Finding new ways to keep on winning

They're now 28 games over .500. The winning streak is now at eight, with the last six of those games coming on the road. The Washington Nationals are red-hot, folks. It doesn't matter if they fall behind by three runs early. Doesn't matter if their starter gives up five runs in less than six innings. These Nationals seem to keep finding new ways to win. They've covered the storyline where their starting pitcher dominates and carries the team to a win. We've seen that one a few times. What we haven't seen as much of is where the Nats fall behind early, but come back thanks to an offensive explosion. They put up five runs in the fifth inning last night, overcoming an early deficit and doing enough to get another win in the desert. If there's a negative to come out of last night, it's that Edwin Jackson had a bit of a shaky outing, allowing 11 baserunners over 5 2/3 innings. He needed 111 pitches to get through that and clearly wasn't at his sharpest. Over his last eight starts, Jackson has a 5.48 ERA and is allowing the opposition to hit .294. He's given up 52 hits and 18 walks over his 44 1/3 innings in that span, and while he's had a couple really sharp outings in the last couple weeks, he hasn't had the level of consistency that he delivered earlier in the season. Given Jackson's experience, there isn't much reason to worry. He's pitched in postseasons, he's pitched in World Series. That guy will be fine. And given the way the Nats have been playing lately, there's no reason to worry if they hit a bit of adversity on any given night. This is a confident team, a team that has proven it can overcome pretty much anything tossed in its way.