Center Field Gate

Justin Maxwell’s two run home run in the top of the 11th inning at Turner Field gave the Washington Nationals a 6-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday. Maxwell’s homer came after the Braves had tied the Nats at four in the 10th. The win was the sixth in a row for the Nats, who finish their season in Atlanta today. The Nats win came with major contributions from their young starters — including shortstop Ian Desmond (who also homered) and lefty starter Ross Detwiler. Detwiler’s Saturday outing was his second consecutive solid start: he threw five innings of one hit baseball in a classic pitchers’ duel against Atlanta ace Jair Jurrjens. But the story of the game was Maxwell’s 11th inning knock, which came with two outs and Pete Orr on second. “I was just trying to get a pitch to hit and got one,” Maxwell said after the game. “Like I said, I’m trying to do my job. When I get up there, I’m not trying to think about much. I’m trying to put the ball in play, trying to let the rest take care of itself.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Cristian Guzman will have an MRI done on his ailing right shoulder on Monday. The Nats are committed to paying Guzman $8 million for 2010, which means it will be difficult to move him. But if the Nats pick up part of his salary (and get a couple of young prospects in return) don’t be surprised to see him elsewhere, with free agent Orlando Hudson (or someone like him) at second . . . Both Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham continue to battle through end-of-season slumps. Willingham is hitting near .140 over the last thirty games, and just can’t seem to end the spiral . . . It doesn’t look like Adam Dunn will hit 40 homers this year: he’s stuck at 38, after hitting forty or more home runs in each of the last five seasons. Like Willingham, Dunn is also slumping — his average has dropped from .280 to .266 over the last ten games . . . Game 162 will feature the Nats’ J.D. Martin facing off against Chops veteran Tim Hudson . . .

The Atlanta Braves scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning to down the Washington Nationals, 6-3 at Nationals Park on Sunday. The loss meant a three game sweep of the Nats at the hands of the surging Chops, who now await word on the Rockies’ tilt against the Cardinals in Denver. The Atlanta victory put them just two games behind Colorado in the Wild Card standings — and if Colorado loses against the Redbirds, that difference would shrink even further. The Atlanta win spoiled a good outing from Nationals’ starter Livan Hernandez, who pitched a solid 6.1 — giving up only six hits and three earned runs. It was by far the best outing by a Nats pitcher during the series: the Chops scored 21 runs against the Anacostia Nine in the three game tilt in D.C.

On Sunday, the Nats jumped out to an early lead, with Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Willingham hitting back-to-back home runs in the first inning. The back-to-back homers ended a run of frustrating at-bats for Nats hitters, who have had problems putting together big innings from the middle of their order. In all, the Nats broke out for nine hits in the game, but it wasn’t enough as, once again, the Nats’ bullpen couldn’t keep the Braves off the board. Mike MacDougal’s recent ninth inning woes continued, as he appeared cold coming in from bullpen — and couldn’t find the strike zone. The result was three Atlanta runs and a 6-3 Nats loss.

Actually, the game was not as close as the score seemed to indicate. It was worse. Much worse. Livan Hernandez and the Washington Nationals were crushed by the N.L. West leading Los Angeles Dodgers at Nationals Park on Tuesday, 14-2. The Trolleys batted around twice, Livan Hernandez couldn’t make it out of the third inning, and the Nats defense was porous. But the worst news was that the Anacostia Pathetics seemed, and particularly after the third inning, to be going through the motions: with indifferent base running, booted balls, poor outfield play and standing called strikes from a pitcher they should have been able to hit. Adam Dunn hit his 38th. Great, but after that the game was over. “We got beat,” Riggleman said. “They pitched good. We did not have a good night. Livan was not at his best tonight. He has done a great job for us. We received effort from everybody on the field. Everything about our pregame — enthusiasm in the dugout — [was there]. I was not displeased tonight as I was on Sunday. So, we just got beat.”

Really? The Nats received effort from everybody on the field?

Apparently Jim Riggleman didn’t see the same game the 18,000-plus fans at Nats Park saw: in the fourth inning, Josh Willingham failed to hit the cutoff man on a play at the plate, launching a poor throw that skittered to the backstop. It was a rookie mistake from a veteran outfielder who struck out twice and hit into a double play. He looked terrible and was removed after the sixth: putting him out of our misery. In the fifth inning, Willie Harris was caught leaning off third on a ground ball and tagged out in a futile attempt to score — a fielder’s choice 1-5-2 that shouldn’t have happened. Willie said he set goals for himself in September: was one of them to hit .225? In the seventh inning, a slow grounder to first wasn’t fielded and, with Zack Segovia running to cover first Adam Dunn held the ball. Desmond, Dunn and Segovia stood looking at each other: confused. In the eighth, a Jim Thome grounder was bobbled by Ian Desmond. Thome assumed the play was over and (halfway to first) decided not to run; Desmond also assumed the play was over and (holding the ball) decided not to throw. Thomas and Desmond stared at each other until, finally (Ta Da!) Desmond felt that he might just get the out at first. Thome, surprised, thought that he might just run. Incredible.

Maybe headed-to-the-hall lugnut Jim Thome thinks it’s okay to dog a ball in a late season game in front of 18,000 paying fans. Maybe that’s what major leaguers with over 500 home runs at the end of their careers do. But you have to wonder why a rookie who’s done absolutely zero, a player like Ian Desmond, thinks he has the same luxury.

Livan Hernandez pitched his perfectly predictable and steady six innings on Wednesday, but like lambs to slaughter, the Nats’s were sheared by Philadelphia hitters in a 6-1 loss. The bullpen was once again the problem: while Hernandez pitched six innings of seven hit ball, and kept the Anacostia Nine in the game, the normally competent Tyler Clippard, Sean Burnett and Jason Bergman could not master the Phillies’ order. As always, Nats’ killer Jayson Werth proved a difficult out. In the bottom on the seventh, Werth put a Bergman pitch into the seats in left center that put the Nats down by five. ”I made a mistake,” Bergmann said. “I threw the wrong pitch in the wrong spot. I was ahead of him. I should have thrown my pitch. I was trying to throw a bouncing slider down and away. We all know it was not a down-and-away slider. It was a hanger. I threw him one before that and he had a look at it. He could see it coming.”

But the problem was not so much Werth as it was (yet again) the lack of timely Nats hitting; or rather, the lack of any kind of hitting at all. The team’s biggest hitters are struggling, flailing at the plate at pitches out of the zone. Worse still, the hitting drought (which has reached epic proportions over the last five games), has built an environment of clubhouse frustration. Ryan Zimmerman, though not normally so talkative, summarily and glumly waved away reporter requests for post-game interviews. Zimmerman had good reason for being frustrated — but so do Nats fans: the middle of the Washington line-up have been mimes in Philly, though last night’s drama was the worst yet. Guzman, Dunn, Zimmerman and Willingham (who might normally strike terror into the hearts of opposing pitchers) bleated their way to a pathetic 0 for 15 on the night.  

Zimmerman’s uncharacteristic frustration followed a team lecture by interim manager Jim Riggleman, whose own irritation was much more public: ”We have a good ballclub, and this good ballclub just found ways to shoot itself in the foot and lose a ballgame, which adds to the record, the negativity and allows people to write those [negative] things,” Riggleman said. “Our record does not indicate the quality we have. That ballgame did not indicate the ballgame that it was. It’s 2-0 for a long time, and now it ends up 6-1, and it looks like the worst team in baseball again. I’m just reminding our players that when you make those many mistakes in a ballgame, you are going to allow those things to be said, and we have to be accountable for that.”

Garrett Mock couldn’t hold the Phillies — giving up five runs in the first two innings — and Phillies ace Cliff Lee pitched a shutout as Philadelphia blanked the Nats 5-0 in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Mock appeared to lose some of his shakiness over the next four innings, pitching six innings in all while giving up seven hits. But the story of the night was Lee, who was masterful: six hits over nine innings with nine strikeouts. Lee threw 124 pitches, 84 of them for strikes. Philadelphia’s scoring included a litter of doubles: given up to Rollins, Ibanez and Ruiz. Phuzzie right fielder Jason Werth once again proved to be a Nats’ killer, honing in on Nats’ pitching with a 3 for 4 night.

Down On Half Street: Josh Willingham continues to struggle at the plate. His last solid game was on August 25, when he went 4 for 4 against the Cubs in Chicago. Willingham is 6 for September: well below the Mendoza line. Willingham’s OBP is still at .389, but that’s thirty points below the .420 peak he reached in mid-August . . . Ryan Zimmerman has also cooled off, hitting just .200 in his last ten games. Maybe it’s the long season: with under twenty games remaining and the pressures of playing on the road, it’s going to be difficult for the Nats to come up with enough runs to beat the likes of Cliff Lee . . . with all the troubles Nats’ pitching has had this year, fans may be taking the hitting for granted. But Willingham and Zimmerman are not the only ones suffering through an insufferable September. Cristian Guzman (who has been up and down all year) is 7 for 35 in September — an autumnal .200 . . .  

The mini-slump in the middle of the Nats’ order seems to have had no impact on Adam Dunn, who is batting a nifty .333 over the last ten games (13 for 39). Dunn continues to hit the long ball — he hit his 37th in Florida and is line to hit his 40th before this thing is over. Dunn might well be the Nats biggest surprise this season, with a .282 batting average and an OBP of .410. Those numbers are not only pretty good, they’re better than Ryan Howard’s numbers in Philadelphia. Who would have guessed that? Howard has hit one more homer than Dunn, but his batting average stands at .272 and his OBP is .350 — well below Dunn’s marks. Dunn hasn’t nearly equalled the best of Howard’s best years (Howard was the NL MVP in 2006, with 58 homers and and 149 RBIs), but Howard’s numbers have fallen off this year. Then too, you can whine all you want about Dunn’s strike outs, but Howard is worse: Dunn has 162 strike outs to Howard’s 168. Dunn has actually cut down on his strike outs, while Howard is about the same. Dunn also has the better eye: he has walked 104 times to Howard’s 65. So who’s the better hitter: Dunn or Howard?

Howard is on the front end of a three year contract that is paying him $54 million. He will make $15 million this year, $19 million next year and $20 million in 2011. Dunn is in his first year of a two year contract that will pay him $8 million this year and $12 next year. Dunn is hitting better than Howard, and at half the price. Compared to Howard, Dunn is a bargain. In fact, Dunn is a bargain when compared to a lot of the league’s first basemen. Chicago’s Derrick Lee has a better average than Dunn and fewer strike outs (100 in 127 games), but he also has fewer homers — though not by much: 37 for Dunn, 33 for Lee. And Lee is four years older. Lee has the better glove, of course (and it’s much better) — but it’s not a stretch to say that Dunn is a comparable hitter to the Cubbie’s first baseman and, in some areas, his numbers are actually better. Lee is getting $13 million this year in the fourth year of a five year deal that pays him the same amount every year. That’s $5 million more than Dunn. Want some more?

If you compare Dunn’s numbers with Chokes first baseman Carlos Delgado (a hell of a hitter in his prime) over the last three years, Dunn is better. And after 17 seasons, Delgado is starting the break down: he’s played all of 26 games this year and he’s 37 years old — all for about $12 million (four million more than Dunn). There’s no guarantee, of course, that Dunn will hit the ball next year like he did this year. But he’s only 29 with (arguably) his best years yet to come. So here’s what this means: it’s time for the Nats to start thinking about giving Dunn a contract extension that, even if it doesn’t put him on a par with the league’s best first basemen (like Albert Pujols), reflects the reality of major league baseball: that it’s hard to find hitters that pump forty homers into the seats and more than 100 RBIs across the plate — and it’s even harder to keep them.

The Marlins-Nationals match-up has sparked another friendly exchange of questions from “N.L. Least” bloggers. This time the N.L. East Chatter community (and, more specifically, the guys from The Real Dirty Mets Blog) provided five questions for CFG on the Nats, while we (and our cohorts) provided another five to Wally Londo of FishGuts on the Marlins. In the wake of the Phish’s blowout of the Nats in soggy Miami on Saturday (which saw the Marlins dominate the Nats’ pitching staff) the questions from our colleague seem particularly pertinent. The good news? We aren’t the only ones who have noticed Ian Desmond — who had another amazing night, this time going 4-4 in only his second game as a major leaguer. It won’t last, of course, but with twenty games left in the season, Nats fans can be assured of this: after a summer of struggle, the Nats finally have the one thing that every successful team must have to win — a solid front office that knows what it’s doing.

Stickguy (TRDMB): rate the odds (highest to lowest) on which guys will get traded in the off season. For the Nats, special emphasis on Dunn.

CFG: The odds? I think the odds of Cristian Guzman being traded are about 80 percent, Dunn about 10 percent and Zimmerman 0 percent. The marginal, veteran .230 to .250 hitters (Belliard et al) are gone and what is left are prospects, projects and the core. No one will touch the core (Zimmerman, Lannan, Dunn, Willingham, Flores, Morgan) the projects (Gonzalez and Dukes) are projects (no one really knows how good they will be — or if they will be good at all) and the prospects are the great unknown — like Ian Desmond and Stephen Strasburg are coming, they are good, and they will make a difference. But not right away. So trades? There’s not much to trade, to be honest, with the exception of Guzman.

Prismo (TRDMB): What do you think is the most needed area for improvement in the offseason for the Nationals?

CFG: Defense, defense, defense. And I don’t see how the Nats get better at defense without moving Guzman off the ballclub. The problem is his $8 million (due next year) and his shakiness at short. So if you can’t move him and Ian Desmond is going to be handed the shortstop job, you think odd things: like shifting him to second. It’s a bad idea, but you never know. With Nyjer Morgan playing a full year and Flores back from an injury the Nats should be better in the field, but should be probably won’t be good enough. They need a good glove man, like Orlando Hudson, up the middle.

Prismo (TRDMB): Starting pitching seems like the obvious pick, but the offense has been bipolar, the bullpen mostly terrible, and the defense very shoddy at times. Or should they just ignore these problems, and fully focus on minor league development?

CFG: If you ignore these problems for this next year, the next problem you will have will be putting people in the seats. And right now, that’s not a crisis. People here in DC still go to the games and still root for the team. But it could be a problem in the future and you can’t ignore it. So I don’t think the Nats are just going to focus on minor league development. Yes, it’s important to Mike Rizzo, but the Nats lost so much credibility before he was named as Bowden’s replacement this year that the team just can’t afford to ignore what’s happening in the parent club with all eyes on the future. I would expect them to resign Livan Hernandez and pick up another veteran pitcher (like John Garland, or a John Garland type) and sign a middle infielder with a good glove. And their offense hasn’t been “bi polar” — it’s been good. Very good, in fact. You know, I also hate to read on the internet about how some club has a top ranked farm system. Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati — they have very solid farm club operations. But who the hell cares? And Nats fans will sometimes say that: well we have a good farm system. That’s great, but you know, I don’t live in Harrisburg.

Matt R (NLEC): Is it just that I don’t know much about the Nats, but who is Ian Desmond? Where did he come from?

CFG: Hope springs eternal: so here goes. He is the bright shortstop of the future who is going to hold down that position, with Gold Glove after Gold Glove for the next ten years. Well, that’s the hope. More specifically, Ian Desmond is a 24 year old talent rich guy and former 3rd round 2004 draft pick of the Montreal Expos who has had his share in injuries, but who has gotten through them and worked hard at his game. Everyone in the Nats organization predicted that sooner or later he would be in the show. “Later” ended up being this September. He showed this year in AA and AAA that he can hit the cover off the ball. He’s solid. The only question is: has he really arrived? He looks ready to me. The other night, against the Phillies (and in his major league debut) the thing that impressed the most is that he didn’t look nervous, he didn’t look scared, he didn’t overswing. He looked like he belonged. You kind of had to be there to feel it, frankly. Down in the lower boxes, the Nats new brain trust just fell silent as he trotted on the field. And when he put one into the center field seats later in the game, they didn’t really cheer — they just kind of looked at each other. Mike Rizzo had this “I told you so” grin on his face. I think he’s here to stay.

The Washington Nationals finished their four game series with the Cincinnati Reds with a bang on Sunday — with a home run by Josh Willingham, two doubles by former Red Adam Dunn and a miscue by a rookie second sacker that was the difference between victory and defeat. Willingham and Dunn accounted for all five of the Nats’ runs in the 5-4 victory. Willingham was three for four and drove in three, while Dunn was 2 for 2 and scored three runs. Over the last three games, Dunn was 3 for 6 and walked five times, while Willingham was 5 for 9 with four RBIs. After a stellar start, the Reds seemed hardly in the series — fielding a young and inexperienced team that is second to last in hitting in the National League. The Nats took advantage of the listless Baker Boys by banging out a barrage of extra base hits and home runs, accompanied by snappy mound work from an ever-improving relief corps. On Sunday, Mike “Heart Attack” MacDonald earned his thirteenth save, working 1.1 innings.

Despite the bombs away feel of the series, the decisive blow in the Sunday matchup was Ryan Zimmerman’s eighth inning pinch hit single, which drove in two runs — the last by Willingham. Willingham upended Reds’ catcher Ryan Hanigan after Reds’ rookie second baseman Drew Sutton nonchalanted the ball back into the infield. Sutton’s non-play marked the first time during the four game series that ever-patient Reds’ manager Dusty Baker came close to the only known instance of spontaneous combustion by a human in history. The Nats took three of four from the Redlegs after dropping two straight to Atlanta. The Anacostia Nine return home to Nationals Park for a series against the Colorado Rockies that begins on Tuesday.

The Washington Nationals swept the three game series against the Diamondbacks, with a decisive 9-2 skinning of the rattlers on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. The victory followed a thrilling 5-2 win on Saturday. The Nats have now won eight in a row and will get a day off before embarking on a semi-extended road trip. In both of the last two games an otherwise shakey starting rotation provided consistent outings — with Garrett Mock beating Dan Heren on Saturday and J.D. Martin besting Yusmeiro Petit on Sunday. It was both Mock and Martin’s first major league victories. Mock and Martin were not overpowering, but they were good enough to allow Nats’ interim manager Jim Riggleman to mix-and-match a bullpen that had been putting in extra innings. The Nats bats continue to heat up: Adam Dunn hit his 30th home run on Sunday, Ryan Zimmerman went 3-5, and Alberto Gonzalez seems to be rediscovering his swing — he went 2-4 on Sunday.

The bats of Dunn, Guzman, Zimmerman, Morgan and Willingham — at the heart of the Nats’ order — figured big in both games: accounting for six of Washington’s eight hits on Saturday and nine of 16 hits on Sunday. But the key to Washington’s sweep of the Diamondbacks may well have been Elijah Dukes, who notched ten RBIs of a total of 21 runs the ballclub scored. Dukes unlikely resurgence makes up, at least in part, for the departure of Nick Johnson to the Marlins. Equally impressive was the Nats’ newest find: reliever Jorge Sosa. The former Braves, Cardinals and Mets journeyman pitched 2.1 innings on Sunday, which followed a one inning no-hit-no-run relief effort on Saturday. It’s clear that the deceptive Sosa has found a place at the back of the Nats’ bullpen. He may even vie, at some point, with Mike MacDougal for the closers’ role.

Why are the Nats suddenly playing so well . . .? The answer seems obvious: good pitching, timely hitting, good defense. All that. For sure. But then, you know (and, I mean, this is just a suggestion) it’s pretty hard to ignore the role played by this guy:

Down On Half Street: The Boston Globe is reporting that the Boston Red Sox, reeling from their slapping at the hands of the New York Gothams, have reportedly put a claim in on Nationals’ shortstop Cristian Guzman, who has been placed on waivers. The Nats can either pull Guzman back, let him go, or work out a deal sometime in the next 48 hours. The Red Sox have had trouble filling their hole at short — Julio Lugo is gone to St. Louis and Jed Lowrie is on the DL . . . I haven’t met a Sox fan yet who isn’t absolutely ecstatic about getting rid of Lugo: “thank God he’s gone,” they say. And you can see why. I mean, his replacement (the aforementioned) is like ”the second coming” of the second coming: except that he’s hitting .143. Oh no, what will they do without him? . . . Hey, maybe they should trade Clay “can miss” Buchholz (ERA: 5.33) and a boatload of other “can’t miss” players for Roy Halladay, who’s only the best pitcher in baseball . . ..  Nahhhhhh .   

We are pleased to announce that there’ll be a twenty minute special report on Lowrie’s status on Boston Red Sox ”Baseball Tonight,” right after the fifteen minute special on David Ortiz (which follows the sixteen minutes on the Bosox vs. the Bronx series, which is the single most important baseball series this year — not counting the Angels-Rangers tilt going on right now too, of course), so be sure to stay tuned for that compelling report . . . and, oh yes, later on in the program, we’ll be presenting our special segment, “that’s not television, that’s boring”  . . . speaking of the DL. It could be bad news for Nats’ starter Jordan Zimmermann, who is experiencing continued elbow soreness. He is scheduled to have x-rays of the elbow examined further on Monday by the nation’s leading baseball orthopedist Dr. James Andrews. Andrews isn’t examing the elbow, mind you, he’s so good all he needs to do is look at the x-rays. In any event, this is not good news . . . but hey, here’s my question and it’s damned important: do you think that Joba Chamberlain should stay as a starter, or go back to the bullpen? huh? huh? huh? do ya? do ya? do ya? . . .

The Washington Nationals win streak was snapped at four games in Milwaukee last night, as the Anacostia Boys lost to the Brewers 7-5. It looked like the same-old-same-old for the Nats when starter Garrett Mock began to fall apart in the third. The Nationals failed to hold a comfortable 4-0 lead. Even the otherwise steady Tyler Clippard was unable to get the middle of the Brewers’ order out; Clippard gave up two runs in a little over one inning of work. The game was marked by a third inning mini-controversy, when Brewer slugger Ryan Braun powered a ball to centerfield that Nyjer Morgan just missed. The ball was initially ruled a home run but, after review, was adjudged an RBI triple. “It was the fight call,” Morgan said after the game. We’re so used to seeing Morgan’s astounding catches that his miss came almost as a surprise. But Nats fans still can’t say enough about the guy: he’s seven-for-fifteen in the Milwaukee series.

Pitcher Julian Tavarez and outfielder Corey Patterson cleared waivers on Wednesday. Patterson might be of some interest to the Yankees, where he would be a back-up to centerfielder Brett Gardner, according to the New York Post. Patterson’s career has taken a nose-dive over the last several years. A highly touted prospect with the Cubs, Patterson continues to struggle at the plate. He was given what amounted to a cup of coffee with the Nationals this year, despite his speed and defensive abilities. The Nats’ front office did not view Patterson as the solution in center, and they were right. Tavarez remains confident that another team will sign him, but after nearly seventeen years in the majors, Tavarez is a known quantity — bad news for him. His time might be up.

The NL Least: The lack of trade talk in the NL East (outside of Philadelphia, of course) is astonishing. The Phuzzie’s quest for Roy Halladay — and their eventual trade for former Cy Young and Cleveland mainstay Cliff Lee — has seemingly taken all of the oxygen out of the rest of the division’s desire to compete for the NL East title. While the Chokes continue to search for a lefthanded reliever, the Mets’ front office has said they won’t give up a high prospect to do so. The report of the Mets’ search for another reliever comes as somewhat of a surprise — the New York nine will have to do a lot more than shore up their bullpen to compete with the Phuzzies . . . The silence out of Miami was broken by Peter Gammons, who reported that the Phish are making inquiries about Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell. Nothing seems imminent, but don’t be surprised (knowing the Phish front office), if Dan Uggla and Cody Ross are moved. Asking for a raise in Miami is the same as asking for a ticket out of town . . .

That leave the Chops who (like the Mets) are looking for some help in the bullpen. They’ve made inquiries about Oakland A’s reliever Michael Wuertz, but otherwise seem satisfied with what they have. That would stand to reason: the Braves outfield has been revamped over the last month, with the acquisition of Nate McLouth and Ryan Church. Tommy Hanson is now a part of a solid rotation: of Jair Jurrjens, Kenshin Kawakami, Derek Lowe and Jaiver Vazquez. That’s as impressive a front five as there is in baseball, at least on paper. And that’s the problem — when the Braves study the bottom line they are 12-10 since July 4. That’s simply not good enough to compete with the Phuzzies . . .

Like the Chokes, Chops and Phish, the Nats have also gone silent — under the apparent belief that their most recent run of victories says good things about the future. That’s the view of Jim Riggleman, who says he doesn’t see any big trade coming. The Nats have won six of their last eight and their young pitchers are throwing well. Then too, it’s hard to imagine what the team could get for Josh Willingham that could serve as a replacement for one of the league’s hottest hitters. You have to believe that Mike Rizzo would have to be overwhelmed with an offer to part with Willingham, Dunn or even Nick Johnson. And it’s true. The Nats have been improving by standing still, at least so far. But it’s hard to ignore the obvious: there’s a gaping hole at second base that can’t be filled by what they have.

Josh Willingham’s two grand slam home runs powered the Washington Nationals to a 14-6 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Monday night. Willingham became the 14th player in major league history to hit two grand slams in a single game. The first Willingham blast was hit in the fifth, the second in the sixth. Ryan Zimmerman added one of his own (his 18th), in the eighth. The rap against Willingham is that while he has shown power, he usually homers with no one on base; presumably that rap will be forgotten after his impressive display in Milwaukee. The first recorded double grand slam game, according to major league baseball, took place in 1936, the last occurred in 2003 –when Bill Mueller hit two for the Red Sox.

You have to believe that the Nats’ were happy to come away from tonight’s contest with a win — Craig Stammen proved ineffective in four-and-two-thirds innings of work: he gave up nine hits and five earned runs before being relieved by Jason Bergman, who pitched to six batters and gave up two hits. Sean Burnett and Logan Kensing closed out the game without giving up a run. Burnett lowered his ERA to 2.53. Nyjer Morgan’s three-for-five night pushed him over the .300 mark; he is now hitting .303 and has become the club’s everyday centerfielder. Rightfully so: since joining the Nats, Morgan has hit .388.

Willingham was not the only player to hit a grand slam tonight. Fernando Tatis hit a grand slam in the New York Mets 7-3 win against the Rockies. It was the New Yorker’s third win in a row; and Chicago Cubs’ left fielder Alfonso Soriano hit a walk-off grand slam homer against the Astros in Wrigley Field. The Soriano homer gave the streaking Cubs a 5-1 win over division rivals Houston . . . The Cubs need all the wins they can get, now that St. Louis has solidified the middle of its line-up with the addition of Matt Holliday, who is hitting like he’s happy to be back in the National League. Holliday’s arrival, coupled with the return of Mark DeRosa from the DL and the addition of Red Sox castoff Julio Lugo gives the “new look Cardinals” one of the toughest line-ups in the NL. The Cardinals look like they can beat anyone — except the Phillies of course: this last weekend the Redbirds lost two of three to the Phuzzies, and were outscored 24-16 . . . The only thing the Cubs, Cards and suddenly mortal Trolleys need is for Philadelphia to get another pitcher. And they might — they’re still the lead team in the hunt for Blue Jay ace Roy Halladay. If the Phillies land Halladay, the Cards can start waving white flags from the top of Busch Stadium . . .

On a day of great hitting, Tim Lincecum pitched a complete game, striking out fifteen while giving up only four hits against the Ahoys. The fifteen strike outs tied a franchise record held by Gaylord Perry. Lincecum is now 11-3 with a 2.30 ERA . . . The Giants are agog over landing Cleveland Indians’ Ryan Garko, a player they say they “coveted.” Really? It’s possible to “covet” Matt Holliday or Roy Halladay . . . but . . . Not that it was a bad deal: Garko is hitting .285 with eleven home runs. The Giants needed a bat and gave up relatively little to get a good one. Still, Garko is no Matt Holliday (whom the Redbirds, rightly, “coveted”) and you have to believe the Giants will need an even bigger bat to compete for the wild card. The Giants just lost two of three to the Rockies — their competition in the NL West. They’re now nine games behind the Dodgers and one game behind those same Rockies in the wild card . . . that said, the Giants’ acquisition of Garko plugs the hole they had at first base, which means it’s unlikely they will pony up for Nick Johnson, whose price was likely much steeper than the one they paid for Garko . . .