Playing loose and free, Braves stay in hunt with 6-3 win in 10 to complete sweep of Nationals

October 3rd, 2009 Nationals win 6th straight, beat Braves in 11ATLANTA — The Washington Nationals are playing as if they were contenders the last week of the season, not the team that has the worst record in the majors. Justin Maxwell hit a two-out, two-run homer in the 11th inning and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-4 Saturday for their sixth straight victory.

October 1st, 2009 Nationals beat Braves 2-1 on Orr's single in 9thATLANTA — Pete Orr hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and the Washington Nationals beat Atlanta 2-1 on Thursday night, hours after the Braves were eliminated from playoff contention. Orr's one-out single to left field drove in Ryan Zimmerman, who opened the ninth with a double off Rafael Soriano (1-6).

October 1st, 2009 Nationals 2, Braves 1 Washington Atlantaab r h biab r h biWHarrs lf 4 1 2 0 McLoth cf4 1 1 1Dsmnd ss 4 0 0 0 Prado 2b3 0 1 0A.Dunn 1b 3 0 0 0 C.Jones 3b3 0 0 0JPadill rf 0 0 0 0 McCnn c4 0 0 0Zmrmn 3b 4 1 2 1 GAndrs lf4 0 2 0Morse rf-1b 4 0 0 0 YEscor ss3 0 1 0Orr 2b 4 0 1 1 AdLRc 1b3 0 0 0Maxwll cf 4 0 1 0 Church rf3 0 1 0Nieves c 3 0 1 0 Hanson p1 0 0 0Mock p 2 0 0 0 Conrad ph1 0 0 0CGzmn ph 1 0 0 0 MGnzlz p0 0 0 0Clipprd p 0 0 0 0 RSorin p0 0 0 0MacDgl p 0 0 0 0 Infante ph1 0 0 0Totals 33 2 7 2 Totals30 1 6 1 Washington 000 100 001—2Atlanta 001 000 000—1DP_Washington 3, Atlanta 1. LOB_Washington 6, Atlanta 8.

September 26th, 2009 Hanson helps Braves beat Nationals 11-5WASHINGTON — Tommy Hanson pitched seven innings for his 11th win, Yunel Escobar drove in three runs and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 11-5 on Saturday for their fifth consecutive victory. Atlanta pulled within three games of NL wild card-leading Colorado, which was scheduled to play St.

September 25th, 2009 Braves 4, Nationals 1 Atlanta Washingtonab r h biab r h biMcLoth cf 5 0 0 0 WHarrs lf4 0 1 0Prado 2b 5 1 2 1 Dsmnd ss4 0 0 0C.Jones 3b 5 1 2 0 A.Dunn 1b4 0 0 0McCnn c 4 1 1 0 Zmrmn 3b3 0 1 0YEscor ss 5 1 1 0 Wlngh rf3 0 0 0GAndrs lf 4 0 1 1 Orr 2b2 0 0 0Gorecki lf 0 0 0 0 J.Bard c3 1 1 1M.Diaz rf 2 0 2 1 Maxwll cf3 0 0 0AdLRc 1b 3 0 0 0 Lannan p2 0 0 0JVazqz p 2 0 0 0 Brgmn p0 0 0 0Villone p0 0 0 0CGzmn ph1 0 0 0SRiver p0 0 0 0Totals 35 4 9 3 Totals29 1 3 1 Atlanta 200 000 011—4Washington 000 000 010—1E_McCann (12), Orr (3), Desmond (5). LOB_Atlanta 10, Washington 3.

August 13th, 2009 Braves 6, Nationals 2 Washington Atlantaab r h biab r h biMorgan cf 4 0 2 0 Church cf5 0 0 0CGzmn ss 3 1 1 0 Prado 2b-3b4 1 2 1Zmrmn 3b 3 0 1 0 C.Jones 3b4 1 1 0Dunn 1b 4 0 2 1 Infante 2b0 0 0 0Wlngh lf 4 0 0 0 McCnn c4 1 1 0Dukes rf 4 1 1 0 GAndrs lf4 1 2 1J.Bard c 3 0 0 0 YEscor ss2 0 0 0Bellird 2b 3 0 2 1 AdLRc 1b3 2 2 3Stmmn p 2 0 0 0 M.Diaz rf3 0 0 0WHarrs ph 0 0 0 0 D.Lowe p2 0 0 0Sosa p 0 0 0 0 KJhnsn ph0 0 0 0SBurntt p 0 0 0 0 Moylan p0 0 0 0Brgmn p 0 0 0 0 Norton ph0 0 0 1Villone p 0 0 0 0 MGnzlz p0 0 0 0JPadill ph 1 0 0 0Totals 31 2 9 2 Totals31 6 8 6 Washington 100 000 100—2Atlanta 020 000 13x—6DP_Atlanta 3. LOB_Washington 8, Atlanta 7.

August 11th, 2009 Braves INF Infante comes off DLATLANTA — The Braves have activated infielder Omar Infante from the disabled list and put him in the starting lineup for the opener of a two-game series against the Washington Nationals. Infante had been out since May 20 with a broken left hand, the result of being hit by a pitch.

August 9th, 2009 Crazy Eights: Nats on longest win streak since '05WASHINGTON —Adam Dunn can easily summarize the Washington Nationals' surprising turnaround. "It's everyone finally just saying: 'What do we have to lose? We can't play any worse than we're playing,'" Dunn said.

July 19th, 2009 Big 4th inning gives Cubs sweep of NationalsWASHINGTON — Alfonso Soriano's two-run homer keyed a seven-run fourth inning and the Chicago Cubs completed a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with an 11-3 victory Sunday. Soriano's 16th home run, his second in two games after a drought of 120 at-bats, began the biggest inning of the season for the Cubs.

July 9th, 2009 De La Rosa helps Rockies sweep NationalsDENVER — Jorge De La Rosa pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Ryan Spilborghs hit a bases-loaded triple to key a four-run fifth and the Colorado Rockies beat the Washington Nationals 10-4 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep. Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-run homer among his three hits and Carlos Gonzalez added three more hits for the Rockies, who have beaten the Nationals six straight times since August.

July 4th, 2009 Nationals 5, Braves 3E_Prado (4). DP_Atlanta 1, Washington 1.

July 4th, 2009 Wrist injury sends Braves' 2B Johnson to DLWASHINGTON — Struggling Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with right wrist tendinitis. The move was made before Atlanta opened a three-game weekend series against the Washington Nationals on Friday.

July 4th, 2009 Braves 9, Nationals 8E_Kawakami (1), Beimel (2). LOB_Atlanta 13, Washington 8.

July 3rd, 2009 Braves complete sweep of Phillies, 5-2ATLANTA — Matt Diaz drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double and the Atlanta Braves beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Thursday night to complete their first home sweep of the Phillies in four years. Diaz had his second straight three-hit game to lift the Braves to their fourth consecutive win and drop the Phillies into a tie with Florida for first in the NL East.

June 26th, 2009 Rough Red Sox debut for Smoltz; Nationals win 9-3WASHINGTON — Whether it was nerves, rust or age — or a combination of the three — John Smoltz had a rough debut inning for the Boston Red Sox. The 42-year-old right-hander allowed four of the first five batters to score before settling down in his first major league game in more than a year.