Scout, My Brother, Braves' Fan, and Source For All Things Baseball agreed to keep track of the early innings until I was done with the day's work...

...Top of the first...Gregor Blanco grounds back to the mound. Yunel Escobar flies out to center. Chipper (Jones) flies out to Washington's left-fielder today, Rob Mackowiak, Shawn Hill throws 13 pitches, 11 for strikes, 1-2-3 inning...Bottom of the first, Jair Jurrjens(JJ) gets Felipe Lopez to ground a 2-2 change-up to Escobar at short, one down. Cristian Guzman strikes out chasing a 2-2 change that fades away from his bat. Zimmerman(Ryan) gets jammed by a 1-1 fastball in on his fists and grounds out Escobar to Tex...

...Lopez throws out Tex. McCann lifts Hill's first pitch to center, Milledge(Lastings) settles under it for the second out. (Scout's ed. note - "Flat-Brimmed Closer Update...Cordero has a muscle tear in his shoulder. Out 4-6 weeks!)...Frenchy(Jeff Francouer) spins a fastball to Felipe Lopez at short for the third out...Bottom of the second, Nick Johnson lines a 1-0 fastball to Kotsay in center, 1 down. Milledge drives a 3-1 fastball, a liner right at Kotsay...2 down, Kearns smokes the next pitch 

to center, another lineout to Kotsay. 1-2-3...

...Milledge dives forward for a sinking liner by Kotsay, he makes the catch but rolls his wrist as he lands, so the ball pops out and Kotsay settles in at second as the trainer heads out to Milledge...Gregor Blanco lifts a fly to Kearns in right, short of the track, allowing Kotsay to move to third...1-0 pitch to Jurrjens--Kotsay's moving---SUICIDE SQUEEZE--Jurrjens stabs at a fastball outside, he misses, Kotsay's hung-up, and tagged out by Zimmerman. JJ grounds out to end the third...(Scout's ed. note - "Acta might have known that Cox likes to squeeze after a mound visit or a pitch out, the next pitch wasn't a pitch out, but a pitch outside, like Jurrjens showed too early, so they threw a pitch that couldn't be bunted...Acta might have duped him, is what I'm saying, might have known Cox's preference.")...Johnny Estrada taps a change-up to second, Gotay to Tex, 1 down. 2-2 change to Mackowiak, he swings and misses, Hill grounds out, three up, three down for JJ.

Blanco walks to open the fourth. Hill splinters Escobar's bat, the ball rolls to Zimmerman to Lopez for the force out at second. Escobar steals second as Chipper K's swinging on an inside fastball from Hill. 2 outs, Escobar on 2nd, Tex grounds out to end the fourth...

...Felipe Lopez drops a rainbow single into left for the first hit of the day for the Nationals off Jair Jurrjens. Cristian Guzman tries the sac bunt, but Jurrjens fields it aggresively and cuts down the lead runner at second for the first out of the fourth. Ryan Zimmerman gets down 0-2 and ends up chopping one to short and having to hustle to beat out the back end of a DP. Jurrjens jams Nick Johnson to get up 0-2 again, and ends up with a count full before blowing Johnson away with a fastball for a swinging strike three. 

Shawn Hill retires the Braves in order in the fifth, and we've got dueling one-hitters as Jurrjens retakes the hill. Milledge, Kearns, and Johnny Estrada are up and down to end the fifth. Still tied at 0-0.

Ruben Gotay lines off Hill's glove and over to Felipe Lopez at second, Lopez throws in time to get the first out of the sixth. Jurrjens grounds out to short. Gregor Blanco doubles off the base of the wall in right, and scores when Yunel Escobar pushes a single into short right to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead...Rob Mackowiac strokes a 1-2 pitch to center for a leadoff double in the Nationals' half of the sixth. Shawn Hill's sac bunt moves Mackowiak to third. Felipe Lopez grounds to first, Mackowiac's coming home, Mark Teixeira fields and throws home in time, but Mackowiak avoids the tag as he slides in safe to tie it at 1-1 after six. 

Mark Teixieira grounds to first. Brian McCann flies to center. Francouer flies to right. Shawn Hill's through seven. Jurrjens comes back and gets Johnson, Milledge, and Kearns in order to end the seventh. 

Shawn Hill's going farther than any Nationals' starter has this seasoncoming back out for the top of the eigth. (ed. note- "Actually Chico's also gone 8.0 once.").... Mark Kotsay singles through second to give the Braves a leadoff baserunner in a tie game. Ruben Gotay bunts Kotsay to second. Matt Diaz grounds out to short, and advances Kotsay to third. Gregor Blanco takes a few two-strike pitches to work a two-out walk. Yunel Escobar grounds to short, Guzman tosses to second. 1-1 ballgame. Blaine Boyer's back for more in the bottom of the eigth. Mark Kotsay slides in and glides over the grass on his hip as he catches Johnny Estrada's fly out. Boyer drops a deuce on Mackowiak for a swinging strike three. Wily Mo Pena pinch hits for Shawn Hill (8.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 ER, 2 walks, 1 K, 3.50 ERA), and Pena reaches on a chopper to the mound that Boyer misplays. Felipe Lopez at bat...Pena nailed on the steal attempt...Wait for it...

The Tallest Pitcher in MLB History Jon Rauch is on in the ninth. Nick Johnson smothers a sharp grounder from Chipper Jones and fires to big Rauch covering at first. Teixeira hits one sharply through the shift for a single. Brian McCann pops up to the infield. Jeff Francouer grounds into a force at second. 1-1 after eight and a half. Boyer's back and he gets a ground ball back to the mound from Felipe Lopez. Guzman breaks his bat grounding out to second. "Captain Walk-Off" Ryan Zimmerman gets hits in the shoulder with a curve. Braves' Manager Bobby Cox brings in lefty Royce Ring to face Nick Johnson. Lefty vs Lefty. Ring hits Johnson a little too close to the groin...(Owwwww!!)...Bobby Cox takes another leisurely walk to the moun-- Scout interrupts:

"...He(Bobby Cox) walks that way because of his knees, his knees are bad, so you can be above saying anything about that...right?" (ed. note - "I didn't say anything so...I might have thought but...I didn't SAY anything so...yes, I can be above it...")

...Lastings Milledge vs Jeff Bennett, two on, two out. Milledge grounds out to second. Add an extra frame...

Luis Ayala fools Mark Kotsay with a full-count slider. Ayala gets Ruben Gotay on the ropes, but a 2-2 pitch gets too much plate, and Gotay lines it to center for a single. Brayan Pena flies out to left center...and Gotay goes too far, Willie Harris hits the cutoff man, Felipe Lopez fires to first, double play to end the top of the tenth. Big Manny Acost takes the mound in the bottom of the inning. Kearns pops out. Willie Harris takes four balls and takes his base. Wil Nieves singles through short. Aaron "F'N" Boone...takes four more balls to load the bases. Felipe Lopez, bases loaded, one out...grounds weakly back to the mound, Acosta throws home, McCann to first, double play. 

Yunel Escobar singles up the middle off Saul "Sa-ool" Rivera with one out in the eleventh. C.Jones grounds to short, Guzman to Lopez to Johnson, double play to end the top of the frame. Guzman grounds one off Acosta's glove--and right to Yunel Escobar who barehands it and fires to first...In Time. I'll try again to tempt fate... "Captain-Walk-Off" Ryan Zimmerman pops up for the second out. Nick Johnson doesn't see anything he likes, which means they're all balls, two-out walk. Lastings Milledge? Johnson takes second on a passed ball...Milledge just watches a slider drop in for the third strike and final out of the eleventh. 

Saul Rivera works his second inning. Mark Teixeira doubles down the line in right to lead off the twelfth. Brian McCann grounds out to move pinch runner Martin Prado to third. Jeff Francouer grounds weakly to second, so Prado doesn't break for home. Two outs. Mark Kotsay lines by a diving Felipe Lopez, Prado scores. 2-1 Braves.

...Kearns, Harris and Nieves to face Acosta, who issues a leadoff walk to Austin Kearns. Willie Harris rips one off Martin Prado's glove at first, both runners safe. Wil Nieves fouls off two bunt attempts, and puts it right through Acosta's wickets to load the bases with 0 outs. Ronnie Belliard walks to tie it a 2-2. Buddy Carlyle replaces Acosta. Felipe Lopez gets a second shot...Lopez flies to left, Willie Harris scores. Washington wins 3-2. 

Q: You realize that’s a three-game sweep for us? (Game 1 was opening day). 

                                                               (-Doghouse in the Comments Section...)

A:  ...

Nationals now 11-17.