--CF Lastings Milledge will be out two-to-four weeks with a right groin injury he sustained after getting his foot caught between the warning track and the left-center wall while trying to retrieve an Alex Cintron triple on Saturday night. "I haven't been lighting the world on fire, but I've been playing pretty decent out there," said Milledge, who leads the team with 31 RBIs. "It's another starter that goes down."
--RHP Collin Balester is expected to be called up from Class AAA Columbus (Ohio) and make his major league debut against the Marlins on Tuesday. General manager Jim Bowden said Balester, who is taking Shawn Hill's place in the rotation while Hill rehabs a sore right forearm, will likely be with the team for at least several weeks. "We have no high expectations for the first month," Bowden said. "But we do have expectations that he's going to develop and be a solid pitcher for us in 2009." --OF Elijah Dukes will bat third and likely get the majority of the starts in left field once Austin Kearns comes off the disabled list, manager Manny Acta said on Sunday. Dukes has started 36 games in right field while Kearns recovers from right elbow surgery, and entered Saturday night's game boasting a .310 average in his last 32 contests.
--3B Ryan Zimmerman, who has been out since June 3 with a small labral tear in his left shoulder, has started lifting weights and will begin swinging a bat this week, Manny Acta said Sunday. "He's making a lot of progress," Acta said. There is still no timetable for Zimmerman's return, but it could come in the early part of next month if he continues to improve.
--RHP Jason Bergmann allowed one run on six hits in seven innings on Sunday -- the exact same result he produced in his last outing against Los Angeles on June 23. It was Bergmann's third straight quality start; his ERA in that span is 1.35.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I grew up playing every game. That's how my dad raised me. I'm pretty sure that if he was here, he'd probably throw me out there tomorrow if I was in Little League. But it's a business, and we're in the big leagues. We've got to take things one day at a time." -- CF Lastings Milledge, on how he is handling the right groin injury that will sideline him for two-to-four weeks.
BY THE NUMBERS: 41 -- Players the Nationals have used in the major leagues this season after calling up CF Roger Bernadina from Class AA Harrisburg (Penn.) on Sunday.
