--RHP Joel Hanrahan, who was demoted from the closer role after blowing three of five save opportunities to start the season, will be used in the ninth inning again, according to manager Manny Acta. After watching his other fill-in closers struggle mightily -- Washington relievers have blown 10 of 16 save chances this year -- Acta felt it was time to "go back to square one." Hanrahan won't have a stranglehold on the job, as LHP Joe Beimel and RHP Kip Wells could get some opportunities based on the situation. Wells, in fact, saved Wednesday's win. But Hanrahan will be in the mix. "At the end of the game, you usually need a guy who can strike guys out," Acta said. "He's got more strikeouts than innings. He's had a few good outings. He hasn't walked a guy in, I think, his last five or six innings. Give him an opportunity, because we need a guy back there that can come in and make people swing and miss."
--OF Adam Dunn was out of the starting lineup Wednesday for the first time this season. Manager Manny Acta said the plan never was for Dunn to start all 162 games, and that Wednesday's day game against Giants LHP Barry Zito seemed like a perfect opportunity to sit his slugger. Dunn did wind up pinch-hitting in the eighth inning, and he popped out to third base. --RHP Daniel Cabrera met with manager Manny Acta and pitching coach Randy St. Claire for more than 30 minutes following his latest poor start. Cabrera put 16 men on base in only 4 2/3 innings Monday against the Giants and walked four straight batters after OF Josh Willingham misplayed a flyball in the fifth inning. Acta said Cabrera would remain in the rotation for now, but the manager wants the 27-year-old to make some mechanical changes (especially out of the stretch) and to start becoming more mentally tough so as not to let mistakes compound into bigger problems. "I thought it was time for us to get together with him and talk to him about mechanics and the mental part of the game and certain things we're trying to get him to do," Acta said. "The season's young. We've got a lot of months left to play, and we feel he can be doing better. He understood everything. It was a nice meeting with him."
BY THE NUMBERS: 4 -- Homers hit by Adam Dunn over the weekend in Arizona, the most ever by a Nationals player in a single road series.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It's just one of those feelings like when you're going down really fast in an elevator and you feel your stomach go out from underneath you. It's like that feeling. I had no idea where this ball's going to go." -- Left-hander Mike Hinckley, on losing his grip on a pitch and throwing it to the backstop on the fly.
