(ed. note - "I'll be away from my desktop for most of the day tomorrow, so here's a super-long Game Report, (with one completely ridiculous section), links and such for the travel day. It's also a great opportunity for someone to throw up a FANPOST which I can then promote for some federalbaseball.com front-page coverage(a couple hundred views of your writing) for the entirety of the Nationals-Baseball-Free-Monday...So there it is!!...A CHALLENGE to federalbaseball.com readers...Who has something to get off their chest, a rant, something good to say after the Nationals have pulled themselves to within 4 games of .500, and within 4 games of first in the NL East...Anyone have anything to say?")

GAME REPORT...Pirates at Nationals - Sunday Matinee...

Right-handed starter Tim Redding and the rest of the Washington Nationals are wearing their Sunday reds, with the interlocking DC logo as opposed the tradition white cursive "W", as they take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth of four at Nationals Park in Washington, DC this afternoon. Redding retires the Pirates in order and the Nationals are up to bat in the bottom of the first...Pirates' righty Ian Snell on the hill gets Felipe Lopez for the first out of the frame, but he can't get Cristian Guzman, who slaps a single through short. Lastings Milledge is batting in the three spot with Ryan Zimmerman...SITTING? Milledge HBP. The moustachioed Nick Johnson gives DC an early lead, going the other way for a run-scoring single to left. 1-0 Nationals. Snell hangs a 2-1 fastball inside to Austin Kearns, and Kearns rips it to left scoring Milledge from second. 2-0 Nationals after today's 3B Aaron Boone hits into an inning-ending DP...

Redding's fastball is biting down hard, and he gets Ryan Doumit chasing three of them. Xavier Nady flies out to right, and Redding blows Adam LaRoche away with a trailing fastball outside to end his second scoreless. Today's DC left fielder Rob Mackowiak hits a one-out single to left, but Tim Redding bunts his way into a double play to end the second. 

Redding abuses Jose Bautista with a breaking ball off the outside edge. Rookie Pirates' shortstop Brian Bixler goes down swinging at a straight fastball. The opposing pitcher, Ian Snell flies to short right, Milledge and Kearns converge, and Milledge makes the catch for the third out of the inning...Lastings Milledge drops a two-out single into short right in the Nationals' third. Miledge steals second. Nick Johnson's discerning eye earns him a walk and gives Austin Kearns an RBI opportunity. Snell gets a good call and gets Kearns looking at a low outside strike three to end the third.

Nate McLouth gets the first single of the day immediately erased when he foolishly tries Austin Kearns' arm and gets thrown out at second on a one-hop missile that beats McLouth to the bag by a mile. Aaron Boone gets to a hard grounder from Jayson Bay but can't throw him out in time. Bay takes second on a passed ball. Ryan Doumit flies out to center. Four scoreless for Redding....Aaron Boone leaves the yard in a hurry with a leadoff dinger to left-center in the DC fourth. 3-0 Nationals after four. 

Adam LaRoche reaches down and lifts a low slider out to left, over the scoreboard and into the first row for the first Pirates' run. 3-1 Washington after four and a half. Cristian Guzman almost takes Snell's head off with a line-drive single to start the DC fifth, but that's all Snell allows. 

Redding gets the Pirates in order in the sixth. Ian Snell gets Boone, Lo Duca and Mackowiak to end the sixth. Xavier Nady hits a one-out single in the top of the seventh. Adam LaRoche doubles to center on a 2-2 curve, Nady to third. Tim Redding's done for the day...(6.1 IP, 6 hits, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K's 1 HR, 3.20 ERA)

...Saul "Sa-ool" Rivera's on in relief to face Jose Bautista. Bautista grounds back to the mound, Rivera looks Nady back and throws to first for the second out. Doug Mientkiewicz hits one back to Rivera who throws to first to end the threat. 3-1 Nationals after six and a half. Stand up and stretch...Willie Harris ropes a leadoff double down the right field line to start the DC seventh. Felipe Lopez finds a hole in the infield with a slow grounder to center to score Harris from second. 4-1 Nationals lead. Damaso Marte replaces Snell, and ends the seventh. 

Luis "Set-Up" Ayala gives up a leadoff bunt to Nyjer Morgan in the eigth. Nate McLouth grounds out harmlessly to left. Ayala strikes out Freddy Sanchez. Jayson Bay goes down looking at a fastball....Wily Mo Pena hits a two-out double to left off lefty reliever John Grabow to score Austin Kearns. 5-1 Nationals. Jesus Colome comes on to end it, since it isn't a save opportunity. Colome gives up a run, but gets out of the inning with the lead in tact. Nationals win 5-2.

Nationals now 14-18.

GAME NOTES...

Every player in the Nationals' starting lineup on Sunday had a hit...Guzman, Kearns and Mackowiak had two hits each...

Cristian Guzman - 2 for 4, .309 '08 AVG, 1 R. 

Austin Kearns - 2 for 4, .212 '08 AVG, 1 R, 1 RBI, (1-sharp-a$$ throw in from right to nail Nate McLouth.)

Wily Mo Pena - 1 for 1, 1-2-out-pinch-hit RBI-double!! Pena's first extra base hit.

The Nationals' "Bench Players" Come Through...

Rob Mackowiak, 2 for 3 in a rare start, Aaron Boone, 1 for 4 with, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 HR in an even rarer start at third. Willie Harris 1 for 2 double, 1 R. 

DID YOU KNOW? - That Nationals' catcher Paul Lo Duca has yet to strike out in 45 at bats this season. Not one K in 15 games. 

DID YOU KNOW? Pt. 2 - That Paul Lo Duca has only thrown out 1 of 6 base stealers this season? Wil "The Thrill" Nieves...2 of 9. Johnny Estrada...4 of 9....Jesus Flores? 1 man tried, 1 man gunned! 

federalbaseball.com answers your questions...

The other day in the Comments section...Doghouse wrote, (in response to my stating I would be following the game through my iPhone):

"Speaking of iPhones...

...I was texting my wife from the game last night, and the auto-correct fixed my misspelling of Nieves. This is further proof that Wil Nieves is the Nationals Messiah."

OK so that really isn't a question, but I decided to look into it, and though the only language i've studied, other than English, is French, I was able to google the word "Nieves", and discover that it's actually Spanish for "snow", as in, according to about.com's "Spanish Language Page":

"La blanca nieve estaba por todas partes."

("The white snow was everywhere.") 

...and as part of this lesson, you'll notice the placement of the adjective "blanca"  in front of "nieve" or snow, which serves to reinforce or add an emotional affect to the noun "snow", though adjectives can also be placed after a noun in order to restrict a noun to a certain classification as in...

"la luz fluorescente" - a fluorescent light

...wherein the adjective "fluorescente" classifies the type of light. 

So what did we learn, in Spanish adjectives can be placed before of after nouns depending upon their role in a given sentence, and Doghouse, "Your iPhone knows Spanish." Don't say you never learned anything here...

Quote of the Day...

From Washington Post baseball writer Barry Svrluga's article entitled, "Zimmerman Gets A Day Off, Ending Streak", Nationals' Manager Manny Acta on his decision to sit Ryan Zimmerman, with Aaron Boone starting at third on Sunday afternoon:

"'We talked in spring training and we decided,' Acta said. 'He told me he's not pursuing Cal Ripken Jr.'s record.'"

Next Nationals' game in Houston, Texas on Tuesday night at 8:05 PM EST. It's A "High-Noon Texas Shawn-Down" with Shawn Hill vs Shawn Chacon on the mound in Minute Maid Park, where the only thing dumber than the short porch in left is that ridiculous hill in center...til then...