This guy helped beat the Nationals last night? Gee, I thought when the Braves talked about his "flexibility," they meant he could play all the infield positions. Oh well.

Wilson Betetmit homered to tie the game off of Hector Carrasco, and Marcus Giles singled in Pete Orr for the go ahead run as the Braves came back and beat the Nats, 5-4. It was the 3rd consecutive one-run game of the series.

The Nats had built an unlikely 3-1 lead off of superman John Smoltz in the 2nd inning. After Johnny Estrada homered off of Tony Armas Jr in the top half of the second, Ryan Church doubled home Nick Johnson, Brian Schneider doubled home Church, who later scored on a wild pitch.

Tony Armas returned to form Wednesday night against the Braves, pitching 6 innings and giving up 2 runs. He walked 4, but was able to pitch around those baserunners all evening. He saw his ERA drop from 6.19 to 5.58.

The lack of clutch hitting has become a big problem for the Nationals. In the three games played against the Braves this series, Washington have left 37 men on base. The league average for runners left is about 8. The Nats often double that number. The Nats are an enigma offensively. Although individual players lead the league in several categories, they are very "iffy" as a group. This is [I think] more due to the lineup then the players in the lineup. I still don't see Brad Wilkerson as a leadoff hitter.

For a while there, the Nats didn't look like they were going to miss Jose Vidro all that much. Replacement Jamie Carroll hit lights out for the first three weeks at second. Less than three weeks ago, Carroll was hitting .368. Today, he is down to .245. It is very difficult to win consistently when your number 2, 8 and 9 players are automatic outs. Hurry back Jose!

Ryan Church was back in the lineup after missing several games with a slight injury. Church was the only Nat to get two hits, hitting two doubles and driving in a run. He lifted his batting average to .308. The Nats are developing a log jam in the outfield as Marlon Byrd has joined Guillen, Church and Wilkerson as productive hitting outfielders. I wouldn't be surprised if either Church or Byrd was part of the trade that would have sent Zach Day to the Marlins for Juan Encarnacion earlier in the week.

The Nationals have a chance to take three out of four from the Braves tonight, as Esteban Loiaza goes against Haracio Ramirez. Ramierez started the year strong, but now has an ERA of 5.65. Esteban is still pitching well despite his having to make a perfect pitch every at bat as the Nats just arn't scoring any runs for him. As of his last start, he lead the league in fewest runs given per start by his team.

So, the Nats lost. Big deal. This was a must win for the Braves, and it was just another game for the Nats. I like tonight's pitching matchup. Go Nats!