MILWAUKEE -- It was a weird night for reliever Mike Stanton, who was making his Nationals debut. Before he even threw a pitch on Friday night, first base umpire Paul Schrieber called a balk in the 10th inning with a runner on third base, giving the Brewers a 4-3 win in front of 40,690 at Miller Park.

With runners on first and third and Lyle Overbay at the plate, it looked like Stanton had Rickie Weeks picked off, but Schrieber called a balk, which allowed Chris Magruder to score the winning run.

Schrieber called the balk because he saw Stanton's body going toward home plate as he was throwing to first base.

"It was just real simple," Schrieber said. "I had his body going toward the plate and throwing to first."

Asked if Stanton's right foot stepped toward first base, Schrieber said, "Well, there's more to it than that. Yes, he does have to step toward first, or if he steps toward the plate, that would be a balk."

Manager Frank Robinson had the media gather around the video equipment to determine if Stanton balked. Robinson showed a still shot of the play and then a replay in its entirety.

Both shots showed that Stanton's body was going toward first base as he was trying to pick off Weeks. The replay showed that only Stanton's face was looking at home plate. Robinson felt that Schrieber was reacting to the Brewers, who were complaining that Livan Hernandez had balked when he picked off Trent Durrington in the seventh inning.

"Unless home plate is down the first-base line, there no way he stepped toward home," Robinson said. "His foot is toward the ground toward first base. He can't do anything else. This game shouldn't have ended like that.

"How in the world do they think that a guy as experienced as Mike Stanton will come into that situation and fool around with some kind of balk move. That's the move he has been using for years. Why would he come into a ballgame and see a different type of move?

"We are battling for our lives here. And also, we haven't gotten started in the win column in the second half of the season. And we are battling in a ballgame and it was taken away from us. We weren't given a chance to compete."

The balk was Stanton's eighth of his career and his first since 2003, when he was with the Mets. Stanton said he has made the pickoff move to first base for years. In fact, Stanton said that home plate umpire Bob Davidson didn't see Stanton make the move toward home plate.

"[Davidson] asked me what I did," said Stanton, who signed with the Nationals last Thursday. "If I stepped to the plate, I would think he would be the one to see the balk. Typically, the first base umpire makes balk calls as we cross the rubber. It's unfortunate that it had to end that way, but what can you do? You have to shake it off and move on."

The balk call may have been the backbreaker for the Nationals, but they had numerous chances to win the game before they went into extra innings.

In the seventh inning, with the Nationals leading, 3-2, they had runners on first and third with one out, but Jose Guillen hit into a double play to end the inning.

The next frame, third base coach Dave Huppert made a questionable decision. With Preston Wilson on third base, Vinny Castilla hit a short fly ball to right fielder Geoff Jenkins, who nailed Wilson at the plate.

A team source said that Wilson should have stayed put at third because Brian Schneider, not Hernandez, was the next hitter.

"We were in a position to add to our lead and we didn't take advantage of it in the seventh or eighth inning," first baseman Brad Wilkerson said. "You have to take advantage of those opportunities and not put too much pressure on ourselves."

The winning pitcher was Julio Santana, while Luis Ayala took the loss.

Livan Hernandez  /   P
		Born: 02/20/75 Height: 6'2" Weight: 240 lbs Bats: R / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

It looked like Hernandez wasn't going to last the first inning. He twisted his right ankle slipping on the mound, but he went on to pitch eight solid innings and gave up three runs on nine hits. He struck out seven batters and walked two.

The Nationals were able to give Hernandez an early lead with Ben Sheets on the mound for Milwaukee. In the top of the first inning, Wilkerson led off the inning by taking Sheets' 1-0 pitch and hitting the ball over the right-field wall for his sixth home run of the season.

With two outs in the same inning, Ryan Church singled to right field to drive in Jose Vidro.

But the Brewers quickly came back with two runs of their own off Hernandez in the bottom of the first. Overbay doubled to drive in Weeks and Jenkins drove in Overbay with a sacrifice fly.

The Nationals were able to take the lead in the top of the fifth inning. With the score tied at 2 and Sheets still on the mound, Wilson doubled down the third-base line to drive in Vidro.

But the Brewers tied the score again when Carlos Lee took Hernandez's 1-2 pitched and turned it into his 23rd home run of the season.

The Nationals have now lost four games in a row. They are still in first place in the National League East, but are just 1 1/2 games in front of the Braves. Wilkerson said there is no time to push the panic button.

"I think we have to go about our business and have fun and see what happens," Wilkerson said. "We have nothing to lose. If we happen to be there, we'll be there. We'll leave it on the field."