By Barry Svrluga

updated 12:27 p.m. ET April 14, 2005

ATLANTA - By the time the ball left Jose Guillen's bat, the result was no longer surprising. Early in the season, the Washington Nationals have come to expect this from their new right fielder. A line shot, just to the right of center, in the top of the ninth. Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones turned his back, hoping to play it off the wall. Instead, it sailed over, Guillen's second home run of the day, his fifth of the year, the knock that wrapped up the first road trip in Nationals history in immensely satisfying fashion.

Hold onto your brand-new red hats, Washington, the ones with the script "W" across the front that haven't even been worn to a home game yet. When the Nationals take the field Thursday night at RFK Stadium for the District's first regular season, major league game in 34 years, they will do so as a first-place team. Guillen's four-RBI performance not only provided the breathing room in an impressive 11-4 victory over the Braves Wednesday afternoon, but it helped the Nationals complete their season-opening trek with five wins in nine games, enough to tie them with the Braves and the Florida Marlins atop the National League East.

"It's unbelievable," second baseman Jose Vidro said.

Almost any baseball story written in April must contain the phrase: "It's early, but . . .". So even with all the good feelings flowing in the Nationals' clubhouse at Turner Field early Wednesday evening -- the infectious thumping of 50 Cent's "In Da Club" setting the tone -- the players understand that a solitary 5-4 road trip doesn't win any division titles, doesn't indicate they'll contend all year, doesn't mean they're without significant flaws.

But considering where this franchise has been -- told they wouldn't exist after 2002, only to hang on by a shoestring budget the following two seasons -- the smiles the Nationals wore were as deserved as they were broad. The only road trip the Nationals won in 2004 was their final series as the Montreal Expos, when they took two of three meaningless games from the Mets in New York. Last year, en route to their 13th straight division title, the Braves beat the Expos 15 times in 19 games.

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"It shows that we've got a new franchise," catcher Brian Schneider said. "We're ready to start with a new record. No doubt about it, this isn't the Expos anymore."

In some ways, it isn't even the Nationals of just 20 hours earlier. Tuesday night, Washington trailed the Braves, 3-1, in the top of the ninth. The Nationals' bats had been dormant for days, and it was easy to believe they'd finish the trip 3-6.

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