Following his shutout performance against the Nationals on Tuesday, it’s easy to understand why Arizona righty Ian Kennedy (16-4, with a sparkling 3.09 ERA), is being mentioned so prominently as a candidate for the N.L. Cy Young Award. Kennedy threw seven innings of six hit ball while striking out eight, to lead the Diamondbacks in a 2-0 skunking of the Nationals. While facing a revived Washington line-up known for stunning last minute wins, Kennedy was never really in danger — and added a single and a double of his own to the victory.

While the D-Backs win was hardly seizmic, the Snakes are suffering through the aftershocks of a six game losing streak — and we can hardly fault them for being concerned about losing their fragile lead in the N.L. West to the San Francisco Giants. Kennedy’s performance outshone that of Nationals’ lefty Jordan Zimmermann, who was nearly as good — giving up a home run to Sean Burroughs (with a man on) that proved the difference.

Zimmermann — who must be accounted as the Nationals most effective pitcher this season — lasted into the seventh, but could not complete the inning, taking his eleventh loss against eight wins. It is likely that Washington fans have seen the last of Zimmermann for the year, as he will probably be making only one more start for the season, and that one will probably come on the road.

For a time on Tuesday, it appeared that the Nationals and D-Backs would pick up where they left off in Arizona, the last time the two teams met, back in early June. That knock-down contest came close to sparking a donnybrook, and the same thing nearly happened on Tuesday — when Justin Upton (knocked down in Arizona) was hit by Zimmermann in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of that frame, Ian Kennedy seemed to retaliate, hitting Morse. Both benches were warned.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Speaking of earthquakes, the ground is opening up under the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis fans rarely boo their hometown boys, but they did last night when the Redbirds gave up two runs to the Trolleys in the top of the ninth, losing 2-1. The catcalls came down as the Cardinals then went quietly in their half of the inning . . .

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John Lannan seems to be getting better and better. But for skeptical Nats’ fans (who have a right to be skeptical), Lannan’s outing against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night, seemed the clearest evidence that the young lefty deserves a prominent role in the Nationals’ future — and might be moving into the top tier of major league baseball’s most effective and consistent lefty starters. Lannan is now 8-7 with a 3.65 ERA.

Backed by home runs from Ian Desmond, Michael Morse and Rick Ankiel (who powered a Derek Lowe offering into centerfield — for a grand slam), Lannan pitched 6.2 innings and struck out eight, in leading the Nationals to a 9-3 rout of the Braves at Nationals Park. Everything seemed to click: Lannan baffled Atlanta hitters, who could never put enough hits together to threaten the Nats, while Ankiel (who is suddenly hot), raised his batting average by ten points in ten games.

The win was Washington’s fourth in a row, a needed lift after a rough road trip and a morale sapping dive into last place. Washington is now three games under .500 and within striking distance of the middle of the pack in the N.L. East. The Braves, on the other hand, seem to be going the other way: Lowe was shaky and the Braves are now in danger of losing their grip on the Wild Card spot.

Not surprisingly, particularly the way the game is being played in “the post-steroid era,” the break-out play of the contest had nothing to do with either Lannan or Ankiel. It was Jonny Gomes’ take-out slide of Atlanta catcher David Ross on a fielder’s choice play with the bases loaded that provided the spark for Washington. The Gomes’ play upended Ross, who never touched home for the force out.

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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.

The Washington Nationals just can’t seem to solve the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phuzzies’ 6-5 victory was a near thing for the Nats, who threatened all the way to the end — but could never get the timely hits they needed to win. Nor could the Nats rely on the normally dependable Tyler Clippard, who gave up back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning after the Nats had tied the game at four. “Clippard wasn’t locating his fastball,” interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “He has taken the ball and has done a good job, but the last couple of nights, he hasn’t been able to locate the fastball and has paid for it.”

Big innings made the difference: starter Garrett Mock suffered through an insufferable second frame, giving up a double, single, single, walk and single before pitching two ground-outs and a fly ball. The Phillies scored three: but the Nats were lucky it wasn’t more. Once again, the playoff bound Phillies relied on the long ball, with home runs by Jason Werth and Pedro Feliz. Phillies’ pitcher Cliff Lee wandered through an unsteady performance, yet somehow survived seven innings of 10 hit baseball to take the win. The big news of the night (for Phillies fans) was the dog that didn’t bark: Brad Lidge remained seated in the Phillies bullpen as Ryan Madson closed the door on the Nats in the 9th: a sign, perhaps, of things to come for the A.L. East leaders.

Down On Half Street: Call it the reverse curse. Twenty-four hours after he was scoured by television commentators Rob Dibble and Bob Carpenter, Alberto Gonzalez lit up Nationals Park with a three-for-three outing — all of them doubles. Gonzalez amazing rehabilitation wasn’t enough to boost the sinking Nats past the Phuzzies on Wednesday, but it raised his average to .259 — two points better than Trolley third baseman (yes, you heard me right) Ronnie Belliard, described by the MASN on-air crew as a “very good hitter” (this is my soapbox, and I’ll be damned if I’ll get down from it) . . . Gonzalez’s doubles weren’t cheap: a second inning rope down the first base line, a fifth inning shot off the centerfield wall and a seventh inning scorcher to left-center . . .

It’s never too late to watch baseball. If you live in the near-suburbs of either Maryland or Virginia a quick car ride home from Nationals Park puts you in front of the television in about the fourth inning of the west coast games. Last night’s featured match-up was the ESPN Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks tussle in Phoenix. A Trolleys-Showboats match-up is always entertaining. But last night was especially so: outside of the pure enjoyment of watching righty wizard Dan Haren pitch, the game included some interesting in-dugout politics. Haren pitched his usual clever hit-the-strikezone-with-every-pitch game (it really is something to see) before the 7th, but in the seventh he put two men on with one gone. Sure enough out trotted Showboat manager A.J. Hinch. Haren gave him a glance coming out of the dugout and then looked away. It looked like he was going to vomit. Later, when Haren was sitting on the bench, Hinch went over to explain, but Haren just shook his head: he wouldn’t even look at him. Surprise, surprise: Hinch made the right call. Reliever Juan Gutierrez pitched the Dbacks out of the jam and Hinch looked like a genius. Proof positive of that old adage: even a blind dog finds a bone sometimes.

Joe Torre pulled out all of the stops in trying to win the game, including getting through a jam in the 9th. George Sherrill had pitched an effective eighth, but was relieved by Ramon Troncoso. Troncoso opened the ninth, and immediately threw an infield chopper hit by Gerardo Parra past the right ear of Dodger first baseman James Loney. Parra ended up on second. Torre was not amused. The next hitter, Ryan Roberts, sacrificed pinch runner Trent Oeltjen to third. So man on third, one out, with Showboat hitter and Dodger-slayer Stephen Drew coming to the plate. Torre, leaning on the dugout fence, smiled to himself and turned to pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, who was studying the stats book: “Put him on?” Torre asked. Honeycutt didn’t really answer, he just nodded. “You sure?” Honeycutt nodded again.

So, man on first and third, one out, with no-joke Justin Upton walking to the batter’s box. “Again?” Torre asked. This time he wasn’t smiling. And Honeycutt, still eyeing the stats book, nodded again. And so Torre held up four fingers. But this time Troncoso looked in at Torre, his jaw slack, so out Joe trotted to give his pitcher some calcium. We might guess at what he had to say: “Now listen, kid, we’re setting up the double play here and giving you someone to pitch to. Reynolds follows Upton and he’s got more strikeouts than a middle aged man at a high school prom. So put this guy on and then throw strikes.” Troncoso didn’t like it, but what was he going to say? He shuffled a bit, threw four balls to Upton and turned to face Mark Reynolds. It was a near thing. Torre watched every pitch while Honeycutt continued staring at his stats book — and Troncoso walked in the winning run.