MLB Power Rankings: Pirates get a boost

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

The NL Central is packed with dominant pitching, making it no accident that three of baseball's best teams reside there. St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are all in line for playoff spots right now, and if their arms hold up, the postseason could feature some pretty familiar matchups early on in the NL.
Here's how Nationals Insider Mark Zuckerman, Nats writer Chase Hughes, and I see the rest of the majors shaking out:

1. St. Louis Cardinals (42-23; LW: 1) - Zuckerman: Miller, Wainwright and Lynn all have WHIPs under 1.12. Simply dominant pitching.

2. Boston Red Sox (41-26; LW: 3) - Hughes: Boston has emerged as the best offense in the majors by a good margin. Everyone packs power as they're slugging over .450 as a team.

3. Cincinnati Reds (40-26; LW: 4) - Zuckerman: Mat Latos (6-0, 2.87 ERA) not getting enough credit as one of the NL's best starters.

4. Atlanta Braves (39-27; LW: 2) - Hughes: While the Nats have struggled with injuries, the Braves have used the same five starters all season and are about to get Brandon Beachy back.

Around the NL East: Brown breaking out

Photo by USA Today

By Steve Roney
CSNwashington.com

After a brief hiatus last week, the NL East roundup is back, with much to cover. While there's been some minor action in the standings, with the Phillies briefly overtaking the Nats for second place only to concede it again days later, the big stories are the individual ones, the most notable of which concerns an outfielder in Philadelphia who really digs the long ball.

Atlanta Braves (39-25)

After a mid-spring lull, the Braves have fully regained their commanding lead, lording a seven-game advantage over the rest of the division -- the biggest margin between first and second place in the major leagues. Big bat Evan Gattis has tied Justin Upton, who's bat feel completely silent in the month of May, for the team lead in home runs with 14, and Dan Uggla has continued his all-or-nothing ways with 13 homers and a .195 average.

After tinkering with his swing a bit, B.J. Upton has "broken out" by upping his season totals to six home runs and a .165 average, a 20-point improvement since the dawn of June. His mate in the outfield, Jason Heyward, has begun to warm as well, raising his totals to five and .207, respectively. While they provide a boost to the offense (however long that may last), Atlanta's impressive rotation will benefit even further from the return of Brandon Beachy, set to come off the DL and make his season debut on June 18 in a doubleheader against the Mets -- barring any setbacks in his final rehab start in Triple-A Gwinnett between now and then.

Player of the Week: Heyward, OF: 6 R, 2 HR, 2 R, .414 AVG

Two pitches doom Haren in loss to Phillies

Photo by USA Today

Sometimes a baseball game can come down to one pitch. In the Nats’ 5-3 loss to the Phillies on Saturday, it may be traced back to just two.

Starter Dan Haren was grooving through the Phillies lineup in the top of the second, having struck out four of the first five batters he faced, when back-to-back home runs put the game in Philadelphia’s hands. The Nats would come back to tie it up later on, and then lose it, but a contest decided by two runs in many ways came down to two consecutive pitches.

The first was to Phillies left fielder Dominic Brown. Haren was in control, trusting his stuff after mowing through the first five batters. But Brown is on a hot streak and took the first pitch he saw, a curveball aimed outside, straight into the stands in right-center field.

It was a play that left catcher Kurt Suzuki almost in disbelief, off a pitch they had intended to be out of Brown’s range.