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No lingering bad blood here. Or so they say. Nyjer Morgan's appeal hearing was this morning, and the Nats will be without Morgan as soon as his final punishment is decided upon, but an announcement may not come until later in the weekend. So until further notice, expect Morgan in the lineup for now.

When the suspension comes, the Nats will be curious to explore their possibilities on offense, and more importantly, on defense minus Morgan. Unfortunately without Josh Willingham, really all that means is more PT for Maxwell and a chance to see if Bernadina can handle things in center. Oh, and of course a chance for Willie Harris to finally lift that average over .200.

In any case expect bad blood to linger, but the series itself to be devoid of wanton acts of terrorism and violence. However the first comment I read to a series preview this morning that said both teams have moved on- "My advice to the Marlins is to double team Adam Dunn at all times."

Good advice. Resurgent John Lannan (now 7-6, 4.73 ERA) goes against Alex Sanabia (3-2, 4.50 ERA) tonight. Sanabia hit Dunn last time out with a pitch and received a (pending appeal) suspension.

No brawls through two games in the series. Unfortunately not many runs for the Nats either. They lose the first game 3-1, and Saturday's game 4-1. After scoring 45 runs in the first five games of September, the Nats have scored five runs in the four games since. They're now 60-82 and would have to play .500 the rest of the way to reach the 70-win "plateau."

Jordan Zimmermann will go against Chris Volstad Sunday.

The Nats get swept by the Marlins, losing Sunday 6-5. Mike Stanton crushed two homered early and the Nats helped things along with another poor performance in the field. Sparse Sunday crowd got even sparser as people left early to watch football.

Good ticket deals next homestand as the Nats try not to embarrass themselves with attendance the rest of the way...