Shane Victorino… dropped a perfect bunt in front of home plate. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman charged the ball. Catcher Jesus Flores also pursued. But in the end, Zimmerman fielded the ball and threw to Ronnie Belliard to beat Victorino at first base.

“He kind of caught the ball and took a step off the bag, and the next thing you know it’s too late,” Victorino said of Belliard.

That’s because Rollins never stopped running.

Rollins noticed that nobody had bothered to cover third. If he could just beat shortstop Cristian Guzman to the bag - very likely, because he already was running full speed - he could advance from first to third on a ball that rolled just a few feet from home plate.

Belliard’s throw arrived late.

Not that anybody was in a great position to take it. Guzman couldn’t beat Rollins to the bag, and first baseman Nick Johnson ultimately took the throw. Yes, the first baseman. It typically is the catcher’s responsibility to run straight to third when he doesn’t field the ball on a bunt.

Flores simply stopped.

“I didn’t see anybody there,” Johnson said. “I saw [Guzman] running there. I thought it was going to be bang-bang. Jimmy had full speed, and I was just thinking of what could happen. I didn’t want to stand there watching, so I just took off.”

Washington shot out of the starting block pounding veteran lefthander  Jamie Moyer for 5 runs in the first inning as the Phils were atrocious in the field early on committing 4 errors.  The first of these errors, a throwing error by normally sure-handed 2nd baseman Chase Utley with two outs, led to the first Nationals run and opened the gates for four more runs.  Fortunately the other 3 Phillie errors were inconsequential.

The Nationals scored a single run in the 4th inning on rightfielder Austin Kearns’ 2 out RBI single to rightfield.  Moyer didn’t finish the 4th inning, getting 2 outs before Kearns’ RBI single.  Reliever Chad Durbin got the final out of the 4th and was the first of a parade of Phillie relievers, their entire bullpen including new acquisition Rudy Seanez, to enter the game with only Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero touched for Washington’s final run in which tied the game in the 8th inning.  Romero was charged with a blown save in the bargain.

Meanwhile, the Nationals’ Jason Bergmann dealt effectively with an enemic Phillies offense through 5 innings allowing only catcher Chris Coste’s 3rd inning leadoff solo shot.  Coste’s homered on his first swing of the regular season and snapped a string of 13 innings in which the Phillies didn’t get a batter to second base dating back to the opener with the Nationals.  The Phils got only 3 hits off of Bergmann through 5 innings.

However the 6th inning would prove Bergmann’s undoing as the Phillies’ bats awoke with a vengeance.  They sent 11 batters to the plate and scored 6 runs on 8 hits to take a 7-6 lead.