"For much of the season, it was Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa carrying the Nationals offense. And as the rest of the offense sputtered through inconsistency, lack of hits with runners in scoring position and injury, players kept saying and holding out hope that eventually more than two guys' hot streaks would overlap.

Though the run totals have yet to show it, over the past three weeks, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman have joined Morse as the team's hot hitters.

"We're inching closer to the whole lineup being productive," Johnson said before Wednesday's 6-4 loss to Atlanta. "You see flashes of a guy here and a guy there but the consistency basically for a year, Morse has been pretty consistent. And I know he has been switching around from four to five but I think I've had him in the four hole for the past couple weeks.""