Jason Marquis pitched six solid innings and Michael Morse hit a two-run homer to lift theWashington Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday night.
While the Washington Nationals have gone about losing six of their first seven games on this road trip, they've done it with a lack of timely hitting, wasted starting pitching and overall offensive ineffectiveness.
For eight innings Wednesday night, the Washington Nationals followed a familiar script. They squandered too many opportunities with runners on base and in scoring position. They produced neither timely hits nor heady base running and looked poised to waste another solid pitching performance.
The three power arms at the back end of Atlanta's bullpen are garnering a lot of attention.
Jordan Zimmermann did something in the second inning Friday night that no other pitcher in the major leagues had done this season and yet, in the Nationals much-needed 3-2 victory over the Marlins in 10 innings, he was still upstaged by one of his relievers.
PHILADELPHIA | With Jordan Zimmermann working in the sixth inning Sunday, left-hander Doug Slaten and right-hander Todd Coffey began to stir in the Washington Nationals' bullpen. The double-barreled action ended immediately after Zimmermann recorded the third out of the inning.
After a ninth inning Wednesday night that Sean Burnett would rather forget, the Nationals left-hander had a little trouble sleeping.
If the Nationals' doubleheader sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday was the coming out party for their offense — a facet of their game that had been dormant for much of the first 15 games — then their victory in the first game of a doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday was more proof that their formula for winning likely won't include the longball.
In the box score, the Nationals beat the Marlins Thursday night on a two-run home run by Adam LaRoche -- a ball that sailed into the right field seats at Sun Life Stadium in the top of the 11th inning to bring home Ryan Zimmerman and give Washington its second win of the 2011 season.
