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