th game in its first 22 tries Wednesday, Merriam-Webster offered no better word to more aptly describe the vibe in the Nationals' clubhouse. For four innings, their lineup had battled two-time Cy Young-winner Johan Santana and even had a 2-1 lead on the division-rival Mets.