Marlins haunt Nationals again

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The Washington Nationals haven't played the Florida Marlins enough this season to tell whether they've found a team to replace the Atlanta Braves as a constant source of frustration, but it sure appears that way.

Whether it has been at Nationals Park or Dolphin Stadium, the formula has been roughly the same: One of the Marlins' young, if unrefined, starters manages to silence Washington's offense, while the Nationals get hurt repeatedly by a free-swinging offense they've yet to figure out.

Last night's 7-3 loss to the Marlins — the Nationals' sixth in seven games against Florida this season — followed that recipe almost exactly. The Marlins got ahead early, roughed up Tim Redding for the second time this season and ran their record to 21-14, the best start in franchise history. Washington, meanwhile, is left to find out whether the momentum it built in an 8-3 homestand that ended last Sunday has completely ebbed.

Redding (4-3) was as unsteady as he has been in weeks. He struggled to locate his fastball almost from the start, issuing four walks — and three of those batters scored.

"I didn't execute the game plan the way I wanted to," Redding said. "Just poor execution, flat-out."

Despite only giving up four hits, the right-hander was tagged for six runs, five of which were earned.

Even the inning in which most of that damage came was the same as Redding's first loss to Florida.

In the sixth, he gave up a single to Jeremy Hermida and walked Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla after retiring Jorge Cantu.

He left with the bases loaded, and Luis Gonzalez pulled a middle-of-the-plate fastball to the right-field wall for a three-RBI double.

"Getting into the sixth inning and getting the leadoff guy on seems to be a repeating track with me right now," Redding said. "At the end of the day, when I go back and I'm going through the game in my head, it's one of the glaring things that's always coming up.

"Am I going to be able to perform and throw seven innings, one hit like I did in Philadelphia the first start of the year, every time out? No. Not at all. But there comes a time when I need to step up, take control and get through six innings."

That inning would end up being the difference. The Nationals added a couple of runs off Doug Waechter in the seventh inning but left the bases loaded for the second time in the game and made only a minor cut in the 7-1 lead Florida starter Ricky Nolasco left with after six.

Nolasco sprayed his breaking pitches wide of the strike zone most of the night but got away with it in every inning but the fourth. He gave up a pair of two-out hits and walked the next two hitters to bring in a run.

The right-hander escaped on the strength of his mid-90s fastball, throwing four of them to Wil Nieves and getting him to ground one to Ramirez to end the inning.

About the only positive for Washington was the performance of Matt Chico in his first relief appearance. Chico allowed two hits in two shutout innings, showing more of a willingness to challenge hitters than he had as a starter.

"He did OK," manager Manny Acta said. "He did what we asked of him, gave some rest to our bullpen. He did a good job."

But by the time Chico came in, the Nationals were down 7-1. And the Marlins, once again, were running through their minds.