Washington and the Rockies rapped out 33 hits in scoring 22 runs on Saturday — but the Heltons were just too powerful and downed the Nationals, 15-7. This was a poor outing for Livan Hernandez (now 6-11 on the year) who gave up nine hits and seven runs in just 3.2 innings.

The big bats of Colorado showed up in force: Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki were a combined 5-8, while normally light hitting catcher Chris Iannetta was 4-5. The Nationals bullpen was also ineffective. Tom Gorzelanny, Todd Coffey, Sean Burnett and Henry Rodriguez gave up a combined ten hits in 4.2 innings of work.

The Nationals fought back in the top of the sixth, scoring four runs to bring the game to within three, at 10-7. It was the only strong point of the Washington showing. “I was really pleased with the team,” skipper Davey Johnson said, after the loss. “We battled back and scored a bunch of runs with two outs, and that was a good sign. Stuff like that happens here.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Cincinnati Reds were swept by the Mets at the end of July, but then took three of three from the Giants — a sure sign the team was still in the thick of the N.L. Central race. But since then the Redlegs have tanked. They dropped two of three from the Astros and have now dropped two in a row to the Cubs . . .

They look awful. Yesterday in Chicago (which has a seven game winning streak, though no one knows exactly why), Dusty Baker’s boys were eaten by Carlos Zambrano, who gave up six hits in six innings and homered off Johnny Cueto in the second inning. Zambrano (whose homer was a straight-away-to-center shot), is now 9-6 . . . Cueto couldn’t make it out of the fourth . . .

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Ian Desmond’s high bounding infield hit and Rick Ankiel’s hustle home in the bottom of the ninth inning provided the winning margin for the Nationals on Sunday, as they took the third game of their three game set against the New York Mets, 3-2 at Nationals Park. Desmond’s hit came after Ankiel, in a heads-up play, was able to take third base in the ninth with one out.

Jordan Zimmermann returned to his ace form as a Washington starter, throwing six complete innings and striking out seven. The only negative in the win came when Drew Storen gave up a two out home run in the ninth inning to Mets’ super utility guy Scott Hairston. The Hairston bomb tied the game, leading to Storen’s fourth blown save on the year.

Aside from Desmond and Ankiel’s ninth inning heroics, the story of the game was Zimmermann, who scattered seven hits in throwing 64 strikes in 107 pitches. Zimmermann pitched out of a major jam in the sixth inning. With Mets on second and third, Zimmermann struck out New York heavyweights Angel Pagan and Jason Bay.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: After shuttling Jerry Hairston to Milwaukee and Jason Marquis to Arizona, the Nationals decided that Minnesota was asking too much for Denard Span. Which meant that rumored trade bait Drew Storen will remain in Washington, along with Roger Bernadina and Steve Lombardozzi — all three of whom (but it was probably just two of them, don’t you think?) Minnesota apparently wanted for their concussed lead-off centerfielder . . .

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Jordan Zimmermann pitched seven complete and Danny Espinosa came through in the 9th with a sacrifice fly (caught, miraculously, by right fielder Chris Denorfia) and the Washington Nationals fried the Friars 2-0 at the Dog Bowl in San Diego. The win brought an end to an eleven game swing through the West, in which the Nationals took six of eleven — a success by the only measure that counts.

The 2-0 victory in San Diego on Sunday symbolized what worked for the Nationals in Arizona, San Francisco and San Diego (and what didn’t): good pitching and tight defense — and hitting, albeit only when the Nationals desperately needed it. Nats’ fans have to think that if the teams’ bats would only come alive, the close ones against Arizona (a 2-0 loss on June 4) and San Francisco (a hard luck loss on June 6 and the 3-1 loss on June 8) might have resulted in a road record of 8-3, or even 9-2.

The problem for the Nationals is not just hitting — but hitting with runners in scoring position. That curse has been haunting the team throughout the western swing, but was particularly obvious on Sunday, when the Nationals were 0-12 through eight with runners waiting for a timely hit. The Nationals are headed back to D.C., finally, and will face the Cardinals on Tuesday. The Redbirds are likely to be hunting for vengeance against someone — as they were swept by the Brewers, the final game of that series coming today and featuring (ho hum) a blast from Prince Fielder.

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It was yet another nail-biter in San Diego — with John Lannan and the Washington bullpen pulling out a second 2-1 win against the Friars on Saturday. The victory knotted the team’s long road trip at five wins and five losses, giving the Nationals a chance to claim success if they win on Sunday. The key on Saturday was Lannan, who mastered the Friars in just over six, before giving way to a bullpen triumverate of Todd Coffey, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen.

The Lannan victory was yet another bit of evidence that last year’s troubled hurler has made it all the way back to the bigs. Since May 21, when he struggled against the O’s in Baltimore, Lannan has lowered his ERA by nearly a run-and-a-half. In a span of four games he has held the opposition to 2, 4, 4, and six hits (respectively), while — in the same span — giving up just four earned runs. Lannan attributes his success to maturity: “I think, over time, you change, you adapt and you learn more every day,” he said after the victory. “I’ve grown up. A lot of things that used to get to me, don’t any more. I handle myself on the mound a little better. It’s just growing up.”

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The Washington Nationals showed that they can win tough one-run games on Friday — with Jason Marquis providing an epic one man stand in the 6th inning to lift the Nationals to a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres. The pitching heroics took place after a double, a single and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Marquis then walked in a run.

But just as the Nationals were expected to collapse, Marquis showed what a veteran pitcher can do, striking out uber phenom Anthony Rizzo and inducing veteran Jorge Cantu to ground out. The tough sixth inning proved enough to lift the Nationals, as Tyler Clippard came in to throw two get-em-out innings and Drew Storen provided the save. The victory was badly needed — giving the Nationals a possibility of splitting (or winning) the series. (more…)

Anyone who watched the Nationals fall to the San Diego Padres, 7-3 on Thursday night could tell you what ails the team — but it’s a long list: lack of timely hitting, too many strike outs and, most surprising, a great collapsing bullpen. This last is the most surprising, because for a while there the Nationals had one of the best bullpens in the majors. Now, they can’t get anyone out.

The problem starts with Sean Burnett (and does not include Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen or Todd Coffey), but it extends to Henry Rodriguez and Cole Kimball. Last night, Burnett came in for Livan Hernandez — and immediately walked rookie Anthony Rizzo. Cole Kimball followed him, and walked pinch hitter Kyle Phillips. Henry Rodriguez followed suit: he registered two quick outs in the seventh, but then walked the bases loaded and threw a wild pitch. The Friars won the game, but the final score veils what was (at least in baseball terms) a “romp.”

Is this the team’s low point? “It was not a good game,” Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman said after the loss. “The effort and intensity [was] there, but it was not a good game. We had a couple of things that happened on the bases. We walked people. It was not a pretty game. I don’t know how else to say it.” In the postgame interview with MASN analyst Ray Knight, Riggleman was even more blunt — saying that coming into a game and walking hitters was “unacceptable.” Clearly, changes are on the way, including demotions or even trades. (more…)

When the Nationals can’t pitch, they can’t hit — and when they can’t hit, they can’t pitch. But when they do both, they still need the ball to bounce the right way, and that hasn’t been happening lately. With their game knotted at four on Sunday, the Anacostia Nine simply needed to get out of the 9th and win it in the bottom of the inning, but a squibber off the bat of Ryan Ludwick and past a diving Ian Desmond scored Jorge Cantu to give the San Diego Padres a 5-4 win.

Was there any good news? If you think that a win is the best and only news there can be, then “no,” there wasn’t. But at least the Nationals began to hit, with Jayson Werth going 3-4 and Michael Morse continuing with his hot hitting. But Drew Storen, who has been struggling of late, was saddled with the loss — although reliever Tyler Clippard seemed to emerge from his late inning doldrums to register two innings of one hit ball. The jury is still out on Yunesky Maya, meanwhile, as the Cuban defector (who was called up from Syracuse) started strong, but then faded in the 5th.

The Wisdom of Section 1-2-9: The Nationals are now 5-11 in one run games, and still have to find a way to win the close ones. And there’s grumbling amongst Nationals fans, who wonder whether the team’s skipper is so enamored of speed and the hit and run that he runs the Nationals out of some games. The groans along the first base line were audible on Saturday, as fans grumbled when Michael Morse was caught stealing with Jerry Hairston at the plate and Matt Stairs on the deck. “He just ran us out of the game,” a Nats’ ticket holder groused . . .

There was a lot of talk amongst season ticket holders about Jayson Werth’s comments earlier this week. “He said his comments weren’t aimed at Riggleman, but I don’t buy it,” a regular in Row BB commented. “Ah, he’s just frustrated,” a fan responded. “He’s always been that way.” Another fan, a visitor from New York, chimed in: “Well, Bobby’s available.” This brought puzzled looks and a response: “Valentine? Forget about it. If you think Werth is angry now, just wait until Valentine gets here. Rizz [Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo] will never give up on Riggleman.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Josh Willingham says he loves it in Oakland, where he’s become the centerpiece of the White Elephant’s all-pitch, no-hit franchise. But Willingham hasn’t exactly been hitting the cover off the ball, which is why the Athletics got him to begin with — he’s hitting .238 and been reaching for pitches out of the zone. Playing in Oakland’s “Coliseum” might have something to do with it: in most ballparks a ball will get lost in the lights; in Oakland, a ball gets lost in the darkness. And the fences are far, far away: out where the California National Guard patrols.

But Oakland is playing good baseball and getting good pitching, which has taken the pressure off the struggling Willingham. The good news is that when Oakland doesn’t get the stellar pitching they’re used to, Willingham has a habit of putting a ball back where no one can get it. As he did this afternoon against the Orioles, parking a heater from uber rookie Zach Britton in the left field seats.

The Connie Macks went on to win, 6-4 and sweep the suddenly struggling Orioles. The A’s are worth watching; they lead the A.L. in ERA and a lurking close enough to the top of the A.L. West to make the Gunslingers and Belinskys sweat. The A’s never seem to run out of pitching: today they started Guillermo Moscoso. Oh come on, you remember Guillermo Moscoso — right? No? Well, join the club.