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First, the Nationals prevented a run in the top of the third with a pair of diving stops, including a layout by Danny Espinosa at second base to snare a Martin Prado liner that you're likely to see on the highlight shows today. Then, they got another double from Jayson Werth, which probably would have been his first homer of the year in his old ballpark. Finally, they added a pair of flyouts from Adam LaRoche and Michael Morse to move Werth from second to home, taking a one-run lead over the Braves in the third.
That's a pretty clear picture of how the Nationals are going to try to win games this year. Of course, the two-run homer they got from Rick Ankiel after that didn't hurt either.
Washington leads Atlanta 4-1 in the fourth inning now, after all of their hitters from No. 2 through No. 6 in the lineup had a productive at-bat in their three-run third. They've made Tommy Hanson throw 60 pitches in three innings, while John Lannan has 43 in that time.
The key to that inning - and the key to the Nationals' offense, as it's currently set up - was what LaRoche, Morse and Ankiel did. The lineup rests largely on Morse and Ankiel being productive, and the fact that they've done it today is the key reason why the Nationals have the lead. We'll see if they can keep it up.
