Fans of the Cardinals should have known something was wrong the minute they showed up in Milwaukee last Friday: before taking the field, the Cardinals learned that the Brewers would be wearing the same uniforms they had in 1982 — when they faced off against the Cardinals in the first game of the World Series. In that 1982 first game match-up, “Harvey’s Wallbangers” stunned the Cardinals 10-0. And so (as justice would have it), the 2011 Brewers (in their “throwbacks”) reprised the heroics of the Milwaukee Younts, scorching Cardinal pitching for eight unanswered runs.

It was downhill from there: the Brewers swept the Cardinals in three games and vaulted past them into first place in the N.L. Central. In truth, the series wasn’t even that close. The Brewers out-hit, out-fielded, outran and out and out outplayed the Cardinals, victimizing them with roundhouse howitzers from Prince Fielder (two in three games), Rickie Weeks, Ryan Brown and Corey Hart. That is to say — the Cardinals were shelled.

The series was (as Viva El Birdos notes), “Deja Vu all over again” — the second time in the 2011 campaign that the Cardinals showed up in a rival city in first place, and left the city in second. That had happened before, when St. Louis made an ill-advised trip to Cincinnati. Deja Vu? Maybe: but as “El Birdos” notes, the Cardinals “limped” into Milwaukee without the services of uber-slugger Matt Holliday, third baseman David Freese, second base wunderkind Allen Craig, or fifth starter Kyle McClellan. Still, it’s hard to feel sorry for the Gibsons: their bullpen stinks, Lance Berkman has no business hitting .317 and Kyle Lohse hasn’t had an ERA lower the 3.50 in his life (and probably never will again).

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Jordan Zimmermann pitched seven complete and Danny Espinosa came through in the 9th with a sacrifice fly (caught, miraculously, by right fielder Chris Denorfia) and the Washington Nationals fried the Friars 2-0 at the Dog Bowl in San Diego. The win brought an end to an eleven game swing through the West, in which the Nationals took six of eleven — a success by the only measure that counts.

The 2-0 victory in San Diego on Sunday symbolized what worked for the Nationals in Arizona, San Francisco and San Diego (and what didn’t): good pitching and tight defense — and hitting, albeit only when the Nationals desperately needed it. Nats’ fans have to think that if the teams’ bats would only come alive, the close ones against Arizona (a 2-0 loss on June 4) and San Francisco (a hard luck loss on June 6 and the 3-1 loss on June 8) might have resulted in a road record of 8-3, or even 9-2.

The problem for the Nationals is not just hitting — but hitting with runners in scoring position. That curse has been haunting the team throughout the western swing, but was particularly obvious on Sunday, when the Nationals were 0-12 through eight with runners waiting for a timely hit. The Nationals are headed back to D.C., finally, and will face the Cardinals on Tuesday. The Redbirds are likely to be hunting for vengeance against someone — as they were swept by the Brewers, the final game of that series coming today and featuring (ho hum) a blast from Prince Fielder.

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It was yet another nail-biter in San Diego — with John Lannan and the Washington bullpen pulling out a second 2-1 win against the Friars on Saturday. The victory knotted the team’s long road trip at five wins and five losses, giving the Nationals a chance to claim success if they win on Sunday. The key on Saturday was Lannan, who mastered the Friars in just over six, before giving way to a bullpen triumverate of Todd Coffey, Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen.

The Lannan victory was yet another bit of evidence that last year’s troubled hurler has made it all the way back to the bigs. Since May 21, when he struggled against the O’s in Baltimore, Lannan has lowered his ERA by nearly a run-and-a-half. In a span of four games he has held the opposition to 2, 4, 4, and six hits (respectively), while — in the same span — giving up just four earned runs. Lannan attributes his success to maturity: “I think, over time, you change, you adapt and you learn more every day,” he said after the victory. “I’ve grown up. A lot of things that used to get to me, don’t any more. I handle myself on the mound a little better. It’s just growing up.”

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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…)

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.

The Washington Nationals’ bullpen couldn’t hold onto a hard fought Washington lead, and the Nats were downed by a modest but effective late-inning rally in Milwaukee, 7-6 on Tuesday. The loss came at the expense of Nationals’ reliever Henry Rodriguez, who gave up a two out, two strike bleeder down the left field line to Brewers’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy in the 8th inning. “That’s baseball,” Rodriguez said after the game. “You guys saw what happened. It’s part of the game. It was a jam shot, and it fell in.” The hit was just enough for the Brewers to notch their eighth straight victory at home.

The bullpen, which has been stellar for the Nationals this year, looks like it’s starting to fade. Tyler Clippard was ineffective in the 7th, Rodriguez (who came in for Sean Burnett) was ineffective in the eighth — but nearly the entire crew has been struggling of late. Nationals skipper Jim Riggleman noted that the Washington pen has been the team’s highlight reel, but that it was almost fated that it would go through a rough time: “Our bullpen’s done a great job holding leads, and it just didn’t happen tonight.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: It doesn’t look good for Adam LaRoche. Bill Ladson writes that the first baseman has major shoulder issues and could face surgery — but first he’ll rest his arm, which includes at least two weeks of not touching a baseball . . . Michael Morse is swinging the bat. After a great Spring Training, Morse had trouble out of the gates. His grand slam home run last night is evidence that his power swing is back, but he’s also hitting for average. In mid-May he was hitting .235, he exited last night’s game at .282. He’s hitting over .400 in his last ten games . . .

It’s funny the way things happen. Over the winter, some Nationals fans were urging Rizzo, Riggleman & Company to forego a free agent contract for a first base replacement for the departed Adam Dunn (who’s hitting all of .192 in the Windy City) and put Morse at first base. Part of the argument was that the Nationals could spend their money more wisely on an outfielder with a good bat: to replace the departed Josh Willingham (who’s hitting .233 for the White Elephants). Now they have their wish. It looks like the Nationals are about to go with a set line-up of Rick Ankiel in center, Roger Bernadina in left — and Morse at first. That’s not bad, except that Morse will not only have to keep hitting, but step up his defensive game. Adam LaRoche was a wizard at first, and his glove will be missed . . .

One of our more regular readers and a CFG fan (here he is), sent along a piece from Wired magazine (that’s a first, because most of our readers read Maxim) noting the May 24 anniversary of the first baseball game played under the lights. It’s a pretty good read, and notes that erecting lights at Crosley Field was part of a desperate measure to keep the Reds in the Queen City (that would be Cincinnati of all places). Lights caught on around the rest of the league, the article noted, except in Chicago, where lights (and winning) were a late addition . . .

And speaking of firsts, if you haven’t read the article on the New York Mets ownership (and the Fred Wilpon-Bernie Madoff fiasco) in the New Yorker you should. The article is long, but you can do it (and you’re all grown up now, and it’s time), and it gives a fair and even sympathetic picture of the Mets’ owner and his struggles to keep his team. We were all set to dislike the guy (as with everything else blue and orange), but ended up thinking that, despite all of his problems with financing, Wilpon not only seems like a good sort, but (surprise, surprise) knows his baseball . . .

You can’t mention the words Milwaukee Brewers without adding “surging” — as in, the “surging” Milwaukee Brewers. After taking three from the Colorado Rockies that left the Helton’s reeling, the Brewers decided that they’d had enough of Corey Hart’s 0 for 11 start of the season, and the big bopping right fielder victimized the Nationals with three home runs and seven RBIs.

But even without Hart’s heroics, the Nationals would have fallen to the Brewers’ bats: the Anacostia Nine accounted for eight hits (which included a Michael Morse dinger) and just three runs — but the game was not as close as the final 11-3 score indicated. Without pitching the team is starting to look like road kill to the rest of the National League. Washington starter Tom Gorzelanny looked particularly ineffective on Monday, giving up eight hits and six runs over five innings. The Brewers, meanwhile, are just three games behind the Cardinals in the N.L. Central, as the Reds have dropped six in a row.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Adam LaRoche was put on the 15-day DL with a sore shoulder. But it might be worse than fifteen days. Isn’t there a pattern here somewhere? Last year, Jason Marquis had much the same problem, tried to play through it — and couldn’t. It took a second year for the free agent signing to work out. With Ryan Zimmerman out until June, LaRoche sidelined and Rick Ankiel rehabbing, the Nationals are playing with one-third of the starting line-up they started with in April . . . Stephen Strasburg is now throwing off a mound, which means that he’s playing catch off a mound, not pitching off of one. Hey great. See you in 2012 . . .

Book ‘Em Danno: Joe Torre, MLB’s head of baseball operations has fined Nats’ G.M. Mike Rizzo an undisclosed amount of cash for confronting umpires after Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Mets in New York. Rizzo and Nats’ catcher Ivan Rodriguez were upset with a call on Jayson Werth that snuffed out a late inning Nationals rally, and confronted the umpiring crew in a stadium tunnel after the game. Rizzo had no comment on the fine, except to say that he would always stick up for his team and organization. “I’ve always got the manager’s, the coaches’ and the players’ back,” Rizzo told a reporter. “Whenever I need to put myself on the line to do so, that’s my job, so I’m willing to do it.”

Ya just gotta love Mikey (and we sure do), but maybe he’s gotta bigger problems than umpires. Yardbarker has put together stats on Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche’s slumps and concluded that the first two months of the season are actually “among the worst months these guys have ever had.” A quick scan of the stats shows this is probably so; and leads us to the conclusion that as statistics are only terrific when predicting past performances, they show what we’ve been saying all along: Adam LaRoche needs shoulder surgery, and Jayson Werth needs Ryan Zimmerman . . .