There’s a reason why Pittsburgh righty hurler Kevin Correia is considered one of the National League’s great pitching secrets. Correia, the journeyman retread from San Diego (who can justly claim that he should have been named to the National League’s All Star starting rotation), continued his career-defining season by holding the Washington Nationals to two runs over six complete innings. His teammates, meanwhile, slugged out sixteen hits and defeated the punchless and now pitchless Washington Nationals 10-2. The win gave the Pirates a split in the four game series.

It is only natural to forget Correia’s role in the Nationals’ defeat, as Washington starter Jason Marquis ran into a Pittsburgh line-up that hammered out eight hits and seven runs (six of them earned), against what has to be considered one of Washington’s best starters. Marquis simply did not have his good stuff on Sunday, a fact attested to by an outing that went all of 1.1 innings. Reliever Collin Balester wasn’t much better: he gave up two runs on four hits in four innings, only to be followed by Henry Rodriguez, who gave up a walk and a hit in 1.2.

There wasn’t much to celebrate on Sunday, unless it was a Wilson Ramos homer (in a losing effort), or that lead-off man Roger Bernadina went 2-5, or that Matt Stairs got an odd start at first base. The Pirates, meanwhile, belied their reputation as a light-hitting team: Andrew McCutchen (snubbed by All Star selecters) was 3-5, Lyle Overbay appeared to be unstoppable (he was 3-4 with 3 RBIs) and second sacker Neil Walker was 3-5 with two RBIs.

Nearly everyone in the Pirates’ line-up came to hit, with the Pirates bullpen combining for three innings of three hit ball. The win kept the Pirates above .500 by two games — and the Nationals just below it. The North Side Drama Queens, one of baseball’s doormats, come into town from an emotionally draining experience against the Pale Hose for a four game set that starts tomorrow.

The Nationals came up with one run in the 9th inning to beat the Mariners 1-0 at Nationals Park — and sweep Seattle in their three game series. Jason Marquis, who had to settle for a no-decision, pitched beautifully, outmatching Seattle fireballer Michael Pineda. Marquis held the Mariners to three hits through eight innings of work, inducing fourteen ground ball outs. Marquis was superb and while he did not get the win, he has established himself as the Nationals’ pitching ace — and put himself in contention for an All Star berth. Marquis threw 108 pitches, 70 of them for strikes.

The Nationals sealed the victory in the 9th inning: Michael Morse singled, Danny Espinosa reached first on a bunt, and Ivan Rodriguez got on base on a sacrifice bunt. Jerry Hairston came to the plate with the bases jammed, but hit a grounder that allowed the Mariners to get a force out of Morse at home. The next batter, Laynce Nix, on an 0-1 count, hit a short sacrifice fly into left field that scored Danny Espinosa from third. The Nationals finished the homestand at 8-1 and have won 11 of their last twelve starts. The Nationals now head to the south side of Chicago to take on the White Sox.

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…)

There’s a reason why the Washington Nationals don’t like the Arizona’s Diamondbacks. Since the days of hotdogging Eric Byrnes, the D-Backs have been known as a showboating franchise with a nasty streak — and they proved it again during the just-concluded four game series with the Nationals.

While the Nationals were able to pull out a win in the 11th inning of the final game of the four game set (an inning that included a Michael Morse grand slam dinger), the series was noted for its HBP scoring notations: two hit batters in game one (Upton and Werth), Upton twice in game two, one  hit batter in game three (Werth, again) and five in game four (Upton, Werth, Morse and Espinosa — twice). By the end of the series detail-oriented scorers had notched nine unemotional HBPs in their books, with Upton being hit four times — and Werth three. Both teams anticipated a bench-clearing brawl (and it certainly would have cleared the air), but it never quite came.

The HBPs took their toll: by the time the final game had ended (nearly four-and-one-half hours after it began), Jason Marquis and D-Backs pitcher Esmerling Vasquez and both managers were ejected — and Justin Upton was being considered for an Oscar for his writhing reaction to a one-that-got-away pitch from Jason Marquis in the 6th.

On Saturday, Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman, who probably saw this coming, rejected any Arizona contention that the Nats were targeting Upton: “I feel terrible that the same guy gets hit three times,” Riggleman said. “But clearly, the first night when he got hit, that put the tying run to the plate. Obviously, we don’t want that to happen.” The Diamondbacks didn’t believe him, so they targeted Werth in game four and, when they couldn’t get him, they went after Danny Espinosa.

The nasty plunking by both teams did little to offset a near-catastrophic Nationals loss in the final set-to: the Anacostia Nine were up 4-0 in the eighth, but the bullpen (with the lone exception of Tyler Clippard) couldn’t hold the lead. The Diamondbacks scored three in the bottom of the 9th (the result of an almost unheard of spate of just-a-little-outside wildness from Drew Storen), but the Nationals held off the Snakes in the 10th before scoring five on reliever Joe Paterson in the 11th.

A near disaster, then, for sure — but reminiscent in its own way (it’s a stretch, but if you could hum the theme for “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” right here, that might help) of any classic “Spaghetti Western,” where the good guy gets the nasty punk and rides off into the sunset: or in the case of the Nationals, onto a charter flight for California.

As it turned out, the Nationals scored runs when they needed them: with Wilson Ramos’ big bat coming through for a homer in the 8th, Roger Bernadina going 3-6, Danny Espinosa at 2-4 and and Morse’s blast in the 11th. The victory gave the Nationals a needed split in Phoenix, and they now head to San Francisco, where they face Timmy and the San Francisco McCoveys.

Danny Espinosa made a strong case for being N.L. Rookie of the Year last night, notching three hits — two of them home runs — as the Nationals scorched Cliff Lee and the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-2. For Nationals fans who worried that their team’s game-in, game-out hitting drought would continue, Tuesday night provided a needed tonic. The Nationals registered ten runs on thirteen hits, to support the solid pitching of veteran Jason Marquis, who is now 6-2.

Espinosa was 3-4 (with four RBIs), but joined there by Michael Morse (3-5, with two RBIs), who is now hitting .301. Marquis was his usual steady self: he gave up back-to-back home runs in the fifth, but then settled down to throw 6.1 of two run baseball. Jason Marquis and his magic sinker have now made their mark on the N.L. East, where the former Rockies’ steady performer is now viewed as the centerpiece of the Nationals much-better-than-average rotation and is (sometimes) damn near untouchable.

Perhaps the most effusive post-game comments came from “things have got to change” Jayson Werth, who praised Espinosa and the hitting spree: “We’ve had our chances this year,” Werth told the press. “We’ve had opportunities, had guys on, been in this situation and had the matchup. For whatever reason, we haven’t got the job done enough. As time goes on, I think we’re going to relax as a club and do the things we need to do.”

The game was preceded by a pre-game chat to the team by Jim Riggleman: who told the Anacostia Nine to keep plugging and the hits would come. After the ten-run win, Riggleman was pleased with the progress shown by rookie Espinosa: “He’s an electric player. He’s a strong kid with powerful movements,” he said. “He’s going to be a tremendous player as the left-handed side catches up to the right-handed side.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: As if things aren’t bad enough for the San Francisco Giants (with the wind-knocked-out-of-you injury to Buster Posey), they are now looking up the ladder in the N.L. West at the stinking Arizona Diamondbacks. While the D-Backs lost to the Marlins in Arizona last night, the team with not-much-chance-at-anything had previously won six in a row, the most recent victory being a knock-em-down 15-4 pounding of the Fish.

The Diamondbacks now sit atop the N.L. West, and are leading the Giants by a half game. Last night, the Giants took on the Cardinals, losing a 4-3 heart breaker, giving up three runs in the eighth. The Giants have been bitten by the Nats’ bug: they were 2-25 with runners in scoring position in last night’s contest and Aaron Rowand is starting to talk about how it takes a little “luck” for teams to repeat — a sure sign the McCoveys are stumbling around the diamond. “Bruce [Bochy] has been really working on [Posey replacement] Eli Whiteside’s hitting,” San Francisco television commentator Mike Kurkow said in the middle of last night’s game, “but, you know, it’s just not working.” Whiteside is hitting .171.

And the key to the D-Back’s success? Well, pitching and good defense: and yada, yada, yada. Really, it has to be Justin Upton: who is hitting the ball like he’s Jose Bautista. Upton is starting to catch fire: he’s .333 over the last ten games. On Monday, he was 5-5, and last night 2-4.  If Upton has another year like 2009 (.300, 26 home runs), the Showboats will hang in there, and the Giants will rue the day that they didn’t re-sign Juan Uribe. After mopping up the Phillies today, the Nationals will head out to Phoenix to see if they can stop this juggernaut.

Where Have You Gone Ryan Zimmerman, Nats Nation Turns It’s Lonely Eyes To You: The hobbled Nationals third baseman is rehabbing in Florida, and plans to play an extended Spring Training game this week, according to the Nationals. Don’t get your hopes up. Zimmerman, recovering from an abdominal strain, is still set to return in mid-June, and is apparently in pain when he throws from third across his body (yeah, well, me too). We are now on day-whatever of our extended coverage of the Z-man’s return and, despite the 10 run outburst last night, we sure could use him.

This movie is about to become “A Nightmare On Half Street.” The Nationals are now 21-28, and have won only one game in their last seven. It’s getting old (hell, it’s been old), particularly for the team’s veterans — who expect more. After the Nationals dropped their latest in Milwaukee (by a score of 6-4, and at the hands of might-have-been-a-Nat Zack Greinke), Jayson Werth showed his frustration. “Things need to change,” he said, but then refused to say exactly what those things were. “I’m not really going to get into it right now,” he told a crowd of reporters. “It is what it is. It’s unfortunate. We’re a way better ball club.”

Well, yes. And no. The Nationals’ latest run (or spiral), might have been predicted. Pitching carried the anemic line-up through all of April and most of May — but without more consistent at-bats, it was bound to reach its natural level: it’s just average, and maybe not even. Which is to say: sooner or later the starters and bullpen were going to have problems, it’s the way things are in baseball, and even for the best teams. That’s happened to the Nationals, and the frustration is showing: Jason Marquis blew up at Jim Riggleman in Baltimore, Jayson Werth spouted off yesterday and reliever Cole Kimball threw an on-the-bench tantrum on Wednesday.

Are the Nationals feuding? Tom Boswell takes on the question in the Washington Post this morning — under the print edition headline “In danger of falling apart.” Boswell’s conclusion is that the recent spate of clubhouse eruptions is the predictable result of losing, and actually a good sign: “Maybe they are sick and damn tired of it.” Agreed. If the signing of Werth, the return to health of Marquis and the addition of veterans Adam LaRoche, Rick Ankiel, Alex Cora, Todd Coffey, Jerry Hairston and Matt Stairs means that the team expects a lot more than they’re getting that’s just great. But . . .

But Ankiel, Cora, Hairston and Stairs are not the heart of this team, and they’re not the future. Ramos, Zimmermann, Espinosa, Desmond, Morse and Bernadina (and Storen, Burnett, Clippard and Coleman — and others) are the heart of this team, and they’ve been losing. After calming down, Werth got it right. “A lot of these guys are younger,” he said following yesterday’s loss. “We have to make sure they continue to develop regardless of whether we are winning or losing. I think that’s important for the future of this club. But you know, things need to change.” Yeah right. Things need to change: the Nationals need to stop all the fussing and just start winning. If they do, the feuding will go away.

You can’t blame Nationals fans for celebrating: after two embarrassing shutout losses in New York, the Nationals rapped out nineteen hits and scored 17 runs in a badly needed win against their rival Orioles. Danny Espinosa was the team’s heaviest hitter, going 3-4 and notching five RBIs. The Nats’ power surge also included home runs by Jayson Werth (who had two), Roger Bernadina, Laynce Nix, Wilson Ramos — and of course Espinosa. That’s six Nationals’ home runs in one game, something that Nationals fans never see.

Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter was philosophical about the loss: “I think it was probably a given they were going to hit better as the season progresses. It’s just unfortunate it was against us.” That was probably news for Nats’ fans, who have been increasingly critical of the anemic line-up and wondering when things were going to change. But Friday’s game was a sign that perhaps the Nationals have gotten on track. Jayson Werth seems to think so: “I think everybody knows we have been struggling with the bats and not getting hits,” he said in the visitor’s clubhouse following the win. “It has been a long time coming. We have a good team. Hopefully we can build on this and keep going.”

Unfortunately for Washington, starter Jason Marquis didn’t stay in the game long enough to profit from the Nats’ outburst. The Nationals’ righty, who has returned to the form he showed for the Colorado Rockies’ in 2009, was pulled by Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman after four — and was damned mad about it, showing his emotion in the dugout after he was lifted. Riggleman said he’d never seen Marquis so angry. Marquis shrugged off the incident: “I want to be out on the field, battling out there with the teammates,” he said. “It’s a one-game thing. So I’m going to go out there, do my work like I always do, prepare for the fifth day, take that ball and be ready to get a W.”

But the story of the game was the Nationals at the plate: the 17 runs were a Nationals record, and nearly every slumping player contributed: Ian Desmond was 2-6, Wilson Ramos was 3-4 and Jayson Werth brought his batting average to .247. And despite the lifting of Jason Marquis (he simply looked ineffective), the Nationals got a solid three innings performance from maybe-he-can-hit-the-strike-zone after all Henry Rodriguez.

The other piece of good news (though it’s almost, dare we say, predictable now) is the Nationals were perfect in the field. Which is pretty good commentary on the game: when the team puts it altogether, they look almost (almost) unbeatable.