Is Riggleman Behind Nationals' Roll?

WASHINGTON -- In the middle of a dismal year, it's been a banner week for the Nationals.

Actually, a banner couple of weeks.

Washington has won five straight and 11 of its last 16 games. That new-manager bump the club expected when Jim Riggleman replaced Manny Acta over the All-Star break seems to have taken hold after Riggleman lost his first five games out of the gate.

Perhaps the most satisfying thing? Three of the Nationals' last five wins have come against the Marlins, a team in the hunt for the NL wild card and a team that has -- ahem -- kicked Washington around the last two seasons.

Two of the three victories over Florida have been of the comeback variety, with the Nats overcoming a four-run deficit in the eighth inning Tuesday night and climbing out of a 6-0 hole Thursday afternoon to beat the Marlins 12-8.

"It's very much a confidence-booster [to come back from six runs down]," Riggleman said, "but we've done this for the last four days now. I think that hurdle has been crossed. ... Nobody in [the clubhouse] has any doubts about whether they can come back."

And what a satisfying team to come back against.

It's been Florida -- not Philadelphia or New York or even Atlanta -- that has made the Nats its whipping boy. Entering this series, Washington was 4-22 against the Fish since the start of the 2008 season and 0-9 in 2009.

So what's been the difference?

Certainly a more vibrant offense has helped. Ryan Zimmerman, who had a triple, a homer and reached based safely all five times he came to the plate Thursday, has hit in 10 straight games and has a home run in eight of his last 13 to lead Washington's offensive surge

"To see a team score 12 runs after the third inning, down six, that's a major step in the right direction," reliever Jason Bergmann said.

Since the start of a series against the Padres on July 24, the Nationals have averaged 6.7 runs per game. That type of pace will make any manager look good.

But oft-maligned outfielder Elijah Dukes, whose game-tying homer in the seventh inning was a springboard for the win Thursday, hinted that the additional structure Riggleman has introduced in the clubhouse has made a difference.

"He's more vocal [than Acta]. You notice that the first day you meet him," Dukes said.

"When you can have a meeting every day, whether we win or lose, so no one's pointing a finger, it's always a good, positive thing," he added. "He puts a lot of faith ... and confidence in us, so we go out there and we want to deliver for him."

So perhaps it's that infamous new-manager bump does have the Nationals playing better baseball. It's worked for the Rockies in dramatic fashion since they let go of Clint Hurdle and installed Jim Tracy earlier this season. Colorado has surged to within a game of the wild-card lead since Tracy took over. Riggleman could be having a similar effect.

Or the Nationals could just be a bad team on a hot streak. Even the 1962 Mets strung together a few win streaks.

"I just think we're hot right now," Bergmann said. "The wins certainly help. When you play well and lose, you still lost. Now we're winning and I think we're all feeding off of that."

Put another way by Zimmerman, one of the few first-division players on the team: "When it comes down to it, we could have Joe Torre, anybody, here [managing us], and if we don't go out and play, we're not gonna win."