Washington has now lost seven in a row, three of those to the Marlins, but this defeat ranks up there with their most aggravating. The clutch hitting the team has needed for a week showed up in spots -- Johnny Estrada's pinch single drove in Paul Lo Duca in the eighth, and Lastings Milledge and Nick Johnson both had doubles in the ninth -- but all of it came with the team a run out of reach.

That was mostly because its bullpen again struggled in the late innings. Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch gave up runs in the eighth and ninth innings, when either one of them could have kept the Marlins within one.

Of course, the team would have tied the game in the ninth if Josh Willingham hadn't reached over the fence to steal a two-run homer from Nick Johnson. Willingham dropped the ball when he crashed into the fence in front of the Marlins' bullpen, but he held Johnson to a double. That proved to be huge when Paul Lo Duca grounded into a double play to end the game.

Another of the Nationals' recent foibles came into play -- their inability to work pitchers and get runners on base. Mark Hendrickson threw just 80 pitches in seven innings, and didn't allow a baserunner in the fourth, fifth or sixth innings. After the game, Manny Acta said his team needs to do a better job of making pitchers earn their outs. And as big a proponent of on-base percentage as Acta is, you have to figure he'll use Hendrickson's no-walk outing as a teaching tool.

The team gets a chance to end its losing streak tomorrow against the Braves. First pitch is at 7:35 p.m. at Nationals Park. Thanks to a snowstorm in Denver, Nationals killer Tim Hudson will be throwing for Atlanta. We'll see if they can scrape together some runs against Hudson like they did in the season opener.