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Jamie Carroll? Well, that was a little stretch, granted, but the dimunitiave second baseman got the first hit off of Brewers pitcher Victor Santos in the 4th inning, eventually scoring on Vinny Castilla's RBI double. Carroll drove in a run in the 5th inning when Brian Schneider scored on Carroll's hit.

The game started out like the last three games for the Nationals: no hits. Jamie Carroll's base knock in the 4th was the Nats first base runner in the game. A combination of good pitching, coupled with Washington injuries, transformed the Brewers pitching staff into the 1971 Baltimore Orioles hurlers during this homestand. Luckily, the Nationals pitchers were a wee bit better.

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Livan Hernandez tied Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins for the league lead in wins with 7 this afternoon. As the does each time he pitches, he was in trouble early and often, but always was able to pitch his way out of trouble. Hernandez pitched around baserunners all game, untimately leaving 10 runners on base. Livan's ERA, still suffering from opening day, nonetheless has dropped to a manageable 3.69. Hernandez did show signs that his knee was bothering him, as he misplayed a ball hit back to him that could easily have resulted in a double play. Instead, it bouced out of his glove, with no outs recorded. He walked slowly to and from the dugout between innings. But, Hernandez is a gamer, and helped the Nats achieve a season high mark of 5 games over .500.

Make no mistake, this 5-2 homestand was an unqualified success for the Nationals. But I have to wonder if the team can keep winning without the offense again being a force. The pitching staff cannot be expected to continue to keep the opposition to under 3 runs 8 games out of 10. We need Jose Guillen and Jose Vidro back soon, and Brad Wilkerson HAS to stop striking out so much. He currently leads the major leagues with 44 strikeouts. He hasn't hit a homer in a month. Christian Guzman has reverted to the "instant out" status that he was in the beginning of the season.

It's been a great ride, but things could turn sour in a hurry if we don't regain our offensive punch.

NATS NOTES:
The Nats are in Toronto tomorrow night to begin interleague play. It will be interesting to see how they are treated. Traitors? Perhaps. Likely though, I think Toronto is happy to be the only "game" in town, so to speak.