Tom Gorzelanny pitched his best game of the season, but it took a pinch hit walk off single off the right field wall in the ninth inning for the Nationals to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Friday night at Nationals Park. The game winning RBI came with Alex Cora on third base — a pinch runner for Michael Morse. Gorzellany was nearly unhittable, throwing seven complete innings and striking out eight Pirates. Gorzelanny gave up just six hits. Tyler Clippard pitched a no-run eighth inning, with Drew Storen picking up the win after pitching in the top of the ninth.

The walk off hit from Stairs made new Nats’ skipper Davey Johnson look like a genius. Johnson had started Stairs against the Angels (as a DH) so that the veteran could get his timing down. Former Nats’ manager Jim Riggleman had used Stairs sparingly, but Johnson is known for using everyone on the team. “Matt swung the bat pretty good out in L.A.,” Johnson said following the emotional win. “He is still not quite 100 percent, but he looked like 100 percent right there. That was a rocket. Like I was saying earlier, 25 guys have to contribute. If they are on the club, I’m going to use them.”

This was Stairs’ first game winning hit as a member of the Nationals. “Hopefully, this is the stepping stone,” Stairs told the press after the on-field celebration. “As a pinch-hitter, when you get a chance to get a big knock to win the game, it gives you a lot of confidence. So, definitely, if I get a chance to get in there, to get some at-bats or pinch-hit, the confidence is there, knowing I had a good at-bat today.”

Davey Johnson, who pinch hit Stairs for a badly slumping Ian Desmond was also pleased. “This became an all-time memory,” Johnson said. “It took 11 years in the big leagues to get that win. We are here in front of the home crowd. It was special.”

Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies shut down the Washington Nationals for eight innings last night at Nationals Park — but a 9th inning rally fell just short of what would have been a thrilling win. Halladay was brilliant through eight: he allowed just two hits and no runs over those innings in outmatching Washington sluggers. In all, Halladay threw 123 pitches, 88 of them for strikes. John Lannan also pitched well, but not well enough, giving up two runs on six hits in six innings. But Halladay was the story of the game. “He was good, not just tonight. Every time he takes the mound, he is good,” Nats fill-in third sacker Jerry Hairston said of Halladay. “He screws the ball around — cuts it, spots it, sinks it. He has four pitches that he could go to anytime.

The Nationals made it interesting in the 9th. Rick Ankiel led off the inning with a double and Jayson Werth (the subject of Philly fan signs in the seats along the third base line) followed with a single. Halladay recovered to strike out Adam LaRoche on a biting curve — at 81 mph. But the Nats kept the rally alive: Laynce Nix powered a line drive into right field, scoring Ankiel and Danny Espinosa followed with a single that drove Jimmy Rollins deep in the hole at short. But Halladay cut the rally short, striking out Matt Stairs (who never got the bat off his shoulder) and Pudge Rodriguez.

The Wisdom Of Section 1-2-9: With Phillies fans grouped along the third base line, Section 1-2-9 served as a kind of counterpoint. “Look at those guys,” a fan in row AA said, nodding to a loud group of Utley jersey-wearing groupies in the next section over. “I’ll bet they can’t even name Philadelphia’s starting line-up.” There was a nearby chuckle: “Schmidt at third, Dick Allen in left, Carlton on the mound . . . good players, crappy team.” A nod: “Didn’t Carlton win the Cy Young when they were a last place team?” A Phillies fan two rows back was listening, and leaned forward: “Yeah in ’72,” he said. “The Phillies won 59 games, he won 27 of them.” No one turned around.

When John Lannan took his warm-ups there was silence, and then this — “he put on weight, looks like he bulked up.” And then a response: “We should have traded him after his rookie year, when teams were asking about him. I don’t think they’re asking any more.” There were nods all around: “It’s always tough pitching when you’re behind in the count,” a fan said, “but Lannan has the toughest time. He just serves it up. When it’s 1-2, I just look the other way. It’s line drive time.” There was agreement with this: “Well, this year he has an infield, so maybe things will change, you never know.” The familiar face in a “DC” hat, who’d seen all of the team’s home games last year, chimed in. “They’ll keep him,” he said. “There’s no guarantees on Strasburg. Everyone assumes he’ll be back in September. But he was having forearm problems before he went down with the elbow.”

There were surprisingly few comments on Roy Halladay, even as he set down the side in the 5th and 6th. Except for a near surrender from a regular: “Yeah, well, it’s Roy Halladay.” Inevitably, perhaps, the talk turned to Bryce Harper. “He just put one out in Lexington,” a fan announced, turning in his seat. “You know, Davey Johnson has an interesting philosophy,” a fan responded. “He says if a guy can field his position, knows the strike zone and swings only at strikes, he’s ready.” A fan nodded: “By that measure Harper is ready now — we can send Broderick packing.” Another regular had this to say: “To hell with putting him in right. If you’re going to teach a guy the outfield, put him in center. He’s athletic. When’s the last time the majors had a premier center fielder?” The subject turned to pitching: “If I never see Garrett Mock up here again it’ll be too soon,” a Nats regular announced. “In Spring Training, everyone was talking about how good his stuff is. But when he gets up here, we never see it.”

In the top of the 9th, when it seemed Halladay would cruise to an easy victory, there were some final judgments. “I like our infield,” a fan said. “I wouldn’t trade it away for Greinke. I’m glad we didn’t do that. We need to develop pitching, not trade for it.” Nods, but one disagreement. “We need a a strike out guy, desperately. And we need to get this done in the next two years. Zimmerman isn’t getting younger and Werth will be at his peak next year and the year after. We do it then or we don’t do it.” Silence, and a final coda: “Listen, I’m just overjoyed that every time I look into the outfield I see Rick Ankiel out there instead of Nyjer Morgan.” No one said a word.

Things have gone from bad to worse for the Washington Nationals — with the team’s bats silenced by Padres’ pitching, at least the Nats could count on their starters to put in six or maybe even seven innings of solid work. That was particularly true for John Lannan, perhaps the club’s steadiest starter. That’s not true now. The normally predictable lefty was anything but predictable on Wednesday, as Lannan struggled through a difficult fifth inning, allowing the Friars to score five runs to extend the Nationals’ losing streak to an embarrassing six games. That makes two sweeps in a row: one in St Louis and one in San Diego — with the Nationals now without a win since the series against the Chicago Cubs. The Nats seem to have slipped back to some their worst habits under Manny Acta: of scoring little and pitching poorly — but at least playing with fire.

If Willie catches that ball . . .

While hard luck lefty John Lannan pitched well, though not brilliantly, the Padres found ways to score: in the fifth, Everth Cabrera and David Eckstein hit seeing eye singles before all-star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez hit a line drive that tailed away from left-fielder Wille Harris. The ball landed just out of his reach, scoring two runs. Chase Headley’s two-run double later in the half-inning added to San Diego’s lead, and that was essentially the game. In the clubhouse afterwards, Nationals interim manager Jim Riggleman remained upbeat: ”[Lannan] was a lot better than the line scores are going to say,” Riggleman said. “If Willie catches that ball, and I know it was a tough play, if we catch that ball, we’ve got a bunch of zeroes on the board and it doesn’t get us into trouble right there. You look for effort, and we got a good effort.” Lannan was also philosophical: ”That’s the way the game goes,” he said. “It has happened to me before. You’ve just got to tip your hat, they made things happen in the fifth. I battled today, I felt pretty good.”

Down On Half Street: Former Philadelphia Phillies All Star shortstop and Chicago Cubs manager (and now Trolleyman third base coach) Larry Bowa was in his element today on the MLB satellite radio network — he was in front of a microphone being asked his opinion. This isn’t the first time. Bowa has been here before and is now counted on as somewhat of a regular. Bowa can be obnoxious, which is why he’s no longer managing, but he’s mostly right about almost everything having to do with baseball. And he was again today. It was a fascinating interview and former Angels skipper and now XM Radio “Home Plate” on-air personality Kevin Kennedy did what he was supposed to do: he fed him softballs that Bowa dutifully lofted into the stands.

The American League is “far and away” the better league, Bowa said, and added that the A.L. East is packed with talent. He added that the difference between the two leagues is not even that close. (See, what did I tell you — this guy is obviously a moron.) Bowa then said that he thought that Manny Ramirez was overswinging in the wake of his suspension, to show that he could put the ball out of the ballpark without steroids, but that his swing would soon return to normal. “He’ll be okay,” Bowa said. That makes sense (and it’s what any L.A. cabbie could have told us). Bowa also said that it was the plan of the Dodgers to keep James Loney at first and play new-guy-in-L.A. Jim Thome off the bench: to keep a lefthanded bat ready for the post-season (another safe prediction). My own sense is that L.A. is haunted by the spectre of Matt Stairs, whose post-season home run last year so buckled the Trolley’s knees that they will not allow it to happen again. Hence — Thome!

But by far the most interesting and insightful comment — and least from a purely baseball perspective — was Bowa’s analysis of L.A.’s reason for acquiring the much-traveled Jon Garland, lately of Arizona. Garland is not simply a steady pitcher who can be another starting arm in the run-up to the post-season, he said, “he’s a very steady ground ball pitcher.” Bowa said that if you check Garland’s stats you’ll see that he pitches mostly down in the zone “and to contact” — as he did throughout his career with the White Sox, Angels and most recently the Diamondbacks. “So you have to have good fielders behind him, which he didn’t have in Arizona.” That’s not true with the Dodgers.

With the Dodgers, “who are either one or two in defense, I can’t remember which” (Bowa added) Garland can pitch to contact and get people out in a way that he couldn’t in Arizona. Los Angeles can put a defense behind Garland that will make him a better pitcher than he ever was in Arizona — and maybe even take half-a-run off his ERA. That would make Garland’s current ERA of 4.29 in Arizona somewhere in the under 3.50 range in L.A. “Which is darn good” by National League standards. That’s not bad statistical thinking for a shlameel like Bowa, who regularly harumphs about Bill James and sabarmetrics with his buddy-buds on the radio: “Bill James, you know, the guy who invented Sabermetrics,” radio guy Dan Patrick once reminded Bowa during an interview. Bowa turned up his nose. “What team did he play for?” Bowa whined. “This guy Bill James has all the answers, but he’s never worn a uniform.” Yeah, that’s right Larry. And neither did L.A. General Manager Ned Colletti – the guy who pulled the trigger on the Garland trade.

Now pitching ground balls in L.A.: Jon Garland