Post Game Thoughts: Guzman has a big night

Drew Storen, one of the Washington Nationals prized pitching prospects, won his first-ever major league game Wednesday night as he pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Kept in the game by a strong outing from Livan Hernandez, the Nationals snapped their five-game losing streak by topping the Mets 5-3 at Nats Park. Cristian Guzman and Ryan Zimmerman were both two for four on the night.

With the win the Nationals improve to 21-20 on the season and passed their opponents, the Mets, for third place in the National League East. They currently trail the Marlins by half a game, and the Phillies by four games. Were the season to end today, Washington would be 2.5 games out of the Wild Card.

Washington 5 - New York Mets 3:

-Over 6.1 inning Livan Hernandez threw 94 pitches, 56 for strikes, and allowed only two earned runs on four hits. Hernandez again let up runs on homers, which is often the case when you walk players at such a high rate.

-Storen, Clippard, and Capps closed out the game, in that order. It represented a thing of beauty seeing three immensely talented arms at the back of our bullpen. It represents a battery that can someday soon help this team battle to, and through, a playoff series. The only blemish came on a meaningless 9th inning homer off of Matt Capps, but it couldn't stop him from earning his 15th save of the season.

-Ivan Rodriguez went 0-4, dropping his batting average to .322 on the season through 41 games. Rodriguez is only 2 for his last 26, a sign he is finally coming down to earth.

-Guzman went 2-4 with two runs and an RBI on the night, proving to be the teams best run producer. This is the time of year Guzman usually catches fire with his hack-attack approach, and this may be the start of something for the free swinging shortstop.