You know the play, don't you? A bad team comes to town to face a very good one, usually riding some sort of losing streak. They've started their youth movement, so you send your bench guys in to smack them around, take the series, and you go on your way. That's what supposed to happen with championship-caliber teams. Or, somebody gets desperate and angry from the other side, and you end up getting your butts handed to you. The latter happened Friday, as Willie Harris lead the Nationals to a 13-5 victory over the Cubs. Harris had two home runs, including a grand slam off of Neal Cotts.

Well, at least you got a respectable effort out of Jason Marquis. He actually sailed uneventfully through the first five. Admittedly though, he started the trouble in the sixth inning, letting the first two baserunners on. However, my beef is probably more with Lou Piniella, who I felt managed the situation poorly. Anything more than five innings from Jason is a gift, and as such I thought that the long man should have been getting loose as the inning started. Maybe you can get out of the sixth without much damage, but the idea of getting six shutout innings out of Marquis was slim to none, and slim just left town. Instead, Lou scrambled for Bob Howry and Neal Cotts probably a few batters too late. So Marquis walks Ryan Zimmerman, and Emilio Bonifacio scores on a Lastings Milledge sac fly. Neal Cotts comes in, walks the pinch-hitting Austin Kearns, and leaves me with the question that I'll be mulling all weekend -- who gives up a grand slam to Willie Harris?

Sadly, the rest of the bullpen was no better, with Bob Howry hit for a run in the seventh, and Chad Gaudin...well, lit up for six runs in two innings of work. Too much plate resulted in a three-run double for Aaron Boone, and yet another home run to Willie Harris; this time, a two-run blast in the ninth that had a rain-soaked crowd muttering under their respective breaths expletives about Cotts, Harris, and Ronnie Belliard that I'd rather not repeat. Ronnie was almost as bad, going 4-5, with two RBI.

Win the next two, and all is forgotten. But the Nationals are winners of two in a row now, after losing their previous 12. Don't let a AAAA team start thinking that they can compete. Oh, and for those interested, there's excellent photos of todays game here, in the photo gallery for this homestand.