Ian Desmond boosted the slugging percentage with a home run and atriple Friday night. (AP Photo/John Amis)
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.