Nationals’ starter John Lannan and relief specialist Sean Burnett combined to shut down the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night 4-2, to put the team back in the win column. The badly needed victory followed a disheartening three game set against the Florida Marlins, in which the team was outscored 22-7 and failed to get the pitching necessary to catch the hit heavy Fish in the N.L. East. The 4-2 victory had to be one of the most satisfying of the year, marking the continued comeback of Lannan and an exclamation point to Burnett’s continued mastery (2.72 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 43 innings). “I just feel good out there,” Lannan said after the win. “I feel confident with my stuff. I spent time down [in Double-A] trying to get my two-seam [fastball] back, getting in good position to hide my ball more and being more deceptive. It still is going to get better.” The Nats continue their series against the Showboats on Saturday night, when a struggling Jason Marquis will go to the mound.

The Wisdom of Section 1-2-9: The last Stephen Strasburg outing against the Marlins was unusual in at least three respects. The first is that the stands weren’t full — as they usually are when “the kid” pitches. And it was noticed. “Where the hell is everyone?” There was no answer, but at least one grumpy sigh. “Maybe that other team is playing tonight.” The point was rhetorical — they weren’t . . . The second is that Strasburg did poorly, a disappointment and a distinct surprise for the 25,000-plus who did show. “Amazing,” a Strasburg partisan noted . . . The third seems almost immoral (or perhaps simply disloyal): Strasburg’s early exit against the Marlins spurred an early exit for Nats fans. “It’s not that Strasburg is done,” a Section 1-2-9 loyalist announced while getting up from his seat and averting his eyes, “it’s just that I’ve been here before — I’ve seen him” — and there was a quick nod to Miguel Batista, warming up on the mound . . .

In fact, Batista has been exactly what skipper Riggleman said he would be: an innings eater who can pitch more than three frames per stint. That is to say, his heroism in subbing for “the kid” against Atlanta at the end of July has been quickly forgotten. “Yeah, I loved that,” a season holder noted, “but that was then and this is now. And right now I’m thinking that we need something longer term than ‘Miss Iowa’” . . . “Geeeez,” another said, in referring to Strasburg’s inability to control his breaking stuff, “what the hell do you suppose is wrong?” There was silence for only a heartbeat. “There isn’t anything wrong, it’s just a bad outing. We need to be patient. A career is a long time. There’s going to be bad outings.” The same might be said of the entire team. When the Nats failed to get to Ricky Nolasco (with Livan pitching), there was a palpable discomfort among the section’s more vocal partisans. “So much for 3-4-5,” a fan said, referring to the Zimmerman, Dunn, Willingham combination. “This guy [Nolasco] isn’t exactly Cy Young.”

In the long history of a full season, Saturday’s loss will go down as just another statistical digit — but the 5-1 struggle that pitted the Washington Nationals against the central division-leading Cincinnati Reds may well mark a turning point in the Nats season. Or, at least, that’s the hope. Following the game (which featured enough oddities to ensure endless entertainment for the 25,000 souls who watched it at Nationals Park), Nats skipper Jim Riggleman seemed oddly upbeat, stressing that the pure gamesmanship of the Anacostia Nine provided convincing evidence that the Nats can play with — and beat — any team in the majors. That wasn’t true last year.

The facts of the game are this: Nats starter Luis Atilano pitched well enough to raise the argument that when “the phenom” arrives, he should stay (seven complete, six hits, one earned), Washington hitters battled hard (seven hits in all and numerous scoring opportunities) against a rising Reds star who seemed oddly masterful on the mound, and the team successfully scrummed through a puzzling interference call on Ian Desmond and a bone-crushing collision between Cincinnati second sacker Brandon Phillips and D.C. backstop Wil Nieves, that left Phillips to fist pump his courageous ability to elbow a player caught flat-footed and undefended. It was the response to that among Nats fans that finally seemed to congeal the kind of loyalty that Riggleman & Company so prize: Miguel Batista got a high sign from Ivan Rodriguez on the bench (a raised eyebrow and then a nod) and plunked the more-than-deserving Phillips with a 89 mph fastball. (We once doubted Miguel’s abilities: now he can do no wrong.) As Phillips slogged to first, Batista walked proudly from the mound — even before he was tossed by the inimitable (and unstable) Joe West.

Nats fans, who awaited the moment with patience, rose to cheer.

Following the game, the back-and-forth between the Nats and Reds (the interference call, the subsequent ejection of Riggleman, the Phillips-Nieves collision and subsequent fist-pumping — and then the Batista retaliation) elicited enough interest to anesthetize an elephant. This was all, well, par for the course. At least in baseball. “I just go out there and play the game of baseball the way I know how,” Phillips said. “I just play with a lot of excitement. I didn’t see anything wrong with what I did. If people think I did something wrong, I apologize to whoever thinks so, but it’s baseball.” Batista shrugged:  “It was just playing baseball,” he said. “Everyone who knows Phillips, you have to go way in and way out.” Perhaps, but Nats fans filing past the Navy Yard Metro could at least salve their 5-1 feelings with this palliative: if Dusty’s talented boys think they can win through intimidation, the likes of Miguel Batista will show them otherwise.

A family member put it best in the seventh inning of last night’s Nats win in Denver: “Maybe the umps are on psychedelics. Maybe they don’t know it’s raining.” It didn’t seem out of the question: for about five innings of the eight inning contest last night, Denver looked more like Manila during a monsoon than Colorado in the warm spring. The night provided Nats and Rockies regulars with a slick slog that puddled the infield and forced outfielders to wade through inch-deep water to catch fly balls descending between torrential rains. The weather didn’t seem to bother the Nats, who banged out 14 runs on sixteen hits, scoring seven in the top of the eighth to seal the victory. Ryan Zimmerman slugged two homers and drove in six, to push the Nats to a 20-15 record. That’s good enough for second place in the NL Least and among the best in all of baseball.

It’s Not A Motorcycle Baby, It’s A Chopper: The Nats shouldn’t get a pass just because they’re playing well. So here goes: what is it that Jim Riggleman hasn’t figured out about Miguel Batista? The Nats skipper brought in Batista’s middle innings arm to provide experience and stability, but Riggleman’s confidence in Batista has to be waning. Mine sure is. Batista was shaky again last night, allowing the Rockies back into the game when they should have been prayed and planted. The former Cubs, Mariner, Diamondback, Blue Jay, Pirate and Marlin sports a 6.04 ERA, but that number should be checked — it has to be low. Last night, the 38-year-old veteran (rough translation: this should be his last stop), came into the game in the 5th, but couldn’t survive the 6th. I almost expected Jim Tracy to beg Rigs to leave him in the game. He gave up a round-tripper to Miguel Olivo. But that wasn’t a surprise to anyone with eyes. Everytime Batista gets behind in the count (which is nearly every batter), he puffs himself up, concentrates real hard . . . and grooves an 87 mph fastball. This is then followed by his shake of the head and a Riggleman visit to the mound. Enough already . . .

Rob Dibble is the constant focus of fan complaints. The MASN baseball analyst is outspoken, a fan of movies that only adolescents would like, culturally out-of-tune (“hey, remember the Fonz?”), and a sometime drain on the patience of Bob Carpenter — a 17-year-old in a forty-something’s body. But for those of us who spend the early hours watching the MLB’s network feeds from the midwest and left coast, Dibble comes across as a guy who knows the game and isn’t afraid to express an opinion. Don’t believe it? Tune into a Cardinals broadcast to see what I mean: Dopey and Sleepy do baseball. I swear — play-by-play guy Dan McLaughlin and color analyst Mike Shannon are terrific, but only if you like long silences and chit chat about everything but baseball. I once timed one of their silences, through two batters and four pitches into a third. And then this: “Nice night.” I thought maybe they’d fallen asleep. I’ll take Dibble any day. Then too (but this is only CFG’s opinion), he beats the daylights out of former Nats broadcast brain Don Sutton, whose phony baloney all-American we-are-family shtick (“Austin Kearns is just a fine young man”) wore out after the first rendition of “America.”

But Dibs makes mistakes, forgivable mistakes to be sure — but mistakes. You can almost feel Carpenter smiling to himself when he does. Last night was pretty typical for the Carpenter-Dibble duo. When Nats’ catcher Ivan Rodriguez came to bat in the top of the eighth with runners on first and second, Carpenter asked his sidekick whether Riggleman would have him push the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. “No way. He’s hitting .407 with runners in scoring position,” Dibs said. “Riggleman’ll have him hit away.” Sure nuf, Pudge laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, putting runners on second and third. With two on and one out and with first base open, Roger Bernadina was intentionally walked. This brought pinch hitter Cristian Guzman to the plate, who promptly hit a bases-clearing triple. Silence. “Rigs made a pretty good call on that bunt,” Carpenter said.

Garrett Mock and the Nats’ bullpen couldn’t find the strike zone in New York and Jeff Francouer took full advantage, launching two home runs and leading the New York Mets to an 8-2 victory at Citi Field. The Nats have now lost three of four to start the season, and are firmly rooted in last place in the NL East. The disappointment in the otherwise confident Nats’ locker room was palpable. Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman, who has watched the team’s starters struggle to make it past the fifth, worried about the impact on the Nats’ bullpen — who are being called on more frequently as a result of the failure of the Nats’ front five. “That can’t continue. That’s not going to work,” he said, following Mock’s performance. “To this point, it’s not an excuse to bring a domino effect on our bullpen. We’ve already had an off day. We are carrying eight relievers. With eight relievers, nobody has been overtaxed or anything. … But if your starters [continue to] go three to five innings, it will cause problems that you can’t solve. The starters obviously have to pitch deeper in the game.”

Nats’ starter Garrett Mock, who blamed the cold and windy conditions for his inability to throw strikes, couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning. The hurlers that followed (Miguel Batista, Jason Bergmann and Jesse English — all with ERAs above 10.00), weren’t much better. The Mets, on the other hand, received timely hitting from Francoeur, who put two Nats’ pitches into the Citi Field bleachers, and journeyman catcher Rod Barajas, who matched his total. “It was really windy. The wind was in my face. The ball had a ton of movement on it,” Mock explained after the game. “Everything I said, everything I believed in and worked on all spring has been attack the strike zone and throw it over the plate. On the other hand, I’m not going to say, the ball is going all over the place and just baby one in there for the sake of throwing strikes. I’m not going to say it’s the baseball’s fault, but I really couldn’t get a grip [on it]. I did everything I could — trying to keep my hands moist, licking my fingers. I was just uncomfortable.”

The news for the Mets is all good: Jason Bay adds power to the middle of the Mets line-up and spark plug shortstop Jose Reyes is set to make his season debut on Saturday. John Lannan will start for the Nats, after suffering through an indifferent start against the Phillies on Opening Day. No one is underestimating the Mets, least of all Lannan: “The Mets have another power bat in the middle with Jason Bay,” Lannan said on Friday. “Rod Barajas adds depth as well. The Mets have power. The balance is more even — more up front and power in the middle. It’s a tough lineup.” Standing now at 1-3, with another match-up against the Mets in New York this afternoon, the Nationals will face Oliver Perez. Facing their fourth loss in five games, the Nats need to (ah) “get a grip on it.”

In The Blogosphere: Mark Zuckerman of Nats Insider details the woes of the Nats rotation and bullpen, focusing first on Mock: “In the span of three weeks,” Zuckerman writes, “he’s gone from the best-looking starter in camp not named Strasburg to a starter who may be pitching to keep his job next time out” . . . Mike Harris, over at Nationals Fan Boy Looser reflects the same frustration, noting that he’s “willing to bet there are 4-5 guys in Syracuse right now who would be less painful to watch.” There’s a bet we won’t take . . . Nats320 weighs in with an interesting reflection on Mets 20-year-old phenom Jennry Mejia who mowed “right through all three Washington batters he faced to close out this game in the 9th. Mejia pitched with the determination that comes from knowing you can succeed” . . . Half Street Blues, meanwhile, provides a cheeky but blunt look at Ted and Mark Lerner’s business acumen, and observes that “not paying for pitching really helps the bottom line.” Of particular interest is HSB’s calculation of the Lerner family’s profits from the Nats, over $100 million in three years . . .