Results tagged “lastnightsaction”

Heat 93, Wizards 89: It was the Dwayne Wade show at the Phone Booth last night. When Wade was on the court, he poured in 40 to lead all scorers; unfortunately for the Wizards, they couldn't transplant their very good play for the short periods of time when D-Wade was on the bench to when he was playing. Gilbert Arenas had 32 to lead Washington, and Brendan Haywood and Caron Butler both chipped in double-doubles -- although the three were an ugly combined -34 in plus/minus. Statistics aside, it just wasn't enough to overcome Wade, who was hitting key baskets all night. With back-to-back games against two of the league's five best players, the Wizards will probably be relieved to see mega-star-deprived Indiana next on the slate. Oh, and Mike Miller picked up an injury to his arm -- but as Dan Steinberg notes: what's new?

So there you have it, Redskins fans. Dan Snyder apologizes that his team has made your Sundays miserable for the better part of two months. He "feels bad" for you. He's "embarrassed." Here's the man many people are attributing with lead one of this town's biggest cultural institutions to a slow drive into irrelevance, telling you he's sorry.

Wizards 102, Mavericks 91: Something tells me that the Wizards are going to be a real interesting team this season: new coach, a whole host of new players, and old players returning with the grudge of last season's epic failure hanging over their heads as motivation. But for whatever reason, the Wizards' hopes seem to always rest on the back of Gilbert Arenas. And man, the old Gilbert was back last night: dishing dimes, driving to the hoop with strength and finesse, and reminding us of that guy whom you could have made an argument for as the best fourth quarter player in the league three years ago. Gil had 29 points and nine assists in the Wizards season-opening 102-91 win on the road in Dallas. Of course, it wasn't all Agent Zero -- new boss Flip Saunders has stressed defense during the offseason, and Washington held the Mavs to only 39% from the field. Andray Blatche, Randy Foye, and Caron Butler also chipped in double digits. Dirk Nowitzki (and his long hair) paced Dallas with 34.

Capitals 5, Thrashers 4: Last night's game between Washington and Atlanta was a tight affair for the first thirty minutes. It was at that point that the Caps unleased an offensive fury, the likes of which hasn't been seen since that glorious day when I mastered the unstoppable wraparound glitch in NHL '95 for Super Nintendo. Jeff Schultz, Matt Bradley, and Chris Clark all scored in one minute and 22 second span in the second period -- and Washington needed them all, holding off Atlanta's late surge to win 5-4 on the road. In a matchup of two of the league's most prominent scorers, Alex Ovechkin's team topped Ilya Kovalchuk's, although Kovalchuk scored twice and the Great Eight was held pointless for only the second time this season. Ondrej Pavelec certainly had a bad night between the pipes for the Thrashers -- not only did the Caps smoke five past him on only 14 shots before he was pulled, but Schultz's goal was on a simple clearance attempt from 85 feet away which took an incredibly fortuitous hop into the back of the net.

United 1, Toluca 1: D.C. United have spent this year on the fringes of pretty much everything. The fringe of the MLS playoffs. The fringe of silverware in the Open Cup. The fringe of victory or defeat (the team has 14 draws in 44 games over all competitions). The fringe of being able to put together a complete ninety minutes as a cohesive unit. Teams that live on such fringes often end up owing up their successes and failures to chance -- and so it is with United, whose advancement to the knockout stages of the CONCACAF Champions League (much like their chances to advance to the MLS Cup playoffs) now sits in the hands of other teams. On its own, the one-all draw at Toluca would probably be viewed as a success. American sides never fare well in the high altitudes and hostile atmospheres of Mexico, let alone against one of the marquee sides in the country. Additionally, Tom Soehn was understandably resting a large number of his regulars in advance of Saturday's league finale against Kansas City -- Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms, Jaime Moreno and Marc Burch sat, and Boyzz Khumalo, Rodney Wallace, Christian Gomez and Dejan Jakovic played abbreviated roles. With a win, United could have assured their place in the next stage of the competition, and they got off to as good a start as they could. Chris Pontius supplied a fantastic strike to open matters, but Israel López equalized for Toluca from the penalty spot in the 62nd minute. United was fortunate to hold on, as keeper Steve Cronin impressed again with several key saves. D.C. will now need Marathon to either tie or lose against San Juan Jabloteh to advance; it would be the first positive result for Jabloteh in the group stage, so don't hold your breath.

Capitals 3, Predators 2: The Caps won in a dramatic shootout -- we'll have a full recap tomorrow.

So much for the "action" part of this post. The only professional sporting involving a team from the area last night was an exhibition basketball game; the Wizards won -- Gilbert Arenas had 24 and Antawn Jamison had 15 and 11 -- but c'mon, who really cares about an exhibition NBA game? Yes, although October may be one of the best months on the national sporting calendar, we in Washington are in a bit of a lull. The Redskins are pathetically struggling to make it through the easiest schedule stretch in NFL history at .500. The Capitals are on their first slump of the year, though it's still early. Our local college football teams, for the most part, are nothing to call home about, and hoops doesn't really kick in for another month or so. D.C. United is winding down a disappointing campaign, the Wizards are still in first gear, and the Nationals are stuck wondering how they can get their city to watch them on TV.

Red Wings 3, Capitals 2: There is no denying the the Washington Capitals might be the most talented team in the NHL. But all that talent means little if it isn't deployed with a little bit of discipline. Because of a couple of sloppy penalties, the Caps dropped their third straight game after a promising start to the season. With defenseman Mike Green in the box on a hooking call late in the third period, Detroit's Thomas Holmstrom took a pass from Pavel Datsyuk and fired a wrister over Jose Theodore's pad side to put the Red Wings into the lead for good. The Wings were typically snippy defensively, working hard to back-check against the Caps big guns; as a result, Washington's big Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin combination was held to but one assist -- in comparison, the trio had produced an incredible 29 points in the first four games of the year. Matt Bradley and Brendan Morrison lit the lamp for Washington's tallies.

• Flyers 6, Capitals 5: As someone who spent some formative years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there's plenty of things about the current NHL which really don't resonate with me. No teams in Quebec and Winnipeg. A two-week break in the middle of the season for the Olympics. Only three players in the last two seasons reaching 100 points. But while the first two are more complex issues, at least the Capitals are bringing that heyday of NHL offensive play, the one that I fondly remember, back. Coming into the game, the Caps boasted the top four scorers in the league. And sure, they may have lost in overtime to Philadelphia on Tuesday night in a matchup of the two teams which, along with the Penguins, have to be considered the favorites in the Eastern Conference. But this is the kind of game that was straight out of 1991 -- 11 goals (including seven in the second period), 12 power plays (four of which ended in goals), 78 combined shots, and offensive superstars all over the place. Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin -- harkening back to speedy goal scorers like fellow Russians Pavel Bure and Alex Mogilny -- both had two goals, but were outshined by Philadelphia's Mike Richards, who netted his second career hat trick. It was the kind of game that brought this observer back to the days when 6-5 games in the league were the rule, rather than the exception, and hockey was dynamically entertaining. Maybe it was Peter Berg's excellent Gretzky-to-L.A. documentary which got the juices flowing (a must see, by the way), but it sure feels good to come back to a league where scoring lots of goals is, once again, chic.
• Wizards 101, Grizzlies 92: Who says the NBA preseason can't be exciting? The Wizards had two buzzer beaters, and Caron Butler had a big time flush (or so I'm told), as Washington won it's first exhibition game of the year against Memphis in Richmond. The first quarter was a positive sign, as Agent Zero had seven of his ten assists and both Antawn Jamison and Butler were in double figures in the first fifteen minutes.

Nationals 6, Braves 3: It's now five on the trot for the Nats, as they got yet another big contribution from Ian Desmond to beat the Braves in Atlanta. The Sarasota, Florida native smashed a solo home run in the second, a two-run triple in the fourth, and scored on pitcher Livan Hernandez's single in the fifth. (He's got potential, folks; though if you're reading your trusty LNA regularly, you already knew that.) Hernandez looked pretty good; the real question with him is whether or not the Nats want to bring him back next season or they want to save that spot in the rotation for a young, albeit unproven arm like J.D. Martin or Ross Detweiler. That's for later days, though; for now, what hasn't been to like about this week in NatsTown? It's been a banner one for the young guys, the role players are contributing, Ryan Zimmerman has been scoring lots of important runs, and every guy in the five-man rotation has had a quality start. So what if it's the end of the season; when your team is the first National League club to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons in 25 years, you'll take the winning streaks when they come, dammit.

Capitals 4, Bruins 1: It's been a rough few months for D.C. sports -- a summer of futility at Nationals Park, the Wizards' dreadful season, Georgetown missing the tournament, the Redskins losing to the Lions, and so on, and so on. Will the Capitals be the messianic force that leads us out of the dark times? If they play like they did last night in Boston all year, then they might just be such an answer to those prayers. Washington bossed the game against a pretty decent Boston hockey club last night, looking even better than the team that many thought could go all the way last season. Already up 2-0 after two periods, the Caps scored twice in the opening two minutes of the third period to put things out of reach. It was a fantastic game for the team's top offensive talent, as Alexander Ovechkin (two goals and an assist) opened his 2009-10 account with a big deposit, as did Nicklas Backstrom (three assists) and Alex Semin (two helpers). But the Caps also flexed their considerable muscle on the power play -- Brooks Laich scored twice with the man advantage -- as Boston looked undisciplined; a too many men on the ice penalty led to Laich's opening goal. All in all, it was a romping victory for a team which many are counting on to put something positive back into this town's sporting consciousness.

Nationals 7, Mets 4: Someone of relative importance somewhere told me that it's not how you start, it's how you finish. (It was probably Gorilla Monsoon during one of his patented back-and-forths with Bobby Heenan in the early 90s heyday of professional wrestling. Never the less!) For the Nationals, that platitude is slightly empty; this is a team with 103 losses, after all. But some part of me feels good for the last three days of the team's second season in Nationals Park, especially last night. That's because sports, no matter how meaningless the game or how poor the teams' records, magnify the memorable over the commonly mundane and disappointing -- and a walk-off, two-out, full count grand slam in the home finale, regardless of the standings, is a tough memory to top. Enter Justin Maxwell, he of the career four home runs in fifty games. Maxwell came up with perhaps the most memorable moment of the season, taking Mets closer Francisco Rodruiguez deep in that very, scenario one that many of us dream about in our backyards as children. Sure, I could go into details about John Lannan's fantastic performance at home this year, or maybe Ryan Zimmerman's mammoth home run to the deepest part of the park; but I think I'll just sit here and enjoy this one for a little bit. You should too.

Nationals 4, Mets 3: Could the Nationals actually end the season on a positive note? Seems like a possibility after they earned their first back-to-back home victories since early August with a win against the Mets last night. The boys from Queens jumped out to a 3-0 lead against starter J.D. Martin. But the young righty calmed considerably, and looked good after the second inning, going six in total. Middle infielder Ian Desmond -- who has impressed since his callup -- went deep in the fifth to get things moving offensively. (We're excited to see what Desmond can do with a whole year at this level: his .333/.473/.806 in 16 games at the major league level shows a bit of promise, even if his five errors in middle infield will do nothing to help solve the Nats' considerable defensive woes.) Ryan Zimmerman then pushed the Nats into a tie with a two-out base knock. A wild endgame ensued, in which two Mets errors allowed the Nats to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth (hey, it feels good to have this happen to our opponents for a change!), and Elijah Dukes made a fantastic play on a long David Wright fly to end the game. The Nats will go for the sweep tomorrow in 2009's home finale.

Lions 19, Redskins 14: "It was one that got away from us," said Jason Campbell.

• Maryland 1, North Carolina 0: Leading with college soccer? You bet. 6,946 -- an attendance record for a Maryland soccer match, and more than 1,500 more spectators than last night's D.C. United match -- and soccer nuts watching on Fox Soccer Channel saw the Terrapins win a rematch of last season's NCAA men's championship game, which they also won by the same score. It was pure drama at the expanded Ludwig Field, as fifth-year senior captain Kevin Tangney headed in with two minutes left to settle matters. North Carolina's Billy Schuler, who has scored as a member of the United States' U-20 team (soccer fans, don't forget: the U.S. opens their 2010 U-20 World Cup tomorrow against Germany in Egypt) missed a penalty kick in the 55th minute to set up the dramatic ending. Said Maryland coach Sasho Cirovski, "that was one of the best moments of my 17 years here."
• Braves 4, Nationals 1: The Nationals got some ink earlier this year for statistically being the unluckiest team in the bigs, though losses like last night's only reinforce that idea is influenced by a lot of errors. John Lannan allowed but two unearned runs in the first inning thanks to two errors, and still found himself with a loss. Braves starter Javier Vazquez went the distance to keep Atlanta's slim hopes of a playoff berth alive. Vazquez worked quickly and shut down the Nats' offense, allowing only three hits in his third complete game of the year.

• Dodgers 7, Nationals 6: Did you know that, as of last official count, there were 96,548 Americans who had lived to be 100 years old? You know, I hear that when an American turns 100, they get a letter from the President, thanking them for staying alive and paying taxes for so long. At the same time, there have been a large number of major league baseball teams who have lost 100 games in a single season. I'm pretty sure that such examples of the suckiest bunches of sucks that ever sucked don't get a letter from the President, at least not the one who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Yes, instead of being celebrated, these squads inherit one of two difficult to swallow legacies: either they are written off as hardball experiments gone wrong and forgotten or remembered as terrible abominations, a stain on the fabric of the American pasttime. Only time will tell which category the 2009 Washington Nationals -- the newest member of this ineptitude brigade with Thursday night's loss -- will be lumped in. One thing that is certain? No one will shed a tear after this centenarian season passes away.
• Rangers 3, Capitals 2: Jose Theodore let one slip with 1:10 left, and the Caps dropped this exhibition their second-to-last tune up before the season begins. Keith Aucoin and Alexander Semin scored for Washington.

Nationals 5, Dodgers 4: I've got to be honest, I thought that I'd be talking all about the number 100 in this space tonight -- the Nats have looked especially poor as of late and were stuck on 99 losses. I mean, there's been no question since, well, May or so, that this team would lose 100 games. Eventually, I'd have to write about it. So, color me surprised that particular post will have to wait until another day (probably tomorrow). The Nationals can savor one more day as a non-member of the 100-loss club, defeating the Dodgers with a walk-off sacrifice fly by Pete Orr. For a team that has such a terrible record, the Nats once again confirmed their penchant for resilience -- it was the 27th come-from-behind win this season. He didn't get the win, but starter Ross Detweiler was solid, if unspectacular, allowing the Dodgers to three runs in nearly six innings. And I get to write about 100 after all: with his three-run homer in the sixth, Ryan Zimmerman not only broke up Chad Billingsley's no-hitter, but he also eclipsed 100 RBI on the season; Zim and Adam Dunn are the first pair of Washington franchise (that is, from 1969 on) hitters to both eclipse that figure in a single season.

Dodgers 14, Nationals 2: Alright, there's four series left in the season. The Nationals, having little else to play for the rest of this season, should take the next 13 games and just try to win more than half. You know, baby steps to a better ballclub. Well, that meager goal didn't get off to the best start last night. Two six-plus run innings buried the Nationals, and the Nats suffered their worst loss since a July 25th drubbing against San Diego last night. The boys from L.A. were red-hot during the fourth and seventh innings, beating up several Washington pitchers in the process, notably Livan Hernandez (8-12) and Saul Rivera. Meanwhile, Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda looked nearly unhittable. Adam Dunn did smash his 38th longball of the season -- and with it, a great chance to be the only guy not named Soriano to post a forty-homer season in a Nationals uni -- but that was the only mistake that Kuroda made in six stellar innings of work, so even without the huge innings, the Nats were swimming upstream from the start. Winless wonder Ross Detweiler will attempt to stave off the odometer clicking over to 100 losses tomorrow.

Redskins 9, Rams 7: First things first: the Redskins won. Rather than rehashing the few highlights that were to be found (see: the fine effort provided by the defense, those of you with Shaun Suisham on your fantasy team), let's address the fact that, apparently, many of the Skins offensive players had their fragile feelings hurt by the sizable boos which rained down from all levels of FedEx Field.

• Middle Tennessee State 32, Maryland 31
  Southern Mississippi 37, Virginia 34
  
  These are not typos, I swear. Sorry, Cavs and Terps fans -- it might be time to pack it in until hoops season kicks off. In other scores, #13 Virginia Tech dramatically beat #19 Nebraska after going 91 yards on two plays in the final minute of the game and Georgetown (yes, they have a football team) lost.
• Fever 81, Mystics 74 (OT): The Mystics' season came to an end after losing a decisive Game 2 to Indiana on the road. The Fever sank Washington thanks to a 17 point advantage from the free-throw line and Tamika Catchings' 24 points and 16 rebounds. While the loss ended the Mystics season, they can at least say they went out with a good fight against a team that was almost unbeatable at home during the regular season. Crystal Langhorne highlighted for Washington with 15 points and 10 boards.
• Mets 3, Nationals 2: Man, this one was a snoozer which had some fans questioning the sanity of the manager; appropo for two teams whose fans have endured two of the more star-crossed seasons in recent memory. On the positive end: Adam Dunn earned his 100th RBI of the year, a pretty good number for a guy that seemingly nobody else wanted to sign in the offseason.

• Mystics 79, Fever 88: The Mystics let their first playoff game of the 2009 season slip away in the fourth quarter, as the Indiana Fever -- who had the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference -- outscored Washington 32 to 21 in the final period. Leading the scoring for Washington with 18 points was Crystal Langhorne, who was named the WNBA's Most Improved Player of the Year on Thursday. The Mystics will travel to Indiana for Game 2 in the best-of-three series (Game 3, if needed, will be played in Indiana). Overall, the teams looked surprisingly well-matched -- they had the same 3 point shooting percentage, the same points in the paint (36), and committed almost the same amount of turnovers, though the Fever had a slight edge on the boards and at the line.
  
  For the people watchers, Alex Ovechkin was reportedly celebrating his 24th birthday by watching the Mystics play at the Comcast Center. Of note: Ovie is younger than almost 75% of the Mystics' roster.
• Capitals 4, Sabres 3: Speaking of Capitals, the local hockey outfit won its first exhibition game of the preseason over Buffalo. A Brian Pothier tally with a two-man advantage in overtime was enough to settle matters, but Alexandre Giroux, Mike Knuble, and Jay Beagle also scored for the Caps. Semyon Varlamov played the entire game in net and looked good through the first two periods, but then allowed three goals in the third.
• Phililes 4, Nationals 2: The Nats got five innings of solid work from Ross Detwiler (0-6), but the bats went quiet once again, only pushing across two runs against the Phils combo of starter Cole Hamels (10-9) and always volatile Brad Lidge. Hamels struck out 10, and had a perfect game going until the sixth inning.

Phillies 6, Nationals 1: Pop quiz, hot shot. There's only six games you can lose before hitting 100. You've got bases loaded, one out, down by two, against a team you haven't scored against in 16 innings. If this lead goes any higher than it is now, the game is blown up. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO? Well, if you're Nationals reliever Jason Bergmann, you groove a two-strike pitch right down the middle to Jayson Werth and he absolutely crushes the ball into the left-center stands for a killer grand slam. (Good thing that Bergmann wasn't the negotiator in Speed, eh?) The trooper of the night award goes to starter Livan Hernandez (8-11), who was solid: two runs in six innings should be enough to give your team a good chance to win. But the Nationals' run production was, once again, anemic. They finally broke their scoreless streak against Phillie pitching in the ninth inning, but Joe Blanton (10-7) -- who had a rough go of it at Nationals Park one week ago -- benefited from numerous base-running mistakes, including Ian Desmond being thrown out at third on a safety squeeze and Cristian Guzman getting doubled off first base on a line drive with two men in scoring position.

• Phillies 5, Nationals 0: It always seems like the teams who succeed in the playoffs have two big time starters. Well, the defending champs have a whole bunch of candidates in their rotation for that 1-2 punch -- but Cliff Lee certainly made his case to be the number one guy against the Nationals on Tuesday night. Lee (14-11) absolutely dominated the Nationals lineup, tossing a complete game shutout. Unfortunately for Washington, Garrett Mock (3-8) couldn't have looked further from an ace, allowing five runs in the first two innings. Homer-happy Philadelphia didn't even need to go yard against Mock to take the lead; instead, balance was the key, as every Phillie hitter but Lee reached base during the game.
• United 1, San Juan Jabloteh 0: Christian Gomez's first half penalty kick led United to their first victory in the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League, although they had plenty of chances to bury the scrappy Trinidad and Tobago league champions. It was a homecoming for United defenders Avery John -- who captained the side -- and Julius James, two Trinidadian natives who, despite the fact that there seemed to be only 100 people in attendance, must have been excited to play in Port-of-Spain. But Gomez was the engine behind what was certainly D.C.'s B-team. Heck, even Danny Szetela, who's been in Tom Soehn's doghouse for some time, played the full ninety. Gomez expertly nailed the lone goal of the match from the spot after Jabloteh defender Noel Williams handled the ball in the penalty area early in the first half. With the three points, United stays alive in the competition; with three games remaining in group play (next Thursday at home against Marathon of Honduras, a home date with Jabloteh later this month and an incredibly tough fixture on the road against Toluca of Mexico in October), they likely still need to take at least six points to advance to the knockout stages.

• Giants 23, Redskins 17: So did anyone happen to read the Post's ombudsman's thoughts on the paper's overwhelming amount of Redskins coverage? Don't get me wrong, it was a decent read; but perhaps the people weren't complaining about the amount of coverage, so much as having early visions of having to read a whole lot of reporting about the stinker that the Skins laid in the swamps of Jersey yesterday. Don't let the score fool you -- the Giants owned this game from start to finish. If it wasn't for a late Chris Cooley touchdown after Washington went hurry-up late on and the Giants' utterly shocking inability to finish inside the red zone, the scoreline would have been much more lopsided. On a bright note, the defense -- led by London Fletcher's 18 tackles -- played fairly well. But on a day when Jason Campbell (the fact that he had a 93.6 rating in this game just proves that the rating equation is nearly beyond fixing) couldn't manage the clock, couldn't locate receivers downfield, and turned over the ball twice, including a fumble returned for a touchdown, anything other than a perfect game from the D was going to lead to a loss.
  
  You know, when the best offensive play until quasi-garbage time comes from your punter on a fake field goal, well, it's probably time to revisit a few things on the practice field.
  
  It's hardly anything to jump off a cliff about -- after all, winning on the road in the NFC East is always a struggle and Washington gets the just terrible Rams at home next week -- but based on the reactions that the team's having (DeAngelo Hall's post-game reaction, which one can probably apply to the whole team: "I feel like the guy that just couldn't make a play to save my life....I just didn't execute and play to my ability at all"), you can tell that they know that plenty of improvement is needed. And hey, on the plus side, we now know what Jim Zorn's face looks like before he vomits.
  
• Nationals 7, Marlins 2: What's that? They're still playing baseball? Oh, yes, right. Well, the Nationals won, so that's good. John Lannan (9-11) got off a bit of a slide and tossed five good innings for the win, and the bats were in gear. Christian Guzman had three hits after Ryan Zimmerman was given the day off, and callup Pete Orr capped a memorable series for young Nationals with a double and a homer. With 19 games left, the real question is for how long the Nats can stave off 100 losses -- or if you're being optimistic, how quickly they can get to 62 wins.
• Liberty 86, Mystics 65: So, a completely meaningless game against the last-place team in the conference, with the playoffs right around the corner? Enough said.

Sounders 2, United 1: Same two teams, same result, same player with a big goal. United dropped another fixture to Seattle at RFK Stadium last night 2-1, after doing the exact same a week and a half ago. It's certainly arguable which defeat is more damaging to the club -- the loss 10 days ago with the Open Cup on the line, or this one, which really puts D.C. in a bind as far as the race for the MLS playoffs are concerned. Seattle went ahead early on a fifth-minute strike from Steve Zakuani, who got on the end of a nice pass from Peter Vagenas and megged Josh Wicks for the lead. Rodney Wallace equalized for the Black-and-Red about ten minutes into the second half, but it was Sounders striker Freddy Montero who really stuck the dagger into United. (I mean, again.) After the home side had chances to take the lead, Montero hit an upper 90 blast to lead Seattle to the victory. United still find themselves with playoff possibilities, but they hold several games in hand over most of the teams competing for those final positions and will find themselves at the mercy of the fates if they can't hit a hot streak soon.

Nationals 5, Marlins 3: Baseball has always been a haven for the interestingly named. While Mike Morse might not have a name that stands out that much, his is a dream for those who can't help but indulge in far-too-simple puns. Morse tapped out (see?) a big pinch-hit RBI double in the sixth inning and the Nats made it two in a row against the Marlins in Miami. Although they only had five hits, the Nationals made sure that each one counted: in addition to Morse's big hit, Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn also added longballs to account for Washington's runs. Starter J.D. Martin (4-4) also made the most of his five innings on the hill, allowing but two hits. Fortunately, Morse's game was so positive -- I can tuck away the cheap S-O-S lines for another day.

Nationals 8, Phillies 7: Everyone knows those moments in life where you find yourself saying "whew, that was close" out loud, directed no one in particular. Well, if they could speak collectively, the Nationals would have certainly had one of those moments on Thursday evening: despite a pair of relievers allowing five runs in the top of the ninth, the Nats still managed to salvage a win in the finale of their last home series of the year against Philadelphia. Until the ninth, though, things looked great for the Nats. Starter Livan Hernandez navigated through a rocky first inning, and didn't allow the potent Phils lineup to cross the plate between the second and the eighth innings. And thanks in part to the impressive debut of shortstop Ian Desmond (2-4, double, home run, 4 RBI), the home team found themselves with a comfortable six-run lead after chasing the normally reliable Joe Blanton from the game during a five-run fifth. Somehow, though, that big lead was reduced to one after Zack Segovia and closer Mike MacDougal just couldn't get any Phillies out; the big blow obviously being Matt Stairs' pinch-hit grand slam, which sent the stadium -- chock full of red Phillies hats -- into a state of nervous excitement. But Nats setup man Ron Villone literally saved the day; truly earning his first save of the season by coaxing big slugger Ryan Howard into a game-ending double play with the tying run on third and one out. Whew, that was close, indeed.

Phillies 5, Nationals 3: Everything was smooth sailing for John Lannan and the Nationals. Willie Harris and Cristian Guzman were hitting at the top of the order, the Nats capitalized on an error by Chase Utley, and Lannan retired 14 of 15 batters between the second and the sixth innings. Sadly, in the majors, they play a full nine, and the WFC brought their lumber come the seventh inning. After Ryan Howard grounded out to start the inning, three of the next four batters -- Jason Werth, Raul Ibanez, and Carlos Ruiz -- crushed solo home runs. Walking opposing pitcher Pedro Martinez (4-0) was just the icing on the cake for Lannan (8-11), all his fantastic ace-level work firmly erased on three bad pitches. Willie Harris pulled one back on -- what else? -- a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, but Utley canceled that out with another longball for the Phils. Counting Ibanez's earlier dinger, Philadelphia scored all five of their runs on solo home runs -- fitting for a team who is now only the 12th team in major league history to feature four batters (Werth, Howard, Utley, and Ibanez) with over 30 home runs in a season. As far as the Nationals go, the game is pretty much a fair assessment of the team as a whole. There's about two-thirds of a moderately decent, even at times good, baseball team in there -- it's just a matter of finding that other third that's the really elusive part.

Nationals 5, Marlins 4: It was probably the most exciting home game of the season: even though it seemed like the Nationals thought that yesterday's game was a 3 p.m. start, numerous late-inning heroics led the team to their first win in over a week over the always-pesky Marlins. The first seven frames were about as forgettable as it gets at Nationals Park, the only bit of entertainment being Hanley Ramirez's fourth inning solo home run for the visitors. But the Nationals turned things on in the eighth, loading the bases on two walks and a single. Pinch hitter Mike Morse tied the score with a two-strike single up the gut off Florida reliever Kiko Calero. But that was merely an appetizer for the ninth inning. Normally-reliable closer Mike MacDougal allowed the Fins to retake a two-run lead on former National Nick Johnson's RBI single; but Willie Harris and Ryan Zimmerman homered in dramatic fashion, placing whatever fans who stuck it out into a frenzy. For Zim, it was the fifth walk-off of his career -- and two comebacks in two innings is certainly one of the better highlights of a season mostly spent in the doldrums.

Since it's Saturday night, let's keep it light and have some fun, eh? Here's your nightly sports recap, comprised entirely of easily digestible haikus.