As the series opened in our Nation’s Capital on Tuesday evening, the Phillies were a losing team, struggling to score runs, and entering the lion’s den of Nationals Park, home to the first place Washington Nationals.
The Nationals were riding high coming into the series. They were a full 10 games over the .500 mark, and had fashioned an 8-1 record at home in the opening weeks of the 2016 season. They had taken two of three games from the Phils just over a week earlier, thrashing Philly in the first two games before blowing a tight extra-inning affair in that series finale.