Nationals Notebook: Scorching in September!

Let s admit the obvious pennants are not raised and parades are not given for being accomplished solely after Labor Day But the Nationals have gotten off to a great start in September sweeping Miami second sweep of the season and the first at home in while taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field The - start might not keep them from being eliminated this week the tragic number is three But after three straight months of getting rolled it s nice to see specific rollback Digesting the Division Philadelphia - took two of three from Miami while moving seven games ahead of the New York Mets - The Phillies also lead Milwaukee by two games for the No seed in the National League and a first-round bye in the playoffs Related stories Josh Bell homers as Nationals rally with in the th to beat Cubs - Davey Johnson first manager to lead Nationals to the postseason dead at Nationals Notebook Sliding toward the century The Mets in the present hold the third Wild Card berth while leading San Francisco and Cincinnati by four games for the final playoff spot in the NL Miami - lost five of its first six games in September and is circling around the elimination drain Atlanta - allowed runs on hits while losing to Seattle in their series finale while Washington - continues to bring up the rear Break up the Birds The Orioles won five of six to keep elimination on the back burner for the moment the tragic number is including taking two of three from the defending champ Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday was somewhat bittersweet in Baltimore as they celebrated the th anniversary of Cal Ripken Jr s current Lou Gehrig s record for consecutive games played but learned of the passing of former sportsman and manager Davey Martinez who also served as Nationals manager from - Diamond King Nasim Nunez hit while belting his first two major league home runs Those two homers were hit in the same meeting to provide a day to remember during the latter stages of a season to forget Last Week s Heroes Daylin Lile batted while scoring a team-high eight runs and leading the club with six RBI Luis Garcia Jr drove in five Andrew Alvarez went - while allowing two runs over innings while Cade Cavalli and Brad Lord also won their starts Last Week s Humbled Jake Irvin allowed seven runs over innings and after an - August where he posted an ERA of September doesn t look much better James Wood hit while striking out times in at bats Dylan Crews batted and Josh Bell went at the plate Meeting to Watch On Friday the Nats begin a series in Pittsburgh with rookie Andrew Alvarez slated to make the start He might be only a handful of starts into his big league career but he s pitching better than just about everyone else on this staff Source