Whoa there Miguel Montero — Adam Dunn kindly reminds you that these aren’tthe pushover Nats you may remember from earlier this year. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
- Nationals 7, Diamondbacks 6: It’s getting tougher and tougher to call it a fluke: the Nationals won their sixth straight game on Friday night, coming from behind to defeat visiting Arizona. A victory certainly didn’t appear to be in the cards, after the D’backs put up five runs in the top of the second against Collin Balester — but big time hits from Ryan Zimmerman (he homered, extending his current hitting streak to 11 games), Cristian Guzman (extended his own hitting streak to 13), Josh Willingham (who singled in the winning runs in the seventh), and Elijah Dukes (three RBI) combined with some fantastic pitching from five Nationals relievers combined to provide the Nationals with their 21st comeback victory of the year. Mike MacDougal grabbed another save with a scoreless ninth, his fifth in six days. The most amazing statistic of the night: the Nationals bullpen, such a point of weakness for the team earlier this year, is now 8-1 with a 3.13 ERA since the All-Star break. But if the Nats want seven in a row, they’ve got a big task ahead of them: All-Star and marquee pitcher Dan Haren takes the mound tomorrow for the desert-dwellers.
- Mystics 70, Shock 66: The Mystics managed to slog their way through an offensively-challenged game against Detroit, grabbing a big win to alleviate some of the jostling for breathing room in the standings. Alana Beard had 15 points and six assists and Nakia Sanford had 14 points and eight rebounds to lead the team to the much-needed victory, which keeps the Mystics a half-game ahead of the pack in search of second place in the conference.
