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Nationals' lineup for third game of four with the Cards in D.C.: Gio Gonzalez and Jose Lobaton reunited

Gio Gonzalez had his worst start to date this season against the New York Mets with Wilson Ramos behind the plate for the first time in one of his outings this season. Dusty Baker said he had no issue with the work Ramos did, but he's going with Jose Lobaton tonight.

By Patrick Reddington
Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Nationals' manager Dusty Baker talked at length before Gio Gonzalez's last start about pairing the left-hander up with Wilson Ramos for the first time this season after Washington's backup backstop Jose Lobaton had worked exclusively with Gonzalez before that outing.

"I don't think it's a big deal," Baker said, explaining that Gonzalez and Ramos would have to work together at some point and he'd just given the Nats' No. 1 catcher a game off and wanted his bat in the lineup.

"I just thought it would be best -- because there's going to be some point in time where [Lobaton] might be hurt or somebody other than him is going to have catch Gio, whether it's in the playoffs, World Series... next week?

"At some point in time, so it's no big deal."

Gonzalez, of course, feeding the narrative that he's better off working with Lobaton, struggled in what was probably his worst start of the season so far, giving up ten hits, three of them homers, and seven runs total in a 7-1 loss to the New York Mets.

As MASN's Mark Zuckerman noted, of course, the "narrative" doesn't exactly hold up to scrutiny:

Baker told reporters this afternoon that he was happy with the job Ramos did behind the plate working with Gonzalez, but he's going back to Lobaton tonight as the Nationals take on the St. Louis Cardinals of the third game of their four-game set in D.C.

Here's the lineup for tonight's matchup with the Cards:

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