Game 11: Brewers at Nats

Photo courtesy George Burkes

Justin Maxwell connects for his first homer of the season.

There have been a number of significant dates in Nationals history. April 14, 2005 (the first game at RFK Stadium). June 18, 2006 (Ryan Zimmerman's walk-off homer against the Yankees). Aug. 17, 2009 (Stephen Strasburg signs less than 2 minutes before the midnight deadline).

Here, though, are two more dates of consequence you may not remember: April 4, 2008 and Oct. 1, 2005. What's the significance? The first date represents the last time the Nationals held a winning record (3-2). The latter date represents the last time they had a winning record before that (81-80).

So April 17, 2010 could prove to be a milestone moment in franchise history. With a victory today over the Brewers, the Nats would improve to 6-5. Progress, people, progress.

Unfortunately, your trusty beat writer won't be there to chronicle this momentous occasion in person. I'm taking the weekend off, my first true days off since February. I'll be back at Monday for the start of the Rockies series, but in the meantime, I'm going to put up the traditional gameday thread so all of you can still converse about the day's events.

So enjoy today's game, and perhaps the next time we speak, we'll be talking about a winning ballclub in Washington...

BREWERS AT NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m.
TV: MASN-HD
Radio: WFED-1500 AM, WWFD-820 AM
Weather: Mostly sunny, 62 degrees, Wind 20 mph LF to RF

STARTING LINEUPS
NATIONALS (5-5)
CF Nyjer Morgan
2B Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
1B Adam Dunn

Playing (and managing) to win

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

Ian Desmond's perfect sac bunt keyed the Nats' 3-run eighth.

Little did Jim Riggleman realize it when Adam Dunn was ejected in the first inning, but that surprise development was going to force the Nationals manager to reach deep into his bag of tricks in order to pull off tonight's 5-3 win over the Brewers.

By the time Matt Capps struck out Corey Hart to end this one, Riggleman had used three different third basemen, two different first basemen, two different right fielders and every member of his bench not named Ivan Rodriguez. He asked one his best young hitters to lay down a sacrifice bunt, his All-Star slugger to serve as a decoy in the on-deck circle and his closer to record the final two outs one day after throwing 33 pitches.

This is what it's going to take for the Nationals, as currently constructed, to win ballgames. Riggleman understands this, so he's finding a way to use all 25 players at his disposal in a manner that maximizes every ounce of talent they've got.

"There's a lot of players on this team able to play a lot of positions, and able to do it well," Dunn said. "It gives Riggs so much leeway to make moves that a lot of managers don't get to make. Our team's

At 38, Pudge can still hit

Quick: Who was the National League's fourth-best hitter entering play tonight? Yep, Ivan Rodriguez, who also has four doubles and came through with a clutch hit in yesterday's win over the Phillies.

Read all about Pudge's surprising offensive start to the season on CSNwashington.com.

Your daily Zim update

Ryan Zimmerman is not in the Nationals' lineup tonight. He hopes to be back in the lineup tomorrow. In other words, it's pretty much the same story as yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that.

Actually, that's not fair. Zimmerman has made some progress in his return from a tight left hamstring. Shoot, the guy came off the bench yesterday in Philadelphia and crushed a two-run homer to right.

But that doesn't mean he's quite ready to do everything on a baseball field. Today, Zimmerman took another step toward doing that, fielding a bunch of tough grounders at third base with no trouble and taking a full round of batting practice with no issues.

"I felt great today," he said.

There's one last hurdle for Zimmerman to cross. He hasn't run the bases yet. He'll probably try to do that before tomorrow's game, and if all goes well, he could be back in the lineup against the Brewers.

"It feels a lot better every day," he said. "The biggest thing is, I just don't want to go all this time, come back one or two days early and then have to start all over again."

Game 10: Brewers at Nats

Photo by Mark Zuckerman / NATS INSIDER

The Nats open a 10-game homestand tonight, with the Brewers up first.

Apparently, Ryan Zimmerman's pinch-hit home run yesterday wasn't good enough to warrant his return to the Nationals' starting lineup.

For the fifth straight game, Zimmerman is not among Jim Riggleman's starting nine. Apparently, there's still concern about his ability to run. He looked perfectly fine rounding the bases following his clutch blast off Danys Baez yesterday afternoon, but he didn't exactly have to go 100 percent during that glorious jaunt.

We'll have to find out what Zim's updated status is in a little while. There are currently a group of players taking early BP, but he's not among them.

So, as always, check back here throughout the game for updates, and check the homepage for other news...

BREWERS AT NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN-HD
Radio: WFED-1500 AM, WWFD-820 AM
Weather: Chance of storms late, 79 degrees, Wind 12 mph out to RF

STARTING LINEUPS
NATIONALS (4-5)
CF Nyjer Morgan
RF Willie Harris
2B Cristian Guzman
1B Adam Dunn