With apologies to a certain antacid maker, this is how the Nats spell relief: S-E-R-I-E-S-S-W-E-E-P. Coming on the heels of an agonizing road trip and an eight-game losing streak, there was no better cure for the ailing Nats than coming home to RFK to face the streaky Marlins. By the end of the weekend, the Nats had picked up the three game sweep (which was actually their first series win of the year), as well as some style points, to boot.

On Friday, Shawn Hill had his best start yet, with 5 innings of no-hit ball before leaving with some elbow soreness. The relief corps – and Winston Abreu in particular – finished out the shutout impressively. Just like that, the losing streak was dead, and the club was feeding off a 6-0 win.

Saturday’s game goes down as one of the strangest in the Nats brief history in D.C., with bunches of hits and pounding rain extending the game interminably until the Nats’ dramatic five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth. Probably a few dozen saw it in person, but a few years from now, hundreds will probably claim to have seen Ryan Zimmerman’s walk-off grand slam that sealed the 7-3 win. Mad kudos from us for those sadistic lucky few that did stay the six hours and thirty seven minutes from start to finish (including the lengthy three and a half hours after last call). A mere 12 hours after Zim's hit, the club was back at it for Sunday’s matinee and one could sense the Marlins were already printing their boarding passes to get out of town. Despite some sloppy defense that allowed four runs in the sixth, the club made their early lead stand up for a 6-4 finish, garnering starter Jason Simontacchi his first MLB win since 2003.

The Nats' improved play could not have come with better timing, as tonight the first place Braves come to town and send feared right hander Darth Smoltz to the mound. The Braves series is followed by a weekend tilt with the O's in the latest installment of the Battle of the Beltway.