The Washington Nationals have had few moments to remember during a trying season, and Thursday’s 11-2 trouncing of the Los Angeles Dodgers won’t erase all the sour memories of the past five months.
But anyone among the crowd of 26,338 who witnessed the home team complete a stunning sweep of the playoff-contending Dodgers surely will remember what made the victory possible: Cristian Guzman hitting for the cycle and Elijah Dukes blasting two monstrous home runs.
“I think everybody knows what we’re going through,” said Manny Acta, manager of the worst team in the majors. “They’ve done the best job of sticking together through good and bad times. … It’s a bunch of guys that enjoy being around each other right now.”
Guzman’s pursuit of history wasn’t really clear until he stepped into the on-deck circle in the eighth inning of a game that already was decided. From the dugout, Nationals players realized Guzman had homered in the first, singled in the second and doubled in the sixth and knew what he still needed. They started chanting at him to hit a triple.
“It’s not like a no-hitter where you can jinx it by saying something,” pitcher Jason Bergmann said. “We all looked at the big screen and saw he had a single, a double and a home run. … We were all thinking, ’Oh man, if he gets a triple, it’ll be so cool.’”
And when Guzman hit a line drive to the gap in left-center off Joe Beimel, the entire dugout jumped to its feet in anticipation.
“I knew I needed a triple,” he said. “So as soon as I hit the ball, I said, ’I’m going to go for third.’”
Guzman had little trouble reaching third, sliding in safely and then popping up to his feet, clapping his hands and raising an arm upon becoming the second player in a Nationals uniform to hit for the cycle, duplicating Brad Wilkerson’s feat of April 6, 2005, at Philadelphia.
“That’s hard to do,” Guzman said. “When other players do that, you have to feel great and happy.”
Up until the moment Guzman completed the cycle, the star of the game was Dukes, who put on the kind of power display the Nationals rarely have seen this season. The 23-year-old outfielder clubbed a pair of home runs: a three-run laser to the opposite field in the first inning and a towering solo blast to the back of the left-field bleachers in the seventh.
Though Dukes has missed considerable time with knee and calf injuries, he has hit seven homers over his last 19 games, providing Washington a much-needed source of power.
“He gives us the threat,” Acta said. “Every time he steps to the plate, he has the chance to hit the ball over the fence. That’s how strong he is, and that’s something we’ve lacked in our lineup.”
With a month left to play this season, Dukes still sees an opportunity to finish with big home run numbers.
“My goal is I want to try to finish with 20,” he said, fully aware he would need to hit 12 over the final 28 games. “I can do it.”
Thursday’s bombs, combined with an overall offensive outpouring from a lineup that doesn’t usually do that sort of thing, made a winner out of John Lannan, who survived a shaky first inning in which he was tagged by Manny Ramirez for a two-run homer to wind up keeping Los Angeles scoreless over the next five.
And by the end of the night, the Nationals had themselves a stunning, three-game sweep of a Dodgers squad that is trying to hang in the NL West race but has lost seven in a row.
“We don’t take any pleasure doing that,” Acta said. “We just want to get better and win as many games as we can, especially since we had a rough five months.”
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