Nationals Dealt a Loss On End of a Busy Day

Giants 6, Nationals 3

SAN FRANCISCO, July 22 -- With a few deals, a last-place team can shake up its roster, energize its players and renew a feeling of freshness. A last-place team can also undo most of that by taking the field.

Inflated by a day of acquisitions, extensions and returns, the Washington Nationals on Tuesday made certain all that momentum lasted until the remodeled team took the field. In the series opener against San Francisco, the Nationals had a third baseman coming back from injury, a shortstop buoyed by news of a contract extension, a newly established closer and an injection of goodwill.

Goodwill, however, has a short shelf life. A 6-3 loss to San Francisco at AT&T Park reeked of familiarity, displaying all the chronic eyesores. Second baseman Felipe López made a critical fourth-inning error. Jason Bergmann downgraded from a flyball pitcher into a home run pitcher. Barry Zito, tied for the major league lead in losses, used his passable array of semi-fastballs and change-ups to defeat the Nationals for the second time this year. The Nationals' bullpen promoted the other team's cause, not its own. After all of the shake-ups, Washington settled back into its lost season.

Certainly the full day of roster activity that preceded this game targeted no immediate net gain; it had the opposite intention, really. But still, the combination of comings and goings -- particularly Ryan Zimmerman's return, after missing 48 games -- imbued the Nationals with a feeling of newness. In the clubhouse before the game, Cristian Guzmán joked with teammates about the cuts they'd get from his salary. Zimmerman, who successfully rehabbed a left shoulder injury without surgery, talked about his team's recent offensive surge, adding, "I hope I don't mess things up." General Manager Jim Bowden said, plainly, "We're a different team with Zim on it."

For a team that's spent every day since April 10 in last place, that's about as high as things get.

But then? Guzmán went 0 for 4, including a ninth-inning lineout to second that dropped his average to .307. Zimmerman, playing for the first time since May 25, went 1 for 3 with a walk and a single up the middle in the fifth. (He grounded to second in his first at-bat and lined to short in his next.) Against closer Brian Wilson, Austin Kearns struck out to end the game, and Washington had its 62nd loss of the season -- and its fifth in a row against a San Francisco team that had lost nine of 10.

Washington's first two runs came from a pair of RBI hits by left fielder Paul Lo Duca, another veteran who is playing for the opportunity to raise his trade value. In the second, with Washington already trailing 3-0, Lo Duca pounded a double down the left field line, scoring Jesús Flores, who had tripled. In the fourth, Lo Duca did it again, though less emphatically. With runners on second and third and one out, Lo Duca one-hopped a ball back to the mound. Zito strained for the chopper. It tipped off his glove, and died right behind the mound. Kearns scored.

But those hits, plus a Willie Harris home run to lead off the fifth, were all that Zito allowed. When he departed after six innings, San Francisco led 5-3.

Bergmann, Washington's starter, held responsibility for such a deficit. On good days, Bergmann is a fly ball pitcher. On bad days, he's a home run pitcher. He established the latter identity on his second pitch of the game, an inside fastball to Fred Lewis that the Giants' left fielder punched over the thin row of right field stands. By the end of that inning, Bergmann had allowed two more runs and another homer -- this one to catcher Bengie Molina, who entered the game batting .132 in July.

Next time Molina batted, his July got better and Bergmann's day got worse. Another fastball turned into another home run. In the same inning, after López's two-out throwing error allowed Rich Aurilia to reach, the Giants used an Omar Vizquel double to score their fifth run. Bergmann hadn't allowed five runs or more in any of his previous six starts, though only four were earned.