John Lannan pitched seven strong innings innings tonight allowing only two earned while striking out five and scattering seven hits. The quality start put the Nationals in position to strike late in the game for the second night in a row, rallying to a three run eighth inning for their second come-back victory in as many nights.

The Nationals chances of winning dropped precipitously following Cristian Guzman's double play with two runners on in the seventh. In typical fashion, Guzman attacked the first pitch he saw and ended the rally with one fell swoop. The play had the biggest negative impact of the game (-.204 WPA) for the Nationals, representing an opportunity lost and bringing their win expectancy from 70.4% to 50%. Things got worse in the bottom of the eighth as Brian Bruney came on in relief and allowed a leadoff single to Casey McGehee (-.068 WPA). With one runner on the Nationals botched a sacrifice attempt by Brewers batter Carlos Gomez on a throwing error by Alberto Gonzalez (-.192 WPA), allowing McGehee to get all the way to third. The next play was a sacrifice fly, scoring the run. The three plays dropped the Nationals chances of winning from 50% all the way to 24.3 in a late inning situation.

The Nats mounted a comeback in the eighth after Gonzalez made amends for his error with a single (.097 WPA) and Willingham got hit by a pitch (.135 WPA). Ian Desmond laid down a sacrifice and Adam Kennedy came up big with a single scoring the two runners (.303 WPA). Wil Nieves hit a single of his own after Kennedy stole second to add an insurance run. With the rally the Nationals improved their win expectancy from 32% to 91.9% in one inning.

For the Nationals improving to .500 was a nice touch, but as an organization they have to be more pleased with how John Lannan pitched tonight. The club's ace had been shaky in his first two starts, combining for eight earned runs and 13 hits in 8.2 innings pitched while walking six and only striking out two. Lannan was able to regain his 2009 form by adjusting his release point which allowed him to regain his control and better attack the strike zone. For a pitcher who lives and dies on getting ahead in the count, like Lannan does, not throwing strikes can lead to more starts like his Apr. 5 outing where he only lasted 3.2 innings.

Above is the pitch chart and release point for Lannan's first start on Apr. 5 against the Phillies where he allowed five earned runs and three walks in 3.2 innings. As you can see on the left his pitches were all over the place, he had trouble hitting the zone. If you look to the right you will see that his release point, while tight, is much lower than his 2009 spot.

Here is Lannan's pitch chart from tonight's stellar performance. As you can see the lefty attacked the zone much more tonight, which allowed him to get ahead in the count and force pitchers to chase the pitches he wanted to throw, instead of falling behind and throwing hitters pitches. If you look to the right you will see he had a much better release point, while it may not have been as tight (consistent) it was higher which led to better overall control.

The Nationals (4-5) return home tonight to take on the Milwaukee Brewers (4-5). The Nationals look to improve upon what has been a poor performance against the "Brew Crew" the last three seasons, posting a 7-15 record vs. Milwaukee from 2007-09. This season, though, may be different. Both teams will enter tonight's game with a record of 4-5 and the winner of the series will end up at .500 with a sweep putting either team a game above that mark.

The Nationals just finished a series with the reigning NCLS champions, the Philadelphia Phillies, in which they were able to squeak out a win in the series finale on the back of a solid debut by Scott Olsen. The Nationals are already one win away from their overall total against Philly last season (3) and will be relieved to know that the former World Series Champions will not be on the schedule again until July 30th. The series against Brewers will mark the beginning of a 10-game homestand that will include games against Milwaukee, Colorado, and the L.A. Dodgers.

The Brewers on the other hand are a team who enter the season the rebound. The club is trying to recover from a 2009 season that saw them finish with a disappointing losing record of 80-82. Just one year earlier, in 2008, Milwaukee had made the playoffs for the first time in 26 years by claiming the wild-card with a 90-72 record. With back-to-back winning seasons under their belt, and a bevy of young talent, the Brewers hoped to improve in 2009 but stalled with injuries and poor play from youngsters.

BREWERS LAST SERIES

The Brewers are coming off a series against the Cubs in Chicago in which they won one of three. Their bats were alive for much of the series, as they scored 19 runs, but their pitching was weak at times allowing the Cubs to outscore them with 22 runs. The biggest culprits were Doug Davis (6 ER in 3.1 IP) and Latroy Hawkins (4 ER and a BS). The bullpen was also taxed quite a bit, having to pitch 10.2 innings, though the Nationals pen put in more work with 13.2 innings pitched.

Who's Hot:

Ryan Braun (LF): 7/14, 4 R, 2 HR, 7 RBI
Casey McGehee (3B): .333 AVG, 8 RBI, 3 HR for the season
Carlos Villanueva (RP): 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO

Who's Not:

Prince Fielder (1B): 4/12, 5 LOB, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Jim Edmonds (CF): 3/9, 9 LOB, 3 SO, 0 RBI

PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday - Yovanni Gallardo (0-2, 6.75) vs. John Lannan (1-1, 8.31)
Saturday - Randy Wolf (1-0, 4.05) vs. Livan Hernandez (1-0, 0.00)
Sunday - Doug Davis (0-1, 12.27) vs. Jason Marquis (0-2, 12.96)

A TEAM OF THIEVES

Last season, the Nationals ended the 2009 campaign with 73 stolen bases as a team. Entering tonight's game, the team already has 1/7 of last year's total with 11 stolen bases and lead the National League in that category. The team had seven stolen bags in the the last Phillies series alone and even got some surprise swipes by Pudge and Willingham, in addition to an attempt by Dunn which was negated by a foul ball. Jim Riggleman is much more willing to pull the trigger than his predeccesor, Manny Acta, was, but he is also aided by the additions of guys like Nyger Morgan and Ian Desmond to the line-up. In addition, the team has an arsenal of other speedy outfielders, such as Willy Taveras, Justin Maxwell, and Willie Harris, who are threats to run anytime they are on base. The extra speed means many different things for the team, but most importantly it means more runners in scoring position and more guys that can make it from first to third on hit and runs and balls knocked to the outfield. Look for Riggleman to continue to put up the green light for these guys in the Brewers series in an attempt to better position baserunners and keep the opposing pitchers off-guard.

LEFTY HEAVY

The Nationals sent down Roger Bernadina this week in order to call up Justin Maxwell due to the string of left-handed pitchers that are about to come through D.C. in the coming week. In the next five games alone, the Nationals will face three lefties in Doug Davis, Randy Wolf, and Jorge De La Rosa. This means that Willy Taveras, Ian Desmond, and Justin Maxwell will see more time this week at the expense of LHB Adam Kennedy and Willie Harris. Two Nationals in particular, Josh Willingham (.429/.500/.929) and Ivan Rodriguez (.400/.500/.600) have been killing lefties so far this season, though the sample size is still quite small.

To help preview our coming series with the Milwaukee Brewers I sat down with Dave from Brewers Bar. He shared some insights with me on the Brewers who are looking to rebound from a down season last year. The Nationals can learn a lot from Milwaukee, a team that built themselves up with a strong rebuilding process that helped them claim some of the best amateur talent in baseball.

The Nats Blog: Will the Brewers make it back to the post season, why or why not?

Brewers Bar: Well, before the season started, I posted on The Brewers Bar that the Brewers would make it to the NLCS, so I will say that they will...or at least *should" return. However, to do so, they need to have better pitching than last year, which means Randy Wolf has to pitch as well for the Brewers in '10 as he did with the Dodgers last year, Yovani Gallardo has to stay healthy, and Doug Davis needs to prove he was worth signing. The bullpen has been shaky so far this year, so that could prove to be a concern as well. A lot will also depend on how Ken Macha makes adjustments to his rotation--especially if Jeff Suppan or another starter struggles--can he pull the trigger to adjust the rotation, or will he continue his pattern of giving veteran a lot of chances before making a switch. Of course, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun need to stay healthy...if either of them gets injured, all bets are off.

TNB: If you could only keep one, Braun or Fielder?

Yesterday, Washington Nationals' outfielder Roger Bernadina was optioned to AAA Syracuse. Bernadina, a left-handed hitter, was sent down in large part because of the rash of left-handed pitchers the Nationals stand to face.

In addition, Nationals' right-handed relief pitcher Jason Bergmann was designated for assignment. In so doing, the Nationals opened a roster spot and effectively gave Bergmann ten days to either be traded or clear waivers. Bergmann had struggled in his four appearances, yielding four runs in just 2.1 innings pitched, including a two-run home run to Shane Victorino in Wednesday's loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. That said, the Nationals have stated that they intend to retain Bergmann and send him to Syracuse should he clear waivers unclaimed.

The combined effect of these two moves is to make room on the big league club for outfielder Justin Maxwell and left-handed starting pitcher Scott Olsen. Maxwell was 5-15 in four games while Olsen four runs on eight hits in 6.1 innings of work. Maxwell's right-handed bat will be of good use against the number of upcoming left-handed opponents; moreover, the Nationals seemed determined to give Maxwell as many chances as possible to win the right field job outright. Additionally, Olsen will provide more balance and experience to what was an overwhelmingly young, right-hand dominated rotation. In their first appearances last night, Maxwell was 0-1 with two walks while Olsen gave up four runs on five hits and three walks in 5.2 innings as the Nationals rallied with six runs in the final three frames to top the Phillies 7-5.

Adding injury to insult, a neck injury led the Nationals to place right-hander Garrett Mock on the 15-day disabled list. Doctors determined that the discomfort was the result of a problem with a cervical disc in his neck, placing undue stress on a nerve. The injury, described as a "twinge" by General Manager Mike Rizzo, occurred during a regular bullpen session on Monday. Mock, 26, had one major league start on the season, in which he allowed two runs on four hits and five walks in 3.1 innings.

In a moment good enough to be a MASN commercial, an injured Ryan Zimmerman trudged up to the plate and in Kirk Gibson style hit a pinch-hit go-ahead home run to help the Nationals top the Phillies 7-5.

The Nationals relied on their two stars tonight to dig them out of a 4-2 hole as struggling first baseman Adam Dunn hit a solo shot, his first of the year, right before Zimmerman hit his pinch-hit two run bomb. It had been a rough week for the clubs two sluggers. Dunn had only one hit out of his last 13 at bats entering todays game, and Zimmerman had been sidelined with a hamstring injury.

The bullpen was a big key in tonight's victory as Tyler Clippard came on in relief of left-hander Scott Olsen, and pitched 1.1 shutout innings to earn the win.

Clippard changed things up tonight (no pun intended) moving away from his patented fastball which he lived and died on last season, and instead fed the Phillies a steady diet of change-ups. In total the hard throwing righty threw nine fastballs (93 MPH/AVG.), six sliders (85 MPH/AVG), and a surprising 13 change-ups (81.2 MPH/AVG). This is a far cry his last outing when he threw 11 fastballs and only three change-ups.

Oddly, when Riggleman brought Clippard in he elected to have him intentionally walk his first batter, as opposed to leaving Olsen in for four more free pitches. It's pretty standard for the coach to leave the current pitcher on the mound in such a situation, because having a pitcher automatically throw his first four pitches as balls can put him in the wrong frame of mind. The result? Clippard walked the next batter and walked in a run. Go figure!

Closer Matt Capps came on in the eighth to earn the save the hard way, recording five outs despite three hits, and a homer. While Capps got his fourth save of the season, he's skating on thin ice a 1.94 WHIP. So far he has yet to get burned, but with his high walk and hit rate he may be due for a collapse in the near future. Entering tonight's game he had a walk rate of 11.25 BB/9 innings and a FIP of 5.29.

Does this mean it was a mistake getting Capps? Of course not, he has four saves and no losses, it just means that he needs to cut down that walk rate and start striking more batters out, or else there may be a problem.

With week 1 in baseball complete, Braves Blast takes "a quick trip down the roster" summarizing the player's contributions (or lack of contribution) through Atlanta's first two series against Chicago and San Diego.

If the Braves are clicking on all cylinders, they are a team to watch out for, but so far only a few players have enjoyed some early success. Melky Cabrera and Nate McLouth are still batting well below .200 but don't expect that to last, with a breakout week they can put all that talk to rest. Atlanta could be the dark horse pick to win the wild card this year with their incredible young talent, the thing is, their young talent has no meaningful September/October baseball experience and with Philadelphia in the same division it is hard to imagine them making any noise in the playoffs. That being said, wherever the Braves end up at the end of the season will not surprise me, whether it be the wild card champion or in the cellar of the division.

The Marlins bullpen struggles continued in a series against the Reds. Meanwhile, Jorge Cantu, the unlikeliest of candidates, is rewriting the history books with his incredible start to the 2010 season.

It is a manager's worst nightmare when they have to mix and match their team's bullpen trying to find anything that will work, especially this early in the season. To be fair, Florida's starting pitching hasn't been all that impressive either, as they are having difficulty going deep into games, putting even more responsibility on a terrible bullpen. Enough with the negatives, its time to recognize Jorge Cantu for becoming the first player in Major League Baseball history to have at least one hit and one RBI in each of his teams first 9 games of the season. Very