Nationals rediscover their swagger during St. Louis sweep

ST. LOUIS - That the Nationals just swept the Cardinals at Busch Stadium for the first time ever was notable enough. That they did it despite Bryce Harper going hitless in all three games this weekend was downright scary.

Scary for future competition.

"That tells me that somebody's in trouble," manager Dusty Baker said. "Somebody's in trouble because Bryce ain't going hitless for too long a period of time. Whenever you can do that without your star having a good series ... we picked him up. Like he's picked us up many times."

The Nationals' weekend sweep of the Cardinals, capped off by today's 6-1 victory, truly was a collective effort. The three players who homered today were Clint Robinson, Danny Espinosa and Chris Heisey. The game's first run was driven in by Matt den Dekker. Jayson Werth's three-run homer set the tone in Saturday's identical 6-1 win. Daniel Murphy, Michael A. Taylor and Espinosa drove in key runs during Friday night's 5-4 win.

"It can't always come from the same two guys all the time," Robinson said. "Matt den Dekker had a great game today. Chris Heisey came off the bench with a pinch-hit home run. For the guys that don't get in there every day to come out and contribute and help us get a win, that's what it takes to win ballgames in this league."

And then there was the pitching. We certainly can't ignore that. Starters Stephen Strasburg, Joe Ross and Max Scherzer combined to allow three runs in 20 innings, striking out 22 batters while walking only three. Add the most recent performances from Tanner Roark and Gio Gonzalez, and Nationals starters posted a collective 1.08 ERA this last turn through the rotation.

"I love it," Baker said. "You've got to give them credit, the guys that are throwing the ball. And you've got to give the catchers credit for following (pitching coach) Mike Maddux's game plan. And you've got to give him credit for coming up with (it)."

Scherzer actually entered this start the biggest question mark of the group, having labored through his last two starts and complained of a mechanical glitch that was preventing him from, in his words, "finishing" his pitches.

The veteran right-hander, though, was confident throughout that this was an easy fix. And sure enough, he and Maddux figured it out during a bullpen throwing session a few days ago. The problem wasn't that he needed more extension after he released the ball; it was that he needed to shorten his "arm action" before delivering it, staying on top of the ball to get proper movement on his fastball.

It didn't take long for Scherzer to realize he was back to his old self. He knew it as soon as he had recorded his first three outs.

"Right in the first inning, you could feel it," he said. "As soon as I'm throwing those fastballs in, and they're right at the knees and (catcher Jose Lobaton) is framing them just like they should be, I know I can work it both sides. I knew I had a game plan coming into today of what I needed to do to combat their aggressiveness, and I was able to execute it the whole day."

The end result: seven scoreless innings of four-hit, zero-walk, nine-strikeout ball, Scherzer's best start of the season.

The Nationals needed that from him most of the afternoon because Carlos Martinez was matching him pitch for pitch. The Cardinals' dynamic young right-hander overpowered hitters with an electric fastball that topped out at 99 mph, allowing only one man to reach base in the game's first five innings: Scherzer, who singled up the middle in the top of the third.

Then came a key rally in the top of the sixth, when Lobaton singled to left and took second on Scherzer's sacrifice bunt, then den Dekker delivered an RBI single up the middle to finally break the deadlock.

The Nationals broke through the dam after that. Robinson, who had been 1-for-21 on the season, crushed a two-run homer off Martinez's first-pitch fastball in the seventh, then Espinosa followed with a solo shot of his own on the very next pitch.

"He'd thrown a lot of first-pitch strikes," Robinson said. "He had been mowing through us pretty good. So Dusty came up to me before that at-bat and said, 'Hey, you know, be aggressive and see what happens. Don't sit there and let him pick you apart. Just go right at him.' And something good came out of it."

Something good came out of this entire weekend. When the Nationals arrived in St. Louis late Thursday night, they were reeling from a surprising home sweep at the hands of the rebuilding Phillies, with a daunting series against the Cardinals this weekend and then two more difficult road series against the Royals and Cubs.

When they left St. Louis early this evening, they were flying high after a three-game sweep, exuding confidence once again.

"We're going to be just fine," Espinosa said. "We got swept at home. We didn't hit much, obviously. But this is a good ballclub. There's no stopping. We don't give up or anything. And the way we look right now, I feel real good about this team."