NEW YORK - Tony Armas has been inconsistent for the Nationals down the stretch, an earned run average over six since the All-Star Break, yet he always turns it into gear against the Mets. His career ERA is about 1½ runs better against New York; and four runs lower in 2006. So it’s should be little surprise that Armas quieted the Mets bats over six innings, as Washington downed the Mets 5-1 in front of 44,545 fans at Shea Stadium.

"Certain pitchers match up better against certain ball clubs, and when you have the length in years there has to be some team you can beat," chuckles Nationals manager Frank Robinson, saying he was unaware of his hurlers’ impressive numbers against New York. "I don’t think it’s explainable because of all the roster turnaround, yet he [Armas Jr.] has a good record against them."

Washington was 2-9 since July 28th in Tony Armas starts, who himself had not won in more than a month. Following up on a hard luck loss against Atlanta, the Nationals right-hander continued to close out 2006 strong. He scattered five hits and a run over six innings, his strongest outing since his last start against the Mets on August 13th.

"I know I’ve had a bad second half," admits Armas Jr, who appeared annoyed with the media coverage about his 9-12, 5.07 ERA season. "We keep going forward though, and we keep positive, no matter how my start goes."

Perhaps Armas and the Nationals were inspired from the gray #24 jersey hanging in the dugout. Brian Schneider made the decision to honor his longtime teammate, Nick Johnson, who remains at New York Hospital in Queens, after he broke his right femur bone in a collision with Austin Kearns in yesterday’s loss.

The first baseman underwent surgery last night to repair the broken bone about two-thirds between the waist and knee, a procedure lasting two hours.

"A titanium rod was inserted into Nick’s fractured femur," says team orthopedist Dr. Ben Shaffer, who assisted in the operation. "He is expected to make a full recovery and be ready for 2007 Spring Training."

To further honor their fallen leader, all the Nationals wore their socks up high, similar to Nick Johnson.

"We miss the guy, he’s with us everyday," says Brian Schneider. "Hopefully Nick saw the game, saw our socks up, I thought that was pretty cool. We’re thinking about him, that’s for sure."

If he was watching television from his bed, then he saw Washington score an early run with the new found speed at the top of the order. Bernie Castro led off with a walk and took off on a Felipe Lopez single, allowing him to jet over to third. Alfonso Soriano followed up with a sacrifice fly, moving him five short of adding one-hundred RBIs to his forty homers, steals and doubles. The left fielder again centered the Washington offense, hitting double forty-one in the sixth and scoring right on a Ryan Zimmerman two bagger.

"It was 0-2 and Trachsel just left a splitter up a little bit," says Zimmerman. "We did a good job waiting on him, not chasing pitches and stuck with our game plan."

Manager Willie Randolph lifted Trachsel after the hit, but it came too late, as Washington would not relinquish its 3-1 lead. The bullpen returned back to form, with Billy Traber, Jon Rauch and Saul Rivera throwing three hitless innings out of the bullpen to secure the win for Tony Armas Jr.

The good game from Alfonso Soriano comes less than a day after the news about his close friend from the Yankees, which he says hurt him.

"I know Nick Johnson for a long time from the minor leagues, he’s like my brother," admits Soriano, who along with Johnson were hot Yankee prospects in the late 1990s. "When that happened to him, I felt very bad. I was so down because playing here, he’s my best friend on the whole team."

Before the game, there was still a dull hum in the Nationals locker room, far different from boisterous levels of usual. While Frank Robinson dismissed the "Win One for the Gipper" approach, his confidence that the team would refocus as the game started turned out true.

"It’s just good to go out there and win a ballgame and we did that," says Robinson. "Guys said they wanted to go out there and win one for Nick. But, it’s one game, and we’ll win a lot of games for ourselves and for Nick. That got the guys up a little bit though."

NOTES: Phillip Humber made his first career appearance as a Met…Jose Reyes became the first Met to have back-to-back 60 stole base seasons…Alfonso Soriano registered his 22nd outfield assist in the 4th inning, which ranks third in Montreal/Washington franchise history behind Warren Cromartie and Ellis Valentine.

WP- Tony Armas Jr (9-12)

LP- Steve Trachsel (15-8)

HR- Jose Valentin (18)

First Pitch- 1:10 PM

Temperature- 70 degrees

Time of Game- 3:15

Attendance- 44,543