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In spite of injuries to Jayson Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon, Denard Span, Stephen Strasburg, Doug Fister, Nate McLouth and Aaron Barrett... is that it?... that have limited their contributions and led to DL stints in each case, the growing pains in the bullpen and the brutal couple months Ian Desmond has endured, the Washington Nationals finished the first half of the 2015 campaign in first place in the NL East with a 48-39 record overall, a 25-16 record at home in Nationals Park, and a 23-23 record on the road after Sunday's win.
The Nationals, as a team, have a .255/.320/.401 line, good for 7th/6th/5th in the National League. The Nats are third in the NL in wRC+ with 98, behind only the San Francisco Giants (109) and Los Angeles Dodgers (113) and fifth in runs scored (372).
The Nationals are 4th in the NL in run differential (+36) behind the Dodgers (+62), Pittsburgh Pirates (+64) and St. Louis Cardinals (+91).
Washington's starting pitchers have a combined 3.68 ERA (good for 6th in the NL), though their 3.20 FIP is the National League's lowest.
Nationals' relievers as a group have a 3.31 ERA, the NL's 6th lowest and a 3.36 FIP, also 6th lowest.
The Nats ended the first half with a win over the Baltimore Orioles, which manager Matt Williams said was a nice way to go into the All-Star Break.
"Given what's happened in the first half with us and our health, it's nice to get any 'W' we can," Williams said.
"So guys will get a good break and we'll be ready for Friday."
Williams was asked if he had a parting message for his team before they headed their separate ways.
"They know where we're at," he said.
"They know the opportunity that's presented to us going forward. We're going to continue to get guys healthy and back and just continue to grind. It's not going to be easy to get to where we want to get to, so they'll take these days and rest up and heal up a little bit and be ready to go against the Dodgers."
Williams also took a moment to look back on what transpired over the first 87 games.
"There are always games that you could have won that you didn't," he said. "There [are] also some games where you're out of it -- we look to Atlanta as one of those -- that you come back and win that game when you shouldn't.
"So it's the everyday grind. We have to continue to play well and go out there with a good attitude and do what we can to win."
• We talked about Max Scherzer's final first-half outing in the Nationals' win over the Orioles, some highlights from the first few months of the 2015 campaign and more on yesterday's edition of Nats Nightly: