Omar Infante narrowly avoided a tag from Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos in the 11th inning of the Nats-Marlins contest at Nats Park last night — giving the Marlins a they-just-keep-coming 6-5 victory. The Infante slide (the result of a Greg Dobbs double) was the culmination of a classic back-and-forth between the two teams, which is turning into one of the more bitterly contested rivalries in the N.L. East. While Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman argued the call, the replay showed Infante had just barely eluded the tag. “He was safe,” Riggleman said. “I knew.”

The game began with the Nationals down by three to the Marlins, with Gaby Sanchez and John Buck registering back-to-back dingers against less-than-effective Nationals’ starter Tom Gorzelanny. But the Nationals struck back, with a clutch single in the third by Ian Desmond and an upper deck home run by Laynce Nix. The Nationals tied it in the eighth with another hit by Nix, this one a double, that scored Jayson Werth. Nats’ skipper Riggleman was in his head-shaking mode after the loss: “I try to stay away from those words — disappointment and frustration — but that was a great ballgame,” Riggleman said. “We played really good baseball.

Those in attendance were treated to what might well be the defensive play of the year, which came in the fifth inning off a long drive from Marlins’ youngster Mike Stanton. Bernadina went back on the ball, which seemed over his head — but then reached up and rolled, snagging the line drive and saving the Nationals from a long inning. “The only thing I could do is dive,” Barnadina explained.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: The Nationals will face some tough decisions over the next two weeks, not the least of them being what to do with Roger Bernadina when Rick Ankiel comes off the disabled list. If you were to poll Nats fans, they are likely to say that Bernadina should be given the job in center field, with Laynce Nix taking Michael Morse’s spot in left (Mark Zuckerman has this right — over at Nats’ Insider). Will Riggleman made the switch? Here’s what he told Zuckerman: “You can’t get too far ahead of yourself,” Riggleman said. “Mike did what he did for six weeks in spring training, and Laynce has been hot here for the last 10 days. We’re just going to ride that out. It’s certainly not cast in stone as to who will be playing left field or whatever. We’re just going to try to put a lineup out there that gives us the best chance to win.”

Bernadina has been a catalyst, and not simply because he makes great defensive plays in center. Bernadina led off Friday’s game with a bunt single, which is the same thing he did in Atlanta on Thursday. The Nats have been looking for a lead-off hitter; well, here he is . . . Or, as Federal Baseball slings it: “Shark attack! Roger Bernadina is 3-5 with a game-tying, two-RBI double, a bunt hit, a stolen base, and a fantastic highlight-reel catch that he sadly gets no WPA credit for at all.” Yup . . .

It’s clear that Jim Riggleman is feeling the pressure from his bullpen — shuffling and reshuffling arms to cover weaknesses. The core of Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard, Todd Coffey and Sean Burnett (despite his recent troubles), is among the best in baseball. They’ve all proven their toughness in close games. Which leaves Brian Broderick, Henry Rodriguez and Doug Slaten. Broderick is a Rule 5 pick (and should be learning his trade in the minors), Rodriguez is a major talent (who threatens to walk the bases loaded everytime he appears) and Doug Slaten is struggling. Riggleman can use Broderick, Rodriguez and Slaten in blow-outs (taking pressure off the core four), but when exactly does a “blow out” ever happen . . .

The issue will be forced once Chad Gaudin returns. Gaudin, who is nursing shoulder inflammation, is a savvy and tested veteran who is not likely to be cowed by appearing in the show (Broderick), knows how to throw strikes (Rodriguez), and has pitched well enough recently to be a part of the core-four (Slaten). Our prediction? Unless Slaten shows he can stick as a “lefty one out guy” that job will default to Burnett, which means that Slaten is likely to go elsewhere . . . Ah, of course, the Nats could designate Broderick for assignment and call up Cole Kimball (as they just did, as we were posting this), but that doesn’t exactly solve the problem — though maybe, if his performance this year is any indication, Kimball can now work his way into the Nats’ core four . . .

The hitting of Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and the stellas pitching of John Lannan paced the Washington Nationals to a 9-2 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park on Saturday. Rodriguez led the Nats’ fifteen hit attack, with an opposite field home run, while John Lannan pitched seven complete — giving up only five hits. It was his best outing of the year and solidified his place in the rotation for 2011. “Pudge and I did a great job just mixing it up on both sides of the plate,” Lannan said after the game. “I threw some [four-seam fastballs] inside to righties and some [two-seam fastballs] into lefties. I had my changeup working again, and that’s been the pitch I’ve gone to if I was getting behind hitters. It kept them off-balance a little bit. You get a little more comfortable out there when your team puts up that many runs.”

Desmond Makes His Case: Washington Nationals’ rookie shortstop Ian Desmond is making a strong case for being considered as the N.L.’s premier rookie. But two obstacles stand in his way — he makes too many errors (31! — including two last night), and the competition is stiff. The early betting was that Atlanta’s Jason Heyward would win the award, and for a time it looked like he would. Heyward set the baseball world chattering through April and May, but his production fell off through the summer. Still: .282 with 16 home runs (and he’s only 20) could find him shoehorned into the top spot. The betting now seems to be that Buster Posey will get the nod — despite the fact that he started the season late. Tim Dierkes over at MLB Trade Rumors posted a list in April that included all of the good guesses, which included Heyward and Desmond, as well as Florida’s Gaby Sanchez, San Francisco’s Buster Posey, Chicago’s Starlin Castro, Pittsburgh’s Pedro Alvarez, Washington’s Drew Storen (and Stephen Strasburg), and Cincinnati’s Mike Leake. That leaves out Cubbie Tyler Colvin, who’s having a tremendous year — he’s stroked 19 home runs.

You can make a strong case for Desmond, who has raised his batting average over the last month from the so-so mid-.260s to .287 — an unforeseen spike that, if it continues, could see the 24-year-old ending the season near .300. And Desmond has unpredicted power, line-driving nine home runs. That number could easily increase in 2011. Desmond’s long-ball potential is a plus for the Nats, who would gladly take a .280 batting average with a handful of home runs each year — but 20? 25? Desmond says that he patterns his play on the model provided by Empire glove man Derek Jeter and his numbers show it. While Jeter seems to be struggling for homers as he ages, the pinstriper once hit 24, a number well within reach of his younger apprentice. But Jeter’s value is his day-in-and-day-out crusade in the middle of the Yankees infield, his ability to play virtually injury free and his steady glove-work. Ah, and he has a .314 lifetime BA — which Desmond might find difficult to equal. Desmond is right to emulate his hero, but he has a long way to go to reach his level (cutting down on the errors would be the way to start). It’s the fielding stats that will likely doom Desmond in any final voting for the Jackie Robinson Award, which means that Giants workhorse Buster Posey will get the nod. It’s hard to argue with that choice — with a .328 batting average, he deserves it.

There are lots of Nats’ fans who think that Nyjer Morgan has a screw loose — but his scrum in Miami last night (perhaps, as one reader writes, “he misses hockey”), makes for exciting baseball. And it shows that the Nats (first in war, first in peace and still last in the NL Least) have a bit of life left in them. Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman defended Morgan, particularly after the Marlins took umbrage with his decision to steal second and third with the Nats down ten runs — a no-no that’s considered a cheapy in baseball’s Book of Unwritten Rules. Of course, not everyone agrees with that, in part because no one has ever actually seen the book — but because the “rule” is a bunch of hooey. “My feeling has always been, if you hit somebody, you did what you set out to do,” Nats skipper Jim Riggleman said after the game. “If he decides to run on you, that’s his business. I have no problem with that at all. We decide when we run. The Florida Marlins don’t decide when we run. Nobody decides when we run.”

The Miami melee began after, having already been hit once (the result of Nyjer’s decking of the Marlins’ catcher on a play at the plate on Tuesday), Florida starter Chris Volstad threw behind the Nats’ center fielder. Morgan charged the mound and in the ensuing one-on-one (Morgan threw a roundhouse left at Volstad, as both benches emptied), Marlins’ first baseman Gaby Sanchez clothes-lined the Curacao native. “When I saw [Morgan] running out, obviously, he’s not coming out there to talk,” Volstad said. “I was just trying to defend myself and not get hurt. Gaby had my back. The whole team had my back. Everyone was there. It’s just part of the game.” The fight (and Morgan’s decking of Marlins catcher Brett Hayes), resulted in six ejections (Jim Riggleman and reliever Doug Slaten were ejected later in the game — after Slaten plunked cheap-shot artist Gaby Sanchez) and will likely result in suspensions and fines for those most involved.

The Marlins say the bad blood between the teams is now behind them (“I know it’s over for me,” Marlins third sacker Wes Helms said. “I hope it is for these other guys”), but there’s bound to be some lingering irritations — the Nats and Marlins play regularly as N.L. East rivals, and neither Morgan nor Sanchez are the forgive-and-forget types. In the wake of the dust-up, Nats’ commentators were quick to criticize Morgan. Mark Zuckerman said we all should have seen this coming, and described Morgan’s behavior over the last two weeks as “sad and predictable.” Ben Goessling, meanwhile, speculates that it’s all but inevitable that the Nats will part with Morgan. Goessling adds, correctly we think, that Morgan brings an energy to the game that the Nats need. FJB says that “Nyjer needs to go” while Dan Steinberg points out that one of Morgan’s less endearing traits is his tendency to jaw with fans.

All of that is undoubtedly true: Nyjer Morgan can’t be allowed to carry on a dialogue with fans and Riggleman was right to bench him for purposely and unnecessarily elbowing the Cards catcher here in D.C. last week. And despite Zuckerman’s correct judgment (that we should have seen this coming — and we did), there’s need for a little perspective: it’s not a given that Morgan’s collision with Hayes was intended to injure (it probably wasn’t) and Nyjer took his medicine when he was hit the first time by Volstad (he had it coming and he knew it — and trotted to first with nary a second thought). But a second attempt to plunk the plucky center fielder is over the line — as Jim Riggleman, holding a single digit and yelling “one time” at the Marlins manager — showed. And Gaby Sanchez’s clotheslining (which brought oohs and ahhs from the Marlins’ clubhouse) of Morgan is not a sign of Sanchez’s fighting prowess, it was a cheap and thuggish blindside shot. Doug Slaten figured that out, and responded. And rightly so.

Washingtonians have short memories. Last year nearly everyone (including MASN’s Bob Carpenter and his dearly departed sidekick) were telling us how crappy a player Alberto Gonzalez was — this year we can’t get enough of him. Austin Kearns was the fair-haired boy when he came here from hog heaven, but lost his fans when he snapped a tendon and tried to play through it. Remember? We couldn’t get enough of Nyjer last year, when he was the best Nats player in September and ignited a team that didn’t look like it cared. And while we can roll our eyes at Morgan’s “Tony Plush” put-on, he is (by all accounts) a tough team player who wants to win. Now we’re all calling for his head. And why? Because he did this last week what Pete Rose did his entire career. So — yeah — the Nats will part ways with Nyjer this winter, but they shouldn’t do it before then and they shouldn’t do it because he bangs into opponents while playing the game. They should do it for the right reason: because Roger Bernadina is a better hitter and a better fielder. Give me a break: teams don’t win because they are filled with good citizens, they win because they have good players.