Swing music has Nats grooving

PHILADELPHIA — As the hits kept coming and the runners kept circling the bases, Manny Acta couldn’t help but ponder the possibilities.

Acta’s Washington Nationals had batted around twice during Monday’s 11-6 thumping of the Philadelphia Phillies, producing 12 hits, seven for extra bases and a pair of big offensive innings that rarely were seen from this club a year ago.

If this is how the Nationals are going to hit this season, Acta will be hard-pressed to contain his glee.

Obviously, we’re not going to score this many runs every day, the manager said. But it’s a more competitive lineup than we had last year.

That’s putting it mildly. Only two games into the 2008 season, the Nationals already have showcased a lineup that is both deeper and more potent than the one that scored the fewest runs in the majors in 2007.

The new-look lineup wasn’t completely in sync during Sunday night’s opener at Nationals Park, with Atlanta Braves pitchers retiring 24 straight batters before Ryan Zimmerman launched his game-winning homer in the ninth. But Washington’s bats broke free Monday at Citizens Bank Park, sending nine men to the plate during a four-run fifth inning and again during the decisive five-run ninth.

“I think we’re definitely more capable of turning the lineup over like we did [Monday] a couple times,” right fielder Austin Kearns said. “That’s something we struggled a lot with last year, having that big inning. I think definitely our chances are better this year.”

The addition of No. 2 batter Lastings Milledge and the healthy return of cleanup hitter Nick Johnson certainly have made a difference, but the key to the Nationals’ new explosive lineup may have more to do with the guys at the bottom of the order.

A year ago, Acta’s lineups frequently had people in the seventh and eighth spots who had trouble sustaining rallies. Offensively challenged players like Brian Schneider and Nook Logan weren’t particularly good at — as Kearns called it — “turning the lineup over” and bringing the top of the order back to the plate.

The lower third of this season’s lineup features a couple of veterans with proven track records in Paul Lo Duca and Ronnie Belliard, plus a potentially explosive young slugger in Elijah Dukes (though he has since gone on the disabled list with a strained hamstring).

The difference is noticeable.

“Now there’s not an easy way out for their pitcher when they get to the bottom of the lineup,” Acta said. “You can’t take lightly guys like Lo Duca and guys like Belliard.”

Lo Duca, who has batted sixth so far, is a career .287 hitter. Belliard, who hit eighth on Opening Night and seventh the following day, is a career .274 hitter who put up some of the best numbers of his career last season (a .290 average with 11 homers and 35 doubles).

Their presence helped turn Monday’s ninth inning from a nice little rally into a full-blown cavalcade of clutch hits.

With a man on second and two runs already in, Lo Duca came to the plate against Phillies reliever Tom Gordon and doubled to left-center. Moments later, Belliard duplicated the feat, driving in another run.

And if that wasn’t enough, Acta later turned to his revamped bench to add to the carnage. With two outs and a runner on second, former starter Dmitri Young emerged from the dugout for his first pinch-hit appearance of the season. The veteran offered a glimpse of his capabilities in this new role, lofting a high shot off the right-field wall for another RBI double and capping Washington’s five-run inning in style.

“It’s a learning process for all of us, learning how to keep innings alive and going,” Zimmerman said.

Along with Felipe Lopez, Aaron Boone and Rob Mackowiak, Young gives Acta the kind of late-inning offensive options he didn’t have a year ago.

And that gives the Nationals reason to believe there are plenty more big innings forthcoming.

“When I got traded over, I looked at the lineup and I was like, ’Man, we can play. We can hit,’ ” Milledge said. “It’s just a matter of us all jelling together and hitting at the same time and scoring runs and not getting down if somebody jumps out on us. … We’ve had big innings. You saw it there, and hopefully you’ll see it during the season.”