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Final Score R H E Marlins 10 11 0 Nationals 7 11 2 WP-R.Pinto (1-0) LP-Redding (1-1) SV-Gregg (1)

Manny Acta on his team behind Tim Redding
"We didn't play great defense behind him, but that being said, it was not only the mental errors, but the error that hurt him the most was giving in to Amezaga with two outs and two strikes and first base empty and pitcher on deck, those are the kind of mistakes lately that are hurting us."

Redding on the 2-2 pitch to Amezaga in the 3rd with 2 out and the pitcher on-deck
"That's the biggest error of the game, that cost us the game, that's on my shoulders. I let him (Acta) down, I let the team down, I made a bad pitch, the game is completely on my shoulders. Nothing in this game defensively or offensively has anything to do with us losing other than that pitch and that's on me."

Acta on being frustrated
"I don't understand that question. I don't use that word in my vocabulary. Baseball doesn't frustrate me. It's a 162 ball games, we're going to lose a lot more than we lost already and we'll win a few more too, so it doesn't frustrate me at all, it's a game."

Lastings Milledge on droping Dan Uggla's fly ball in the 1st allowing a run to score
"I missed it. I kind of took my eye off of it at the last second. I was trying not to let Hanley(Ramirez) advance on the run, I missed it. It's no excuse. We know we have to play mistake free baseball and that's not a good way to start off the game. I put my pitcher in the hole and it wasn't a good situation to be in."

Tim Redding on not blaming the defense behind him.
"Back off on the defense, guys are out there busting their butts trying to make plays know matter how difficult or how routine, I will never get on a player for trying to make a play."

Up Next
Tomorrow is an off day for the Nationals and Marlins. They get back at it on Wednesday at 7:10. It's LHP Scott Olsen (0-0, 6.00) vs. RHP Jason Bergmann (0-0, 8.44)

Skid Row
The Nats 5 game losing streak is the longest since they dropped 7 straight from 8/24-8/31 last season.

I'm Streaking
Ryan Zimmerman established a club record with his 182nd consecutive game started.

Birthday Boy
Ronnie Belliard celebrated his 33rd birthday today. He went 1-3, 2 walks and scored 2 runs. When he plays on his date of birth, Ronnie is hitting .417 with 4 doubles and a HR.

Hitting Stars
Guzman: 3-4, 2 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R
Milledge: 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI
LoDuca: 2-4, R
Lopez: 2-4, RBI

For the second consecutive inning the Nationals had the bases loaded and couldn't score. They did cut the lead to 8-7 on a Christian Guzman 1-out triple, his second of the game, and a sac fly by Lastings Milledge, but that was it. Marlin pitchers walked Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Johnson and Austin Kearns with 2-out, but closer Kevin Gregg got Paul LoDuca to ground out to third baseman Jorge Cantu to end the threat.

Now that both starting pitchers are out of the game, base runners are hard to come by. Aside from a Dan Uggla solo HR in the 6th, the Marlins have not had a base hit since the third. The Nationals, who haven't had a hit since the 4th, had back-to-back walks in the 5th, only to have Felipe Lopez hit into an inning-ending double play.

Missed Opportunities
With the Nats trailing by two, 8-6, in the 7th, they loaded the bases with one-out. Ronnie Belliard, who is a career .429 hitter, with 4 doubles, one homer and 7 RBI in 6 career games on April 7th, popped out to second, the infield fly rule and pinch-hitter Aaron Boone flew out to deep center for the third out of the inning. Why do we know Belliard is so good on April 7? It happens to be his birthday. Happy Birthday Ronnie!!

Guzman makes up for Error
Chirsitan Guzman made up for his throwing error in the top of the 3rd by hitting a 2-Run singnle in the 4th, Lastings Milledge followed with a run scoreing single to chase Marlins starter Andrew Miller and cut the deficit to one, 7-6. Miller pitched 3 1/3 innings, gave up 8 hits and 6 earned runs before being yanked for LHP Renyel Pinto.
Tim Redding didn't fare much better giving up 7 runs, although only one was earned, in 4 innings. Chris Schroder is now pitching for the Nats.

Chirsitan Guzman's throwing error in the top of the 3rd opened the flood gates for the Marlins. Highlighted by lead-off hitter Hanley Ramirez's 3-Run HR, Florida had four hits and scored 5 times in the inning to take a 7-3 lead. Tim Redding has thrown 84 pitches so far and isn't nearly as sharp as he was on Wednesday night in Philadelphia.

Marlins visit the Nats at Nationals Park tonight at 7:00pm (MASN & MASNHD). Coverage begins at 6:30pm with Nats XTRA Pre-Game.

Monday's game preview
Florida (3-3) at Nationals (3-4)
The Nationals look to end their 4-game losing streak tonight as they welcome the Florida Marlins to town for a three game series.. RHP Tim Redding (1-0, 0.00) takes to the mound in hopes of shutting down the fish.

The Nats play 18 of their next 21 games vs. NL East opponents. This will tell us a lot about this year's team.

Not a Pitchers Duel
After 2 full innings, both pitchers are having a hard time finding the strike zone. Redding has thrown 48 pitches, 29 for strikes and Miller 47 pitches, 31 for strikes. Both teams have pretty much mirrored each other. Both sent 6 men to the plate in the first and scored one run. Both started the 2nd with back-to-back hits, but the Nats added a sac fly RBI to take the 3-2 lead. At thier current pace, neither starter will be around much longer.

Lastings Impression
In the top of the first, Dan Uggla hit a routine fly ball to Milledge in center with Hanley Ramirez on second. As Milledge was positioning himself for the catch, he took his eye off the ball and dropped it for a 2-base error that allowed Ramirez to score. Two batters later, he caught a fly by Josh Willingham that drew sarcastic cheers. Milledge made up for it the bottom of the inning by hitting an RBI double to tie the game at 1-1. For a second, I thought I was back in my home town of Philly.

Game is underway. First pitch at 7:11 with 50 degree weather. Check back for updates and comments.

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Honoring Dmitri
Dmitri Young was just presented with the 2007 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award. He was selected by his peers in a secret ballot and much deserving of the award.

Pitching Match-up
Tim Redding threw 7 innings of 1-hit ball vs. the Phillies in his season debut. He walked 3 and struckout 2 in the 1-0 victory. Ryan Zimmerman provided the lone run on a opposite field home run off Cole Hamels. Redding has had a ton of success vs. the Marlins in his career, going 3-0, 2.00 ERA in 5 starts dating back to 2003. Last September, Redding lasted just 2 1/3 innings giving up 2 earned runs before leaving the game with a right elbow contusion, sustained when hit by a one-hop comebacker off the bat of Miguel Cabrera. Redding is also 10-3 in 24 career games, 21 starts, vs NL East clubs.

Pitching for the Marlins is 6'6'' lanky LHP Andrew Miller (0-1, 10.38). He lasted just 4 1/3 innings, getting tagged for 5 runs on 8 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts in a 13-0 loss to the NY Mets in his 2008 season debut. Originally drafted by the Detroit Tigers as the 6th overall pick in the 2006 draft, was acquired by the Marlins in an 8-players trade on December 5, 2007. He was 5-5, 5.63 in 13 starts for the Tigers last season. He has a 4-seam fastball that can hit 99 MPH and a 2-seam sinker in the low 90's. Miller also has a slider, a 12-to-6 curve and a decent change-up.

Starting Line-Ups
Marlins
SS Hanley Ramirez
2B Dan Uggla
1B Mike Jacobs
LF Josh Willingham
RF Luis Gonzalez
C Matt Treanor
CF Alfredo Amezaga
P Andrew Miller

Nationals
SS Christian Guzman
CF Lastings Milledge
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Nick Johnson
RF Austin Kearns
C Paul LoDuca
2B Ronnie Belliard
LF Felipe Lopez
P Tim Redding

Hitting Notes
Marlins
Ramirez is batting .400 this season
Gonzalez .333 this season and in his career vs. Redding with a HR and 3 RBI

Nationals
Guzman hits .350 vs. Marlins
Kearns has 6 career HR and 25 RBI vs. Florida
LoDuca hits .347 with 26 career RBI

National Championship Picks
Tonight the Memphis Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks battle for the NCAA basketball Championship, so I thought I'd ask the Nats who they thought would come out victorious and it was almmost 50-50. Kearns, Aaron Boone and Nick Johnson all think Kansas and Johnson said it was a lock. LoDuca, Redding, Felipe Lopez and Elijah Dukes all went with Memphis. Dukes said Memphis is to quick, fast and big for the Jayhawks and I would have to agree. Funny that Rob Mackowiak and Christian Guzman don't really care and wouldn't watch if they didn't have a game tonight.

Shawn Hill
Hill will pitch for the Potomac Nationals tomorrow and hopes to be ready to go for the Nats on Sunday.
Manny Acta on Hill
"We'll see how he does tomorrow and make sure he's stretched out and maybe he'll come over here and help out. If he's ready he'll be out there."

Manny on being back home
"It's nice to be back and settled. We weren't settled when we came over here, too many things to worry about and too many things going around other than baseball. This is finally an opportunity for us to come back and really settle into our clubhouse and and places where we're going to live, come in and get some extra work on the field. It was too much going on the first week."

Manny on Dmitri Young's injury
"He has to rest after the shot(Cortizone) and Wednesday he'll try to do baseball activities and we'll see how he feels and we'll go from there."

Manny on Wily Mo Pena
Wily Mo will play 3 innings tomorrow in extended spring and we'll continue to increase the amount of innings until he's ready."

Caps Fever
As we all know, the Washington Capitals are in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Manny was asked if he caught wind of the teams success and he said he had.
Manny on the Caps
"I'm excited for the Caps, I was following it big time. I met coach Boudreau when I came over here in the off season and I was following big time and I knew what the odds were and I was very happy for them to go in, Go Caps baby!!"
Manny was then asked if he played hockey growing up in the Dominican Republic.
"We don't have enought ice back home to play." This drew some laughs.

Caps Defenseman Mike Green and Goalie Cristobal Huet will be on hand tonight and Green will throw out the first pitch.

Clubhouse Chatter
As I stated earlier, the Nats play 18 of their next 21 vs. NL East opponents. I asked Austin Kearns is the team looks that far ahead.
"I didn't even know that was the situation, but i think you just go into each series just trying to win it. I don't think you look at it as it's a division opponent and you have to win, no matter who it is you want to win the series."

The team looked very relaxed prior to the game. They didn't look like a team that just lost 4 straight. A few guys were watching the Pirates-Cubs game and just chillin. Let's see if that calm demeaner, translates to the field and equals a win tonight.