Paul Lo Duca shares his thoughts on his mom who he lost to cancer a few years ago.

Luis Ayala entered the game in the 8th with a 4-2 lead and was trying to hold the game for Shawn Hill. By the time the inning was over, the Nationals lead was gone and so was Hill's chance for his first win of the season.

Ayala gave up a 2-run shot to Jeremy Hermida that tied the game 4-4 and Dan Uggla's second home run of the game put the Marlins on top 5-4.

The Nationals have now lost 3 straight overall, get swept by the Marlins and have to begin a 4-game series with the Mets tomorrow in NY.

Mike O'Connor, making his first start since 2006, was ineffective in his 3 1/3 innings. He gave up 9 runs on 6 hits and 6 walks. He threw 78 pitches and 40 were balls, not a good ball to strike ratio.

The Marlins hit 3 home runs including a Grand Slam by Dan Uggla, who drove in 5 and extended their winning streak to a season-high 6 games.

Redding gave up 6 runs, 5 earned on 4 hits and 4 walks in 5 1/3 while the Marlins' Ricky Nolasco allowed only 1-run on 4 hits to earn the win.

John Lannan pitched a solid 6 innings to earn his third win of the season and end the Nationals 2-game losing streak.

Willie Harris and Rob Mackowiak, getting starts in left and center field respectively, each hit their first career home runs in Nationals uniforms and they beat the Astros 8-3.

Joel Hanrahan began the inning by walking lead-off hitter Matsui. With Miguel Tejada batting, Matsui stole second. Hanrahan struckout Tejada and intentionally walked Lance Berkman before being replaced by Jesus Colome. Colome, facing Lee, got ahead of him 0-2, before throwing a wild pitch that allowed Matsui to advance to third. Lee then hit a liner to center that Lastings Milledge couldn't catch and Matsui scored the game winner.

The Nationals walked a season high, 8 batters, two intentionally.

After getting the first two batters to ground out, Ayala gave up singles to Miguel Tejada and Lance Berkman. Ayala got ahead of Lee 0-2, but Lee hit a sinking liner to right and Austin Kearns gambled, dove for the ball and missed it, allowing both runners to score.

Jose Valverde retired the side in order in the 9th for his 7th save of the year.

The Nationals bullpen did a great job today, helping nail down the 5-2 win for Tim Redding. Saul Rivera, Luis Ayala and Jesus Colome retired 8 of the 9 Pirates they faced. Redding improved to 4-2.

The Nationals, who are off Monday before heading to Houston for a 3-game series beginning Tuesday night, finished up this 11-game home stand 8-3.

Cristian Guzman tied a career high with 6-RBI and Jon Rauch earned his 7th save of the season.

Jose Bautista homered twice and drove in 4 runs. Ryan Doumit and Chris Gomez each drove in 2-runs.

Wil Nieves went 1-4 with a 2-run double and Cristian Guzman had 2 hits for the Nationals, who managed only 7 on the night and just one off the Pirate bullpen in 5 innings of work.

Guzman singled to lead-off the inning and moved to second when Nick Johnson walked. After Lastings Milledge struckout, Kearns hit a sharp single to right and Guzman just beat the throw by Xavier Nady.

Jon Rauch retired the side in the 9th for his 6th save. The Nationals have now won 4 in a row, their longest of the season.

This was the first 2-game sweep of the Braves since May of 2005 and the first in Nationals Park.

Ryan Zimmerman and Lastings Milledge hit 2-RBI doubles in the bottom of the 7th to break the game open. With the bases loaded and 1-out, Zimmerman doubled to right to score two. One out later, Milledge delivered a double to left that scored two and the Nats led 6-2. Jon Rauch relived an injured Chad Cordero and nailed down the win.

Nats win 6-3, their second straight over all and second in a row over the Braves.

On Sunday, John Lannan pitched 7 scoreless innings and the Nationals shutout the Cubs 2-0 at Nationals Park. Lannan has now thrown 19 straight scoreless innings.

Wily Mo Pena and Wil Nieves provided all the offense for the Nationals with run scoring singles in the second.

Matt Chico failed to pitch in the 5th inning for the second straight start. Tonight, he gave up 5 earned runs in 4 innings. The loss drops him to 0-5 and the team to 8-17. The Nats look for the series split tomorrow in the series finale.

Wil Nieves hit his first career home run at the right time. With one out and one on in the bottom of the ninth and the score tied at 3, he hit a 2-run walk-off HR for the 5-3 win. Nieves, who came in as a defensive replacement in the top of the 7th, said the only thing missing was his wife Yormarie. She just arrived from Puerto Rico today and was at the hotel when he hit the home run. Yormarie didn't come to the ballpark because Wil didn't start the game.

The win gives the Nats a 2-game win streak, their first since starting the season 3-0 and thier record improves to 8-16.

This is the type of offense Manny Acta has been waiting for all season. Hits with runners in scoring position, hits with two outs, hard hit balls, squeakers, it didn't matter, as long as the Nationals could bunch them together and bunch them they did.

The Nats scored three in the 5th, four in the 6th and three more in the 7th. They have pounded out 13 hits, earned 6 walks and got help from a NY error. When all is said and done, the Nats pounded Mets pitching and won 10-5.

The Nationals had their chances against Johan Santana early in the game, but could only manage two runs. Tim Redding's 2-run double in the 4th accounted for the Nats offense.

After Redding's at-bat, Santana retired 9 out of the next 10 batters he faced and the only base runner after that came via a walk and he was erased on a double play.

The Nationals snapped their losing streak as John Lannan won for the first time this season, beating the Braves 6-0 in Atlanta. Lannan, who was not sure if he would start the season with the big club or in the minors, pitched another great game.

The Braves, on the other hand, got 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks of Matt Chico in 4 innings, including a 4-pitch, bases loaded walk to Hudson, in the 3rd. Chico falls to 0-4 while Hudson improves to 3-1.

Olsen (3-0) gave up one run, won his third start in a row and lowered his ERA to 2.60. Last year the left-hander went 10-15 with an ERA of 5.81, highest of any pitcher in the National League with at least 162 innings.

Wes Helms singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth and the Florida Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 6-5 on Saturday night.

Helms' one-out grounder up the middle off reliever Saul Rivera (1-1) scored Dan Uggla from second, ending the Marlins' two-game losing streak.

Nick Johnson hit a three-run double and drove in four runs, leading the Washington Nationals to a 6-4 win over the Florida Marlins on Friday night.

Johnson's two-out double in the seventh inning off reliever Taylor Tankersley helped the Nationals end a three-game skid. Washington, which had lost 12 of 13, scored only five runs in being swept by the Mets.

Tim Redding (3-1) pitched six innings, allowing four runs on three hits, while striking out a career-high 10.

Easley led off the 14th with a single to left. He advanced to second on a wild pitch with one out and reached third when Hanrahan committed a throwing error trying to pick him off second.

After ending a 9-game losing streak on Sunday, the Nats have started a new one. On Wednesday, they lost to the Mets for the second night in a row, 5-2. All 5 runs came off three HR's.

The offense only managed five hits, all off starter John Maine and they left seven men on base, right around their season average.

This is not the way the Nats wanted to start their road trip. Mike Pelfrey shutout the Nats, 6-0, by tossing 7 innings of 5-hit ball. David Wright was the offensive power that made a loser out of Odalis Perez.

The Nationals snapped their 9-game losing streak, beating the Braves 5-4, this afternoon before 29,151 fans. This win was not only a moral victory, but it was a total team effort. Everyone had a helping hand in the win.

The offense, defense and pitching all came together and the Nats can finally taste sweet victory again. It wasn't easy, but they never are. Jon Rauch threw one pitch, with the bases loaded, and got Brian McCann to fly out to end the game and earn the save.

Bergmann has struggled in his last two outings, giving up a total of 11 earned runs in seven innings. On Wednesday, vs. Florida, he gave up 7 earned runs in five innings in the 10-4 loss.

Matt Chico did his job, holding the Braves to one run on five hits in 8 full innings. Unfortunately, the Nats couldn't get anything going against Atlanta's starter Tim Hudson, managing just three singles, two by Austin Kearns and the Nationals losing streak hits 8 games.

Odalis Perez gave Manny Acta what he wanted, a solid outing by a starting pitcher. It wasn't quite enough though as Marlins starter Mark Hendrickson was better and the Nats losing streak has reached 7-games with the 4-3 set back.

Live Blog: Get insider notes and analysis updated throughout the game on Pete McElroy's Live Game Blog

Jason Bergmann gave up 7 earned runs, all in the 5th inning, and the Nats bats were pretty much kept in check as they fall to the Marlins 10-4. Tomorrow they try to salvage a win in the series and end the losing streak.