J.D. Martin earned his first win Sunday as the Nationals topped the Diamondbacks 9-2.

The young starter’s only mistake on the night was a leadoff homer given up to Trent Oeltjen in the first. Following that Martin settled down to pitch five strong innings allowing only five hits and that one earned run. He also earned his celebratory pie in the face.

Martin has had a long journey to earning his first win which saw him bounce around the minors since being drafted in the supplemental round by Cleveland in 2001. After eight years in obscurity the former prospect has finally clinched his first “W,” at the age of 26.

For Martin once his high school arm developed, he needed to have it surgically reconstructed. In 2005 Martin underwent Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss a year.

By the time he had gotten back the Indians had given up on him. At the age of 25 he combined between double and triple A by going 12-3 with a 2.41 ERA and 79 strikeouts to 21 walks, yet he couldn’t get a shot in the big leagues with the Tribe.

Back from Injury Martin was a different kind of pitcher. He had become a 26-year-old Jamie Moyer, living on the black at 88 MPH. His best assets are his control and his change-up. These skill sets tend to worry Major League General Managers because so few are successful pitching that way, especially young guys. The only way to find out if finesse pitchers like that have what it takes at the Big League level is to give them the opportunity.

Well J.D Martin, here it is. 

With the win yesterday the Nats have now won eight games in a row which is good for the clubs second longest winning streak since moving to Washington (the longest was 10 games in 2005).

The club has now crawled its way up to 40 wins, and at 22.5 games back they are actually no longer the team furthest out of a division lead in Major League Baseball. That distinction belongs to our neighbors of the north, the Baltimore Orioles (46-65), who stand 23 games behind the Yankees.

The Nationals are now only three games behind the Kansas City Royals (43-68) for the dubious distinction of the worst club in baseball.

Adam Dunn summed the win streak up best after the game Sunday....
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According to the Boston Globe, the Boston Redsox have claimed Washington Nationals shortstop Cristian Guzman off of waivers. If the Red Sox are awarded the claim by Major League Baseball, the club would have up to 48 hours to structure a trade with Washington.

The Red Sox have been in desperate need for a short stop all season, now that fill in Jed Lowrie hit the DL, the BoSox are even more desperate.
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The Washington Nationals went toe-to-toe Saturday night with arguably the top pitcher in the National League, Dan Haren.

A month ago a statement like that would be a sure fire loss for the club that had made losing an art form this season.
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To prepare for our series with the D-Backs, we sat down with Jim from AZ Snakepit, one of the top Diamondback blogs on the net.

The Nats Blog did a cross-interview with AZ Snakepit here.

Here's what Jim had to say:

The Nats Blog: Mark Reynolds (A UVA boy) currently stands second in the Majors in home runs, yet is unknown by many fans across Major League Baseball. What do you think of this kids future?

AZ Snakepit: This season was his coming-out party, blossoming beyond just about all our hopes. He seems to have embraced his strikeout tendencies and become a better all-around player as a result. The homers are obvious, and it's not just the sheer number of them, but also their distance that is impressive - he has the longest bomb in the majors this year (a 481-ft blast off Brad Lidge), and a lot more approaching that range. However Reynolds is also hitting .288, has stolen 20 bases and made some highlight-reel plays on defense. While it's still only his second full season in the majors, so I don't think he has reached his peak as yet, he looks set to be one of the leading sluggers in the league for quite some time to come.

Jason Giambi was released by the Oakland Athletics today. The 38-year-old first baseman was batting just .193 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI this season.

While it isn’t clear whether Giambi has any offers, it wouldn’t be too outrageous for the Nationals to make a push to sign him for a minimum deal for the rest of the season.

While Giambi has certainly had an abysmal 2009, the former MVP has played on a club with no protection, in a park that hates hitters.

Just one year ago Giambi batted .274/.373/.502 for the Yankees, not a bad mark for a 37 year old.

The likleyhood is that Giambi will never put up numbers like the ones he had in New York again, however it is equally likely that his terrible numbers this season for the A’s were more a result of circumstance.
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The Potomac first baseman earned the Carolina League’s Topps Player of the Month honors for the month of July by a poll of the managers.

 The former first round pick batted a whopping .354 in the month with five bombs and 17 RBI. That puts his season numbers to .296/.370/.484 with 16 homers and 62 RBI in 103 games.

The Nationals selected the 21-year-old as a raw power-hitting prospect out of high school. Marrero has often been considered to have a naturally fast bat but poor hitting for contact, and poor consistency.

In 2007 he earned a lot of attention as he combined between high and low A ball while hitting .275 with 23 home runs and 88 RBI. He was named by Baseball America as the top prospect in the organization for 2008.

Marrero however has seem to be stuck in Single A. In 2008 he battled injuries and only hit .250 with 11 homers and 38 RBI in 70 games. While still in Single A it seems Marrero has found his stroke again with his hot July and he may earn a promotion to Double A soon.

The Nationals have recently said they hope he can make the big league club by 2011. 

The Nationals flexed some muscle this week as their 12-8 victory over the Marlins capped their first series sweep of the season.

With the win the Nationals have now won a season high five games in a row to bring their overall record to 37-72.

The Marlins came into the game with a  55-52 record as while as a shot at the wild card and a chip on their shoulder. The Fish figured this series to be a walk through against the Nats, however the D.C club spoiled the party for Florida, and maybe destroyed their post season hopes in one week.

The Marlins busted out to an early lead Thursday night. The club went up 6-0 before the Nats could blink an eye, as Craig Stammen pitched yet another awful start. The right handed rookie had looked very good in the first half of the season, going 2-4 with a 4.45 ERA, including a 3.18 ERA in July.
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