May 18 -- MOYER, SERGIO & SWEEPING THROUGH DC

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Well, that was a crazy weekend, wasn't it?

Let's see, it all began Friday with the Phillies, losers of six of eight games and sagging back to the .500 mark, reaping the last of their World Series championship spoils by spending a few hours with President Obama. Then, in the span of about 46 hours, they played 36 innings, scored 33 runs, sat through one 90-minute rain delay, and notched their first four-game sweep on the road in 14 years. (Where were you June 19-22, 1995? I had just returned home to Jersey after my freshman year at Boston University.)

Anyway, there's nothing quite like facing the Nationals to cure all your problems. Well, most of them. After blowing a save Friday night, Brad Lidge finally pitched a scoreless inning in the doubleheader-opener Saturday, then needed only two pitches to record a game-ending double play Sunday, his fourth appearance in as many days. So, that was a positive. Same goes for the offense, which batted .327 (49-for-150) and averaged 8.25 runs per game against the Nats' woeful pitching after batting .176 (27-for-153) and averaged 2.80 runs per game in the previous five games against the Braves and Dodgers.

And then there were the back-to-back first major-league victories for Drew Carpenter and Sergio Escalona, a couple of kids who will never forget their portion of the weekend in DC. Escalona, in particular, couldn't stop smiling yesterday. Before, during and after the game, he was elated simply to be at Nationals Park and wearing a uniform. And if you couldn't see his face, surely you could hear it in his words: "Oh my God. Amazing. First game. First win. What can you say?" As I wrote in the game story in today's News Journal, Escalona still had 14 still-unheard voice mails on his cell phone about a half-hour after the game ended. He had the baseball with which he recorded the final out of the seventh, and Lidge gave him the ball from the final out. Something tells me Escalona will keep those forever.

***
About 90 minutes before yesterday's game began, I found Rich Dubee in the dugout and asked about struggling Jamie Moyer, whose next start has been pushed from Tuesday to Wednesday in Cincinnati. The decision was two-fold: a) It gives Moyer an extra day to fix his command problems; b) It lines him up to face the Marlins next week at the Bank, and we all know how much Moyer dominates the Marlins. But I asked Dubee the obvious question about a 46-year-old pitcher with a 13.86 ERA in his last three starts and an 8.15 ERA in eight starts overall, the highest ERA he has ever had this far into a season: Has age finally caught up to Moyer?

"I don't think he's doubting himself at all," Dubee said. "He's run through stretches like this. Heck, everybody wanted his head chopped off before the World Series, and he pitched a gem for us. He got through that, and he can get through this."

***
Rumor has it former Vice President Dick Cheney attended yesterday's game, although I didn't see him. I also didn't see a large section of fans ducking for cover.

***
Back home today, catching up on a few things before flying to Cincinnati bright and early tomorrow morning. Check back here later today for a preview of the series against the Reds, and maybe, just maybe, a surprise.