.
Today was a big game in the short history of the Washington Nationals. They would either continue both their losing streak and their anemic hitting, or they would remind the baseball world that they aren't your father's Washington baseball team.

Looks like they won't be donning Senators' togs anytime soon.

Going into the bottom of the 4th inning, the Nationals offense remained horrid. In 23 Canadian innings, the former Montreal team managed only 1 run. To make matters worse, Shay Hillebrand stroked a 2-0 fastball deep into the left field stands to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 4th.

Coming into the dugout for the top of the 5th inning, Washington had every reason to head for the locker room and pack their bags for the flight out of Toronto. But something strange happened. For the first time in Toronto, they fought back, and they fought back hard.

The Blue Jays sent to the mound Josh Towers, a quality pitcher with a good 2005 record: 5-1 and a 3.19 ERA. Not Ray Halladay numbers, but very close. For the first 4 innings, Towers held the Nats to a few harmless hits. Things changed in the 5th, however. With the bases loaded, DH Jose Guillen drove a ball deep to left-center field, plating Gary Benentt, Christain Guzman and Jamie Carroll.

That was not the only surprise the Nats had up their sleeves this day, hwever.

.
Tony Blanco, Jim Bowden's pet project, hit the Nats first 3 run homer of the season and put the game out of reach. Another "oh by the way" run in the 9th inning ended the scoring. Final score: Washington 9 -- Toronto 2

Tony Blanco has shown Jim Bowden enough that he has traded for him while with the Reds and again here in Washington. He is a young man who may be a prominent part of the Natinals future. Because of the rules of the Rule V draft, Blanco must stay with the team the entire season or be offered back to the Reds at half-price. Because he was drafted out of AA, he has yet to play a day in AAA. Blanco has shown good power in the minor leagues, though his on base percentage has only been "average." Still, he's doing well this year.

Tomo Ohka looks like he's ready to rejoin the starting staff. He pitched well in a 5 inning relief appearance against the Brewers last week, and did it again today. Ohka pitched 8 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs. He struck out 2 and walked 1. Amazingly, he has reduced his ERA, once full of ugly croooked numbers, to a neat 3.71. While Zach Day still looks shaky, Ohka should retake his spot in the rotation, forcing out Claudio Vargas.

Jose Guillen is looking much healthier. With 3 days off against Milwaukee, and another 3 days in Toronto as the DH, he has been given the opporuntiy to heal. And heal he has. Guillen got 2 more hits and 3 more RBIs today, raising his average to .290 and getting his 25th RBI this season.

Ryan Church, who can't decide if we wants to be an all star or a 4th outfielder, felt like being an all star today. Church got 4 hits and saw his average climb to .304. He played steady defense in right field as well.

The injury bug is going to have to leave the team soon, because there won't be anyone left to bite. Vinny Castilla hurt himself striking out and was replaced by Tony Blanco and later Carlos Baerga. It was announced that Brad Wilkerson was suffering from a forearm injury, one that could keep him out "an extended period of time." No word on Castilla's injury.

There comes a point where this team, and its limited payroll, simply cannot continue to lose their starting position players without seeing a severe drop in performance. It could well be that when the Nats take the field for their next game, a total of three starters are injury free.

Yikes.

But, at least for today, the Nats came through with a win. Let's enjoy the win and see what happens tomorrow.