STREAK COMES TO HALT 7-GAME RUN ENDS WITH LOSS TO NATS WASH. 10, DODGERS 4.

Byline: TONY JACKSON Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Constitution and Independence Avenues, the two streets bordering the North and South ends of the U.S. Capitol building, were shut down for several hours on Friday after someone heard a noise similar to gunfire. Although it was later determined to be nothing more than the sound of nearby construction work, the result was the sort of traffic snarl that went even beyond this city's usual level of utter madness.

By day's end, that wasn't the only thing that had screeched to a halt inside the Beltway.

The Dodgers' seen-game winning streak is history, the casualty of a grotesque, 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals before 22,712 at RFK Stadium.

The usually reliable Brett Tomko couldn't find the strike zone with his fastball, couldn't pitch his way out of trouble and, ultimately, couldn't get beyond the fifth inning. The Nationals' Livan Hernandez, meanwhile, looked every bit the part of a two-time All-Star and former World Series Most Valuable Player who has reached double figures in wins every season this century. He baffled the Dodgers hitters for six innings, running into trouble only when he had the game well in hand in the seventh.

As if the Nationals needed any help, the Dodgers also did them a few favors, starting with a baserunning blunder for the ages by rookie Willy Aybar and ending with a combined effort by relievers Lance Carter and Tim Hamulack that smelled as bad as RFK Stadium itself.

But in the end, the starting pitchers were the story of this one.

``I got into a lot of deep counts, a lot of 2-2 and 3-2 counts, and got behind pretty much everybody,'' said Tomko, who threw a staggering 101 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. ``When you have (those) counts, to me, it's just a flip of the coin, because you have put (the hitter) in an advantageous count. I just didn't make pitches when I needed to.''

Hernandez nursed a no-hitter through four innings. But Aybar, leading off the fifth, broke it up with a high pop that fell between Royce Clayton, Ryan Zimmerman and Alfonso Soriano in shallow left field at a point when the Dodgers trailed by a still-manageable four runs. But Aybar never hesitated around first, and an alert Soriano picked up the ball and threw him out easily at second.

It was the major league-leading ninth outfield assist for the reluctant left fielder.

Then, after the Dodgers finally broke through with three runs off a tiring Hernandez in the seventh -- they pulled within 6-3 on Olmedo Saenz's seventh pinch hit, a double, and his eighth and ninth pinch-hit RBI -- the enigmatic Carter came on for the first time in a week. He immediately walked the leadoff man, then gave up a run-scoring double to Zimmerman and an RBI single to Marlon Anderson, putting the game out of reach at 8-3.

In two appearances since returning from his 18-day banishment to Triple-A Las Vegas, Carter has allowed three earned runs on five hits over two innings.

``That's obviously not what you prefer, but that's what happened, so there you go,'' Dodgers manager Grady Little said. ``We narrowed the gap to three runs. We needed to hold it.''

Carter and Hamulack, who gave up two more runs in the eighth, needed a total of 55 pitches to get through the final two innings.

The second-place Dodgers (27-21), whose winning streak couldn't propel them to the National League West lead, fell 1 1/2 games behind Arizona.

Tomko (5-2) gave up six earned runs on nine hits. That including a two-out single by Clayton in the fourth that made it 4-0 and a backbreaking, two-out triple by Damian Jackson in the fifth that made it 5-0 and sent Tomko to the clubhouse.

Odalis Perez, making his first appearance in almost two weeks, threw a wild pitch that scored Jackson, but got the Dodgers through the sixth with no further damage.

Hernandez (3-5) held the Dodgers to two hits through six innings before giving up four in the seventh. But that inning ended when Rafael Furcal took a called third strike with Saenz on second.

Joey Eischen walked the first two Dodgers hitters in the eighth, but the Dodgers couldn't take advantage. Jose Cruz Jr. homered off rookie Santiago Ramirez leading off the ninth, and the Dodgers later loaded the bases on a four-pitch walk to Nomar Garciaparra, but Drew then grounded out on the first pitch to end the game.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Washington's Alfonso Soriano, who later homered, strokes a double in the fourth inning Friday.

(2) Dodgers starter Brett Tomko (35) waits to be pulled by manager Grady Little in the fifth inning after giving up a triple to Damian Jackson.

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Box:

DODGERS AT WASHINGTON

- Tony Jackson