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There wasn't much for the Nationals not to like on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks. Sure, there were nits to pick about Craig Stammen's WHIP (10 walks and hits in 5 1/3 innings) or reason to fret about Nyjer Morgan's hip (a strained right hip flexor scratched him from the lineup). But the 7-2 win over Arizona was as complete a victory as the Nationals have put together in a while.
Adam Dunn homered twice, taking the National League lead with 28, and Michael Morse added a homer in a spot start, adding to the groundswell of support from fans who want him in the lineup every day (we'll get into that more tomorrow). You had to go five spots into the lineup to find a Nationals player that didn't have at least two hits, the defense didn't make an error and the bullpen allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings.
If there was a problem to point out, it would be with Stammen, who kept putting himself in jams only to escape them. He has allowed one run in three of his last four starts, but Wednesday night's performance was not the work of a pitcher in command. It was an outing from a pitcher good enough on this particular night to slip out of bad situations, but not good enough to avoid them altogether. It's entirely plausible Stammen will stay in the rotation next week when Stephen Strasburg comes off the disabled list, with a move to the bullpen also a possibility. The hits and walks didn't strengthen his case on Wednesday, though.
But other than that, it was hard to find fault with anything the Nationals did on Wednesday night. They've won six times in nine games, and have a chance to win a road series for the first time since May 10-12 against the Mets.
