Washington Nationals’ lineup for series finale in LA: Stephen Strasburg vs Clayton Kershaw...

With wins in the first two games of their three-game set in LA, Dusty Baker’s first-place Washington Nationals improved 7-1 on the nine-game, three-city West Coast road trip.

Winning back-to-back games, and the series in Dodger Stadium was important, Baker told reporters last night.

“Especially with the mighty [Clayton] Kershaw going tomorrow,” he said. “And that’s going to be a great game tomorrow, and it’s just especially tough to see here during day games here at Dodger Stadium, cause I’ve played many, many, many games day games here in Dodger Stadium, and it’s tough to see, so I might be wrong, but I don’t anticipate too many runs, going to be a low-scoring game — I hope I’m wrong on our end, but it’s going to be a great series finale tomorrow.”

The marquee matchup of the three-game set features Kershaw (7-2, 2.28 ERA) and Stephen Strasburg (7-1, 2.91 ERA) matching up for the first time in their careers.

Get out of work/school/whatever early if you bother going at all, this one should be fun.

The Nationals start the afternoon 12.5 games up in the NL East, looking for a series sweep in Los Angeles.

Baker still doesn’t have the perfect road trip he’s been looking for in his time with the Nationals, but a 7-1 swing through San Francisco, Oakland, and LA is pretty good.

“Not bad,” he said. “8-1 is better, you know what I mean?

“Tomorrow is a big game because we always talk about and pride ourselves on getaway day victories and so tomorrow is a huge getaway day.”

After today’s game it’s back to the nation’s capital for the make-up game with the Orioles and three with the Texas Rangers in D.C. starting on Friday.

But first, the finale in LA.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE 3RD OF 3 IN CHAVEZ RAVINE: