Rookie September call-up Steve Lombardozzi’s hit in the top of the 7th inning — his first hit of the season — scored Brian Bixler and led the Nationals to a 3-2 win against the Mets in New York. Lombardozzi, who started the game at second base for Danny Espinosa, was 0-15 before his clutch single. The Mets had tied the score in the bottom of the 6th, driving starter Ross Dewiler from the game.

The Lombardozzi single brought the Nationals to 68 wins on the season, and drew them to within two games of the third place Mets. While Lombardozzi was energized by his hit, Ross Detwiler was the big news of the game for the Nationals. The lefty breezed through the Mets line-up for 5.2 innings before losing the strike zone and walking two. The Mets then capitalized, with a single from David Wright and a double from Angel Pagan.

Detwiler’s outing brought his ERA to 3.76 for the year, and put him in line in the competition for a spot on the Nationals’ starting rotation for 2012. Speaking of Detwiler’s outing following the game, Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson said that Detwiler “just lost it” in the sixth inning, but that he didn’t know why. “It just happened,” Johnson said. “I would have liked to get him the win.”

Leading 3-2, the Nationals’ bullpen came through again, with Todd Coffey, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen shutting down the Madoffs the rest of the way. Johnson praised the bullpen after the win, adding that he was pleased that “we were able to rest” Clippard over the previous two days. “He was fresh and we needed that,” Johnson said. Coffey got the win, Clippard registered his 33rd hold, and Storen notched his 35th save.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Mets have now lost their third in a row, and the fans over at ‘Amazin Avenue aren’t pleased, comparing Monday night’s game to the snoozes provided by former Met Steve Trachsel, who believed that so long as you stood on the mound with the ball, nothing bad could happen . . .

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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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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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You could almost hear the sizzle of doubt at Nationals Park last night: uber sub Jerry Hairston was being shipped to Milwaukee, Jason Marquis was considering boarding the red eye for Arizona, Roger Bernadina and Drew Storen were wondering whether they should make plans to rent an apartment in Minnesota and (worst of all), Yunesky Maya was preparing to take the mound for the slumping Washington Nationals. So there it was: a loss for sure.

But just hours later, Maya was celebrating his best outing of the year (and preparing for a stint on the disabled list — or in the minors), Davey Johnson was going on about “a very good ballgame,” Jayson Werth was being interviewed as “the player of the game” on MASN — and Roger Bernadina and Drew Storen were still plying their trade for the Washington franchise.

The short story is that Jayson Werth won the Nationals’ tilt against the New York Metropolitans with an attitude-lifting three-run first inning homer (it was all the Nationals would need in their 3-0 win), Maya pitched effectively through 5.1 innings and closer phenom Drew Storen registered his 26th save. It was hard to determine who was more happy: Werth or Maya.

“I’m tired of saying I’m close, but I’m working in the right direction,” Werth said following the victory. “I know why, I guess — it’s just a matter of having the right swing during the game.” Like Werth, Maya was in a sort of a rehab — spending most of the season trying to command his fastball and pick up his in-game pitching pace. On Saturday, all of that worked well: he threw 78 pitches, 52 of them for strikes.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Wilson Ramos went 3-3 in last night’s 3-0 win, proof positive that he remains amongst the Nationals’ most streaky hitters. He’s 5 for 6 over his last two games, which follows a stint in which he went 1 for 24. The Twins must have “traders” remorse. We read somewhere that Ramos’ name has been mentioned as one of the players the Twins would like to get in any trade for Denard Span. That would be a “no” . . .

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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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John Lannan pitched into the sixth inning and contributed two hits, and catcher Wilson Ramos hit his ninth home run, as the Washington Nationals defeated the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, 5-2 on Saturday night. The victory, sparked (oddly) by Lannan’s bat, brought the Nats back to .500 — one-half game behind the New York Mets in the N.L. East.

Lannan provided another solid start to what has to now be considered a very successful 2011 campaign by the savvy lefty. But Lannan’s hits were the surprise of the game. He had two in all, his first two of the year, and his first two in 32 at bats. “We have been taking a lot of BP. I have been struggling out there,” Lannan said after the victory. “I never was a really good hitter. Some days, I get good pitches to hit and I was able to hit it back up the middle. Every starter up here is difficult to hit.”

The Nationals were able to tack on runs in the otherwise tight ballgame when Ramos homered with one on in the sixth. The Ramos dinger landed well back in the left field bleachers. “We are used to one-run leads, but that was big. That made us all feel a lot easier,” Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson said of the Ramos home run. “He is a great young catcher. He is looking good.”

Lannan was helped by his bullpen, which held the Braves scoreless in the game’s last innings. Ryan Mattheus, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen combined for 3.1 innings of work, giving up no hits and no runs. Drew Storen pitched the ninth inning, notching his 24th save. It was Clippard’s 24th hold.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: John Lackey’s in-game antics are starting to get old, according to the commenters on “Baseball Tonight.” Lackey threw up his arms during Boston’s 9-5 win against Tampa Bay yesterday when Marco Scutaro boofed a grounder and Adrian Gonzalez followed suit. Then Lackey let manager Terry Francona have it when he was lifted with two outs in the sixth, mouthing guttural out loud condemnations that anyone with eyes could lip-read.

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