Somewhere in some movie, or book, or maybe it was an essay, but some character in one of those movies, books or essays I viewed, some time in the last several years, opined as to the virtue of the baseball boxscore.

     Pick one up, they said, from any time, any year and you can easily in just moments derive precisely what transpired in a game that could have taken place yesterday or over one hundred years ago.

    Or tonight for instance. I missed the first Washington game in weeks, which had me feeling a vague discomfort all evening as I sat elsewhere and wondered what might be happening at that moment in Colorado where the Nationals and Rockies were playing the second of a three game weekend series.

     I had planned on returning home in time for the end of the game, only to have the best laid plans do as they are wont to do, as events conspired to delay my return and forced me to miss the Nationals shot at redemption after last night's heartbreaking late-inning loss.

     From the boxscore I see the Nationals scored in the top of the first, Nook Logan has the only Nationals RBI, and Felipe Lopez the only run scored and a double listed in the "Batting" section, so that much is obvious. 1-0 Nationals.

     Troy Tulowitzki ties it with a homer off Nationals starter Tim Redding in the first. 1-1 ballgame. The Rockies hit Redding hard, adding two runs each in the fourth and fifth jumping out tto a 5-1 lead that Ubaldo Jimenez, the Colorado starter made stand up.

     Jimenez (W, 3-2) gets the win for 7.0 innings of work on the mound in which he allowed only the 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out four. Redding (L, 3-4) lasts only 4.0 innings, while allowing five runs and 6 hits, 2 HR's, in the losing effort.

     Colorado takes two straight from Washington. The Nationals look to salvage a win in the 3:00pm eastern finale of the series. Joel Hanrahan (3-1, 3.42) faces Elmer Dessens (1-1, 6.66). Nationals now 58-72.