The Nats’ bats came alive on Sunday, as the Anacostia Nine banged out 22 hits and thirteen runs in a twin bill (and three game) sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. But the unleashing of Washington’s lumber was only a part of the story: Jason Marquis and Livan Hernandez registered two strong starting pitching performances, with the near perfect bullpen putting the Nationals one game over .500 as the team now heads to St. Louis. Second sacker Danny Espinosa was (arguably) the hitting star in both contests — homering in the 8-4 first game and slugging a bases clearing triple in the 5-1 second game.

The victory in the first game came against Milwaukee ace Yovani Gallardo, who pitched well for the first four innings, before having difficulty in the 5th: Alex Cora and Jason Marquis singled before Espinosa hit his dinger. The Brewers stuck with Gallardo, but he was chased in the 6th after a single by Michael Morse and ground rule double from Ian Desmond. Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez followed with a home run into the right field seats. Jason Marquis, meanwhile, pitched his now-typical ball-in-the-dirt style, inducing 12 ground ball outs. After a shaky start, Marquis threw seven strong innings, striking out four.

The second game victory belonged to Espinosa — and Livan Hernandez, who pitched a six hit seven inning beauty, giving up only one walk. Drew Storen followed, giving up just one hit in two innings of work — which gave him his first save of the season, and an almost unheard of 0.87 ERA. After the second game, Nats’ fans breathed a sigh of relief: the teams’ bats had come alive — with nearly everyone contributing. Adam LaRoche registering three hits on the day (with one home run), Ian Desmond put one into the left field seats on a line drive (he lifted his average to .217), and Jerry Hairston, Jr. had a 3 for 3 second game that included a home run, his first of the season.

It was another disappointment in Florida, where the Nats just can’t seem to shake the Marlins. The extra innings, 3-2 loss came after a solid outing from low-in-the-zone starter Jason Marquis and a 10th inning error from Jayson Werth that allowed the Marlins to walk off with the win. The Werth error came on a pop-up that should have been caught by second sacker Danny Espinosa, but Werth called him off, only to see the ball pop out of his glove. The loss was taken by Drew Storen, who pitched solidly in relief. “Totally my fault,” Werth said of the error following the game. “In that situation, you want to be sure you could get the out. My read was, I wasn’t totally sure if Espy was going to get it. So I called it. I had a chance to catch it. I didn’t, and it cost us the game. I take total responsibility for that one.”

If there were any doubts about Marquis, the former Cardinal and Rockies hurler put them to rest: he pitched 6.1 innings of six hit baseball, keeping Marlins’ hitters on their heels, flailing away at his patented sinker. The final stats showed a typical Marquis game: eleven ground outs and 54 strikes in 78 pitches — with no walks. The loss dropped the Nats to 1-3 early in the season, but the record wasn’t a cause for concern for Jayson Werth, who counseled patience. “We just need to relax and play the game,” Werth said after the loss. “Everybody wants to play well, be good. Right now, the hits are not coming in spots. We had a lot of chances again tonight. There was one game that we really didn’t have a chance this year. We have been right there. The thing is, we haven’t really played together. That takes some time.”

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: Jim Riggleman has said that he will move Danny Espinosa into the lead-off spot in the Nats line-up. It’s a good move, but we’re wondering whether more need to be made. The problems with the batting order were obvious in the top of the 7th in Miami. Jayson Werth (the second spot) began the top of the 7th by grounding out. Ryan Zimmerman followed with a walk, as did Adam LaRoche. That made it one out, two on. And who came to the plate? Rick Ankiel. Which is fine, but wouldn’t it have been better for Werth, or LaRoche to be batting sixth, instead of Mike Morse? A revamped batting order that puts Danny Espinosa at the top of the line-up is only the beginning of the shifts we might see, as skipper Riggleman figures out how to get the most from his best hitters. Our preference: Espinosa, Ankiel, Zimmerman, Werth and LaRoche, followed by Morse, Desmond and Ramos.

It’s only a matter of time before Wilson Ramos supplants Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez in the Nationals line-up, though it might take another month. “Pudge” has said that he wants to stay a part of this team, and there’s no reason why he shouldn’t: he can stay as a kind of player coach, with less time on the field and more time mentoring the kids. It’s clearly what he wants: he’s always a part of the McCatty-pitcher gaggle and he’s on the top step of the dugout every pitch that Ramos is behind the plate. McCatty seems to appreciate his input — he is a calming influence for young pitchers who have yet to learn the ropes. But the time is fast approaching when Ramos gets the job full time, particularly given how well he’s hitting the ball.

The hitting of Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and the stellas pitching of John Lannan paced the Washington Nationals to a 9-2 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park on Saturday. Rodriguez led the Nats’ fifteen hit attack, with an opposite field home run, while John Lannan pitched seven complete — giving up only five hits. It was his best outing of the year and solidified his place in the rotation for 2011. “Pudge and I did a great job just mixing it up on both sides of the plate,” Lannan said after the game. “I threw some [four-seam fastballs] inside to righties and some [two-seam fastballs] into lefties. I had my changeup working again, and that’s been the pitch I’ve gone to if I was getting behind hitters. It kept them off-balance a little bit. You get a little more comfortable out there when your team puts up that many runs.”

Desmond Makes His Case: Washington Nationals’ rookie shortstop Ian Desmond is making a strong case for being considered as the N.L.’s premier rookie. But two obstacles stand in his way — he makes too many errors (31! — including two last night), and the competition is stiff. The early betting was that Atlanta’s Jason Heyward would win the award, and for a time it looked like he would. Heyward set the baseball world chattering through April and May, but his production fell off through the summer. Still: .282 with 16 home runs (and he’s only 20) could find him shoehorned into the top spot. The betting now seems to be that Buster Posey will get the nod — despite the fact that he started the season late. Tim Dierkes over at MLB Trade Rumors posted a list in April that included all of the good guesses, which included Heyward and Desmond, as well as Florida’s Gaby Sanchez, San Francisco’s Buster Posey, Chicago’s Starlin Castro, Pittsburgh’s Pedro Alvarez, Washington’s Drew Storen (and Stephen Strasburg), and Cincinnati’s Mike Leake. That leaves out Cubbie Tyler Colvin, who’s having a tremendous year — he’s stroked 19 home runs.

You can make a strong case for Desmond, who has raised his batting average over the last month from the so-so mid-.260s to .287 — an unforeseen spike that, if it continues, could see the 24-year-old ending the season near .300. And Desmond has unpredicted power, line-driving nine home runs. That number could easily increase in 2011. Desmond’s long-ball potential is a plus for the Nats, who would gladly take a .280 batting average with a handful of home runs each year — but 20? 25? Desmond says that he patterns his play on the model provided by Empire glove man Derek Jeter and his numbers show it. While Jeter seems to be struggling for homers as he ages, the pinstriper once hit 24, a number well within reach of his younger apprentice. But Jeter’s value is his day-in-and-day-out crusade in the middle of the Yankees infield, his ability to play virtually injury free and his steady glove-work. Ah, and he has a .314 lifetime BA — which Desmond might find difficult to equal. Desmond is right to emulate his hero, but he has a long way to go to reach his level (cutting down on the errors would be the way to start). It’s the fielding stats that will likely doom Desmond in any final voting for the Jackie Robinson Award, which means that Giants workhorse Buster Posey will get the nod. It’s hard to argue with that choice — with a .328 batting average, he deserves it.

We just can’t let the signing of “Pudge” Rodriguez go without a comment: not only is the all-around-good-guy winner of 13 Gold Gloves the newest Nats signing, Nats beat reporter Bill Ladson (speaking on the Nats website on one of those webcast doo-hickey thingies) says that the Nats are “sending a message” to their fans that his signing means “they want to contend now.” Here’s our reaction — if that’s the message they’re sending, they ought to send it again. It’s easy to be critical, but Pudge stopped being one of the game’s indispensible players long, long ago: which (obviously) Mike Rizzo and Company know.

The reason Rodriguez is here is not to make the Nats a contender now (because he won’t), but to keep the box behind the plate warm for Jesus Flores (whose tender mercies have yet to fully heal) and to keep a dugout of trembling young pitchers from wetting their pants. Pudge is as close as the Nats can get, just now, to a player-coach — a clubhouse presence who’s been through the wars and an unruffled and steadying player who, at the end of his career, knows pitchers not because of any inherent genius, but because he’s seen so many of them. There’s something to be said for having years of experience behind the plate.

There’s a little odor to the deal among some sportswriters, who say that the Nats overpaid (sniff, sniff). That seems particularly true now that it appears as if the Purples will re-sign Yorvit Torrealba for a near-song: $5.5 million over two years. But the Nats not only probably (probably) couldn’t get Pudge for two years, they didn’t need him for one: there’s no guarantee that Flores will heal that fast or, even if he did, that he’ll stay healed. Then too, Derek Norris is not just a few months away — if he works out at all. The deal maker in this was Jim Bowden: he complained that “this was another bad signing.” Yeah, well he oughta know. Thus was inaugurated “the Bowden rule”: if Jim hates it, Mike Rizzo should do it. If he doesn’t, flee.

The Board of Directors here at CFG (you remember them, right?) likes the deal and so do I: the signing of Rodriguez saves fans from having to watch Josh Bard gimp his way to first base, or gaze in wincing shame as Wil Nieves (Who? Wil Nieves!) slams his bat in disgust at striking out. Fun as that was. Then too, unless you’re the Boston Red Sox and you think you can just let catchers walk out the door – they’re damned hard to find and every team needs one. Yeah, so the signing of Pudge Rodriguez sends a message: the Nats desperately needed a catcher and now they have one. Or, if things work out for the very best, they might even have two.