This is exactly what the Washington Nationals needed: Jason Marquis pitched eight beautiful innings and the Nats scored three in the ninth to down the Houston Astros, at Minute Maid Park, 5-2. Marquis threw 102 pitches, 69 of them for strikes, as his patented sinker baffled Houston hitters. The win put the Nationals back at .500 — and in third place in the N.L. East.

The Nationals stayed in the game against Houston’s tough young pitcher, Jordan Lyles, by featuring the long ball. Michael Morse hit a soaring shot onto the glass screen in left field in the 5th inning, and Ryan Zimmerman put one into the right field seats in the seventh inning. The Zimmerman homer tied the game. But the 9th inning was key, as the Nationals scored three on singles by Bernadina, Zimmerman and Morse and a Laynce Nix bounder to the right side.

Nationals’ manager Davey Johnson was more than pleased with the Marquis outing, as it not only provided the win, but allowed the team to rest their overused relievers. “I was able to get ahead early,” Marquis said in reflecting on his outing. “I got some quick outs. They were being aggressive. I’ve been feeling pretty good all year. I had a good sinker-slider combo tonight.

Those Are The Details, Now For The Headlines: There are three things that just aren’t gonna happen, no matter how much we talk about them: the apocalypse, the rapture, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Until this year, we might have added a fourth — the Pittsburgh Pirates winning the N.L. Central. And yet, there they are, atop the scrum that includes semi-powerhouse Milwaukee, perennial favorite St. Louis, and last year’s winner, the Cincinnati Reds.

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The Washington Nationals authored one of the great walk-off wins in the majors this season — coming from a four run deficit in the 9th inning to score five and beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-5. The rally was capped by a three run walk-off home run from Wilson Ramos on a change-up from Mariners’ relief pitcher David Pauley. “I was waiting on that pitch in that situation,” Ramos said following the victory. “I hit that ball pretty good. … I was very excited after I hit that ball for a home run. That was my first walk-off home run. So when I saw my teammates waiting for me at home plate, I was very excited.”

The victory came after a brilliant pitching performance from Mariners’ starter Doug Fister, who shut down the Anacostia Nine through eight innings. Fister was at the top of his form, allowing Washington just three hits through eight complete innings — with three strikeouts and just one walk. The Mariners, meanwhile, beat up on Washington starter Livan Hernandez, who couldn’t make it out of the 5th. But the Nationals’ bullpen did great work in keeping the Nats in the game, with Ryan Mattheus, Collin Balester and Todd Coffey holding the Mariners to no runs through five innings of work.

But the 9th inning will long be remembered by Nationals’ fans. The inning started with Jayson Werth reaching base on a Justin Smoak error, which was followed by a Roger Bernadina walk. With nobody out, Ryan Zimmerman grounded into a double play (his third of the game), putting Werth on third. With two outs, Jerry Hairston and Michael Morse singled, which put the Nats down 5-2.

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Under a cloudless June sky the Nationals hammered the Redbirds of St. Louis 10-0 Wednesday night behind a masterful three-hit outing by Livan Hernandez. The Nats bats came alive once again as they pounded out 15 hits including four home runs (two by Michael Morse) as they beat the Cards for the second night in a row.

Picking a player of the game might have been difficult given all the heavy lumber displayed — but Hernandez took top honors as he faced just two batters above the minimum. Livan punched out six and walked none in a very tidy 105-pitch performance that sent the crowd home happy after just two hours and twenty-three minutes. The bullpen-saving outing put Hernandez at 4 -8 on the year and earned him a shaving cream face wash from teammates during his post-game interview.

But the wrecking crew formally known as the Negligible Nine (ranked 24th in runs, 28th in BA, 27th in on-base percentage and 25th in slugging) provided plenty of fireworks too. All of the starting nine had hits except for Hernandez who (it should be said), laid down two very serviceable sacrifice bunts for his night’s work at the dish. Michael Morse was the offensive star, going three for four with two home runs and three RBIs. His second shot came in the seventh inning and traveled halfway up section 101 past the visitor’s bullpen — close to 420 feet. Not to be outdone, Danny Espinosa followed Morse and delivered his own tape-measure job that hit the facing of the second deck in front of section 238.  Impressive to say the least.

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Here’s a sentence Nationals’ fans haven’t heard in awhile: “I can’t even remember all of the at-bats,” Nats’ skipper Jim Riggleman said following tonight’s 8-6 victory, “there were so many good ones.” That kind of description is so rare as to be almost non-existent. But tonight’s victory over the Cardinals — the result of a furious onslaught in the Nats half of the seventh inning — saw the team’s bats come alive in a way that they haven’t since the Nationals downed the Orioles on May 20. That was more than three weeks ago.

While the Cardinals-Nationals match-up followed a familiar script for the game’s first half — the Nationals couldn’t hold the Redbirds, and couldn’t touch starter Jaime Garcia — the game’s last three innings provided a glimpse of what the team can do when it gets timely hitting. In fact, the win seemed a reversal of a typical Nats’ game: just when the team needed starting pitching (something they’ve been able to count on), they couldn’t get it, and just when they couldn’t get hits (which is standard), they did. In truth, through the game’s first six innings, the Nationals looked outgunned. Starter Yunesky Maya allowed six earned in just 4.2, while Garcia went six complete, giving up only two earned.

But the game turned around in the bottom of the seventh. With the Nationals trailing 6-2, the Anacostia Nine sent twelve hitters to the plate and scored six runs. The Cardinals looked shell-shocked: their bullpen collapsed and Garcia’s follow-ons couldn’t seem to keep the Nationals off the bases. The 7th inning told the story — after Jerry Hairston flied out, Jayson Werth walked, Ian Desmond singled, and Ryan Zimmerman doubled.

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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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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…)

St. Louis righty Kyle Lohse stifled the Washington Nationals today, leading the Cardinals to a 5-0 victory. The Nationals accounted for just two hits against the former Twinkie’s veteran — one each from Jayson Werth and Michael Morse. Washington starter Tom Gorzelanny proved ineffective for the Nats, giving up two runs and four walks in five innings of work. Reliever Brian Broderick had a good outing (pitching two complete innings, and blanking the Redbirds), but Collin Balester gave up three runs in just one-third of an inning of relief, including a home run to Albert Pujols.

The loss puts the Nationals back at 9-9, as they head into Pittsburgh, where the much-revived Ahoys are flirting with .500. That puts them in the hunt for the top spot in the anyone-can-win N.L. Central. The Pirates are led by a solid pitching staff — perhaps the best they’ve had in the last decade. The rotation is led by sleeper pick-up Kevin Correia, brought in during the off-season from San Diego. Correia is 3-0 with a 2.48 ERA. While the Pirates seem to be punching over their weight, they will be playing in their home park after an extended road trip.