Cordero: Torn lat, out 4-6 weeks

Chad Cordero has an acute tear of the latissimus dorsi muscle, which is in the back of his right shoulder.

Manny Acta was informed of this just about 15 minutes ago, and his point is a good one: "The guy's probably going to be out two months," he said. Jon Rauch is the closer, Luis Ayala the primary setup man, though others will work in that role.

The club said that, following an examination and an MRI performed by team orthopedist Ben Shaffer, it was determined that Cordero's injury happened last night when he threw his 13th pitch of the game to Atlanta's Kelly Johnson.

There is no corresponding move right now -- "We're fine," Acta said, noting he has six guys in the pen anyway. But I'll make a prediction. There has been much angst about what to do with Wil Nieves when Paul Lo Duca comes back. Well, with two potential long men in the pen now -- right-hander Joel Hanrahan and lefty Mike O'Connor -- perhaps they'll go with an 11-man pitching staff, meaning a six-man pen, and activate Lo Duca tomorrow. That would make Lo Duca the starting catcher, Estrada a switch-hitter off the bench and Nieves the catch-and-throw defensive replacement (as well as personal caddie for John Lannan).

Don't know that, but seems to make sense. I'll get you more when/if we hear from Cordero and/or Jim Bowden.

Lineups:
Atlanta:
Johnson -- 4
Escobar -- 6
Jones -- 5
Teixeira -- 3
McCann -- 2
Francoeur -- 9
Kotsay -- 8
Blanco -- 7
Jurrjens -- 1

Washington:
Lopez -- 4
Guzman -- 6
Zimmerman -- 5
Johnson -- 3
Milledge -- 8
Kearns -- 9
Estrada -- 2
Mackowiak -- 7
Hill -- 1

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