According to this Boston Globe report citing "Major League sources," the Boston Red Sox put in a claim on SS Cristian Guzman, whom the Nationals placed on waivers. The article describes the recent injury to Boston SS Jed Lowrie as the impetus on the claim.

During the waiver-wire trade period, it's customary for teams to put many of their players on waivers, with the intent on judging the trade value for those players. If a player is claimed, the two teams then have 48 hours to work out a deal, allow the player to simply be claimed, or the starting team can withdraw the player off of waivers and retain the player for the season.

In order for the Red Sox to be awarded the claim, every team in the NL and 2/3 of the AL teams would have had to pass on Guzman, and $8 million salary next season.

Guzman is hot again, and casual fans love watching Guzman when he's hot, as he strays base hits all over the stadium. But he is a very streaky hitter, provides absolutely no power, and is terrible defensively.

If the two teams can't work out a deal for a significant player in return, the Nats should just let Sox assume his contract, freeing up that $8 million,and channeling it into a run at Orlando Hudson, a superior player to Guzman, next season.

Oh, by the way, deadline for Strasburg now at 8 days and counting...

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS (50-61, 4th in NL West--17 games back; two-game losing streak)

Oeltjen -- LF
Roberts -- 2B
Drew -- SS
Reynolds -- 3B
Tracy -- 1B
Snyder -- C
Romero -- RF
Young -- CF
Petit -- RHP

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (39-72, 5th in NL East--23.5 games back; seven-game win streak)

Morgan -- CF
Guzman -- SS
Zimmerman -- 3B
Dunn -- 1B
Willingham -- LF
Dukes -- RF
Bard -- C
Gonzalez -- 2B
Martin -- P

STARTING PITCHERS

WAS: J.D. Martin, RHP (16.1 IP, 0-2, 7.16 ERA, 7 K, 5 BB)
ARI: Yusmeiro Petit, RHP (57.1 IP, 2-5, 5.81 ERA, 48 K, 23 BB)

WEATHER

Partly cloudy, hot and humid. Game time: 92F. Last out: 94F.

The Washington Nationals traded Anderson Hernandez back to the New York Mets in exchange for Single-A 2B Greg Veloz.

Veloz, who will report to Potomac of the Single-A Carolina League, is a career .249 hitter with 77 doubles, 19 home runs, 145 RBI and 108 stolen bases in three-plus professional seasons. In his three complete pro campaigns, Veloz has averaged 30 stolen bases. He entered the season rated among the Mets’ top 25 prospects as listed in Baseball America’s 2009 Prospect Handbook.

To take Hernandez' roster spot, the team recalled RHRP Saul Rivera.

Rivera, 31, rejoins the Nationals after going 2-5 with seven holds, two saves and a 3.55 ERA (18 ER/45.2 IP) in 30 appearanes with Syracuse. A member of the Nationals’ Opening Day roster, Rivera went 0-1 with an 8.49 ERA (11 ER/11.2 IP) in 10 appearances with Washington before being optioned to Syracuse on April 20.

And now, the lineups.

FLORIDA MARLINS (55-52, 2nd in NL East--six games back; two-game losing streak)

Coghlan – LF
Johnson – 1B
Ramirez – SS
Cantu – 3B
Uggla – 2B
Baker – C
Ross – CF
Hermida – RF
Volstad – P

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (36-72, 5th in NL East-25.5 games back; four-game win streak)

Morgan – CF
Belliard – 2B
Zimmerman – 3B
Dunn – 1B
Willingham – LF
Dukes – RF
Bard – C
Gonzalez – SS
Stammen – P

STARTING PITCHERS

WAS: Craig Stammen (81.2 IP, 3-6, 4.96 ERA, 35 K, 15 BB)
FLA: Chris Volstad (132.1 IP, 8-9, 4.35 ERA, 91 K, 39 BB)

WEATHER

Mostly cloudy, chance of passing cloudburst. High temp 79F.

"I would give back every single home run if we could be whatever our record is, but flip-flopped. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Winning is everything in this game. Period." --Adam Dunn, on the occasion of his 300th career home run, July 4, 2009.

THE RESULT and BOX SCORE

ATTENDANCE: 23,708

RECORD: 23-55-1

THE TAKEAWAY: Dunn started and ended the rally with his mammoth home run, his 22nd of the season, and RBI single that made the score 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth.

But major kudos have to go to starting pitcher John Lannan. He didn't have his best stuff, and put plenty of men on base yesterday, but benefited from four double plays. He kept his team in the game, pitching through the eighth, and he stuck around long enough to earn the victory.

For all the times in his brief career that the offense let him down, finally they came through for him after a gritty performance.

And props to Nyjer Morgan, who executed a perfect sacrifice in the the pivotal eighth inning. Good situational baseball, something that hasn't always been evident in Nationals Park this season.

THE GOOD: Adam Dunn. 2-for-3 with a walk, solo home run and two RBI. I expect him to be named the Nationals all-star representative later today.

THE BAD: Cristian Guzman. 0-for-4 with a called strikeout in the sixth spot in the lineup.

THE UGLY: The bullpen carousel stops for Jesus Colome. Colome was DFA'd after the game, making room for Jason Bergmann's third trip to the bigs this season.

The 31-year old right-hander was 1-1 with an 8.40 ERA in 15 relief appearances with the Nationals this season.

Photos 2009 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

NEXT GAME: Today, at 1:35 pm, against these same Braves.

ATLANTA BRAVES (39-41, 4th in NL East -- 2.5 games back. One-game losing streak)

McLouth – CF
Prado – 2B
Jones – 3B
McCann – C
Escobar – SS
Anderson – LF
Diaz – RF
Kotchman – 1B
Lowe – P

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (23-55-1, 5th in NL East -- 17.5 games back. One-game winning streak)

Morgan – CF
Johnson – 1B
Zimmerman – 3B
Dunn – LF
Willingham – RF
Guzman – SS
Bard – C
Belliard – 2B
Olsen – P

STARTING PITCHERS

WAS: Scott Olsen (48.0 IP, 1-4, 6.56 ERA, 36 K, 18 BB)
ATL: Derek Lowe (101.1 IP, 7-6, 4.44 ERA, 55 K, 35 BB)

WEATHER

Cloudy, thunderstorms. Chance of rain 40%. High temp 80F.

Happy Independence Day, everyone. Enjoy the game, bbq's and family. And, enjoy the freedom to do so, thanks to patriots 223 years ago, who devised a better way of governing a nation of diverse, passionate peoples.

ATLANTA BRAVES (39-40, 4th in NL East -- two games back. Five-game win streak)

McLouth - 8
Prado - 3
Jones - 5
Anderson - 7
Escobar - 6
Diaz - 9
Ross - 2
Conrad - 4
Hanson - 1

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (22-55-1, 5th in NL East -- 18 games back. Four-game losing streak)

Morgan - 8
Johnson - 3
Zimmerman - 5
Dunn - 7
Willingham - 9
Guzman - 6
Hernandez - 4
Nieves - 2
Lannan - 1

STARING PITCHERS

WAS: John Lannan (99.0 IP, 5-5, 3.45 ERA, 47 Kk, 37 BB)
ATL: Tommy Hanson (29.0 IP, 4-0, 18 K, 17 BB)

WEATHER

Mostly sunny. First pitch 81F. Last out 83F. Bring your sunscreen. Zero percent chance of rain.

GAME TIME 1:35 PM. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS (37-33, two-game losting streak)

Scutaro - SS
Hill - 2B
Wells - CF
Rolen - 3B
Lind - LF
Rios - RF
Overbay - 1B
Barajas - C
Romero - P

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (20-46, four-game winning streak)

Guzman - SS
Johnson - 1B
Zimmerman - 3B
Dunn - LF
Kearns - RF
Gonzalez - 2B
Harris - CF
Bard - C
Martis - P

STARTING PITCHERS

WAS: Shairon Martis (75.2 IP, 5-1, 4.76 ERA, 29 Ks, 34 BBs)
TOR: Ricky Romero (50.2 IP, 3-3, 3.73 ERA, 41 Ks, 16 BBs)

WEATHER

Partly cloudy, chance of passing shower or t-storm. Game time 80F, final out82F. Chance of rain 20%.