Nationals president Stan Kasten has spoken in the past about his efforts to connect to the embassy community in Washington, to lay the foundation for the team's presence internationally.

Last night a group of ambassadors from the East Asian and Pacific regions got a tour of the new ballpark and took in a game.

After the 12-2 defeat by the Phillies, they might be sending wires back home for aid for the Nationals.

The group included Chris Hill, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the State Department. Hill, who apparently is involved in the talks with North Korea about nuclear weapons, had pretty good material.

Don Fehr, executive director of the players association, was on hand, and Hill suggested Fehr might come in handy in talks with the North Koreans.

"It's just plutonium, a few missiles, highly enriched uranium ... but we're not sure if they even have them," Hill joked.

Funny stuff.

Kasten followed, and the Nationals president, who has sat across Fehr at the bargaining table in numerous labor negotiations, followed up by jokingly saying, "I fully endorse Don spending as much time in North Korea as possible."

The session, though, was about lobbying the ambassadors for the return of baseball to the Olympics. While baseball will be part of the upcoming games in Beijing, it is out of the Olympics after that, and supporters are petitioning for its return in 2016.

Harvey Schiller, former president of TBS Sports and currently the president of the International Baseball Federation, told the ambassadors, "Everybody in here has a National Olympic Committee. We need your help."

Fehr also spoke of the committment to get baseball back into the games and gave a positive review on his first visit to Nationals Park: "It's a wonderful facility."

Also on hand for the union were three former major leaguers who mingled with the dignitaries -- former Orioles Bobby Bonilla and B.J. Surhoff and a interesting figure in the history of this franchise.

Steve Rogers was the ace of the Montreal Expos in the glory days of the franchise, posting a 158-152 record from 1973 to 1985. He was among the group entertaining the ambassadors.