ESPN Boxscores:

Sunday: CHICAGO 4 Washington 3
Satruday: CHICAGO 5 Washington 3
Friday: CHICAGO 6 Washington 4

Yesterday, the Nats had a 3-2 lead going into the ninth. For the fourth time this season closer Chad Cordero blew a save (The Post), sending the game to extra innings. Former Nat Daryle Ward had the winning hit in the 10th and the sweep was complete. Another strong start by Shawn Hill was wasted. Hill is having the kind of season John Patterson had in 2005 — good pitching, no support. Anybody think Jon Rauch might make more sense in the ninth?

Speaking of Patterson, he is on the DL with arm trouble. He will be out at least a month (The Wash. Times). Captain Renault is shocked.

On Saturday, after Patterson left in the third, Levale Speigner had a rough outing, walking three runs in (The Wash. Times). He threw only eight of his 24 pitches for strikes.

Friday’s game started out well with a 4 run first inning. The Nats couldn’t get any more across the plate after that and the Cubs came back (The Post) to win 6-4.

When you are 9-22, thinking about next month’s draft (The Post) seems a lot more pleasant than worrying about the present.

Down on the farm — Columbus, the new home of the Nats AAA franchise is largely apathetic about losing the Yankees AAA club, according to The (Wilkes-Barre) Times-Leader, paper of record for the Yankees new AAA franchise.

On to Milwaukee for a three game series with the best team in baseball, the Brewers. The first two games are 8:05 starts (MASN tonight, MASN 2 on Tuesday) with a matinee on Wednesday at 1:05 (MASN).