--RHP Collin Balester closed out his rookie season in disappointing fashion. The 22-year-old was knocked out in the second inning by the Phillies on Friday in his final start. Balester finished 3-7 with a 5.51 ERA and allowed 12 runs over his last 6 2/3 innings. "I've had good games, bad games, mediocre games," he said. "I have video tapes of all of it, so I'm going to watch that during the offseason and see when I was doing (well), what was going right and when I did bad, what was going wrong. I'm going to look at all that, work on my mechanics and fine-tune it for next year."
--1B Kory Casto hit his second career homer Friday night, both of them in somewhat controversial fashion. On June 15 at Seattle, the rookie first baseman hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer that appeared to glance off the right-field foul pole and produced resounding boos from the Mariners' crowd. Then on Friday, Casto hit a solo homer at Philadelphia that was reviewed by umpires to see if a fan reached over the fence trying to catch the ball. The original call was upheld, giving Casto two homers this season. --3B Ryan Zimmerman was out of the Nationals' lineup for the third straight day (and second straight game) Friday, still bothered by flu-like symptoms. Zimmerman, who was not in Washington's lineup Thursday for a game that was rained out, said he was feeling better and would have been available to pinch-hit if needed. Manager Manny Acta never did call upon him.
--LHP Mike Hinckley's run of scoreless pitching ended Friday, though it wasn't his fault. The rookie reliever, who entered the game having not allowed a run to score in his first 11 2/3 big-league innings, departed with runners on the corners and two outs in the seventh inning at Philadelphia. RHP Jesus Colome then threw a pitch that glanced off C Luke Montz's glove, allowing the lead runner to score. Hinckley was responsible for the run, though because it came on a passed ball, it was unearned.
--RHP Jason Bergmann got perhaps one last chance to record a hit this season when the former starter-turned-reliever led off the third inning Friday night against the Phillies. Bergmann, though, grounded out weakly to second base, leaving him 0-for-40 in 2008. The right-hander did not draw a walk. No other player in major-league history has ever failed to reach base in a full season in which he got at least 40 at-bats.
BY THE NUMBERS: 3 -- Times in franchise history the Expos/Nationals have lost 100 games (1969, 1976, 2008).
QUOTE TO NOTE: "A loss is a loss to me. Once you lose over 90 games, you've lost way too many anyways." -- Manager Manny Acta, on suffering the 100th loss of the season.
