--1B Ronnie Belliard strained his right groin legging out an infield single Thursday night in Atlanta and is likely lost for the rest of the season. Belliard will have an MRI on Friday morning, after which team officials will make a final determination, but manager Manny Acta suspects the veteran infielder won't be able to return this year. The Nationals will miss Belliard's production. He was hitting .353 (47-for-133) since the All-Star break. "It's tough," he said. "Not only me, but I think we're all playing good right now. ... I'll try to get better for the last couple of weeks, and we'll see what happens." With Belliard out, Acta said he would use a platoon of Kory Casto and Aaron Boone at first base, perhaps adding Dmitri Young to the mix once he returns from the disabled list next week.

--1B Dmitri Young is expected to rejoin the Nationals next week and come off the 15-day disabled list in time for Tuesday's start of a two-game series against the Mets. Young, out since the All-Star break while trying to get his diabetes under control, has been playing rehab games this week with short-season Class A Vermont and was hitting .429 over his first three games. He'll remain with the Lake Monsters until their season ends this weekend and then rejoin the Nationals. Manager Manny Acta was planning to use the veteran mostly as a pinch hitter, but that might change after 1B Ronnie Belliard went down with a groin injury Thursday.

--RHP Shawn Hill will have arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow Friday. Dr. James Andrews will remove calcium deposits that have formed near Hill's elbow ligament, but some Nationals officials are worried Hill might need a complete elbow reconstruction. The 27-year-old has battled arm injuries throughout his career and had Tommy John surgery in 2004.

--RHP Shairon Martis was charged with a loss in his big-league debut Thursday, but the Nationals were plenty happy with what they saw out of the 21-year-old. Martis allowed just two runs and four hits over five innings against the Braves but was done in by five walks. Martis, who threw a no-hitter for the Netherlands in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and also pitched in this summer's Olympics, said he wasn't scared to be pitching in the major leagues. "I wasn't too nervous, because I've been in the Baseball Classic, I've been in the Olympics," he said. "I was trying to think like this is the same thing."

--C Luke Montz joined RHP Shairon Martis in making his major league debut Thursday night against the Braves. The 25-year-old Montz, called up from Class AAA Columbus (Ohio) on Wednesday after C Jesus Flores sprained his left ankle, was thrilled to get the opportunity. He and Martis became the first pitcher-catcher combo in franchise history to debut in the same game and the first major league battery to do so since Rockies RHP Luther Hackman and C Ben Petrick did it on Sept. 1, 1999.

--RHP Collin Balester, whose scheduled start Friday was pushed back due to a strained gluteus muscle, threw off a bullpen mound Thursday with no problems. Balester hopes to start Tuesday against the Mets in New York.

BY THE NUMBERS
2 -- Players who have hit for the cycle as member of the Nationals: Brad Wilkerson (April 6, 2005) and Cristian Guzman (Aug. 28, 2008).

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Everybody was saying, 'Hit the triple, hit the triple.' And I said, 'Ok, I'll try.'" -- Cristian Guzman, on tripling in his final at-bat Thursday night to hit for the cycle.

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