The Washington Nationals found themselves in a familiar position Sunday afternoon. After dropping their first two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Nats again were trailing in the third and final game of the series. Down 3-1 in the seventh, and in danger of being swept for the fourth time in a month’s time, the Nationals turned to pinch-hitter Alex Escobar. With Jose Guillen on board with a walk, Escobar drilled a shot over the left field wall to tie the game.

Not to be outdone, Nick Johnson provided the game’s winning hit in the top of the eleventh. Johnson fouled off 6 pitches against Pirates reliever Roberto Hernandez before placing the tenth pitch of the at-bat into the left field corner. The double scored 2 and put the Nats up for good. Aside Sunday’s heroics, however, the Nationals did not take away much from the series.

•The Nats were decidedly un-clutch the rest of the series. They left a season-high 14 men on base in Saturday’s loss, and on Sunday stranded 4 runners at third.

•Newcomers Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns did not make a great first impression. They combined for 2 hits in 25 at-bats (BA .080) in the series, whiffing 9 times while stranding a staggering 25 runners.

•Marlon Byrd cleared waivers, meaning that the 29 other teams in baseball did not feel Byrd was worthy of a spot on their rosters. The Nationals’ fan-base can now give a collective sigh of relief, as their team will retain its monopoly on players named Marlon.

•The Nats picked up Orioles castoff Luis Matos. Expected to play OF as a defensive substitution, Matos enjoyed a solid 2003 season before running into injury trouble.

•While John Patterson is back on the DL (retroactive to July 10), Tony Armas Jr. will be back on the mound tonight for the first time in almost a month.

•Nationals brass continues to prepare for this weekend’s “Paint the Town Red” Grand Re-Opening. Expect a full preview from us later this week.

Photo by Scott Abelman.