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It’s everybody’s favorite time of year around these parts – spoiler time! The Nats head to Atlanta hoping to derail the Braves’ postseason hopes. They’re actually doing a pretty good job of that themselves with a 5-7 record in September. Atlanta is a game behind Philadelphia (83-61) in the N.L. East race and a game up on San Diego (80-62) and San Francisco (81-63) in the wild-card race with Colorado (79-64) looming two back. The Braves haven’t exactly taken advantage of their games with the Nats this season. The two teams have split 12 meetings so far in 2010. 

Yunesky Maya (0-1, 7.20 ERA) makes his second major-league start for Washington. The 29-year-old Cuban is trying to show he belongs in the 2011 rotation. He went five innings against the Mets in his big-league debut last week with four runs allowed on five hits in a 4-1 loss. Maya opposes Derek Lowe (12-12, 4.42), who has had his own troubles over the years against the Nats. Lowe is 1-7 with a 4.99 ERA in his last 10 starts against Washington. That won’t get it done tonight for a team seeking its first postseason berth since 2005.

Washington’s lineup skews young tonight with Danny Espinosa, 23, starting at second base, Ian Desmond, 24, at shortstop and Wilson Ramos, 23, at catcher. Not to mention Michael Morse, 28, and Roger Bernadina, 26, as both outfielders push for a starting spot next season. Morse is actually making his case. He has a .300 average with 10 doubles and 10 homers. That’s good for an .858 OPS. Yes, the 210 at-bats represent a limited sample size. But he’s on the right track.

Bernadina, on the other hand, is struggling. His OPS peaked at .869 on Aug. 30. Since then he is 6-for-39 and without an extra-base hit and that OPS is down to .724. Of course, with Nyjer Morgan about to go on the shelf thanks to suspensions of seven and eight games from Major League Baseball, Bernadina will get every opportunity down the stretch.

As for Morgan, no word from MLB on Monday about his appeal of those two separate suspensions. He’s in the lineup in center field for now so it looks like his fate will be determined Tuesday. Washington has lost five in a row and eight of 11 overall and manager Jim Riggleman conducted a team meeting after Sunday’s 6-5 loss to the Marlins.

In other news, the Nats have lost director of baseball operations Jay Sartori, who has taken an assistant general manager job with the Toronto Blue Jays. Washington had only hired Sartori last November. The 31-year-old was the financial guru in the Nats’ front office, helping general manager Mike Rizzo keep all the rules and regulations of the collective bargaining agreement straight and working on player contracts. The Blue Jays did hire former scouting director Dana Brown away from the Nats last fall, too. But the moves aren’t connected. Sartori had spent the previous four years working in the labor-relations department of Major League Baseball. Brown moved on in the wake of Rizzo’s permanent hire last August as he revamped the Washington front office with his own people. Here are the lineups.

Nationals:

Espinosa – 2B 

Desmond – SS

Bernadina – LF

Zimmerman – 3B

Dunn – 1B

Morse – RF

Morgan – CF

Ramos – C

Maya – SP

Braves:

Infante – 2B

Heyward – RF

Prado – SS

McCann – C

Lee – 1B

McLouth – CF

Gonzalez – SS

Diaz – LF

Lowe – SP

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