Milledge already able to make a difference

PHILADELPHIA.

When Lastings Milledge beat out an infield hit to lead off the ninth inning yesterday with the score tied at 6-6, you could sense the game was about to change.

Philadelphia Phillies reliever Tom Gordon certainly seemed to sense it. He seemed preoccupied with Milledge at first, and with Ryan Zimmerman and Nick Johnson due up, Gordon had enough to pay attention to without Milledge making his life miserable at first base.

“You put me on first base, I am going to be a threat every time to go,” Milledge said. “I want him to think about me and Zimmerman, and it is going to be real difficult to get both of us out at the same time. It puts pressure on them, and gives Zim good pitches to hit.”

Gordon barely got by Zimmerman, who hit a long fly ball to right for the first out. But Johnson drove a shot deep into center field for a double and the game-winning hit, and Milledge crossed the plate standing up — barely, but he made it — to set off a five-run scoring feast for the Washington Nationals.

“You have to slide in that situation,” Nationals manager Manny Acta said.

OK, Acta saw some growing pains yesterday from Milledge, who will turn 23 on Saturday. But he also got a pretty good look at the potential of the young outfielder, who had a two-run home run in yesterday’s 11-6 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Milledge is a game-changing player, an example of how this season’s Nationals lineup is different from last season’s. Against a powerful Phillies lineup yesterday, the team had two of its better offensive players, Wily Mo Pena and Elijah Dukes, on the disabled list. Yet the Nationals still had Milledge, who can hit 25 home runs and steal 25 bases in a season.

“He is a guy who can change a game,” Acta said. “There will be a few times this season when we will be up 1-0 in the first inning. He has the capability of doing that.”

He also is capable of learning from his mistakes. Milledge, who was traded from New York this winter for outfielder Ryan Church and catcher Brian Schneider, caught a lot of grief from Mets veterans for being a little too flashy, showing too much emotion and speaking up just a little too much. So it was an interesting study after yesterday’s game to watch him handle the spotlight.

Milledge chose his words like a veteran, trying to put the focus on the team.

“We have guys who can change a game one through eight,” he said. “Our guys are bangers. At any given time at any spot in the lineup, anybody can change the game at any given moment. For every winning team, that is the key.”

The Nationals are just that right now — a winning team, starting the season 2-0 after Sunday night’s exciting 3-2 win over the Braves on Zimmerman’s walk-off home run. The last time the Nationals were two games over .500 was Sept. 30, 2005, when they were 81-79 after a 4-3 loss to the Phillies. This 2008 team appears to be more talented offensively and much deeper.

“When I got traded over and [Paul] Lo Duca as well, I looked at the lineup and said, ’Man, we play, we can hit,’ ” Milledge said. “It is just a matter of us all jelling together, hitting at the same time, scoring runs and not getting down if someone gets up on us, because we have guys who can bring us back in the game. You saw flashes of it in spring training where we put up runs in the first inning and had big innings. Hopefully you will see it throughout the season.

“We have in our mind we can come back,” he added. “We don’t care if a team ties it up or takes the lead. We know if we need a run or two, we can bear down and get it. That is the big thing, and it will be a key thing.”

As Acta put it yesterday, Milledge “has a chance to be a star in this game for years to come” — and seemingly the composure to handle it.

A Philadelphia reporter asked Milledge after the game whether he sensed anything different with Gordon — whether his velocity was down or whether his pitches were high. Again, he answered carefully.

“It is early in the season. … Today it was a little rough for him, but it was nothing different,” Milledge said. “Today just wasn’t his day.

“Some days you are going to be on the top of the world. Some days you’re not.”

Yesterday was a top-of-the-world day for Lastings Milledge. He should get used to the view from up there.