Nationals worth watching with interest

PHILADELPHIA. — Standing in the visitors’ dugout at Citizens Bank Park before yesterday’s series finale against the Phillies, Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta offered this perspective on the 2008 season: I think it is going to get very interesting around here.

Manny, I said. It already is interesting.

And that was before they played yesterday’s very interesting game.

Washington jumped out to a five-run lead in the first inning, saw that lead disappear by giving up eight singles (seven straight) five innings later, then came back to tie the game. Ryan Zimmerman went 0-for-6, and Felipe Lopez make his debut as a left fielder. The Nationals finally lost by the score of 8-7 in the 10th inning when reliever Jesus Colome threw 12 straight balls — four of which were not intentional.

Interesting? I would say so.

Acta used every position player at his disposal — except Dmitri Young. Before the game, Acta said Young, coming off a stiff back in spring training, would be available to hit yesterday. Yet one by one, the pinch hitters emerged from the Nationals’ dugout — Rob Mackowiak, Paul Lo Duca, Nick Johnson, Willie Harris — but no Young.

After the game, Acta said Young had told him his back was too tight. He couldn’t get it loose, and he couldn’t play today. He had an MRI, and it will be read, and we will go from there. He’s going to be checked by the doctor, and I guess for now we’re going to play it day by day.

Maybe his back was too tight because he was straining to see where his name was in the lineup card when he got to the ballpark yesterday. Johnson, who beat out Young in spring training for the starting first base job, was not in the starting lineup, which is not unusual for a day game following a night game.

What was surprising, though, was seeing Aaron Boone’s name penciled in at first. Young had recovered enough from his back woes to play first in spring training, and there was no reason to believe he would not be the first option there when Johnson sat out.

Acta said Boone needs to get some at-bats, too. … Dmitri still has a little bit of a tight back, so he is a little limited when it comes to being on the field.

Something was bothering Young. Whether it was just his back is unknown because he didn’t want to talk about it after the game.

That was interesting.

That the Nationals started the season winning three of their first four games is interesting, as is winning two out of three here in Philadelphia. It could have been even more interesting because yesterday’s game was there to win. After taking a 5-0 lead in the first inning, the Nationals loaded the bases in the second with nobody out. But Austin Kearns grounded into a double play, and Boone struck out.

I thought we had our chances, Acta said. I think the second inning, we should have scored a couple of runs there and gotten Jamie [Moyer] out of the game earlier.

Even so, they still managed to come back after blowing the lead to tie the game at 7-7 and had the winning run at second with one out in the ninth inning. This is Nationals baseball like it has never been seen.

We were on the offense, and then they turned around and bled us to death with singles, said starting pitcher Jason Bergmann, who pitched well for five innings before giving up four runs (one single at a time) in the sixth. That’s unfortunate because we played a pretty darn good game. This is a little different team than last year. It is fun to be up early. I make some better pitches, and we get some outs there, we come out of there with a win.

A 4-0 start and a sweep of the Phillies here would have been very interesting.

What also likely will be interesting is watching Acta at work this season. Last year he managed to squeeze 73 wins out of a team for which there were few options available to him, and as a result there were few reasons to question and ponder his moves. This is different, though. The Nationals may have the best bench in the league, and Acta’s use of it, along with his dependency on the bullpen, will be fodder for debate — both inside and outside the clubhouse.

You have options there that you really didn’t have last year, television analyst Don Sutton said. He has more weapons at his disposal, and it helps create a lineup with interchangeable parts.

Interchangeable, interesting — and maybe a little intrigue mixed in as well.