A night after they clinched a spot in the NL Wild Card game and partied late into the night, you could have expected and almost forgiven them if the Washington Nationals came out flat in the fourth game of five with the Philadelphia Phillies this week.
The Nats did struggle at the start against Philly lefty Drew Smyly, with a “hangover lineup”, but they ended up rallying from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in a 5-2 win which gave them four wins in a row over their divisional rivals.
“We didn’t get very many hits early,” Nationals’ skipper Davey Martinez told reporters after the game, “but we started putting better at bats later in the game.