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Nationals-Pirates Preview

Aug 2, 2009 - 11:24 PM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Washington (32-72) at Pittsburgh (45-58), 7:05 p.m. EDT

Hitting hasn't been a problem lately for the Washington Nationals. It's a woeful pitching staff that has kept the major leagues' worst team from winning consistently.

After a rare strong performance by one of their starting pitchers, the Nationals try to salvage a split of a four-game road series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

The Nationals (33-72) have batted .308 with 12 homers in their last nine games. Josh Willingham hit his fourth home run in that span Sunday as Washington snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory.

"I can't really explain it," Willingham said. "I'm trying to just simplify everything, get a good pitch to hit and just hit it. I'm trying not to think about it too much. I think a lot of times you can get yourself in trouble if you're trying to think about it too much ... It's just, get in there, see it and hit it."

Willingham is batting .419 with 13 RBIs over the last nine contests, while All-Star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is 16 for 38 (.421) in that span despite going hitless in four at-bats Sunday. Outfielder Nyjer Morgan has batted .387 since being acquired from Pittsburgh in a four-player deal June 30.

Shortstop Cristian Guzman has hit .436 (17 for 39) with 10 RBIs during a nine-game hitting streak, and had at least two hits and an RBI in a franchise-record seven straight contests before Sunday.

With nine hits in the win over the Pirates, Washington just missed its seventh game with at least 10 since July 25. The Nationals, however, won only five of their last nine contests despite outscoring opponents 61-45.

That's due to poor pitching, as Washington has a 5.19 ERA during that stretch - 5.70 by the starters. The Nationals finally got a solid effort Sunday as Collin Balester gave up two runs over 5 2-3 innings.

While Balester has had a pair of strong outings over the past week, Garrett Mock (0-4, 7.09 ERA) has struggled since being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on July 15, going 0-2 with a 7.24 ERA in three starts.

In Wednesday's 7-5 loss at Milwaukee, the right-hander couldn't hold an early four-run lead and allowed four runs and eight hits over five innings. He managed to avoid a fourth loss in as many appearances - a skid that began when he yielded three runs in one-third of an inning of relief against the Pirates on May 18.

After ending a five-game skid by winning the first two games of this series, the Pirates (45-59) will try to rebound behind Charlie Morton (2-3, 3.72).

Morton, who has never faced the Nationals, lost his last outing Tuesday night, allowing two runs in six innings of a 3-2 defeat at San Francisco.

After managing eight runs during its five-game slide, Pittsburgh scored 19 in the first three games against Washington.

The Pirates won seven of their last nine against Washington - four of five at PNC Park.