Jordan Zimmermann (with help from Ryan Mattheus, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen) pitched Washington to a 2-0 shutout win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday — a victory that ensured that the Anacostia Nine will finish the first half of the 2011 campaign at .500. The Nationals’ win came on a broken bat single by Roger Bernadina that scored Ian Desmond. Rick Ankiel added a solo home run for the second score.

Zimmermann’s outing ended after a single out in the 7th inning — much to the puzzlement of fans — after breezing through the Colorado line-up. Zimmermann was never in any trouble in the game, but Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson wanted to go his bullpen to seal the victory. “I’m sure everybody in the stands thought I gave him a quick hook,” Johnson said. “And it probably was.”

Zimmermann has emerged as Washington’s staff ace and his win was his sixth of the season. “When you’re in a close game, you never really are too sure what’s going to happen, but Jordan was phenomenal,” Washington reliever Tyler Clippard said. “He’s kind of proven to everyone in the league what kind of pitcher he is, and what kind of pitcher we all knew he could be.” Zimmermann’s record now stands at 6-7, but his ERA is a sparkling 2.66.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The regular announcing crew of Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball laced into the New York Mets last night during the Mets-Giants telecast from San Francisco. The criticisms were breathtaking: Valentine went after the coaching staff on placement of outfielders, Hershiser talked about Pelfrey’s “questionable” delivery (“he has no foundation”), and both went after Daniel Murphy’s indifferent defense at third base: “he’s very tentative over there” . . .

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Ubaldo Jimenez looked like his old self on Saturday night, holding the Nationals to just five hits and one run in eight innings — and notching a 2-1 win for his Colorado Rockies. Jimenez, who is suffering through a 4-8 season and an unusually high (4.14) ERA, looked like the Ubaldo Jimenez of last year, when his up-in-the-eyes fastball was the talk of the league. The Nationals loss, meanwhile, squandered a solid outing from former Rockies’ hurler Jason Marquis, who toughed out six innings, giving up two runs to the often run-starved Heltons.

Despite Jimenez’s dazzling performance, the Nationals were within 90 feet of tying the game and a long bomb away from winning it. But slumping star Jayson Werth couldn’t keep the ball out of the glove of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who turned a double play to end the game. Werth, who is mired in a season-long slump, has been booed by Nationals’ fans this year, but no more so than on Saturday, as he stood beyond first after hitting into his game ending double play.

But for Washington, the problem was not Werth — it was the Rockies’ staring pitcher. “He’s filthy,” Johnson said of Jimenez. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the league. We’ve been swinging the bats pretty good, but he calmed us down quite a bit. I think we outhit them, just couldn’t score.”

The Nationals loss marked their third loss in a row — all of them by one run. That mini-streak had been preceded by three wins, all of them also by one run. “Right now, we’re living and dying by the one-run game,” shortstop Ian Desmond, who was 2-3 with a triple, noted. “These one-run games are just flukes. It’s one of those things, but it will turn around for us.”

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John Lannan seemed sharp on Friday, retiring the first ten Rockies he faced before two straight singles in the fourth inning from Jonathan Herrera and Todd Helton put two runners on and brought Ty Wigginton to the plate. Unfortuntely for Lannan — and for the Nationals — Wigginton hit a screamer off of Lannan’s left cheek, sending the young lefty to the clubhouse with a nasal contusion (it could’ve been worse) and the Nationals into a funk.

Wigginton’s single scored Herrera and eventually Helton and Wigginton also scored, which is all the Colorado Rockies’ would need for a three run lead, and a 3-2 win against the Nationals before nearly 20,000 at Nationals Park. With Lannan out of the game, Davey Johnson was forced into his bullpen — long before he wanted to use any of his relievers.

As Washington has done most recently, Colorado won ugly. Relieving Lannan, Ryan Mattheus balked Helton home and then gave up a single to rookie Cole Garner. “I was put in a big spot there, and those are the spots I want to be in,” Mattheus said. “It got away from me tonight.” The good news for the Nats was that Lannan appeared to be none the worse for taking the Wigginton rifle shot off his face, and Wilson Ramos continued his hot hitting: notching a solo home run in the fourth.

Fight Night In Boston: The big secret (or not) at Center Field Gate is that the majority of our contributors (and here they are, all bundled up for that wicked cold Boston weather) are fans of “The Nation” (gag), and are inclined to side with their Beantown Boys if given even half a chance. That’s true, but with this caveat: they’re Boston fans in their spare time — when they’re not absolutely head-over-heels monkey nuts over their (and your) Washington Nationals.

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You’d have to be out of your mind to think that the return of Ryan Zimmerman — scheduled to start for the Nationals tonight against the St. Louis Cardinals — won’t make a difference. He’s a “game changer,” as Adam Kilgore wrote this morning — and Kilgore produced the stats to show it: “Last season,” Kilgore notes, ” . . . Zimmerman accounted for 7.2 wins above replacement. If Zimmerman had kept that performance consistent this season . . . his performance would have been worth 2.6 wins over 58 games.” There’s that, and it’s impressive.

But Nats’ fans will tell you that Zimmerman’s value to the team is much more intangible — and important. He puts people in the stands (Zimmerman jerseys are ubiquitous at Nationals’ Park, nearly every kid names him as their favorite player and the team takes every opportunity to promote him), and he’s a strong presence in the clubhouse. It’s almost as if he’s the conscience of the team: if he were to suddenly announce that he’d lost faith in the ownership, the resulting deflation would be nearly fatal for the Lerners. So long as he has confidence in the Nationals . . . well, the fans will too.

There was just a whiff early in the season that somehow Jayson Werth might take on the role of team leader but, while Werth is an invaluable first-to-third spark, he’s apparently too phlegmatic (or aloof) to be the team leader. And, since Michael Morse is “too new,” Ivan Rodriguez “too old,” Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa “too young” (and Stephen Strasburg “too injured”) that leaves Zim.

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Sooner or later this was bound to happen: on Sunday afternoon in Miami, the Nationals couldn’t hit, couldn’t pitch — and  they couldn’t catch up to the Florida Marlins, who took a “no contest” contest 8-0. Marlins’ hurler Anibal Sanchez was the difference in the game, throwing seven innings of two hit baseball and registering 11 strikeouts. “He was outstanding and he’s had our number,” Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman said of Sanchez. “There’s really not much more to say about it.” Sanchez is now a superhuman 6-0 when facing the Nats.

The Sanchez performance seemed emblematic of the team’s problems so far this year. The Nats put very few balls in play, accounting for a famished four hits over nine innings. If there was good news it was that Michael Morse seemed to be renewed after an early season slump — he was 2-4 on an afternoon when everyone else struggled. After more than several good outings, Washington starter Livan Hernandez also had trouble, throwing five innings in giving up eight hits and six runs.

The bullpen wasn’t much better, with Todd Coffey, Brian Broderick and Henry Rodriguez giving up five hits and two earned. The book on Rodriguez was open for all to see: he walked three and struck out two. “We won the series, and that’s positive,” Hernandez said. “We won two games and lost today because I pitched bad.” The Nationals now head to Atlanta to face the red-hot Braves in a three game series. The Braves emerged from Philadelphia yesterday with a victory, taking two of three from the Ponies on the road.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Watching the Giants spin their magic against the Purples has become a kind of obsession. Yesterday the Giants completed an oh-so-easy sweep of the Heltons, with Ryan Vogelsong spinning a one hit, 6.1 inning 3-0 masterpiece. Who? Vogelsong was drafted in the 5th round by the Giants in 1998, pitched for the Pirates starting in 2001 and then took his arm to Japan, where he threw for the Hanshin Tigers. He put in a stint with the Phillies before returning to San Francisco, where he is currently slotted in the rotation in place of the injured Barry Zito.

Sunday was probably Vogelsong’s best outing — he threw 99 pitches, gave up one hit and struck out four. He had a perfect game heading into the sixth, broken up by a Chris Iannetta single. Jorge De La Rosa started for the Rockies, but couldn’t solve Cody Ross, who homered in the sixth. Having faced the best the Giants have to offer this season (Lincecum, Cain and Bumbarner) and coming up empty, the Rockies should have feasted off of Vogelsong. They didn’t, and they were be sick about it. “There’s not a whole lot to speak when you get three hits and two are by your catcher and the other comes with two outs in the ninth inning,” Colorado manager Jim Tracy said. “We virtually had no opportunities.” The Rockies limp home, the Giants breathing over their shoulder.

The Nationals seem to have recovered from their three game pasting in Philadelphia, winning their second straight against the Florida Fish and climbing back to within a game of .500. The hero of Saturday night’s 5-2 win was emerging ace lefty Tom Gorzelanny — and a host of slick nose-in-the-dirt plays behind him. The Nationals also banged out nine hits, including a badly needed two run first inning single from struggling first baseman Adam LaRoche.

Lefty Gorzelanny has hit his stride. The from-the-Cubs fifth starter has been one of the feel-good stories of the Nats’ 2011 season, emerging as a stopper at the back of the rotation. On Saturday he pitched through seven complete innings while giving up only two hits, befuddling Marlins’ hitters and relying on a snappy defense: right fielder Jayson Werth snuffed a potential Fish rally when he threw behind Mike Stanton in the sixth (catching him off of first base), while Danny Espinosa made three spectacular defensive plays, including a third inning catch of what should have been a Hanley Ramirez single.

The Fish face-off was notable for Gorzelanny, Espinosa, Werth and LaRoche — but also for Roger Bernadina, who has rejoined the club after regular center fielder Rick Ankiel went on the DL. Bernadina has injected some needed speed and excitement at the top of the Nats line-up. He was a spark plug on Saturday (you could almost hear Nats’ fans cheering) as he led off the first with a single, the first time a Nats’ lead off hitter has been in base in just about forever. Bernadina was 2-4 on the night, and Nats’ skipper Riggleman says he’ll get a good long look by the club.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The San Francisco-Colorado knock-down, drag-out continues apace in the Series By The Bay. The Giants took the second game of the three game set last night, with another walk off win against the Heltons (the second in as many days) on a game winning sacrifice fly from shortstop Mike Fontenot. This suddenly looks like a different team than the one that showed up in D.C. last week. The Giants have great pitching, but the key to their recent success has been the hitting of second sacker Freddy Sanchez, who was 3-5 last night and drove in the game-ending run the night before. You can almost hear Bruce Bochy’s sigh of relief all the way to Washington; the Giants are getting hits when they need them, which wasn’t true in April . . .

The disappointment in the early going for the Giants has been the strength they relied on all last year: their pitching. San Francisco’s pitching has been good, but not good enough, leaving a traditionally anemic batting order to scrape and claw for runs. Sounds familiar. Winderkind Madison Bumgarner has been the hard-luck case on the McCovey staff (last night’s outing seemed a replay of his May 2 outing against Tommy Gorzelanny), with the lefty pitching well, but not well enough. After wrestling with a stratospheric ERA in April, Bumgarner has settled down, though he just can’t seem to get a win. In predictable Crash Davis fashion, Bumgarner says he’s more interested in the team win:  “I don’t care if I don’t win a game all year if we win; if it works out like that, I don’t care,” he said following the victory.

The twin walk offs on two exciting games (you can watch them late-night if you have MLB Extra Innings, following a Nats victory in Florida, or wherever) has our California readers (we have some, and here they are) excited, with one of them writing about Sanchez’s heroics after the walk-off on Friday (“Freddy, Freddy, Freddy” — which sounds a whole lot better than “Fred, Fred, Fred”), which was followed by a raucous standing ovation for the home town heroes. The two wins against the Purples leave the Giants two games behind Colorado, with cash-strapped Los Angeles fading fast.

The Washington Nationals pulled out a much-needed extra innings victory against the Florida Marlins last night in Miami, 3-2. The 10th inning squeaker came on a sacrifice fly by Adam LaRoche in the top of the game’s final frame that scored Jayson Werth from third. The Nationals, who almost always struggle in Miami, are now 2-2 on the year against the Marlins. The victory was sealed by the Nats’ bullpen in the bottom of the 10th, when Sean Burnett relieved Drew Storen and retired Chris Coghlan on one pitch with men on second and third.

The Nationals-Marlins tilt reflected Friday’s pitching-dominant match-ups throughout the majors. Jordan Zimmermann pitched beautifully through six complete innings, holding the Marlins to two runs on five hits — and striking out six. Zimmermann was particularly effective in the second inning, when he struck out the side on nine pitches, all of them strikes. The Nats continued to struggle at the plate, or perhaps Ricky Nalasco was on his game: the Marlins’ righty struck out eleven, bringing the total number of strikeouts for the game to 30.

The win in Miami gave the Nats a lift after their pummeling in Philadelphia, where they were swept. But outside of the win, the story of the night was Tyler Clippard, who came on in relief of Zimmermann in the sixth inning and struck out six batters in a row. Drew Storen pitched the ninth inning, and retired the Marlins in order. “Clippard was his amazing self, and Storen was outstanding, and you almost forget that Zimmermann had a nice ballgame for us,” skipper Riggleman said after the win. “It was just a great team effort. That was a great effort all night. It was a well-played game by both clubs.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Just how good is the Nationals’ bullpen? Drew Storen has saved 100 percent of all games that he’s been called on to save (that’s six for six), with an ERA of 0.51, with a 0.91 WHIP. Tyler Clippard is one of the game’s best set-up men. Only four other relievers have struck out six hitters in a row over the last twenty-five years — with Clippard now one of the game’s best late-inning strikeout kings. He has a 1.29 ERA and is a workhorse, having appeared in fifteen games already this season.

Todd Coffey might be the forgetten guy in the bullpen. After a slow start he’s been incredibly effective: in Philadelphia on Thursday he struck out five, including Shane Victorino, Placido Polanco and John Mayberry, Jr. He has lowered his ERA to 3.72. Sean Burnett, meanwhile, has emerged as one of the league’s most effective lefty specialists — when he’s not closing. Victimized in New York on April 27, Burnett has fought back, vindicating his effectiveness with a one-pitch out last night to register his fourth save. Henry Rodriguez (an electric fastball, with five strikeouts in four innings), Doug Slaten (a lefty specialist) and Brian Broderick (a young, talented work in progress) round out the back seven, which may well be the best relief corps in the game.

Hitting the “Invisi-ball: The 30 strikeout Nationals-Marlins contest seemed par for the course on Friday. In St. Louis, Redbird righty Jaime Garcia flirted with a perfect game through the seventh inning, but had to settle for a two hit, 6-0 shutout of the Brewers. Garcia struck out eight. He’s now 4-0 . . . Out in San Francisco, strikeout expert Ubaldo Jimenez struck out seven in six innings, but just couldn’t come up with a win. Jimenez, the 2011 version, is trying to recover from a rocky (so to speak) start and was in line for the win: until Freddy Sanchez stroked a walk off single in the ninth that scored World Series hero Cody Ross . . . This Colorado-San Francisco thingie could turn into the story of the summer, but only if San Francisco can stay close . . .

But the best game of the night was played in Philadelphia (now didn’t we tell you that, huh? huh? huh?), where Derek Lowe went to the mound against Cliff Lee. The final score (a 5-0 Atlanta victory) tells only a part of the story. Derek Lowe had a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Lee had a weird final line: seven innings, nine hits, three earned runs — and 16 strikeouts. Lee struck out nearly two-thirds of the batters he faced, and lost the game. After the game, Chipper Jones implied that the Braves were lucky, by hitting em where they ain’t. ”It seemed to be all or nothing,” Jones said. “Whenever we put a ball in play, it found a hole.”

Sure, but the story line from our perspective was the pitching of Derek Lowe, who seemed unfazed by either Lee or Philadelphia’s fans. “D-Lowe, he had the invisi-ball tonight,” Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins said after the Atlanta win. “Invisi-ball. Yep. You see it in one place, and when you go to swing, it just wasn’t there.”