MLB: Colorado Rockies 3, Nationals 2 (July 20)

WP: Jason Jennings (6-9)
LP: Livan Hernandez (12-4)
S: Brian Fuentes (14)

WAS: 54-41 (1st in NL East, 0.5 ahead of Atlanta)
COL: 33-60 (5th in NL West, 16 behind San Diego)

The Nationals are still in first place, but things may be starting to fall apart.

After a fairy tale of a first half in which the pitching held the team together and the hitting squeaked out one-run wins, the one-run wins have started going the other way.

With their grip loosening on the National League East lead, the Nats dropped two out of three in a series against the Colorado Rockies, the NL's worst team.

Yesterday, Washington led 2-0 after three innings. An RBI double by Jose Vidro and a sacrifice fly by Jamey Carroll staked the Nats out to a lead, but they could not hold it.

In the fifth, Matt Holliday hit an RBI double to cut the lead in half, and J.D. Closser hit a two-run homer in the sixth to give the Rockies the lead. That would be all of the scoring.


The Nationals have now lost five straight one-run games.

After the game, Livan Hernandez said he was angry about something that he would reveal at the end of the season, the Associated Press reported. "I'm not happy for three years. After the season, I'm going to tell you," he said. Hernandez even went as far as to say that his season may be over, which would be devastating to the Nationals chances of winning the division. "t's 99.9 percent I'm not going to pitch no more," he said.

The Washington Post reported that Livan Hernandez has been bothered by an ailing knee, and that he is considering having knee surgery to fix it. The article also pointed out that Hernandez was back and forth, saying that his knee was OK and that he wasn't going to leave his team. "You know I would never quit. Never," he said.

The Nats will try to put all this behind them as the Houston Astros come to RFK for a four game series beginning tonight at 7:05. Esteban Loaiza (6-5, 3.62 ERA, throws right) looks for his fifth straight win for the Nationals. He will face the dominant Roy Oswalt(12-8, 2.54 ERA, throws right), who had won six straight before losing to St. Louis on July 16.