Nats keep win streak alive

Nick Johnson's decisive home run will get all the acclaim for allowing the Washington Nationals to continue their impressive winning streak.
His game-saving scoop on an inning-ending double play, however, is destined to get lost in the box score.

On a night when the National League East-leading Nationals stretched their winning streak to a season-high five games -- moving six games above .500 for the first time since the Montreal Expos were 71-65 on Aug. 29, 2003 -- the club's most dependable hitter was steady at the plate and in the field in a 2-1 Interleague victory over the Oakland Athletics.

"I'd like to score some more runs. ... We need to come out [and score]. We can't always do that," said Johnson, whose two-run shot with none out in the sixth was the difference.

The "that" Johnson refers to is the Nationals' penchant for dramatic come-from-behind wins, often resulting in one-run margins of victory. Washington is 7-1 on its current 13-game homestand, and in each of those triumphs, the Nationals trailed and rallied.

Overall, 22 of their 32 wins are of the comeback variety, while the Nationals have gone 10-5 in one-run games since May 8.

Manager Frank Robinson can't explain why his club seems to sleepwalk through the early innings, then suddenly accelerate when they have little room for error. But as long as the Nationals keep winning, he isn't likely to argue the point.

"I don't know what it is and I'm not going to tamper with it," Robinson said. "We're having success, so we'll leave it alone. But it's certainly not easy on the stomach."

True to their recent form, the Nationals struggled early against Oakland, a team that has now dropped nine straight on the road, and starter Barry Zito, a once-dominant starter who fell to 0-5 on the road and is hardly assuming the role of staff ace with the departure of Mark Mulder to St. Louis and Tim Hudson to Atlanta.

Staked to a 1-0 lead after a run-scoring double by Scott Hatteberg in the first inning, Zito (2-7) cruised through five innings, displaying an overwhelming curve. He allowed Washington only three hits over that span.

Then came the sixth, when Jose Guillen, returning to the Washington lineup after missing Sunday's game with a sore hand, drew a leadoff walk. That brought Johnson -- who has reached base in 55 of his 57 games -- to the plate.

Johnson, who hit only seven homers last year in an injury-shortened season, notched his eighth of the year on Zito's first pitch. He crushed a two-run homer to the gap in right-center, putting Washington ahead, 2-1.

"Maybe they just don't feel like they want to put too much effort out there and do too much work when they can get it done in half a ballgame," Robinson said, only half-jokingly.

Johnson wasn't hunting a specific pitch -- unless you count one over the plate as his intended quarry.

"[Zito] threw four balls and I was just looking for a pitch in the zone to swing at," Johnson said. "I feel pretty good, I'm seeing the ball well. But I've got to keep grinding every at-bat."

Johnson, who is 14-for-25 (.560) with eight runs scored and seven RBIs on the homestand, is certainly doing that. But he flashed his defensive prowess in the eighth, when Robinson had to use three pitchers to blunt an Oakland rally.

Hector Carrasco relieved starter Tony Armas Jr. (2-3) and got Jason Kendall to ground out to short. With two left-handed hitters looming, Robinson called for lefty C..J. Nitkowski, who promptly surrendered a single to Eric Chavez and walked Hatteberg.

Luis Ayala replaced Nitkowski and got Bobby Crosby to bounce into a rally-ending 6-4-3 double play. But second baseman Jamey Carroll's relay to Johnson bounced a bit wide of first, forcing Johnson to make a nice scoop to protect the lead.

"That was a tough one," Johnson said. "I was thinking [I had to] get the out, because if it gets by me, it's a tie ballgame."

"What we've got him out there for is his glove," Robinson said of Johnson. "That was a pretty good play. It gets us out of the inning."

Johnson made sure a gutsy effort by Armas was rewarded. Armas labored through six innings on a humid 91-degree evening, never really getting command of his pitches but never really giving in either.

"Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it isn't," said Armas, who allowed four hits, walked one and struck out two for his first victory since May 16. "I've got to pitch my way through things."

Chad Cordero, the sixth Washington pitcher, worked the ninth for his 16th save in 18 chances. But he also had to get out of trouble after allowing two-out singles to Marco Scutaro and Eric Byrnes before Mark Kotsay bounced out to Carroll.

Source: http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/