After putting my son to bed, I went back to my laptop to check in on the Washington Nationals. They were leading the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 when I had to take care of bedtime stuff and I came back just as the game ended and I thought I heard fireworks. Are they back? Listen at 3:25:54 — those sound like fireworks to me. Where they really there or was that just the Jack of All Things adding them in the radio broadcast? Charlie Slowes seemed a little caught off guard, he just said “Bang, zoom!” without “go the fireworks.” Are back in the park after wins now? That would be a welcome development. I don’t really care too much about the in-game fireworks, but the victory fireworks (oh, how Orwellian) need to be there so Slowes can continue using his classic “BANG! ZOOM! Go the fireworks, a curly W is in the book!” call.

UPDATE: According to two tweeters the fireworks were not real – @kevin_reiss There weren’t any audible fireworks on the TV broadcast. Just the Victory Kazoo. & @ouij radio magic. I saw none at the park


FINAL UPDATE: According to Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog, the fake fireworks were a one-off to celebrate the Nats ending their losing streak. I didn’t hear any after today’s win over the Phillies.

As for the game, the Nats beat up Cliff Lee who is now 4-5. DC starter Jason Marquis is 6-2 by the way. Washington got 4 runs off of Roy Halladay on Monday, but gave up 5, wasting an opportunity.

Danny Espinosa hit two homers the day that Thomas Boswell wrote a favorable column on the 2nd baseman (The Post) who leads all rookies in homers and RBI despite a Mendoza-line average.

The Nats have a long way to go to win me a cheesesteak — they are down 2-6 in the 2011 Cheesesteak/Half-Smoke Challenge, but I’ll take any win over Philly I can get. They resume at 1:05 p.m. (listen) today.

Oh and if you were at the game last night, go get your wings from Hard Times Cafe with your ticket stub.