Washington Nationals’ lineup for the series opener with the New York Mets...

After a 7-2 road trip through San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles, the Washington Nationals returned home, and on what was originally scheduled to be an off day, beat the Baltimore Orioles last Thursday (June 8th) in a make-up game for the finale of the four-game set with their regional rivals.

Four straight losses followed, however, with Texas sweeping a three-game set and Atlanta taking the series opener on Monday night, but the Nats avoided setting a new season-high for consecutive losses in Tuesday night’s win over the Braves.

Dusty Baker talked after that win about how the long string of games without a break was at least in part behind the NL East division leader’s struggles.

“I’m just glad that we broke the streak tonight,” he said. “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 the 8th, that makeup 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.”

Baker’s Nats wrapped up their seven game homestand with a 13-2 loss to the Braves last night.

They finished 2-5 in seven games in D.C., with an 18-14 record so far this season in the nation’s capital, and now they head back out on the road 13 games into a streak of 20-straight games that started on June 2nd.

The long stretch with no layoff, and just one off day in the last 22, Baker said, likely has something to do with the way they’ve played recently.

“I think so, some of it,” he said, “but everybody goes through that at some point in time. We were playing so well on the West Coast, then we came home and we didn’t play well here at home, defensively, pitching, hit the ball pretty well most days, but it was a tough homestand.”

“This is not the kind of homestand you want to exhibit in front of your home fans,” Baker continued, “but maybe we’ll have to just go back on the road and get our act together, because, you know, we’re one of the best road teams around.”

Entering play tonight, the Nationals have a 21-12 record away from Washington this season, and they’re 3-0 in Citi Field...

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE SERIES OPENER IN NY: