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.