Chien-Ming Wang still isn’t ready for prime time. The former Yankee and new Nationals’ righthander struggled through five innings against the Braves yesterday, giving up seven hits and two runs through five innings — and the Nationals fell to Atlanta in the final game of their three game set, 6-4.

While Wang recovered from a shaky first inning (in which he gave up two runs), he had trouble in the fifth, which proved the key to the game. Wang threw wildly on a Brandon Beachy bleeder for a two base error, Jose “George” Constanza followed with a single and, after a force play and an out at the plate, Dan Uggla plated the two stranded runners (and himself) with a three run homer.

The Nats fought back, rapping out a four run sixth inning, with a walk by Danny Espinos, singles by Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, a Beachy wild pitch and a Jayson Werth home run. But four runs weren’t enough to secure the victory. Despite the loss, pitching coach Steve McCatty was upbeat on Wang. “He had better sink,” McCatty said after the game. “The offspeed pitches were a little flat. He got hurt on that. If he makes a play in the fifth inning — no damage.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Jason Marquis debuted for the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday, and it didn’t go well. The former Nats’ righty gave up ten hits and seven runs over four innings, as the Snakes fell to the McCoveys, 8-1. Marquis wasn’t the only thing traded to Arizona; so too was the explanation for why he does poorly: his sinker wasn’t sinking . . .

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It’s quite possible that finally — five months into the 2011 baseball season — the Nationals have finally found their leadoff hitter. Batting in the first slot in the line-up last night, centerfield veteran Rick Ankiel blasted two home runs in leading the Nationals to a 5-3 victory over the Braves at Nationals Park. Ankiel’s homers allowed Livan Hernandez (six innings, six hits and three strikeouts) to walk away with his sixth win of the season.

Ankiel’s homers were only his fourth and fifth of the year and came in the first and the fifth inning — both off of usually reliable Braves’ starter Jair Jurrjens, who registered his fourth loss. Ankiel, who has been in and out of the line-up all year (and has struggled at the plate) seems finally to be swinging with authority. “You just look for a pitch to drive. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you make it happen, sometimes you don’t,” Ankiel said after the victory. “Lately, I’ve been making good contact and good things are happening.”

It’s too soon to tell whether Ankiel’s Monday night performance means that he will be an every game feature at the leadoff position, but Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson liked what he saw: “Now he [Ankiel] is [playing] and he has cut down on his strikeouts, his swings are better,” Johnson said. “That comes with playing. In the last couple of years, I don’t think he has played much.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: If either Pittsburgh or Cincinnati are to have a chance in the N.L. Central, they’re going to have to beat the teams behind them. Last night they didn’t. Newest Ahoy Derrek Lee celebrated his arrival in Pittsburgh with two home runs, but the Pirates couldn’t beat the no-account Cubs, suffering their fourth loss in a row by a 5-3 score. Catch ‘em while you can; they’re fading, and fast . . .

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The Washington Nationals are shipping righty starter Jason Marquis west to Arizona in exchange for Diamondbacks minor league shortstop Zach Walters, according to ESPN’s Jim Bowden. Walters, currently in high-A baseball, hits for average, but with apparently little power. The trade of Marquis to Arizona comes as a surprise — as it was thought he was the prime target for the Detroit Tigers, who needed another starter.

Marquis himself is probably not that shocked — for while he clearly stated he wanted to remain in D.C., the Nationals have fallen out of contention for a Wild Card spot and are still in “a building mode.” The Diamondbacks will assume the rest of Marquis’ contract, estimated at 2.47 million. Walters was drafted by the D-Backs in the ninth round of the 2010 player draft.

It’s unfair, really, to use a picture of Jayson Werth below a headline describing the lack of hitting of the Washington Nationals. The right fielder, caught in a year-long slump, seems finally to be snapping out of it — but, with the exception of Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, you can’t say that for the rest of the team.

The Nationals lack of hitting was on full display on Thursday at Nationals Park, as the Florida Marlins completed a three game sweep of the Nationals, plunging the Anacostia Nine further into last place in the N.L. East, and sparking increased talk of what the Nationals might now do as the trade deadline ticks down. And it’s clear: they’re going to do something.

The Marlins’ 5-2 pasting of the Nationals had a little of everything: an indifferent outing from lefty John Lannan (5.2 innings pitched, four earned runs), a missed sign from third base coach Bo Porter (Ian Desmond was thrown out at third for the third out in the fourth), and (outside of Werth and Zimmerman, who accounted for six of Washington’s seven hits) an offense that just didn’t show up.

John Lannan pitched poorly — a bad sign for a staff that is already struggling. “He was all over the place,” Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson said of Lannan. “It looked like he was strong coming out. I took him as far as he has been this year, just to save my bullpen. We are all stretched way out right now. Normally, he would have seven or eight innings with those numbers of pitches. It was a struggle.”

The big bats for the Marlins were Mike Stanton (who smacked his 24th home run) and Emilio Bonifacio (who was 2-4 and extended his hitting streak to 26 games). “Realistically, we have to play better baseball,” Jayson Werth said after the loss. “We still have to hit and drive in runs, and we haven’t done that all year. If you want to win, you have to score.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: How ’bout them Mets? The New Yorkers waltzed into Cincinnati on Monday with rumors of trades swirling through the clubhouse and promptly took four games from the Reds — who are suddenly stuck in reverse. Forget New York’s pitching, the team scored ten yesterday on 14 hits, downing the Sparkys 10-9. The Madoffs are now surging, and remaking their roster at the same time . . .

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With Chad Billingsley on the mound in the top of the 1st inning, the Washington Nationals loaded the bases with no outs — with Billingsley reeling from a walk, a hit batter and two singles. But the Nationals could only muster a single run in that inning, as Billingsley ended the threat with three straight strikeouts, and went on to tame the Nationals and secure a 3-1 L.A. victory.

The Nationals’ defeat brought the team to a disappointing 3-6 record on their Atlanta-Houston-L.A. road trip as they headed home for a crucial set of games against their N.L East opponents. “We should have [broken it open] in that first inning,” Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. “We couldn’t put the ball in play with nobody out, and that hurt us. And then Billingsley settled down and pitched an effective ballgame. We swung and missed a lot today.”

Like Billingsley, Nationals starter Jason Marquis was shaky in the early going: the Washington righty gave up two early runs, but then settled down to pitch six innings, while giving up three runs on five hits. “It was a battle,” Marquis said of his outing. “I was trying to keep my team in the game as best as possible. I had some unfortunate breaks. That’s the way the game goes. We just weren’t able to break through.” How effective was L.A.’s pitching? The Nationals were only able to muster two hits for the entire game, and never had another one after the first inning.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: There are all kinds of grand slams — there are regular grand slams, there are walk-off grand slams (a victory when a grand slam provides a walk-off victory by more than a single run), there are “ultimate” walk-off grand slams (a walk-off grand slam that gives a team a victory by a single run), there are inside-the-park walk-off grand slams (you get the idea), and then there are “ultimate” walk-off inside-the-park grand slams.

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This is exactly what the Washington Nationals needed: Jason Marquis pitched eight beautiful innings and the Nats scored three in the ninth to down the Houston Astros, at Minute Maid Park, 5-2. Marquis threw 102 pitches, 69 of them for strikes, as his patented sinker baffled Houston hitters. The win put the Nationals back at .500 — and in third place in the N.L. East.

The Nationals stayed in the game against Houston’s tough young pitcher, Jordan Lyles, by featuring the long ball. Michael Morse hit a soaring shot onto the glass screen in left field in the 5th inning, and Ryan Zimmerman put one into the right field seats in the seventh inning. The Zimmerman homer tied the game. But the 9th inning was key, as the Nationals scored three on singles by Bernadina, Zimmerman and Morse and a Laynce Nix bounder to the right side.

Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson was more than pleased with the Marquis outing, as it not only provided the win, but allowed the team to rest their overused relievers. “I was able to get ahead early,” Marquis said in reflecting on his outing. “I got some quick outs. They were being aggressive. I’ve been feeling pretty good all year. I had a good sinker-slider combo tonight.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: There are three things that just aren’t gonna happen, no matter how much we talk about them: the apocalypse, the rapture, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Until this year, we might have added a fourth — the Pittsburgh Pirates winning the N.L. Central. And yet, there they are, atop the scrum that includes semi-powerhouse Milwaukee, perennial favorite St. Louis, and last year’s winner, the Cincinnati Reds.

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Ubaldo Jimenez looked like his old self on Saturday night, holding the Nationals to just five hits and one run in eight innings — and notching a 2-1 win for his Colorado Rockies. Jimenez, who is suffering through a 4-8 season and an unusually high (4.14) ERA, looked like the Ubaldo Jimenez of last year, when his up-in-the-eyes fastball was the talk of the league. The Nationals loss, meanwhile, squandered a solid outing from former Rockies’ hurler Jason Marquis, who toughed out six innings, giving up two runs to the often run-starved Heltons.

Despite Jimenez’s dazzling performance, the Nationals were within 90 feet of tying the game and a long bomb away from winning it. But slumping star Jayson Werth couldn’t keep the ball out of the glove of shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, who turned a double play to end the game. Werth, who is mired in a season-long slump, has been booed by Nationals’ fans this year, but no more so than on Saturday, as he stood beyond first after hitting into his game ending double play.

But for Washington, the problem was not Werth — it was the Rockies’ staring pitcher. “He’s filthy,” Johnson said of Jimenez. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the league. We’ve been swinging the bats pretty good, but he calmed us down quite a bit. I think we outhit them, just couldn’t score.”

The Nationals loss marked their third loss in a row — all of them by one run. That mini-streak had been preceded by three wins, all of them also by one run. “Right now, we’re living and dying by the one-run game,” shortstop Ian Desmond, who was 2-3 with a triple, noted. “These one-run games are just flukes. It’s one of those things, but it will turn around for us.”

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