Washington Nationals’ lineup for series finale with Atlanta Braves + Love for Daniel Murphy...

Daniel Murphy’s 3 for 4 game last night left the 32-year-old infielder with 17 doubles, 11 home runs and a .345/.391/.563 line on the season, which is shockingly similar to Murphy’s .347/.390/.595 line from last year, when he finished second in the NL MVP voting.

Murphy, who’s never been known for his defense, and made some pretty high profile errors when he was playing second for the New York Mets in the the World Series, also played some pretty solid defense, handling all the balls hit his way in the win over the Braves and helping to turn two double plays:

“He played Gold Glove second base tonight,” Dusty Baker told reporters after the Nats’ 10-5 win over the Braves.

“He works hard at it. Chris Speier has really been stressing defense because we haven’t been playing good defense lately.

“Everybody is maligning the bullpen, but there are some plays that allowed the game to stay where it was.”

Washington blew the game open in a five-run sixth and avoided setting a new season-high with their fifth straight loss.

“I’m just glad that we broke the streak tonight, especially at home, because you hate to lose at home. You think about it, and I was looking at the stat sheet, and since that game on [June] 8th, that make-up game, we had lost four in a row and the Orioles had lost four or five in a row, about to lose tonight, I saw on the board, so that took a lot out of both of us.”

The Nationals will try to make it two straight over the Braves today in the series finale in D.C.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THIS AFTERNOON’S GAME: