Same old story for the Nationals in game one of today's doubleheader: no offense. Washington managed one run on seven hits against Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer and five relievers (thank you, Tony La Russa). Nats starter John Lannan pitched well enough to win (two runs in six innings), but that's not good enough on this team. He made one key mistake that turned into a two-run homer by Troy Glaus in the fourth, and that was basically the ballgame.

I asked Manny Acta after the game whether, despite his always upbeat attitude, he's worried his players might be down on themselves after a wretched stretch at the plate (they've scored two total runs over the last four games).

"I hope they don't give up on themselves, because I haven't given up on them, and I'm not ready to," Acta said. "This is our team. It's not like we can wipe out these guys and bring in another club. They just need to keep fighting and keep their head above water and make things better."

To that end, Manny isn't making many lineup changes for tonight's second game. Here's what it looks like...

SS Guzman

RF Dukes

CF Milledge

1B Boone

3B Casto

2B Lopez

LF Langerhans

C Nieves

P Redding

Oh, one other thing about the early game. Jesus Flores got hit with a pitch in the left hand. He stayed in, though he had the thing wrapped in ice afterward and had an X-ray taken (which came back negative). Wil Nieves was going to catch tonight anyways, though.

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