Ryan Zimmerman’s ninth inning bleeder into right field gave his team yet another improbable ninth inning walk-off win, as the Nationals bested the New York Mets on Friday night, 8-7. Zimmerman’s hit came after the Nationals loaded the bases on Mets’ closer Bobby Parnell — and capped a night that saw Nats’ rookie pitcher Tom Milone make his team debut.

The 8-7 win masked a back-and-forth contest that saw the Nationals sprint into a 5-0 lead after three innings, with Milone pitching a steady rookie game against a tough line-up. Milone looked good, and is clearly in the Nationals’ plans for the rest of the season. But Milone had trouble during his second time through the Mets’ line-up, giving up four runs in the Mets’ fourth, including a home run to Mets’ first sacker Nick Evans.

Rookie Milone also notched one of those unusual first-game oddities: a home run on the first pitch he faced as a major leaguer. But it was Milone’s steady pitching that got the attention of Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson: “He is a pitcher. I know everybody wanted me to stay with him,” Johnson said. “He pitched well for me. He made a couple of bad pitches, but — by and large — he went after them. I didn’t want to take a chance of him losing it.”

The nail-biting ninth inning was necessary after Tyler Clippard (who has struggled with his command over his last three outings) gave up a single run to the Mets in the top of the seventh. Jesus Flores (who was 3-4 on the night) started out the inning with a single, pinch hitter Jonny Gomes walked, Ian Desmond sacrificed pinch runner Brian Bixler and Gomes to second and third — and Mets’ manager Terry Collins intentionally walked Roger Bernadina to bring Zimmerman to the plate.

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This win, a Washington Nationals 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in ten innings, was even more improbable than Friday’s walk-off 8-4 bloodletting. With Philadelphia leading in the bottom of the ninth and with two outs and two strikes on Ian Desmond (and the Philadelphia buses starting their engines in the parking lots), the Nationals’ young shortstop put an Antonio Bastardo offering into the second row in left field to tie the game.

The Desmond home run gave the Nationals a reprieve from what seemed an almost certain loss. The Nationals took advantage of the extra inning — loading the bases in the 10th on a Ryan Zimmerman double, an intentional walk to Michael Morse, and a Jayson Werth single. After Danny Espinosa struck out, Phillies’ reliever Brad Lidge hit Jonny Gomes. Lidge’s mistake gave the Nationals an unusual HBP walk-off — and a 2 of 3 series victory.

The stunning Nationals’ win overawed the solid pitching of starter Chien-Ming Wang (five hits and three earned in 5.2 innings), the toughness of the Nats’ bullpen (one earned run in 4.1), and the solid performances of the up-the-middle combination of Ian Desmond (2-5 with an RBI) and Danny Espinosa (3-5, two RBIs and a home run — his 18th). “Those two guys up the middle are very talented, and unfortunately I think a lot of people forget how young they are sometimes,” Ryan Zimmerman said following the victory. “It’s not easy to learn at this level, but they’re doing a great job with it.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Phillies’ bloggers are not taking this well. After making an insultingly stupid joke about Chien-Ming Wang prior to the game, The Good Phight told his readers that today’s game shows that baseball isn’t football. Brilliant . . . Phillies Nation said they were “a little shocked” by the loss, then crowed that “Phillies Nation” won in Washington because of the thousands of Phillies’ fans at Nationals Park . . .

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Respectability? Forget about contending for the N.L. East championship (not even the Braves can do that), or the Wild Card (the Braves might not be able to do that either), but Washington’s 3-2 victory in Colorado on Sunday brought the Nats to within four games of .500. While Nats’ fans might think their team is already “respectable,” a .500 record would make it official. Then too, while Nats’ fans are anxious to see some kind of flag waving from somewhere in Nationals Park, an 82-82 finish would be a stunning success — and an amazing improvement over 2010, when the Nats finished 24 games under .500. But can it be done?

If we look at the Colorado series (and not all that closely), the answer is yes . . . and no. Washington lost game one of the match-up, 6-3, because Ross Detwiler was just so-so in his five inning outing, though the game was decided in the eighth, when the usually reliable Ryan Mattheus gave up three runs in a single inning. Game three was more of the same: except that Washington’s Livan Hernandez was less than mediocre, while the Washington bullpen collapsed. Washington actually hit well in both games — breaking the mold for the year.

Washington’s wins, on the other hand, came as a result of solid (not superb, but solid) pitching from its starters: Jordan Zimmermann provided a steady outing in game two (5.2, four hits, two earned runs), John Lannan in game four (6.0, six hits, one earned run). And in each game the bullpen came through to hold the Rockies. That said, the common theme for all of the games was that Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen were the only two bullpen arms who were consistently steady — while Henry Rodriguez (please, please, throw a strike) and Todd Coffey & Company were downright frightening.

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Southpaw pitcher John Lannan threw 6.1 lights-out innings, homered into the right field seats, and then watched as Washington’s ace relief corps derailed the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-2 in the City of Angels on Friday night. The win brought the Nationals to 3-4 on their current road trip, and provided a badly needed win after the team dropped two of three in Houston.

Lannan’s performance on the mound was memorable, but not nearly as memorable as his surprising home run into the right field seats, which came with two outs in the second inning. It was the first home run Lannan has hit since he was 15. “I just got a pitch to hit,” Lannan said. “I wasn’t trying to hit a home run. I was trying to put the bat on the ball and it went out. It’s kind of a blur right now.”

The Trolleys kept the game close, despite Lannan’s pitching and hitting heroics. Dodger righty Hiroki Kuroda struggled in the early frames, but then settled down to hold the Nationals to a single run lead. But his teammates couldn’t solve the Nats’ pitching, registering just three hits in their 56th loss. Kuroda, who is 6-12 (but with a snappy 3.19 ERA) has been mentioned prominently in trade talks.

The Dodgers have struggled to score runs recently, despite having some heavy hitters (including triple crown candidate Matt Kemp) in their line-up. Don Mattingly showed his frustration with his team’s lack of production during a post-game interview. “We’ve gotta put some numbers on the board,” Mattingly said. “We had the one inning there, but we just really didn’t mount a whole lot of charges after that. The main thing we have to do [as a team] is throw some numbers up there.”

The Nationals finished strong: Sean Burnett, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen combined to hold the Dodgers’ hitless in relief of Lannan, and uber-sub Jerry Hairston collected a ninth inning grand slam that just cleared the left field fence. Hairston’s dinger put the game out of reach.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Kuroda is the Dodgers’ lead candidate to be traded, undoubtedly for a package of prospects. The righty is a steady starter, but he’s 36. He says all the trade talk doesn’t bother him: “I have to really concentrate on the game that I pitch,” Kuroda said following his loss to the Nationals . . .

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Washington couldn’t hold a solid lead after the 4th inning, then gave up the winning walk-off run in the ninth, to fall to the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, 9-8. The loss came on the shoulders of the bullpen — one of the team’s strong squads. The good news from the loss was that the Nationals’ bats came alive, as the team rapped out 11 hits on the afternoon.

The turning point in the game came in the 5th inning. Leading 6-2 going into the bottom half of the inning, reliever Henry Rodriguez (pitching for starter Tom Gorzelanny, who injured his ankle on a play at the plate in the second), gave up a double to Wilken Ramirez and hit Jason Heyward with a pitch. Jordan Schafer then singled to drive in a run. When Schafer stole second, Davey Johnson replaced Rodriguez with struggling lefty Sean Burnett.

It was all downhill from there: Brian McCann put a Burnett offering into the seats, scoring three and tying the game. Another run on a walk, a single and a fielder’s choice put the Braves in the lead. “It was poor location,” reliever Burnett said of his pitch to McCann. “It was a pitch that caught a lot of the plate to a good hitter. He made me pay for it again.”

Even with that, the Nationals could have (and should have) won. The Anacostia Nine recaptured the lead by scoring two in the sixth, but Atlanta stormed back: the normally reliable Tyler Clippard gave up a home run to light hitting Nate McLouth in the eighth, that tied the game. Ryan Mattheus came in to pitch the ninth, but gave up the winning run on a Freddie Freeman single to right field.

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With the MLB trade deadline looming, rumors of what the Washington Nationals will — and won’t — do are now beginning to circulate. This morning, commenter and analyst Buster Olney, wrote that “the dam is about ready to burst on the trade market,” with teams looking for a way to help themselves (or wave the white flag), before the end of July. The Tigers are looking for pitching, the Philllies are looking for a bat, and Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez is on everyone’s radar screen.

What will the Nationals do? G.M. Mike Rizzo isn’t exactly saying, though he notes that the team could be “both buyers and sellers” at the trade deadline. We have no clue what that means, which was obviously Rizzo’s intent. Still, the Nationals have been actively talking about acquiring a lead-off hitter (Michael Bourn’s name has been mentioned), and they have apparently inquired about Tampa’s B.J. Upton. There was even talk that the Nationals are willing to trade All-Star reliever Tyler Clippard in an attempt to answer some of their outfield problems.

There’s no question, a B.J. Upton trade would be intriguing: back in mid-June, Ken Rosenthal said that Upton could be had for the right price — with the Nationals ponying up a hot young infield prospect in a package with Clippard that would bring the then-struggling Upton to Washington. Rosenthal’s thinking was compelling: if the Rays fall out of contention, they could off-load Upton, and save themselves some future bucks. Hmmmmm. And, as Rosenthal noted then: Todd Coffey is being eyed by a number of teams who need a good righty out of the bullpen.

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The Washington Nationals blew an 8-0 lead against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night, rallied to tie the game at 9, and then lost on a single run — to lose the final game of the team’s set against the Chicago Little Bears, 10-9. The loss was marked by a rare implosion by starter Livan Hernandez, and the Nationals’ bullpen. Hernandez was effective until the 6th, when the Cubs put on a six run push to bring the North Siders to within two. The wind-out-of-the-sails moment  came in that inning when pinch hitter Blake DeWitt put a Hernandez offering off the foul pole in right field.

Even after the DeWitt homer, the Nationals had a chance to win: but reliever Sean Burnett could not hold the surging Cubbies. With Aramis Ramirez on base, Cubs’ first sacker Carlos Pena homered, tying the game at eight. The Cubs scored again, were matched by the Nationals — and then put the game away in the top of the 9th when Darwin Barney doubled, bringing home Tony Campana.

The Thursday loss was particularly disappointing for Nationals’ fans, who have been waiting for the team’s breakout game in a season of close one-run victories. Roger Bernadina (3-6), Danny Espinosa (2-5) Michael Morse (2-5) and Wilson Ramos (1-4) all had big nights at the plate, with Espinosa, Morse and Ramos each contributing two RBIs in the loss. Nats’ manager Davey Johnson blamed himself for the loss, saying that he stuck with Livan Hernandez for too long in the sixth. “I’m going to have a hard time sleeping tonight on that one,” he told reporters following the game.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Nationals’ fans can be justly proud of their young and tough up-the-middle combination of Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa, but Chicago’s shortstop-second base combo might be just as good (or better). While everyone focuses on the wizardry of Cubs’ phenom Starlin Castro, second sacker Darwin Barney is turning into the best second baseman the Cubs have had since the days of Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. Then too, (in case you haven’t noticed) Barney is emerging as the N.L.’s “other” rookie second sacker — along with Danny Espinosa.

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