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.