Wild finish here at Nationals Park -- after Felipe Lopez hit into a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and the Braves took a 2-1 lead in the 12th, Washington got the first and second batters of the inning on base. Then, Wil Nieves missed a sign with two strikes, thinking there was still a bunt on. He got the bunt down, but it was a weak roller back to pitcher Manny Acosta -- only Acosta couldn't handle it. That moved the runners over, and Lopez redeemed himself with a game-winning single.

Overlooked in all that madness, however, was the run that got the Nationals to extra innings. Rob Mackowiak, who is batting .100 and struggling to pull himself out of a slump that dates back to spring training, led off the sixth inning with a double to right center. Shawn Hill sacrificed him to third, and Mackowiak went on contact with one out. He got a great jump on Lopez's grounder to first, beating a throw from Mark Teixeira with a slide at the plate.

Hill threw 94 pitches in eight innings, helped by an aggressive Atlanta lineup that went after a lot of his pitches early in the count. Hill wasn't happy with his off-speed stuff, and took issue with his 10 flyball outs, but the Braves' approach also allowed him to use his sinking fastball and throw strikes, rather than having to pitch his way through their lineup.

"When they're aggressive and I'm not serving up cookies, it's easy to pitch that way," he said. "There were some hard-hit balls, but not too hard. All I have to do is keep the ball down."

The Nationals just announced that reliever Chad Cordero tore his right latissimus dorsi muscle last night on his final pitch against the Braves, and is likely out four to six weeks. A team spokesman said the injury is an acute tear, and will not require surgery.

Washington hasn't placed Cordero on the disabled list yet, but will likely make a move soon. Manager Manny Acta said the Nationals will use six relievers tonight against Atlanta.

This means Jon Rauch is the closer for at least the next month, and Luis Ayala will handle most of the setup duties.

We'll have more on this as we get it.

- Ben Goessling

A programming note: Our usual Wednesday 1 p.m. live chat will be bumped up 30 minutes because of the Nats' unusual 4:35 p.m. game against the Braves. Manny Acta will be holding his pregame media session at 1:30, so I'm going to start the chat at 12:30, giving me time to answer everyone's questions and then proceed in time to ask Manny a bunch of questions.

Please join us then at this site, and always you can submit questions in advance to natsmailbag@washingtontimes.com. See you then.

Washington beat the Braves 6-4 tonight to win its fifth in seven games, but the big news is that closer Chad Cordero's shoulder problems might return him to the disabled list.

Cordero came out of the game after throwing his 13th pitch of the ninth inning, an 84-mph fastball. He strained his right latissimus muscle, and while the team will re-evaluate him on Wednesday and perform an MRI on his shoulder, Cordero said he expects to go to the DL.

"Hopefully it doesn't take too long. Maybe three weeks or so, or four weeks," Cordero said. "If that's what they want to do, I'd be more than happy to do that. There's no sense in me going back out there with a strained lat, especially with the way my shoulder is right now. I could probably use a couple weeks off, just to make sure everything is alright."

Cordero never got his velocity above 85 mph, and lingered in the low 80s for most of his pitches. It's clear he's still not himself, but what still isn't clear is how long it will take for his shoulder to heal. He said the Nationals' training staff told him the tendinitis that he's been battling in his rotator cuff might have caused him to overcompensate and put extra stress on the other muscles in his system. He's started a strength and conditioning program recommended by Dr. James Andrews. It'll take a while before that produces results. More info on Wednesday when we have it.

But offensively, maybe Barry Larkin is a good-luck charm. As soon as he showed up to work with some of the Nationals' top hitters, the heart of Washington's order started to produce. The best example was Ryan Zimmerman, who had his first three-hit game of the year, also driving in a season-high three RBI. He and Nick Johnson also hit the team's first back-to-back homers since Sept. 12, 2007, when Wily Mo Pena and Ryan Church did it against Florida.

Zimmerman's two-run double in the seventh was probably his best piece of hitting. He took a pair of curveballs (on 1-0 and 1-1 pitches) and fouled off two fastballs to get Blaine Boyer to a 2-2 count. Boyer came back with another fastball away, but left a little more of it over the plate than on the previous pitch, and Zimmerman punched it to right. It's the kind of pitch he's been seeing all year, but he hit it more squarely than he's been doing in most situations.

"That kind of goes to the point about not swinging at their pitches, and waiting for my pitch," he said. "There's maybe a handful of guys that can paint three fastballs away. I'm comfortable hitting with two strikes. That's the biggest thing, don't fall into their plan. You might hit a line drive to the right fielder, but what's that going to do?"

We're back here tomorrow at 4:35 for the finale of a two-game (or technically three-game, when you count the Opening Night game that was moved from last Monday to March 30) series. Shawn Hill will face Jair Jurrjens in that one.

What do you do when five of your everyday position players are hitting under .223? Call in a potential future Hall of Famer to work with the guys.

Barry Larkin, special assistant to GM Jim Bowden, is in town and was in uniform for batting practice today. Larkin, a career .295 hitter over 19 seasons with the Reds, knows a thing or two about hitting, and he's trying to impart that wisdom on the likes of Ryan Zimmerman, Austin Kearns, Nick Johnson, Lastings Milledge and Felipe Lopez.

Ben Goessling will have plenty more from Larkin in tomorrow's paper, but I wanted to share one interesting quote from him. Larkin was asked about the job Nats hitting coach Lenny Harris is doing. Larkin and Harris were once teammates in Cincinnati, and Barry had some thoughtful insight into the pressure of being a major-league hitting coach (who is coming under plenty of fire for his players' struggles)...

"Lenny is in a tough position," Larkin said. "Because Lenny being a player as well, Lenny realizes he can't go out there and say, 'Hey, you gotta change.' Guys got here because of what they did in the past. That's his message to the guys -- don't make wholesale changes. Tweak this, that and the other.

"The unfortunate thing for Lenny Harris is when the team struggles, it's his fault. And when the team hits well, the players are doing well. I don't envy his position at all, and I tell him that all the time. That's just part of it. But he realizes that, and the thing for him is just to stay positive, have a plan, and continue with the plan. I encourage him, for him himself, just to stay positive."

Meanwhile in tonight's ballgame, the Braves currently lead the Nats 1-0 in the third. That one run wasn't entirely Tim Redding's fault. He allowed a leadoff double to Mark Teixeira in the second, but Teixeira took third when Lastings Milledge nearly collided with Austin Kearns on a routine fly ball. Milledge should have let Kearns catch the ball, because he was better positioned to make the throw to third (and has a better arm). Instead, Teixeira was able to easily tag up, leaving him in position to score on Mark Kotsay's groundball later in the inning.

But just as I type that, Ryan Zimmerman takes Tom Glavine deep into the Red Porch restaurant in left-center to make it 1-1. And Nick Johnson follows it with his own blast to right-center! Nats 2-1 after three, and maybe that Barry Larkin is rubbing off on his hitters...

Ray King won't have to report to the minors after all.

The Nationals outrighted King to Class AAA Columbus today, after he cleared waivers, and King elected to become a free agent. Thus, he's free to sign with any team out there and isn't required to go back to the minors for the first time in nearly a decade.

King had initially been optioned to Columbus last Thursday, leaving him no choice but to either accept the assignment within 72 hours, be placed on the restricted list or choose to retire. But after consultation, the Nats decided instead to recall King and immediately place him on waivers. Once he cleared waivers, he was outrighted to Columbus. As a tenured veteran, King didn't have to accept the assignment, so he chose free agency.

I would suspect another club will pick him up fairly soon. King may have struggled some with the Nats this month, but the guy still can get lefties out, provided he's used strictly as a matchup reliever.

Sitting up here in the press box at Nationals Park, having just watched Alfonso Soriano go through an extensive workout regimen that included batting practice, baserunning drills and plenty of fly balls and line drives in left field. Soriano, of course, won't be playing in this weekend's Cubs-Nats series -- he's on the DL with a strained calf muscle. But he appears close to returning, perhaps in the next week or so.

Not that the Cubs have lost any ground with the $136 million man on the shelf. They've won six of their last seven and at 15-7 overall lead the NL Central and trail only the Diamondabcks (16-6) for the best record in the majors.

All of which surely will bring even more Chicagoans to the park this weekend than would normally show up. These guys might draw the most opposing fans of any team that regularly comes to Washington, even more than the Mets (who still had plenty of supporters the last two nights). Maybe it's because the Cubs only make one trip here per season. Whatever the case, they pack 'em in here. I haven't heard any official estimates for the weekend, but my best guess is that they'll draw 35,000 tonight and approaching 40,000 tomorrow and Sunday.

Earlier this week, Johnny Estrada lamented how the Nationals needed a "10-hit, eight-run" outburst to get some momentum going. They had that -- until the catcher's pinch hit in the seventh inning. They wound up with a 10-5 victory over the Mets that represented their best offensive showing since scoring 11 on March 31 in Philadelphia.

Felipe Lopez was the star of this one, driving in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the fifth to bring the Nationals with in one. Then, in the seventh inning, he took a pitch, fouled off two, took two more and hammered a 3-2 pitch from Oliver Perez into the right-field seats for the fourth grand slam of his career.

"That was a tremendous at-bat there," manager Manny Acta said. "He gave us a big inning we've been needing."

A couple other notes:

-- Lastings Milledge was, indeed, scratched from the lineup for being late to the park. "He showed up late to work," Acta said. "I love Milledge, and he knows it. I have three rules that are unbreakable, regardless of who you are. You can be the 25th guy on the team, or Ryan Zimmerman. ... Go ask Jim Bowden, Stan Kasten and the Lerners what they would do to me if I showed up late to work." Milledge pinch-hit in the fifth, drawing a walk that loaded the bases for Lopez's single. "It was a great at-bat," Acta said. "He had his head in the game, and he had a great at-bat for us. That's part of the learning process. I told you guys that he's got things to learn, and some of that is being able to know how to handle 24 hours in a day and organize yourself." Asked why he was late, Milledge declined to go into specifics. "It was something I couldn’t control," he said. "I take full responsibility. So that's it."

-- The team got seven runs out of its sixth, seventh and eigth hitters -- none of whom start on a regular basis. Aaron Boone was 2-for-5, Willie Harris drew two walks, and Wil Nieves now has six hits in the last three games he's started. When Acta talked this spring about being able to turn the lineup over, he didn't imagine it would be these guys doing it. But all of them have hit the ball well lately, and they're starting to give Acta a little more freedom to spell players here and there.

--Shawn Hill gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits in five innings. He struck out five, but threw a wild pitch and walked three. His lack of control was the biggest issue he had with the outing. "I just let the guys that shouldn't be beating me beat me," Hill said. "I was going way deeper into counts on guys that I should beat. Certain guys, you've got to work counts, and you waste pitches on those batters. But I was just throwing way too many pitches where it wasn't needed." Hill walked seventh hitter Angel Pagan, gave up a hit to eighth hitter Raul Casanova and an RBI single to pitcher Oliver Perez. "Command's not where I want it to be yet, off-speed stuff is not as sharp," Hill said. "It's a combination of things, but I fought through it."

We're back here tomorrow for a 7:35 matchup with the NL Central-leading Cubs. Odalis Perez looks for his first win of the year against Chicago, which will start Ryan Dempster. This counts as a "premium game" on the Nationals' schedule, so ticket prices will be a hair higher.

Late lineup change for the Nats: Lastings Milledge, who was penciled in as the No. 6 hitter and starting center fielder, has been scratched and replaced by Willie Harris, who will now bat seventh (with Aaron Boone, starting for Nick Johnson, bumped up to sixth).

Still awaiting word from the club on what caused the change, but this may have nothing to do with baseball or health. Milledge arrived in the clubhouse this afternoon right at 4 p.m., which was the listed time for all players to be on the field for pregame stretch. This wasn't the first time Milledge has reported late, or close to late, so this could be a disciplinary thing.

Will get you official word from the club once we have it, but here's the new lineup against Oliver Perez and the Mets:

2B Lopez
SS Guzman
3B Zimmerman
RF Kearns
LF Pena
1B Boone
CF Harris
C Nieves
P Hill

Both Ray King and Jim Bowden spoke a little while ago. Here's basically what's going on...

King, despite his service time, does not have the right to refuse the assignment. He's bound to the option he had remaining. However, he has 72 hours to decide whether or not to report. If he doesn't, he can retire but can't sign with another club. King has, however, asked Bowden to try to work out a trade in the next couple days, and if not, has asked to at least be released so he has the opportunity to sign with someone else. If not, though, the 34-year-old admitted he would consider retirement.

Here's what both men had to say...

RAY KING
Reaction to being optioned to Columbus:
"After 14, 15 years, to come in and tell you you don't have a job, it's very surprising. It’s kind of like when things go bad, we start looking for other avenues. And I guess I was the avenue that didn't fit today."

What he plans to do now:
"What I'm going to do now is I'm going to take today and the next day and really talk to my family and talk to my agent and see what's out there. I don't want to make a decision, say something that could hinder me from doing some other things. But right now, I'm not upset about anything. If I don't go to another team and I have to go home, I've had a great career. I've had a chance to pitch for great teams, bad teams, mediocre teams. I've been in the World Series. But maybe I'll become one of you guys now." (Yeah, right)

Would you report to Class AAA?
"I'm not going to say I wouldn't go. Like I said, I'm going to take the next couple days and we're going to see if I can possibly be a Manny [Ramirez] and ask for a trade somewhere. I would like to go somewhere else in the big leagues. I wouldn't like to go somewhere else and go to the minor leagues. Let's put it like this: I don't want to go to Triple-A. I'll say it like that. Don't say I won't. I’m just going to take the next couple days and see what's out there. And then if not, I'll be heading west."

JIM BOWDEN
Reason for the move:
"O'Connor is throwing extremely well down there. He pitched well in the spring. We're very pleased with how he's throwing. His velocity has come back from the surgery of a couple of years ago. Our bullpen is such right now the way we are that we don't have a lot of innings in the bullpen, which has been a problem. If a pitcher gets knocked out early in the game we don't really have a long guy to come eat those innings. That, compounded with the problem that Chad has not been closing, everyone has been put in a position that is not their perfect role. So our feeling is that Mike gives us a long guy right now that can help put people back in their role and not tax guys for the games we're trying to win. So the luxury of having a lefty specialist isn't real important in the games we're playing right now as it normally would be."

Does King have a choice whether to report or not?
"We've optioned the player. He has 72 hours to report, per the basic agreement. He's a 5-plus [year] player that had given us prior consent to a move, so we have 45 days from the end of spring training to send him out that he agreed to accept an assignment. So we've optioned him."

Do you look at O'Connor as a starter or reliever long-term?
"We think in the long run he's a starting pitcher."

On the possibility of trading King:
"I'm always open to making our club better. I'm always open to making a trade that makes our organization better."

Manny Acta spoke to the media a little while ago about the decision to release Ray King. Basically, Acta said the team's bullpen is too thin right now to carry a lefty who's only there to pitch to left-handers.

"We need an extra-innings type of guy, which right now looks like Saul (Rivera) and (Joel) Hanrahan are the only ones to do it," Acta said. "We need a guy who can pitch to lefties and righties and bridge the gap, like O'Connor."

King was stunned to hear he is headed to Columbus. He didn't know he had options in his contract, and is mulling things over with his agent to see if he should accept the assignment or ask the Nationals for his outright release.

The 34-year-old King impressed Washington during spring training with his conditioning and performance, but it hasn't carried over to the regular season. He has a 5.68 ERA in 6 1/3 innings this season, including what might have been his worst outing of the season last night. He gave up two runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning against the Mets, allowing a run-scoring bloop single from Angel Pagan when he threw wide of Nick Johnson at first.

"I don't think he will accept (the assignment)," Acta said. "But that's his prerogative."

O'Connor was also a spring surprise after elbow surgery limited his effectiveness in the minors last season. The George Washington product is 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA for Class AAA Columbus this season.

It's hard to say whether the 27-year-old projects as a reliever or starter in the Nationals' future, but Acta said the club at least wants to see him in the majors.

He went 3-8 with a 4.80 ERA in 2006, when he made 20 starts for Washington.

"I haven't had him out of the 'pen yet," Acta said. "We'll see if he can handle it."

Just got off the horn with Mark Zuckerman, who wanted to pass along this bit of breaking news: The Nationals have optioned left-handed reliever Ray King to Class AAA Columbus and purchased the contract of left-handed pitcher Mike O'Connor to replace him.

More details to come when he gets close to a computer.

After an inning full of bloop hits and shaky defense, the Nationals have some work to do. They got up 2-1 when Tim Redding drove a ball to the warning track to score two runs (not a typo). But Redding started to labor in the fifth inning, giving up a leadoff single to Carlos Beltran and was lifted for Ray King. That's when things went bad.

First, Ryan Church hit a ball that bounced off the plate, went toward third, took another weird spin and was fielded by Ryan Zimmerman. The third baseman probably could have had Church at first, but tried to make a quick throw and wound up firing wide of Nick Johnson. He did the same thing on Saturday night against the Marlins, allowing Dan Uggla to reach first and eventually score in the first inning.

After Zimmerman's error let Church get all the way to third and allowed Beltran to score, Angel Pagan followed two batters later with a dribbler toward Ray King, whose throw missed Johnson. Church scored on the play, Pagan stole second and third, and Brian Schneider's groundout brought him home. It's 5-2 Mets in the top of the seventh.

Meanwhile, the middle of Washington's order continues to struggle. Zimmerman, Johnson, Austin Kearns and Lastings Milledge are a combined 0-for-12 tonight with two strikeouts against Johan Santana.

We're through three innings here at Nationals Park, Mets lead 1-0 on Carlos Beltran's leadoff double followed by two groundouts in the top of the second. Some observations...

-- Good crowd on hand, perhaps in the vicinity of 30,000, but you probably can't tell that on TV. That's because once again the President's Club behind the plate is maybe one-third full and the outfield bleachers are less than half-full. The rest of the park, aside from a few sections in the upper deck, is packed. Yet again something the Nats are going to need to take a long look at this winter when deciding how to price seats.

-- Plenty of those in attendance, as expected, are Mets fans, which leads to some unusual scenes. Like when Carlos Delgado grounded out to score Beltran from third, almost everyone here cheered. The Mets fans cheered because they scored a run, the Nats fans cheered because they recorded an out.

-- Not much of a fan reaction for either Brian Schneider or Ryan Church. Kind of surprising, given the fact they spent the last three seasons here and you'd think fans would feel strongly one way or another about them.

-- In actual baseball news, Tim Redding has basically looked sharp. He's only allowed two hits -- the Beltran double and then an inexcusable double to Johan Santana in the third. Otherwise, the gutsy right-hander has been effective.

-- Santana has already allowed four hits (two singles by Cristian Guzman, one a piece by Wily Mo Pena and Wil Nieves) but hasn't faced any serious danger yet.

-- Ryan Zimmerman hit the ball hard to the warning track in his first at-bat but grounded out meekly in the third despite getting ahead in the count 3-1. Zimmerman took the next pitch for a strike and then grounded out.

-- Nick Johnson (0-for-2, groundout, strikeout) looks kind of lost up there, I have to say. Nick is now 0 for his last 10 and has seen his average fall from .275 to .215.

The Nationals received some good news this afternoon out of closer Chad Cordero's appointment with Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala. An MRI and examination of Cordero's shoulder confirmed rotator cuff tendinitis, but Cordero will be able to continue pitching and working to strenghten the shoulder.

Cordero had started the year on the DL with tendinitis and felt a clicking in his shoulder after pitching on Monday. The Nationals had planned to get him back in the closer's role soon, and should be able to do so now that the appointment with Andrews revealed no further damage.

We'll have more on this as we get it.

Hi everyone, Mark Zuckerman back here after a brief, five-day respite from the beat. The Nats are back in town tonight to face Johan Santana, Brian Schneider, Ryan Church and the Mets, and I'm back for my weekly live chat. Join me at 1 p.m. at this site as we discuss the Nats' abysmal start to the season, Chad Cordero's shoulder injury and the glimmer of hope John Lannan and Co. provided last night. As always, feel free to submit questions in advance by emailing me at natsmailbag@washingtontimes.com. See you at 1!

After John Lannan outdueled John Smoltz on the night the Braves pitcher reached 3,000 career strikeouts, Washington scored five runs in the ninth inning off Jorge Campillo to put this one out of reach. Jon Rauch pitched the ninth.

It's tough to say enough about Lannan's performance tonight. He doesn't get rattled by anything, and though he's only made 10 big-league starts, he's certainly been in some situations where he could get shaken. Remember, this is the guy who kept Barry Bonds from breaking Hank Aaron's all-time mark; in fact, he allowed one run in seven innings that night.

He won't overwhelm anyone, but his fastball is good enough to sell hitters on it when he's locating it well. Three of his four outing have been quality starts, and save for his April 12 outing against the Braves (where he gave up six runs in four innings), he's given the Nationals a chance to win every time he's pitched.

Lannan only allowed two runners to reach second base, retired the leadoff hitter in all seven of his innings and only gave up one hit with less than two outs. When you do that, you don't need to throw 95 mph to win a lot of games.

The Nationals start an 11-game homestand tomorrow -- the longest of the season -- at 7:10 p.m. against Johan Santana and the Mets. Tim Redding will try to win his fourth game of the year for Washington.

Well, that didn't take long. The ageless wonder John Smoltz came into tonight's game needing just four strikeouts for 3,000 in his career, and the 40-year-old got Felipe Lopez swinging at a low splitter to reach the milestone in the third inning.

Smoltz is the 16th pitcher to strike out 3,000 in his career. He received contgratulatory handshakes from the Braves' infield and a lengthy standing ovation from the Turner Field crowd as fireworks shot off in the stadium. The Braves played a video tribute to Smoltz after he retired Cristian Guzman to end the third inning. He led off Atlanta's half of the third, and got another ovation after grounding out to Guzman.

Smoltz needs 31 strikeouts to pass Pedro Martinez for 15th all-time.

Chad Cordero has a 1:30 p.m. appointment tomorrow with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., to examine his right shoulder. Cordero started the season on the disabled list with shoulder tendinitis, and appeared ready to take the closer's role back after a scoreless eighth last night. But he said he felt some clicking in the shoulder when he got back to his hotel. He notified the team, and they set up the appointment with Andrews. No one's quite sure what this means yet; clicking doesn't necessarily mean there's any further damage to Cordero's shoulder. He said he didn't feel any pain when he was pitching last night. But athletes don't usually see Andrews unless something serious is going on. Stay tuned.

In other news, Dmitri Young got a second opinion on his back from the University of Miami's Frank Eismont today, and Eismont did not see anything that would require surgery. He did see some degenerative changes in the sacroiliac joints in Young's lower back, and feels Young could be helped by chiropractic care. There is still no timetable for when Young could return to the Nationals' lineup.

Also, Manny Acta said Felipe Lopez is his second baseman for now. "He'd pretty much have to take himself out of it," Acta said. Lopez is hitting leadoff tonight, and it sounds like he'll be there for the near future. The Nationals like his aggressiveness on the basepaths more than Cristian Guzman's, and they want an active runner hitting two spots in front of Ryan Zimmerman, so he might be in scoring position when Zimmerman comes up.

Wily Mo Pena gets a night off after going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts last night; Acta said the left fielder, who is hitting .100, needs a day to work with hitting coach Lenny Harris.

Here's tonight's lineup as the Nationals try to end a three-game skid against John Smoltz, who is four strikeouts away from 3,000 for his career:

2B Felipe Lopez
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Nick Johnson
RF Austin Kearns
CF Lastings Milledge
LF Willie Harris
C Wil Nieves
P John Lannan

Hello from Turner Field in Atlanta, where the Nationals are trying to halt a two-game losing streak by beating the pitcher that has perhaps dominated more than any other in baseball, Braves right-hander Tim Hudson. The Nationals' offensive woes have become more pronounced lately, with the whole team seemingly unable to start a rally, and there were some interesting insights on that before today's game:

* In an extensive interview, hitting coach Lenny Harris said he can't remember a time when he's seen a team struggling across the board like this. But Harris sounded like his hands are tied a little on what he can do to fix it. He's stayed away from making technical corrections with very many players, saying in particular he didn't want to step on Ryan Zimmerman's toes too much. And for players like Dmitri Young and Felipe Lopez adapting to bench roles for the first time, Harris's stay-aggerssive approach to pinch hitting is mitigated by Manny Acta's philosophy on it. "They're taking a lot of pitches because we're down four runs, five runs, and Manny tells them he doesn't want them swinging at the first pitch," Harris said. "They're not used to sitting on this bench. They're in between right now. They come back mad as hell because they don't get a base hit. My theory was, I didn't let nothing hit the mitt. I'll give you a pitch, but I'm not going to give you another one."

He also had some interesting things to say about the differences between this Washington team and the veteran Reds and Dodgers teams he played with. "Our attitude on the bench was different. Every team I played for, we were always encouraged, we were always in the game," Harris said. "We got a whole bunch of young kids. I played on big teams. I never played on teams with young guys like this ... Somebody has to step up and be a leader and say, 'Hey, man, this is how it's supposed to be done.' "

* Dmitri Young stayed behind in Florida today to see a specialist at the University of Miami about his back. "We'll go from there," Acta said.

Here is tonight's lineup:

SS Cristian Guzman
CF Lastings Milledge
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Nick Johnson
RF Austin Kearns
C Johnny Estrada
LF Wily Mo Pena
2B Felipe Lopez
P Matt Chico

There wasn't much energy in the Nationals' clubhouse this morning -- probably partially because of the typical Sunday morning after Saturday night game routine. But players still seemed in a little funk from last night's sloppy 6-5 loss to the Marlins, and that's carried over into the start of this game. Odalis Perez has thrown 52 pitches in three innings, Ryan Zimmerman is already 0-for-2 and the throw he sailed over Aaron Boone's head at first base set up Florida's only run. It's 1-0 Marlins as we head into the bottom of the fourth.

A couple notes: Shawn Hill says he feels fine after his first start of the year, just the normal day-after soreness. He'll throw on the side tomorrow and start Thursday against the Mets. Nick Johnson has a day off today, which means Boone is at first and Austin Kearns is hitting cleanup. Both Kearns and Zimmerman are slumping, but Manny Acta doesn't plan to get them out of it with a day off, saying the only way they can fix it is by playing.

Here is today's lineup:
SS Felipe Lopez
2B Ronnie Belliard
3B Ryan Zimmerman
RF Austin Kearns
CF Lastings Milledge
LF Wily Mo Pena
1B Aaron Boone
C Wil Nieves
P Odalis Perez

The Nationals face the Marlins in the middle game of this weekend's three-game series tonight at 7:10, hoping to win their first series since taking two out of three from Philadelphia in the season's first week. Some pregame news to report (and a few less newsy items):

- Felipe Lopez is again batting leadoff after going 3-for-5 last night. But he is once again playing second base, not shortstop, as manager Manny Acta had originally planned. Acta said he liked Lopez and Cristian Guzman together at the top of the lineup, so he decided to retain the lineup from Friday's 6-4 win. Lopez will probably play shortstop tomorrow, giving Guzman a day off and sparing him from the dreaded day game after a night game.

- Chad Cordero said he hasn't felt any pain in playing long toss, and still believes Wednesday's outing (where he couldn't get his fastball above 80 mph) was a combination of cold weather and not having enough time to warm up. Jon Rauch will continue to close games until Cordero's stuff comes back.

- Shawn Hill makes his first start of the year tonight. We've covered this extensively, so not much more needs to be said about it, but Hill could give this team a big lift with a strong outing.

- There was a pregame division among the players' TV choices: Pitchers (perhaps taking a cue from tonight's Canadian-born starter) watched the Capitals beat the Flyers in Game 5 of their series, while position players mostly congregated on the other end of the clubhouse to watch Game 1 of the Suns-Spurs series. Aaron Boone, who makes his offseason home in Arizona, is a die-hard Suns fan, which apparently stems from his days as a Sixers fan before Charles Barkley was traded to Phoenix. Besides, Ryan Zimmerman said, "Everyone hates San Antonio. They're boring."

- Finally (though perhaps not most importantly), Dmitri Young's Afro is gone. The first baseman emerged from the showers last night with a closely-cropped hairdo and a big smirk on his face. Acta asked him to trim it back a little -- though "we didn't ask him to do it the way he did it," -- and Young decided to go all the way, since he usually has his personal barber in Miami. "It wasn't something like we mandated to him," Acta said. "He did a very nice job."

Tonight's lineup:

2B Felipe Lopez
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Nick Johnson
CF Lastings Milledge
RF Austin Kearns
LF Wily Mo Pena
C Johnny Estrada
P Shawn Hill

What a difference a day makes -- OK, it's an old cliche. But in this case, it's true. For the second night in a row, it looked like an impressive start from a Nationals pitcher (John Lannan on Thursday night, Tim Redding tonight) wouldn't yield a win. Redding had a 3-1 lead in the sixth before making a couple of mistakes and giving up three runs. He finished the inning, leaving with 10 strikeouts. Before Washington inserted another pitcher, however, the Nationals got the lead back.

With two out and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Nick Johnson worked Taylor Tankersley to a 3-2 count in an impressive at-bat, then ripped a double down the right-field line to score three. The Nationals' bullpen held on from there, with Jon Rauch getting the save.

Several positive developments from this game: First, Redding was superb for five innings, locating his fastball well and setting up his off-speed pitches for when he was ahead of hitters. He said 58 of his 92 pitches were fastballs, and 40 of those were strikes. That's an ideal formula for Redding, whose slider, curveball and changeup are only effective if his fastball is working. It was last night.

Second, we're starting to see some patience at the top of the order. Cristian Guzman and Ryan Zimmerman combined for three walks, all of which led to runs. Throw in Lopez's 3-for-5 day, and it puts Nick Johnson and Lastings Milledge (probably the team's two best hitters right now) in RBI situations. Those two drove in five of Washington's six runs.

And finally, the bullpen was effective in holding the lead. Luis Ayala, Ray King and Jon Rauch allowed two hits in three shutout innings, with Rauch earning the save. All three threw strikes and let their defense catch the ball.

We're back here tomorrow night at 7:10 for Shawn Hill's first start of the year. He was activated from the DL on Friday night; Paul Lo Duca went on it with the right hand contusion that's kept him out since last Sunday, when he was hit by a pitch against the Braves. The move was retroactive to April 14. Lo Duca said his hand isn't getting any better, and it's keeping him from being aggressive at the plate. See you tomorrow.

Paul Lo Duca had a CT scan on his injured right hand today, which came back negative. There's no fracture, and though he has soft tissue swelling, he's cleared to participate as symptoms allow.

What this means: I doubt Lo Duca will play in tonight's series finale against the Mets, and perhaps not tomorrow night in Florida, either. But it would appear he could be back up and running within a few more days.

Just got to Shea Stadium, where a group of Nats are taking early BP: Ryan Zimmerman, Austin Kearns, Nick Johnson, Aaron Boone, Felipe Lopez, Rob Mackowiak, Willie Harris. Zimmerman is absolutely crushing the ball into the far reaches of the bleachers and over the center-field fence. Doesn't mean he's going to do that against Nelson Figueroa tonight, but it's impressive nonetheless.

And on an unrelated (but quite interesting) subject, did you see where Miguel Tejada has informed the Astros that he's actually two years older than he's been saying his entire professional career? The guy just went from 31 to 33 years old!

For those who didn't see it last night, or read about it this morning, Chad Cordero had a most-bizarre eighth-inning appearance at Shea Stadium. The Nats closer, who recently came back from a stint on the DL with right shoulder tendinitis, was pumping out fastballs that registered in the high 70s and finally "maxed" out at 82 mph by his 20th offering.

Team officials were understandably concerned, so Manny Acta and Jim Bowden met with Cordero for 15 minutes following the game. Chad insists he's not hurt, that he feels no pain in his shoulder. The Nats believe him when he says that (and for what it's worth, so do I). Cordero believes the problem last night was that he didn't have enough time to warm up, and on a cold night at Shea, he never could get loose.

That said, it's hard to believe there's not something more significant going on here. Cordero may not be feeling any pain in his shoulder, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's completely healthy. Remember, he received a cortisone shot on March 30 after first reporting pain. Is it possible the effects of that shot are now masking an unknown injury? I'm not a doctor, so I wouldn't claim to understand how this all works. But it certainly seems plausible.

I would not be surprised if Cordero undergoes some more medical tests, perhaps another MRI (the first one two weeks ago showed no structural damage). In the meantime, Acta says he won't use Chief in any tight situations until he regains some arm strength. That means Jon Rauch is your closer for the foreseeable future, and Cordero is, what, a mop-up man?

Wow, who in the right mind saw this coming a month or two ago?

Paul Lo Duca's bruised, swollen right hand still hasn't progressed to the point where he can swing a bat with any confidence, so the Nationals have decided to purchase the contract of catcher Wil Nieves from Class AAA Columbus and get him to Shea Stadium ASAP so the team can have two healthy catchers for tonight's game agianst the Mets and the rest of the series.

Nieves, a glove-first catcher who did have a decent spring, was in Durham, N.C., with the Clippers and is due to land in New York at 7:40 p.m. The club hopes he is at the ballpark and in uniform about halfway through the game, maybe around 8:30 or so. Johnny Estrada will be on his own until then, though Jim Bowden says the Nats do have an emergency catcher ... Aaron Boone. No, Boone has never caught a game in the big leagues or minor leagues, but he apparently did it once in college or something. Besides, the guy has to have some kind of catching instincts in his blood -- his father only spent like 37 years behind the plate in the big leagues. (I may be exaggerating a bit.)

To make room for Nieves, reliever Chris Schroder was optioned to Columbus. Schroder had made only two appearances in more than two weeks, so there's no reason surprise there, and he probably would have been the guy to go down this weekend when and if Shawn Hill is activated.

As for Lo Duca, the swelling and discoloration on the back of his right hand is still very evident. He said he can grip a bat and begin to swing, but once he gets to the point of contact, the pain becomes too much to bear. "And I can't swing one-handed," he points out. X-rays were negative, so there probably isn't a broken bone, but Lo Duca will go through some more tests to determine if there's anything else going on there. Is he headed for the DL? Not yet, but I would think if he's not ready to go by Friday in Florida, the club will DL him and that will clear the roster spot for Hill to come back and pitch against the Marlins.

Other pregame news: Manny Acta has tweaked his lineup, though not the move some of you proposed in today's live chat, and the one I thought about last night (flip-flopping Nick Johnson and Ryan Zimmerman). No, instead Acta has bumped Ronnie Belliard up to the No. 2 spot and put Lastings Milledge in the 5-hole, moving slumping Austin Kearns to the 6-spot. The reasoning is twofold: Acta wants to try to get Belliard out of his funk and thinks he might be more productive batting second than seventh or eighth (and indeed he did do well last year when hitting second). Also, he wants to try to take advantage of Milledge (one of the few guys hitting right now) by putting him in a position to drive in some runs instead of being a table setter for others.

Plenty of discussion on the Nats' offensive woes during my live chat today, but I thought I'd expand on a few related subjects...

-- The top two guys in the Nats' lineup, Cristian Guzman and Lastings Milledge, have been doing their job so far. Guzman is hitting .333, though he only has one walk. Milledge is hitting .309 with a .361 OBP, though he's been thrown out a few times trying to take ill-advised extra bases.

-- The problem lies in the heart of the Nats' order. Ryan Zimmerman is hitting .211, and he's an astounding 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Austin Kearns is hitting .217 with two extra-base hits. He's drawn nine walks, but he's also grounded into five double plays (most in the NL). Nick Johnson has done better (his OBP is a team-best .420), though he's only got five RBI, which is a bit puzzling.

-- The bottom of the order hasn't done much, either. Paul Lo Duca, Ronnie Belliard and all the left fielders are all hitting .200 or worse.

So what's the answer? Some fans have proposed the same thing I thought of last night -- putting Johnson in the No. 3 spot, with Zimmerman behind him, hoping perhaps to take advantage of Johnson's ability to get on base and put the ball in play, while still leaving plenty of RBI opportunities for Zimmerman. There could be some merit to that, though it would leave the Nats with a bunch of right-handed hitters in a row, and Manny Acta certainly pays attention to that kind of stuff. Manny's also not one to make many lineup changes, so my hunch is that we won't see that.

For better or worse, I think we're going to have to see if the struggling Nats hitters can hit their own way out of this. There's no real solutions on the bench or in the upper levels of the farm system. The only guy not here right now who could maybe make a difference would be Elijah Dukes, who is making strides in his recovery from a strained hamstring and could be back in another week or so. That said, I don't know that Acta's just going to plug the talented-but-raw Dukes into the lineup right off the bat, whether in left or right fields.

In other words, hunker down and hope things get better sometime soon...

Hi folks,

Mark Zuckerman will be doing his weekly live chat at 1 p.m. today, so click here to get there now (or later).

See you then.

Sorry I'm so late with this -- I've been playing catch-up all night. We're in the bottom of the fifth right now, with the Mets leading 2-0 courtesy of David Wright's two-run homer in the first off Odalis Perez.

The players involved in last winter's trade between these two clubs have already been front and center. Lastings Milledge laced a one-out double in the top of the first but was gunned down trying to steal third by none other than Brian Schneider (who may or may not have been thinking at the time that Paul Lo Duca wouldn't have made that play). Schneider also threw out Ronnie Belliard at second on Perez's sacrifice bunt attempt.

Meanwhile, Ryan Church (who's batting second tonight for the first time in a long time) singled in the bottom of the first and scored moments later on Wright's homer. Make of that what you will.

Even more meanwhile, Paul Lo Duca isn't in the lineup tonight because his right hand remains swollen and discolored after getting hit by a pitch Sunday afternoon. He tried to swing a bat this afternoon but couldn't do it to the level he'd like, so Johnny Estrada has been behind the plate tonight.

And still even more meanwhile, Shawn Hill is most likely to come off the DL and start Saturday against the Marlins, according to Jim Bowden. Hill, who pitched six innings for Class AAA Columbus on Sunday, said his arm feels strong (with only minor tightness) and that he's ready to go.

Since, as we all know, the Nats continue to tout their progress in the minor leagues, I thought this would be a good time to look at the performances of some of the organization's top prospects (and other notable names) through the season's first two weeks...

CLASS AAA COLUMBUS
PITCHERS
Collin Balester (1-1, 2.61 ERA, 2 starts, 10.1ip, 6h, 3bb, 6k)
Tyler Clippard (0-2, 5.40 ERA, 2 starts, 10ip, 13h, 4bb, 13k)
Garrett Mock (0-0, 7.00 ERA, 2 starts, 9ip, 16h, 5bb, 10k)
Mike O'Connor (1-0, 2.25 ERA, 3 starts, 16ip, 11h, 4bb, 16k)
HITTERS
Ryan Langerhans (.324avg, 1hr, 3rbi)
Bret Boone (.256avg, 0hr, 6rbi)
Alex Escobar (.304avg, 1hr, 4rbi)
Garrett Guzman (.132avg, 0hr, 1rbi)
Pete Orr (.225avg, 1hr, 9rbi)
COMMENTS: Obviously, the starting rotation bears the closest watching, since all four of those guys are highly thought of and could make it to D.C. at some point this year. Based on the early showings, Balester and O'Connor are making the best cases for promotion. Interesting to see how many guys O'Connor -- not the hardest thrower in the world -- is striking out.

CLASS AA HARRISBURG
HITTERS
Yurendell de Caster (.366avg, 4hr, 13rbi)
Luis Jimenez (.293avg, 4hr, 14rbi)
Justin Maxwell (.242avg, 1hr, 6rbi)
COMMENTS: Third baseman de Caster didn't show much of anything this spring, but he's clearly off to a fast start. First baseman Jimenez, also known as "Little Papi" did show tremendous power this spring, and he's carrying it over into the season. Keep an eye on him. All those who believe Maxwell is ready to start in the Nats' big-league outfield should realize the kid isn't quite there yet.

CLASS A POTOMAC
PITCHERS
Jordan Zimmermann (1-0, 0.93 ERA, 2 games, 9.2ip, 3h, 5bb, 12k)
Ross Detwiler (1-0, 3.86 ERA, 2 starts, 9.1ip, 8h, 3bb, 9k)
HITTERS
Chris Marrero (.293avg, 2hr, 6rbi)
COMMENTS: Detwiler gets all the attention because he was last year's No. 1 pick and reached the big leagues in September, but keep a close eye on Zimmermann, a second-round pick last season. A team executive told me this spring that the tough right-hander from Wisconsin-Stevens Point might actually be the first guy from the Class of 07 to make it to the majors on a permanent basis, perhaps even this season. Marrero, the organization's top overall prospect, is off to a solid start. If he keeps it up, he'll probably be promoted to Harrisburg in short order.

As expected, Wily Mo Pena was activated off the 15-day DL this morning and immediately inserted into the Nats' lineup. He'll hit fifth and start in left field, though normally he'll probably hit sixth. Today, though, Manny Acta wanted to give Nick Johnson a day off, which combined with tomorrow's team day off gives him plenty of rest before the start of the next series Tuesday. So Austin Kearns hits cleanup today, with Pena fifth.

Somewhat less expected (even though it was expected to happen at some point soon) was the club's decision to option catcher Jesus Flores to Class AAA Columbus. Main reason for the move: Johnny Estrada is ready to catch and back up Paul Lo Duca, so there's no need for a third backstop here. As for why Flores is going to Columbus instead of Class AA Harrisburg, which was the club's original thinking, the organization believes offensively he's at a Class AAA level. More importantly, they want him to catch the guys currently in the Columbus rotation (Collin Balester, Garrett Mock, Tyler Clippard, Mike O'Connor and now Jason Bergmann) because those are the guys who are suppossed to be part of the big-league rotation for years to come, just as Flores is supposed to be the catcher of the future.

OK, today's lineups...

NATS
SS Guzman
CF Milledge
3B Zimmerman
RF Kearns
LF Pena
C Lo Duca
2B Bellliard
1B Boone
P Redding

BRAVES
2B Johnson
SS Escobar
3B Jones
1B Teixeira
C McCann
RF Francoeur
CF Kotsay
LF Diaz
P Glavine

The Nats' nine-game losing streak has forced GM Jim Bowden to make some roster changes.

Jason Bergmann was optioned to Class AAA Columbus after allowing four runs over two innings in relief during today's 10-2 loss to the Braves. Clearly, the right-hander needs to get some things straightened out, because he has looked horrible the last two times out (and he'll be the first to admit that).

Chad Cordero will take Bergmann's roster spot and has been activated off the DL. He probably won't pitch in a closer's role tomorrow but could get an inning in earlier in the game and then slide back into his usual role after that.

Wily Mo Pena is expected to be activated off the DL in time for tomorrow's game as well. Pena will get a couple of at-bats with Columbus tonight, then immediately catch a flight to D.C. and start in left field tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how much difference he makes to a Nationals lineup that has been dreadful.

Pena's return will require another roster move before tomorrow's game. Best bet is either for a reliever (Chris Schroder?) to be sent down, or perhaps Jesus Flores (since the Nats now have three healthy catchers).

John Lannan has delivered the first pitch of the game at 2:36 p.m., some 91 minutes after the game was supposed to get going.

Looks like almost everyone in the crowd stuck it out through the rain delay. Nice gathering on hand, definitely over 30,000, maybe over 35,000. Only empty sections are in the second deck behind the right-field fence and some in the rear portion of the lower deck behind the left and right field walls.

And the tarp is once again coming off the field. First pitch now scheduled for 2:35 p.m.

So much for that 1:35 start. Another rain cell is passing over right now. They insist this will be brief and they'll be underway soon. We'll see.