Phillies 9, Nationals 3: Call it an Icarus effect. After so much chest-beating leading into last weekend’s series with the Phillies, the Nationals, flying so high with a pair of wins to open the three-game set, unraveled some last night in their first Sunday-night game since 2008. This was the game to which members of the D.C. Council and Mayor Vince Gray distributed free tickets to their constituents. Heck, the mayor, not normally a night owl, rearranged his schedule to show up at Nationals Park.

After extending their winning streak over Philadelphia to seven games after the win Saturday, the Nationals opened last night’s game in sensational fashion. Bryce Harper came up third. With two outs and no one on, the Phillies’ Cole Hamels could have just pitched to the 19-year-old. Instead, he drilled one into the small of Harper’s back. On purpose. “I was trying to hit him,” Hamels told reporters after the game. In return, Harper lit up the base paths. After advancing to third base on a single by Jayson Werth, the kid, seeing a throw to first, stole home to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.

But it would be the Nationals’ only run for most of the evening. The Phillies’ offense, meanwhile, came alive with three runs in the third and six more in the ninth. Jordan Zimmermann issued four walks in his six-inning start, while Hamels was commanding, keeping the Nats at bay following Harper’s stolen run. Washington reliever Ryan Perry opened the final frame disastrously.

But the real disaster last night came on a sixth-inning line drive by Placido Polanco. Left fielder Jayson Werth, the $19 million man, slid for the ball and wrenched his left hand against the grass. After writhing in pain, Werth walked off the field. An X-ray last night showed a broken wrist. And after a promising first month that seemed to put him on the path toward redemption from his ugly 2011 season, Werth will miss at least six weeks and probably much longer, the Post reports.

Despite the loss of Werth, and the fact that Michael Morse is still out another month, the Nationals’ are not tumbling like the Greek legend. Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche are due back Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Harper is proving to be the real thing and that starting rotation is still the best in baseball. It’s a far cry from flapping one’s wings while plummeting into the abyss.