BULLET-POINT STYLE!

• It amazes me how many people are defending Nyjer Morgan for his actions in last night's brawl.  I understand you want your players to keep playing despite being down 11 runs, but stealing bases really isn't about "winning".  Stealing a base in that situation gives you about one-hundredth of a percent increase to your chance of winning.  Morgan stealing second, then third, was about Morgan showing up Volstad and the Marlins.  In my opinion.
  
  
• And Riggleman saying that they were still playing to win the game is just defending Morgan, because he removed Dunn from an out-of-hand game after three at bats.
  
  
• The real damning thing for Morgan is going to be the lasting image of him walking off the field, popping his jersey, and raising his arms in defiance, all the while jarring with fans on his way out.  That's three times in two weeks Morgan has been caught on tape engaging fans in discourse and expletives.  That -- as much as charging the mound -- will be the emphasis of his next suspension.
  
  
• As for Volstad, he should have been warned after hitting Nieves, much less Gomez.  The fact that Volstad hit two players before he hit Morgan the first time is pretty shoddy umpiring.  I imagine when the penalties get handed down later today or tomorrow, Volstad will get enough games to miss two starts for his part in the violence.
  
  
• After re-watching the replay several times, I can't see how third base coach Pat Listach avoids a suspension either.  He did what he thought he had to do to defend one of his players, but it's very much frowned upon when coaches are invovled in physical altercations, and the replays clearly show Listach on top of Volstad trying to pin him to the ground.
  
  
• In non-Nyjer news, wow, was Scott Olsen bad.  It's the second time since his return from the D.L. he's failed to make it out of the second inning.  Overall stats since returning in seven starts:  32 IP, 1-6, 8.72 ERA, .331/.384/.574 against.  Oh, and every start is another $100,000 down the drain.  Yunesky Maya started last night too, going 5 1/3 strong innings.  Perhaps next week we see the Cuban expatriate in place of Olsen?
  
  
• Congrats to Danny Espinosa, who had an RBI double in his first MLB at bat and turned a nice double play later in the game.
  
  
• Further congrats to Wil Nieves, who hit his third home run of the season, an upper deck bomb.

THE RESULT:  The Washington Nationals saw the face of their franchise unceremoniously ejected from the game, then felt the sting of a walk-off loss.

Atlanta Braves rookie right fielder Jason Heyward lined a single past the outstretched glove of  shortstop Ian Desmond, driving in Rick Ankiel with the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, sending the Nats to a second straight loss to the Braves, 3-2, before 18,105 at Turner Field.

In the top of the eighth, Ryan Zimmerman took what he thought was ball four and started to first, only to be called back by home plate umpire Scott Barry's strike call.  On the next pitch, Zimmerman foul tipped the ball into catcher Brian McCann's glove for strike three.

Zimmerman then proceeded to slam his bat and batting helmet to the ground in disgust, turning his back on Barry and muttering an expletive.  Barry rung up Zimmerman to the third baseman's amazement, and then tossed manager Jim Riggleman when he came out to defend his best player.

It didn't matter to the outcome of the game, but it is two nights in a row one of the Nats' highest profile players were ejected by rookie umpires on this crew.  Ivan Rodriguez was ejected by third base umpire Brian Knight in last night's loss.

The ninth inning started off innocently enough, as Sean Burnett (L, 0-7) got Alex Gonzalez to ground out to second.  But a broken bat single from Ankiel drove Burnett from the game, and bench coach John McLaren summoned Tyler Clippard. 

As has been the case much of the last two months, Clippard had trouble controlling his prodigous fastball, and he walked the first batter he faced, No. 9 hitter -- and backup catcher -- David Ross.

When asked whether his control was off tonight, Clippard answered succinctly, "Clearly."

He managed to get Omar Infante to swing at a high fastball for the second out of the inning.  But he got behind Heyward 3-0, the rookie all-star, and he drilled a fastball just over Desmond's glove to score Ankiel from second to end the game.

THE GOOD:  Livan Hernandez.  The crafty veteran gave up two earned runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out just one.  He kept his team in a game when once again the bats just couldn't get it done.

THE BAD:  Adam Dunn was 0-for-4 with three left on base.

THE UGLY:  On two seperate occasions, bloop singles fell in between RF Michael Morse and 2B Adam Kennedy, and in the fourth it led to a run.  These are just two more plays that don't go into the books as an error, but clearly are poor defensive plays that lead to losses.

THE STATS:  7 Ks, 2 BBs, 2-for-5 with RISP, 4 LOB, 4 DPs

NEXT GAME:  Thursday at 1:05 pm.  John Lannan (4-5) against Derek Lowe (11-10).

NATS NOTES:  Before the game, the Nats recalled catcher Wilson Ramos and reserved catcher Wil Nieves, who left the team to be with his wife, Yormarie, as she gave birth to their first child, daughter Isabel Maria.  Nats News Network wishes the entire family all the best.

The team also put OF Josh Willingham on the D.L. with a knee injury and activated OF Nyjer Morgan, who was 0-for-6 in two games on rehab.

The ejection was the first of Zimmerman's career.

According to a series of tweets from MLB.com's Bill Ladson early this afternoon, the Washington Nationals plan to recall catcher Wilson Ramos "for a few days", while backup catcher Wil Nieves returns to D.C. to be with his wife, Yormarie, who is expecting any day now.

In other news, Ladson also reported the team will place OF Josh Willingham on the D.L. for his injured knee and activate OF Nyjer Morgan from the D.L.  Morgan was supposed to play for AA-Harrisburg last night, but was a late scratch and headed to Atlanta.

Neither move has been confirmed by the team at the time of this post, but we'll confirm when the team makes the announcements.

Nieves has been relatively hot a the plate in the last week, as he hit hit second home run of the season last week against Arizona, and went 3-for-3 last night in Atlanta when he came off the bench to replace Ivan Rodriguez, who was ejected in an argument with the third base umpire after a strange foul tip strikeout.

Ramos, acquired from the Minnesota Twins in the Matt Capps deal, made his major league debut earlier this season with the Twins.  He hit .296/.321/.407 in 28 plate appearances while Joe Mauer was nursing injury.  For the season, he's hitting .254/.292/.370 with seven home runs and 36 RBIs in 358 plate appearances, but since the trade he's hit .317/.349/.483 with two homers and six batted in for Syracuse in 63 trips to the plate (15 games).

Willingham hurt his knee several weeks ago making an awkward slide into second base and has been playing with pain and a noticable limp since.  He's been in and out of the lineup the last week, and while he has been hitting well, has a had a lot of trouble running and playing defense. 

There were conflicting reports last week when he missed a start against the Florida Marlins about the severity of his injury, but now it's apparent the injury is as serious as feared.  Several sources said Willingham had a partial tear of his meniscus in his knee, the cartilage between the knee that acts asc cushion when walking or running.  

Depending on the severity of the tear, doctors can either trim away the loose part of the tear, or attempt to sew the frayed parts back together.  It's not an uncommon injury, and while surgery would end his season, there's no reason to worry about a full recovery.

Willingham has hit .268/.389/.459 with 16 homers and 56 RBIs in 450 plate appearances this season.

Morgan has been on the D.L. for a couple of weeks with inflammation in his right hip.  He's played two rehab games, one for Class-A Potomac and the other for Class-A Hagerstown.  He went 0-for-6 with a walk.  For the season with the Nats, Morgan is hitting .261/.322/.322 with no home runs, 20 RBIs and 29 steals, and been thrown out 14 times.

THE RESULT:  The less said about this one the better.

The Atlanta Braves beat up on four Washington Nationals pitchers en route to a 10-2 victory over their division "rival" and the Nats could not muster an attack against a rookie pitcher and a trio of relievers. Just 16,911 saw the fiasco in Atlanta's Turner Field.

The game started out ok enough for the Nats, as starter Scott Olsen (L, 3-5, 5.14) cruised through the first five innings scoreless.  But in the sixth, things unraveled quickly.  Hitting for starting pitcher Mike Minor (W, 1-0, 3.75), rookie Diory Hernandez got his first major league hit, a solo home run to left field.  All-Star utilityman Omar Infante then ripped a triple to right and All-Star rookie OF Jason Heyward walked on five pitches.

And that was it for Olsen.

Manager Jim Riggleman wanted right-hander Joel Peralta to face righty Martin Prado (3-for-5, 3 runs, 2 RBIs), and the move backfired.  Prado slammed a double off Peralta, and the competitve portion of the game was over.

Olsen appeared agitated when he was lifted.  He casually flipped the ball to Riggleman stomping off the mound and screamed so loudly into his glove as he walked to the dugout was audible on the broadcast.  Olsen's five-plus inning start earned him a $250,000 bonus, and each start he makes the rest of the season is another $100,000 per the incentive clause in his contract.

Olsen left the clubhouse before reporters arrived and reportedly declined comment through the team after the game.

After two bad starts, maybe the episode and the bonus money is enough incentive for the Nats to remove him from the rotation, as RHP Jordan Zimmermann is scheduled for just one more Triple-A start before being reactivated to the Major League roster.

A trio of relievers could not stop the bleeding, as Peralta, Doug Slaten and Craig Stammen all gave up runs of their own.

The Nats added to their own misfortune, committing two more errors to add to their legue-leading total.  Both Alberto Gonzalez and Adam Dunn had throwing errors, leading to more unearned runs.

THE GOOD:  Wil Nieves.  Inserted for Ivan Rodriguez, ejected for arguing a strange foul tip strikeout call after batting in the first inning, Nieves went 3-for-3 with an RBI double.

THE BAD:  Doug Slaten.  The little-used lefty was terrible, allowing four of the five batters he faced to score.  Also, Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn both struck out three times in the game.

THE UGLY:  The Washington Post's Adam Kilgore reported yesterday that OF Josh Willingham "likely" will have season-ending knee surgery as soon as next week.  Willingham reportedly has tearing in his meniscus, the sponge-like cartilage in the knee.  He's had problem with the knee since sliding awkwardly into second base in a game in late July.

The Hammer is hitting .268/.389/.459 with 16 homers and 546 RBIs, but has struggled mightily since the All-Star break, going .225/.314/.26 over his last 102 plate appearances. 

THE STATS:  9 Ks, 2 BBs, 2-for-9 with RISP, 7 LOB

NEXT GAME:  Tonight at 7:10 pm against the Braves.  Livan Hernandez (8-7) takes on Tim Hudson (14-5).

"That's two wins in a row now and hopefully something we can build on with John." -- Manager Jim Riggleman, on John Lannan's successful last two outings.

(Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

THE RESULT:  John Lannan and Sean Burnett combined for a four-hit effort as the Washington Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2, before a crowd of 19,549 at Nationals Park.

The Nats got three runs in the first and Wil Nieves' second home run of the year in the second off Arizona starter Joe Sauders for all the offense they would need on the evening.

Lannan (4-5, 5.23) made perhaps his finest start of the season, and early on showed he was going to be a factor in this game as he struck out two of the first three batters he faced in a 1-2-3 first inning.  He cruised through the first four frames, allowing just a single to No. 8 hitter Gerardo Parra in the third.

"He threw the ball good," said Manager Jim Riggleman.  "He had a good change-up, threw some good breaking pitches to left-handed hitter."

By that time, Lannan had a 4-0 cushion courtesy of some unlikely heros.

Alberto Gonzalez played second and batted first in Manager Jim Riggleman's lineup tonight against the left-handed Saunders, a Springfield, VA native.  He rewarded his manager's confidence with aleadoff single, and Ian Desmond (3-for-3, double, run) followed with another single. 

After Adam Dunn bounced to first to move both runners up, Ryan Zimmerman drove a ball through the hole that scored both runners, with Desmond sliding easily ahead of Parra's throw from left field, allowing Zimmerman to move up to second.

Zimmerman later came home on a Michael Morse safety for a three-run first.

Wil Nieves led off the second with his second home run of the season, depositing a Saunders off-speed pitch into the seats of the Red Porch to the right of the visitor's bullpen.  The Nats' backup catcher finished the night 2-for-4.

(Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

That left the rest to Lannan, who only ran into trouble in the fifth inning.  After a Mark Reynolds walk, Stephen Drew ripped a ball over Dunn's head into the right field corner.  Morse dug it out and hit cut-off man Gonzalez, who then fired a laser to Nieves at home.

Nieves dove to the front corner of the plate and appeared to tag Reynolds on the back knee before the big third baseman could touch the plate, but home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg ruled Reynolds safe for the D-backs first run of the game.  Drew ended up on third, and later scored on a Parra single.

But that's all they would get off Lannan, the Nats leader in innings pitched the last two seasons.  He finished his night after throwing seven full innings, allowing just the two earned runs on four hits and one walk, striking out five in the effort.

Sean Burnett picked up where Lannan left off, getting all six batters he faced for a two-inning save, his second of the season and against Arizona in the past week and a half.

(Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

THE GOOD:  John Lannan.  This is the type of performance the Nats expected out of Lannan, their two-time Opening Day starter.  His exile to the minors in for a few weeks in the middle of the season wasn't so much of a wake-up call as an opportunity to fine-tune his sinker, something he needs to be effective at the major league level. 

He's just a different pitcher if he can strike a few guys out along the way, as he did tonight.

Props too to Ian Desmond.  He entered the game hitting .333/.345/.574 over his last 59 plate appearances and went 3-for-4 to bolster those numbers.

THE BAD:  Adam Dunn went 0-for-3 with two Ks and left runners in scoring position in both of his first two at bats.

THE UGLY:  Justin Maxwell went 0-for-4 and struck out twice.  Not a good way to find increased playing time.  It looks more and more like he's a 4-A player.  Such a shame he can't find a way to make consistant contact with all the tools he has.

THE STATS:  The Nats went 2-for-9 with RISP and left eight men total.  They struck out five times and walked twice.

NEXT GAME:  Tomorrow against Arizona.  Jason Marquis (0-4, 15.32) looks to salvage his season against Ian Kennedy (6-9, 4.47) at 7:05 pm.

NATS NOTES:  A couple of draft-related tidbits to pass along.  First, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported that Nats 2nd round draft pick, LHP Sammy Solis, was close to signing a contract this evening.  Solis is a left-handed starter out of University of San Diego.

Before the game, the Nats worked out Tennessee high schooler LHP Robbie Ray and introduced him to Stephen Strasburg and Jason Marquis during batting practice.  Ray seemed to be a long shot to sign, as he's committed to Arkansas, but if he's in for a workout it can only be considered a good thing.

Olsen looked like he didn't skip a beat in two months.  (Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

THE RESULT:  Scott Olsen has been away from Nationals Park since May 22, when he went on the D.L. with weakness in his surgically repaired shoulder.  Thursday afternoon, it looked like he never left the place.

Olsen, making his first start in over two months, went six good innings and led the Washington Nationals over their division rival Atlanta Braves 5-3, before an annouced crowd of 30,263 -- though many left during an hour and a half rain delay.

Olsen (W, 3-2, 3.67) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on five hits and two walks in six innings.  He struck out just one and gave up a home run, Matt Diaz' mammoth two-run shot.  But he was in control for the most part, getting several ground ball outs.  The top three hitters in the Braves order went 0-for-9 with seven ground outs against Olsen.

"He kept the ball down good, was confident with his pitches," said Nats Manager Jim Riggleman in his post-game.  "He stayed with what he tries to do, he pitched to contact..he had a very good outing."

The left-hander got support from some likely -- and one unlikely -- sources.

Ian Desmond and Adam Dunn both hit solo home runs; Desmond his seventh off Braves starter Derek Lowe (L, 10-9), and Dunn's 24th, a blast to the Red Porch seats, off Takashi Saito in the eighth inning.

Desmond connects for his seventh homer of the season.  (Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

But the big hit came from backup catcher Wil Nieves.  With one out and two on in the fourth, Nieves (entering the day at .183) laced a single past the outstretched glove of second baseman Martin Prado, plating both Michael Morse (1-for-3, HBP) and Desmond.

Nieves has reached base safely in all of his six starts in July.

Wil Nieves got the job done in the 5-3 win.  (Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

Play was halted after the Braves batted in the sixth inning as the teams waited out a summer thunderstorm.  When they picked things back up, the bullpen took over for Olsen, and as they have all series, got the job done.

Sean Burnett, Drew Storen and Matt Capps (26th save) all pitched a scoreless inning to keep the Braves in check.  For the series, the bullpen threw 11 2/3 scoreless innings, not even including Miguel Batista's five innings in his emergency start.

Michael Morse was hit by a pitch ahead of Nieves' two-run single. (Photo by Cheryl Nichols/Nats News Network)

THE GOOD:  Lots to go around, but Olsen gets the nod.  He threw 52 of his 81 pitches for strikes and limited the damage when he did run into trouble.  Multi-hit games from Dunn and Desmond were nice too.

THE BAD:  Adam Kennedy went 0-for-4 in the two hole.

THE UGLY:  This one goes to the official scorer today.  Desmond had a hot one-hopper glance off his glove on a backhand attempt that was ruled an error, his league-leaing 24th.  There's not another scorer that would have given an error on that play to the home shortstop.  And of course, that runner eventually scored.

THE STATS:  The Nats struck out seven times and walked once.  They were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left four on base.

NEXT GAME:  Washington hosts the Philadelphia Phillies -- and legions of their fans -- this weekend for a three-game set.  Craig Stammen (2-4, 5.50) will face newly-acquired Roy Oswalt (6-12. 3.42 for HOU) at 7:05 pm.  Oswalt was traded to the Phillies earlier in the day for LHP J.A. Happ and two minor leaguers.

NATS NOTES:  As expected, the Nationals placed Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day DL before today's game to activate Olsen for the start.  Strasburg is feeling much better after experiencing trouble warming up for his start on Tuesday, but the team is being cautious with him. 

Since they planned to skip his next start anyway, and with a need to carry an extra reliever this week, the team retroactively put him on the DL to his last start.  He'll be eligible to return Aug. 6.

As the story goes, when the Washington Nationals get at least five innings from their starting pitcher, they will win the game.  At least, that had been the case for the Nats first seven wins of the season.

Well, you can add an eighth win to that, as John Lannan went six innings, backup catcher Wil Nieves delivered in a big spot, and the Nats eeked out a 6-4 win over the Colorado Rockies, once again pushing their season record over .500 to 8-7.

The game was tied at four in the eighth inning, and the Rockies called on reliever Rafael Betancourt.  He was greeted by a single from Josh Willingham.  After a sacrifice bunt by Willie Harris and an intentional walk to Adam Kennedy, the Nats little-used catcher came up in a big spot--and he delivered big.

Nieves fouled off the first pitch.  But on the second offering from Betancourt, he drilled a shot to deep left-center, plating Willingham easily and moving Kennedy to third.

The popular catcher clapped several times at second and gave his dugout a little fist clench.

Nieves went 2-for-4 for the evening, and is hitting .294 in limited duty this season.

The future Hall of Famer, Ivan Rodriguez, then pinch-hit for Tyler Clippard (W, 3-0, 0.77), and lifted a ball to left field that was deep enough to score Kennedy.

Matt Capps entered and struck out the side, sandwiching in a single and a walk, to record his seventh save of the young season in as many chances.

Lannan was not his sharpest on the cool drizzly evening, but stuck around long enough to keep his team in it.  He went six innings and gave up four earned runs on 11 hits and one walk, striking out two.  He also gave up a home run to left-handed OF Brad Hawpe.

After the game, the Nationals announced that Jason Marquis, signed to a two-year, $15 million contract this past off-season, was placed on the 15-day disabled list with "floating bodies" in his pitching elbow.

Marquis has been terrible so far this season, and his last outing on Sunday he failed to record a single out, giving up seven earned runs in the process.

It is likely that Luis Atilano, 2-0 for Triple-A Syracuse, will be recalled for the start on Friday, his normal day to pitch.  What remains to be seen is if Atilano will be a stop-gap or a more permanent replacement.

With Marquis down, Garrett Mock on the DL with a nerve problem in his neck, and Scott Olsen struggling mightily in his last start, the Nats starting rotation is in shambles.  Craig Stammen had a terrific outing last time out, but he's yet to string together more than one good performance.

Lannan has been hit-and-miss so far in his four starts, but keeping his team in games, while Livan Hernandez has been the star of the rotation, throwing 16 innings of scoreless ball thus far.  That can't continue.

Reinforcements can't come soon enough.

The final game of the four-game series with Colorado is Thursday at 4:05.  Livan Hernandez (2-0, 0.00) faces staff ace Ubaldo Jimienez (3-0, 1.29).

NATS NOTES:  Ryan Zimmerman came out of the game after legging out a double in the seventh inning.  He suffered what manager Jim Riggleman termed a cramp in his right hamstring and is day-to-day.  This latest injury doesn't seem to be related to his lef thamstring problem that kept him out of five games last week.

The announced crowd was 11,191, less than Tuesday's previous team record for lowest paid attendance.

Phenom Stephen Strasburg won his game today with Double-A Harrisburg.  He went five innings, giving up no runs on one hit and one walk, striking out six.

Photos by A. Amobi/Nats News Network, All Rights Reserved unless otherwise attributed.

No sooner did I hit "post" on my previous entry did news from Bill Ladson pop up that Jesus Flores has been, in Ladson's words, "shut down from doing any baseball activities until February..."

Now, let me preface my following comments with this:  I like Jesus Flores and Wil Nieves, both as people and as baseball players.  They are two of the kindest athletes I've had the good fortune of meeting since I started my little blog, and I wish nothing but health and success for the both of them.  It's difficult for me to write completely objectively when they are concerned.

Whether or not Flores has been performing baseball related activities (i.e., hitting and throwing) is undetermined in the article, but Flores' quotes in the piece seem to indicate that he is building up strength but the team is being cautious in his return.

"I'm doing great," Flores said. "After surgery, I'm feeling much better. My strength is coming along. I'm moving my arm lot better. I'm going to be ready for the season. I'm completely shutdown [for Winter Ball]. I guess I will start to throw a baseball in February."

Flores is rehabbing from a stress fracture, labrum surgery AND elbow surgery to remove bone spurs in his throwing arm. 

This news seems to be at least incongruous to the report we got from GM Mike Rizzo last week at the Ivan Rodriguez press conference that Flores should be ready for spring training. 

“I can only go by what the medical people tell me. They say he should be 100 percent and ready to participate in spring training. Now, we take them at their word, but we all know that specifically shoulders are very difficult to predict.

News from the player himself that "I guess I will start to throw... in February," is somewhat disconcerting.

I'm not a doctor, but I know a little about rehabbing a throwing shoulder, and it certainly seems that if he's not even going to start throwing until February, that will not leave him, according to Rizzo on Friday, "100 percent" ready to participate in spring training.

It could take him months to get into throwing shape if he doesn't start until February.  It's not like he's a pitcher, with all the stress of throwing off a mound, but he had labrum and elbow surgery since we last saw him.

When questioned about the major league depth at catcher, Rizzo responded,

“We have three capable catchers on the Major League level. We have (Jaime) Burke on the AAA level and we have (Derek) Norris—who is an up and coming and potential significant contributor for us in the future."

Perhaps the part of that quote that got glossed over at that point was "three capable catchers".  We can only assume now that Rizzo meant Rodriguez, Flores and Nieves, with Burke re-signed for Triple-A Syracuse.

So maybe we shouldn't have been surprised that Nieves was offered arbitration after all.  Rizzo apparently told us as much on Friday.

I'm sure this revelation in Ladson's story will get some glossing over, organizationally speaking, in the next day or so.  "Shutting down" until February will turn into "part of the doctor's plans all along" and that they expect Flores to be ready, etc.

But expecting in the media and planning for the worst-case scenario are often two different things.  And right now, it looks like the Nats are stocking up at catcher.  Hopefully it's just out of an abundance of caution, but it seems, from today's news, that the caution is at least warranted.

• Non-tendered RHRP Mike MacDougal and LHSP Scott Olsen.
• Offered arbitration to C Jesus Flores, OF Josh Willingham, C Wil Nieves, RHRP Jason Bergmann, RHRP Brian Bruney and LHRP Sean Burnett.
• Signed RHRP Ryan Speier to a minor league contract.
• Signed LHSP Scott Olsen to an incentive-heavy free agent contract.

There are a couple of expected moves in the above list, and a couple of surprises.

First, the expected.  The Nats' non-tendering of MacDougal and Olsen.  Both players stood to make a pretty big payday with arbitration, and figured they could re-sign both -- if they wanted -- after non-tendering.

They were right about Olsen, as he was a free agent less than one day, signing a $1 million contract, with incentives that could push the total to just under $4 million.  Olsen is coming off of season-ending labrum surgery, and according to GM Mike Rizzo, he is ready to start getting into baseball shape.

Whether Olsen returns from the surgery to be a valuable member of the Nats rotation is a story for another day, though, because we won't know until well into spring training how his shoulder responds to the procedure.

MacDougal has to be considered questionable at this point to return, though MASN.com's Byron Kerr indicates talks are continuing. 

MacDougal led the team in saves last season, and was third in the league in save percentage last year, but his underlying stats tell a different story.  He hard-throwing righty posted a career low K/9 at just 5.6, while his walk rate for the Nats was the same 5.6.  His overall WHIP was 1.520, much higher than one would expect for the No. 3 save percentage closer in the game.

His gaudy save total (20-for-21) though would have driven an arbitration salary through the roof of what the Nats would have wanted to pay him.

And it was completely expected that the Nats would offer arbitration to Flores, Willingham, Bruney and Burnett.

On to the (mild) surprises:  bringing back Nieves and Bergmann, and the signing of Justin Speier.

All off-season, the Nats have maintained their need to upgrade at backup catcher.  Primary to the point, the signing of Ivan Rodriguez.  That the club decided to retain Nieves, a player at a position they were vocal about upgrading from, has to be considered a bit surprising.

The team has been very careful not to name names when talking about addressing their needs at catcher, but Rizzo didn't want to go into the season with Nieves as the main backup again, that much is clear.  But offering him arbitration now indicated to me that he will indeed be the primary backup, this time to Rodriguez, at least to start the season.

Everything the Nats have done at the catcher spot (signing Rodriguez, who made it clear he's ready to play every day, bringing back Nieves and Jamie Burke), indicates to me that Flores is not only not going to be ready in spring training, but probably well into the regular season.

Bergmann's return surprised me as well, his quality down the stretch last year notwithstanding.  Overall, though, his season numbers were less than inspiring, and with his track record with the team, I thought this was going to be the season they let him test the free agent waters. 

But we can now expect Bergy to be one of the known elements to a bullpen in flux going into spring training, along with Burnett, Bruney and Tyler Clippard.

Ryan Speier is an interesting case.  A local kid from West Springfield High, he has a lifetime 3.99 ERA in 90 appearances, all for Colorado.  He doesn't strike a lot of guys out, and puts his fair share of runners on base, but manages to mostly keep them off the scoreboard.

He only pitched five and two-thirds innings on the big league level last season, and wasn't particularly impressive in AAA, but he does have a track record and getting out of the "mile high" air of Colorado could help him out.

The Washington Nationals checked another item off their Winter Meetings to-do list, signing catcher Ivan Rodriguez to a two-year, $6 million contract.  The team envisions the future hall-of-famer to back up Jesus Flores, play his mentor, and help nurture a young, up-and-coming pitching staff.

Whether or not the 38-year old Rodriguez is up to the task is anybody's guess.  But GM Mike Rizzo surely believes that the man they call "Pudge" is up to it.

Last year, between Texas and Houston, in 448 plate appearances, Rodriguez hit .249/.280/.384 with 10 home runs, 23 doubles and 47 RBIs.  He walked just 23 times, for a woeful 4.8% walk rate. 

On the defensive side, he threw out 6 of the 13 runners that tried to steal against him, a 46% rate, up from recent years in the 35% range.  He was 11.2 runs above average at catcher in 2009, a huge jump and his highest  Rtot/yr since 2006.

The general opinion so far is that "yeah, he's washed up, but it's better than what we had last year."  But is he really?  And at the cost?

Wil Nieves hit .259/.313/.299 in 249 plate appearances with one homer and 26 RBIs, and had a 28% CS rate.  Josh Bard hit .230/.293/.361 with six homers and 31 RBIs in 301 plate appearances with a 27% CS rate.

So maybe performance-wise, Pudge is marginally better than the duo that filled in for Jeus Flores most of the summer.

But the Nats handed over $6 million over two years, which seems awfully high, especially when he was on a one-year, $1.5 million contract last season.  Are we left to believe that the "loser sur-tax" to bring credible free agents to D.C. is four times the market rate?

Count me in the column that doesn't particularly like this deal.  But hey, at least they attracted one washed up future Hall-of-Famer.  Maybe that'll help lure another one (John Smoltz, anyone?).

This is starting to look like how the Tigers accomplished their worst-to-first journey a couple years ago.  Draft a stud pitcher (Verlander/Strasburg), sign Pudge, then trade for Miguel Cabrera.  So who is going to play the part of Miguel Cabrera for the Nationals?

The Nationals have several players celebrating birthdays this week so wanted to send out a big Happy Birthday greeting to Jamie Burke (9/24), Wil Nieves, (9/25), Jason Bergmann (9/25), Victor Garate (9/25), John Lannan (9/27) and Ryan Zimmerman (9/28). 

These six players all share the astrological sign of the Libra so for fun, I looked up the traits.

Librans are first and foremost focused on others and how they relate to them. 
Librans are good when paired up, too, since they epitomize balance, harmony and a sense of fair play. They are true team players at work. The Libra-born are keen strategists, organizing groups with poise and getting the job done.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIL, JASON, VICTOR, JOHN, RYAN AND JAMIE! 

Pictures posted soon of Jason and Jamie.

Photos © 2009 C. Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

Catcher Wil Nieves was injured in third inning of tonight's game in Philly and is being evaluated.  Josh Bard replaced Nieves in the game.  After the game, the Nationals announced that they acquired journeyman catcher Jamie Burke from the Mariners and placed Jesus Flores on the 60-Day DL.

**Updated 11;25pm: "With Wil a little gimpy -- we don't know how long it will be; probably a couple days -- and with Bardo a little gimpy, we needed another guy," Rizzo explained. "Jamie Burke is a guy that Jim [Riggleman] knows well. He's a complementary back-up guy."

Photo 2009 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

Press Release:

NATIONALS ACQUIRE CATCHER JAMIE BURKE FROM MARINERS

The Washington Nationals today acquired catcher Jamie Burke from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for cash considerations and placed catcher Jesus Flores on the 60-Day Disabled List (right labrum). Nationals Senior Vice President and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.

Burke is a solid defensive catcher, who has played parts of seven seasons in the Major Leagues during his 17-year career. The 37-year-old has batted .282 (107-for-380) with 20 doubles, three home runs and 38 RBI in 184 career big-league contests. He has posted a .280 (1183-for-4227) batting average with 54 home runs and 535 RBI in 1209 career minor-league contests.

In a backup role this season, Burke appeared 13 games with Seattle and batted .284 (23-for-81) with 11 RBI in 22 games with Tacoma of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.

"We made too many mistakes. A lot of bad things happened that we can't continue to allow. We've got to do a better job of handling the details of the running game." -- Jim Riggleman, Sept. 16, 2009.

THE RESULT: Poor baserunning, yet another botched squeeze and a meatball from a reliever for a grand slam resulted in the Washington Nationals 95th loss of the season. They haven't all come at the hands of the Philadelphia Philles, but it seems like half of them have.

In reality, it's the 14th loss against just three wins to the N.L. East's leader.

Once again, the Nats had runners thrown out on the base paths. In the second inning, Livan Hernandez bunted -- apparently on his own, again -- trying to bring Ian Desmond in from third, who had doubled and took third on Wil Nieves' infield hit.

The bunt went straight back to Phillies starter Joe Blanton (W, 10-7), who threw to third to nab Desmond.

In the sixth inning, Justin Maxwell drew a walk with one out after Desmond reached on a single. Nieves hit a soft liner to right that Jayson Werth grabbed and caught Maxwell confused and off base for a double play.

Philly's first run came courtesy of a double steal, with Nieves throwing through to second base to try to catch Ryan Howard. Chase Utley practically walked home.

The big blow came in the seventh inning. Tyler Clippard hit Utley with two outs. Sean Burnett came in to pitch to Howard, but Utley stole second, so they put Howard on first with the base open. After a nine pitch at bat, Burnett walked Raul Ibanez, and just like that, without a hit, the bases were juiced.

Of course, Jason Bergmann came in to face Werth, and the right fielder took the fifth offering -- a letter high breaking ball that did not break -- to the bleachers in left center for the grand slam. Ball game.

The victim in all this was Livan Hernandez. He was strong again, going six innings and allowing just two earned runs on seven hits and two walks. The effort lowered his season record to 8-11.

Washington left ten men on base.

THE TAKEAWAY: It's hard to imagine the amount of outs the Nats give away on the bases. It seems like every night that baserunning errors result in shortened innings. Wednesday night, it was Desmond and Maxwell -- two rookies -- to get thrown out in bad plays.

Interim manager Jim Riggleman likes to be aggressive on the base paths, but that philosophy and strategy is proving questionable.

THE GOOD: Desmond and Nieves each had two hits, and Willie Harris reached three times in the leadoff spot.

THE BAD: The 2-3-4-5 hitters. 0-for-15. Not good.

THE UGLY: Cristian Guzman. 0-for-5 and left seven men on base. Special mention to Josh Willingham, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Over the last 23 games, Willingham is hitting .165/.287/.329 with three homers and nine RBI. As hot as he was during the summer is as cold as he's been the past month.

NEXT GAME: Thursday, at 7:05 for the finale of the three game series. Last chance for the Nats to eek out win No. 4 against Philly this season. Ross Detwiler (0-5, 5.10) versus Cole Hamels (9-9, 4.21).

"Five is a little ridiculous." -- Jim Riggleman, Sept. 8, 2009

BOX SCORE AND RECAP

THE RESULT: The Philadelphia Phillies hit five solo home runs, sending the Washington Nationals to their ninth defeat in ten games. The final of 5-3 was witnessed by 153 Nats fans and 17,000 Phillies Phaithful.

Raul Ibanez once again did in the Nats. He had two of the five homers, has as many homers at Nationals Park (6) as Josh Willingham, and has hit eight of his 30 overall against the Nats.

Chase Utley, Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz were the other homer-hitters Tuesday night.

Nats starter John Lannan (L, 8-11, 4.14) surrendered four of the five bombs. He went six and two-thirds innings, giving up just two non-home run hits and two walks, and struck out one.

Willie Harris hit his seventh home run for the home team, and Cristian Guzman and Wil Nieves knocked in runs as well.

The Nats had two opportunities to tie in the ninth inning, as the Phils' struggling closer Brad Lidge loaded the bases in front of Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn with one out. But Phillies manager Charlie Manual asked Ryan Madson to relieve Lidge, and he retired Zim on a breaking ball six inches off the plate and low, and Dunn grounded weakly to second base.

Pedro Martinez (W, 4-0, 3.64) went six and two-thirds for the win.

TEH TAKEAWAY: The Phillies have won eight straight against the Nationals and lead the season series 11-2. Ibanez finished 3-for-4 and is batting .463 with eight homers and 20 RBI this season against the Nationals. He is 7-for-10 in his career against Lannan.

Maybe the Nats just want to walk him all four trips tonight.

THE GOOD: Harris, Guzman and Nieves. All had two hits apiece.

THE BAD: 3-4-5 hitters: 1-for-13 with four strikeouts and 14 combined left on base.

THE UGLY: I stayed home from this one and watched on TV. First: Bob and Rob REALLY rode Alberto Gonzalez last night. Meet the new whipping boy! Rob thinks they should try Morse at second, a position he played all of 19 games at this season in the minors this season.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Second: Did they bring buses down from Philly last night for the mid-week series? Or are there really that many ex-South Jersey folks in the D.C. area?

NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:05 pm. Garrett Mock (3-7, 5.63) against Cliff Lee (12-11, 3.06). Good luck with that.

"He decided to bunt. That kind of took everybody by surprise. So that being the case, he just didn't bunt it where he wanted to bunt the ball." -- Jim Riggleman, on Livan's bases loaded bunt attempt, Aug. 31, 2009.

BOX SCORE AND GAME RECAP

THE RESULT: The Washington Nationals were held to eight hits and one run by journeyman starter Tim Stauffer, and lost to the San Diego Padres 3-1, before 19,867 at Petco Park.

The Nats had some chances against Stauffer, but htey left eight men on base and hit into two double plays, including a costly 1-2-3 double play that started when Nats starter Livan Hernandez thought it would be a good idea to bunt with the bases loaded.

The bunt went straight back to the pitcher, who underhanded to the catcher to start the rally-killing DP.

The middle of the Nats' order, Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham, combined to go 1-for-12 with five strikeouts. Leadoff man Willie Harris also went 0-for-3, lowering his average to .223 for the season. He is 3-for-17 (.176) with just one run since taking over the leadoff spot Aug. 27.

Hernandez (L, 7-9, 5.26) might have made a mistake hitting, but he was golden on the mound. He pitched an eight-inning complete game, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and one walk, striking out five.

THE TAKEAWAY: The Nats must have left their bats in Chicago. Since scoring 15 runs Aug. 25, the Nats have averaged just 2.8 runs per game, including the last two where they scored just one run in each game.

It's probably no coincidence the team-wide slump comes after their catalyst, Nyjer Morgan, went down for the season with a broken bone in his lefthand.

Harris' troubles were detailed above. Zimmerman is three for his last 18, Dunn's troubles go back two weeks and is 6-for34 (.176) over that span, and Willingham is seven for his last 45, a .156 clip.

THE GOOD: Swingin' Pete Orr. Meet your semi-regular second baseman for the next four weeks! He went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and is hitting .533 since his call-up.

THE BAD: Wil Nieves. He had a rough night. In the seventh he was thrown out trying to stretch a single to the right field corner into a double, and in the ninth, bounced into a 4-6-3 double play after Bard led the inning off with a single.

THE UGLY: Gotta be the bunt play with the bases loaded with one out in the fourth. I appreciate Livo thinking he doesn't want to bounce out into a double play, but he's better off striking out there than even attempting a bunt in that situation. So many things have to happen perfectly to pull it off, and as a result, the Nats make still more outs on the basepaths.

NEXT GAME: Game two of the three game series is tonight at 10:05 EDT in San Diego. J.D. Martin (3-3, 4.85) takes on Clayton Richard (7-4, 4.79).

NOTES: Justin Maxwell was recalled before the game. He will share some time with Harris in centerfield. He hit .244/.344/.396 with 13 home runs, 42 RBI and 35 stolen bases in 448 plate appearances with Triple-A Syracuse this season.

"Elijah is a work in progress. .... When he can start laying off the ones low and away that aren't strikes, he's going to be a real force in this league." -- Jim Riggleman, Aug. 25, 2009.

THE RESULT: For the second straight day, the Washington Nationals participated in a six-run inning. But Tuesday, they were on the proper end of things, as the Nats sent nine men to the plate in the fifth inning, including Elijah Dukes' first career grand slam, in a 15-6 drubbing of the Chicago Cubs, before 37,297 int he friendly confines of Wrigley Field.

Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano certainly helped the Nats' cause in the pivotal frame. He issued two walks and hit a batter during the rally, as the Nats scored six runs on just three hits, including the granny.

After the game, the Nationals announced that they had signed RHP Livan Hernandez, recently waived by the New York Mets, and scheduled him to start Wednesday's game.

The team optioned struggling Collin Balester to Triple-A Syracuse, and transferred Dmitri Young to the 60-day DL, to make room for Hernandez, the Nationals leader in wins since the team moved to D.C., on the active and 40-man rosters.

Dukes was understandably excited about it after the game. "I love scoring those guys that get on base and hitting the ball well. RBIs mean a lot to me," he said. "It's not about the average and the home runs, it's getting those RBIs."

Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham both drove in runs during the inning.

Willingham homered twice in the game, and finished the night 4-for-4 with five runs and six RBIs. Dukes went 2-for-3 with a run and five RBIs. Wil Nieves chipped in with three RBIs, hitting in the eighth slot in the order.

The 14-hit attack made a winner out of Garrett Mock (3-5, 5.23). He went five and tow thirds innings, and surrendered four earned runs, on seven hits and two walks. It was not a stellar performance, but he did strike out six, and kept the Cubs down enough as the Nationals batters kept pounding away.

Tyler Clippard and Saul Rivera each gave up a run in relief, but the outcome was pretty much decided before they entered the game.

Zambrano (L, 7-5, 3.80), making his first start since coming off the DL, was better at the plate than on the hill. He hit his fourth home run of the season to go along with his .245 average, but was beaten up on the mound. He went four and one-third, allowing eight earned runs on seven hits, three walks and hit one batter.

"There was nothing wrong," he said. "I made a lot of mistakes. They came ready today. I didn't do my job."

THE TAKEAWAY: Dukes has struggled a bit since his return from minor league exile, but certainly has had flashes of the immense talent he possesses. He had a week earlier where he drove in 10 runs in four days, and last night's explosion give him 51 RBIs in just 261 at bats.

He was extremely hot down the stretch last season, too. Let's see what he does the next five weeks.

THE GOOD: The return of the offense. Willingham's two, Dukes' granny, even Nieves getting in on the show. Everyone is a hitter when the wind is blowing out to center at Wrigley!

THE BAD: Willie Harris. The only starter without a hit.

THE UGLY: Yet ANOTHER botched suicide squeeze. That's three in three weeks. For the love of the game, Riggs, give it up.

NEXT GAME: Toinght at 8:05 pm ET. Livan Hernandez (7-8, 5.47) makes his 2009 Nats debut against Rich Harden (8-7, 4.04).

"I was looking for something middle-away. I knew that I hit it good, but this year, I've hit a lot of balls that stayed in." -- Wil Nieves, on his second career home run, August 14, 2009.

THE RESULTS: Ronnie Belliard and Wil "Who?" Nieves hit solo home runs, and Garrett Mock threw seven solid innings to lead the Washington Nationals over the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0, before 19,606 at Great American Ballpark.

Nieves finished 2-for-4, raising his average to .252 this season. It was the third time this season he's caught a shut out.

Mock (W, 2-4, 5.27) started off a little shaky in the first inning, walking the first batter he faced and throwing 20 pitches in the frame. but he settled down nicely from there, and he scattered six hits and four walks across seven innings. He also struck out six.

Mock threw 59 of his 101 pitches for strikes and recorded two ground ball outs and eight fly ball outs.

Jorge Sosa, Sean Burnett, Jason Bergmann and Mike MacDougal (12th save) finished the blanking of the Red Legs.

There was not much offense to be had, a recurring theme on this road trip that's already seen three losses in a row until last night's achievement. Aaron Harang (L, 6-14, 4.35) kept the Nats at bey most of the night. He gave up six hits and three walks in his seven innings, striking out six.

The two home runs were all the difference in the game.

"I can't make mistakes," Harang said. "The first pitch to Belliard was p. It was a slider that started outside and came back over the plate, and he recognized it. We've got a history."

Belliard is now 9-for-23 lifetime against Harang.

As for the homer to Nieves? "That was a fastball up and out of the zone, and he just got underneath it."

Nyjer Morgan preserved the shut out in the fifth inning, when he threw out Harang at the plate trying to score on a single from shortstop Paul Janish.

THE TAKEAWAY: Mock seems to be getting a little sharper each time out, which is the progress you want to see from a young pitcher. The rest of this season is dedicated to watching the young staff, what's left of it anyway, prove that they are part of the future and belong in the big leagues.

Mock did allow a bunch of base runners, but he escaped trouble whenever he found it. He punctuated the effort with a strikeout of the final batter he faced, rookie catcher Craig Tatum, with the bases loaded.

And props to the little guys, Belliard and Nieves. There were no bigger smiles on the night that Nieves' heading back to the dugout after hitting home plate.

THE GOOD: Wil Nieves. 2-for-4 with his second career home run.

THE BAD: Willie Harris. 0-for-4, six runners left on base.

THE UGLY: The need for Morgan's nice throw to the plate on Harang was a result of one of the uglier plays you'll see. Harang hit a humpback flare to left center, that any one of Morgan, Harris or Guzman could have caught. Instead, none of the three called for it, and it fell harmlessly not 10 feet from any of the three.

NEXT GAME: Saturday night at the Smallpark. J.D. Martin (1-2, 5.91) faces Johnny Cueto (8-9, 4.23) at 7:10 pm.

"I can't lie to you, it feels good to win a ballgame." -- Jim Riggleman, July 21, 2009.

THE RESULT: John Lannan was masterful in a complete-game, seven-hit shut out of the New York Mets, breaking the Washington Nationals six-game losing streak, in front of 23,414 enthusiastic Nats fans.

Lannan threw 106 pitches, 80 for strikes. The left-hander coaxed 15 ground ball outs -- with two double plays -- against just nine fly outs, with just one strikeout.

Lannan (7-7) retired 17 of the last 19 Mets hitters.

"I've never considered myself a dominating pitcher," Lannan said. "I don't think the guys over in the Mets clubhouse are like, 'Wow, that guy dominated me.' I just made good pitches, down in the zone."

Washington got all the offense it needed in the fourth inning. Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns drew walks, sandwiching an Adam Dunn single, against Mets starter Oliver Perez (L, 2-3, 7.68) after one out.

Alberto Gonzalez lined out to right fielder Jeff Francoeur -- but Francoeur dropped the ball. Zimmerman scored on the play but Kearns was forced at second. Wil Nieves then delivered a key single to right field, scoring Dunn.

The following inning, Dunn singled in Nyjer Morgan, who was hit by a pitch and stole second and Josh Willingham hit a sacrifice fly to cap the scoring.

But the story was the unassuming left-hander from Long Island.


THE TAKEAWAY: Lannan even gave Riggleman the game ball after the win.

Tonight's performance evens Lannan's record and lowered his ERA to 3.38. It was a truly outstanding performance for a pitcher that is learning how to win.

Courtesy of Nationals Journal: "I'm very deceptive. If a guy is mis-hitting an 88-mph fastball, there's something going on. There has to be a little bit of funk. That has to help me trust my stuff is a little bit better."

THE GOOD: Adam Dunn. 2-for-4 with a run and RBI.

THE BAD: Cristian Guzman. 0-for-4. Though he did make a terrific defensive play, robbing Alex Cora of a base hit with a strong throw from the hole.

THE UGLY: Oliver Perez. Four hits and six walks in six innings. Yuck.

NEXT GAME: Wednesday at 7:05 pm in the finale with the Mets. Craig Stammen (2-5, 4.46) faces Mike Pelfrey (7-5, 5.07).

All photos 2009 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

"We had a lot of hits, we just didn't have hits in the clutch situations." -- Catcher Wil Nieves, discussing the 13 men left on base in Sunday's game, July 12, 2009.

THE RESULTS: In Saturday evening's game, the Washington Nationals pounded four home runs, had 21 total hits and scored 13 runs in pasting the Houston Astros 13-2. On Sunday, the Nats bats looked like they had already taken off for the all-star break, gathering 11 hits and three walks, but failing to score in a 5-0 shutout.

The Nats find themselves with a 26-61 record at the all-star break.

After Sunday's game, the Nationals announced that they demoted starting pitcher Ross Detwiler, sending the struggling left-hander to Triple-A Syracuse, and recalling right hander Garrett Mock, who has been sparkling in his last five starts, going 35 innings with just two earned runs, and 28 strikeouts against three measly walks.

Detwiler was 0-5 with a 6.40 ERA.

"We're extremely happy with the way Detwiler pitched up here," manager Manny Acta said. "If you would have told us in spring training that this kid was going to start 10 big league games this year we wouldn't believe it. Our plan was to have him develop down there [in the minors] and take a look at him in September."

Saturday's game was a breakout for the Nationals.

Nick Johnson, Josh Willingham and Adam Dunn homered in consecutive at bats and the Nats set season highs for hits and runs.

Washington clobbered Astros starter Mike Hampton for nine hits in three and two-thirds innings, but did the real damage against Houston's bullpen, scoring thrice in the fourth inning, once in the fifth, three more in the sixth and four in the seventh.

Alberto Gonzalez went 4-for-4 and scored twice with two RBIs, while Johnson, Willingham and Dunn all had three hits. Willingham had two home runs and four RBIs for the day.

Almost lost in the hit parade was starter Craig Stammen (W, 2-4, 4.45), who pitched a complete game, allowing nine hits and one walk for two earned runs.

At least all the offense made the fact that Dunn was called out after he scored on a base hit by Josh Bard, as he was ruled to have missed second base on the play, easier to take.

"Obviously, we should've had one more run," Dunn said. "But we've had chances to break open games a bunch and tonight, we finally did it."

Sunday, they did not.

The Nats left a total of 13 men on base and the principal offending parties were the middle of the order. Ryan Zimmerman, returning to the lineup after missing two games after the passing of his grandmother, went 0-for-5, stranding five runners. Dunn went 0-for-4 with four left on.

Anderson Hernandez took the futility prize though, going 0-for-4 and stranding six Nationals base runners.

Wil Nieves had a career-high four hits in the game.

Washington got their leadoff hitter on in five innings to no avail, left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings, and two more men were left on in the eighth.

Jordan Zimmermann pitched very effectively until the seventh, when he allowed a three-run home run to slap-hitting Kazuo Matsui. Zimmermann (L, 3-4, 4.50) went six and one-third innings, allowing three earned on five hits and three walks. He struck out six in the effort.

THE TAKEAWAY: The Houston series was a microcosm of the entire season. A brief burst of competence and quality surrounded by squandered opportunity and under-performance.

THE GOOD: Saturday!

THE BAD: Sunday!

THE UGLY: Well, the unofficial "first half" is over, and with a 26-61 record there is ugliness everywhere. The non-waiver trade deadline is 19 days away, so you can figure Mike Rizzo to be busy the next two and a half weeks.

NEXT GAME: Thursday night at 7:05 pm against the Chicago Cubs from Nationals Park.

Enjoy the All Star Game.

"I'm not Jamie Moyer. I can't really be hugely successful throwing 82-83. I need to be up around 90." --Scott Olsen, June 29, 2009.

THE RESULT: In his return from the disabled list, Washington Nationals LHP Scott Olsen was effective, with his velocity obviously up from his pre-injury starts. Unfortunately, his opponent, Ricky Nolsaco of the Florida Marlins, was equally effective.

That left matters in the hands of the respective bullpens. And as the case has been all season long, Washington's did not come through when it mattered most, and another win slipped through their fingers.

The Marlins scored two in the bottom of the eighth against Ron Villone and Julian Tavarez, two of manager Manny Acta's go-to guys, and Florida escaped with a 4-2 victory before 10,623 at Land Shark Stadium. No kidding, Land Shark Stadium.

Villone (L, 3-5, 2.78) surrendered the lead, as he allowed a leadoff double to pinch-hitter Wes Helms. Pinch-runner Alajandro De Aza was promptly sacrificed to third by rookie Chris Coghlan, and scored on Emilio Bonifacio's sacrifice fly to center field.

Tavarez then entered and on his first pitch to Hanley Remirez, the likely all-star shortstop clubbed a double to left field. Tavarez then issued three consecutive walks on just 14 pitches, and the Fish had their insurance run.

The Nats got two runners on in the ninth, but they died on the base paths when Josh Willingham flied out to center with two outs.

Olsen looked like a different pitcher than the one that left for the disabled list in early May with a 7.24 ERA. It was just his second start all season that he had as many strikeouts as innings pitched (7), and he did not walk a batter.

What's more, the velocity on his fastball was a tick above 89 MPH, up from his pre-injury average speed of 87.5 MPH, and he hit 91 on occasion as well. He also threw the fastball more, throwing the heater on two-thirds of his 94 pitches, 66 of which went for strikes.

The Nats got their runs on a Ryan Zimmerman solo shot (13) and an infield RBI by Wil Nieves.

THE TAKEAWAY: Well, who was that out on the mound last night for the Nats? Cause that sure didn't look like the Scott Olsen that got pushed around all April. Maybe the tendinitis in his pitching shoulder had been troubling him all along and he didn't want to voice that to his new team.

Either way, he was economical, effective and in control. He only had one inning where he had any trouble at all-- the second, where he gave up extra base hits to Brett Carroll and Bonifacio, which led to two runs.

THE GOOD: Scott Olsen. 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 7 K, 0 BB.

THE BAD: Willie Harris. 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the leadoff spot, and he took a funny route on Bonifacio's triple.

THE UGLY: Julian Tavarez. He lost all command in a spot where he just need to hold the game at one run. He wasn't even close on some of those pitches, and he was lucky to get out of the inning just giving up the single insurance run.

NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:05 p.m. against these same Marlins, the team that the Nationals are now 0-7 against this season. How is that even possible? Florida is an even .500 (39-39), yet are 7-0 against the Nats. Hardly seems possible.

Craig Stammen (1-3, 5.49 ERA, 20 K, 10 BB in 39.1 IP) takes the hill against fellow rookie Sean West (3-2, 3.38 ERA, 24 K, 18 BB in 40.0 IP).