Washington Nationals’ lineup for tonight’s series opener with the San Diego Padres...

With a 6-3 homestand that saw the Washington Nationals take three of four from the Miami Marlins, and two of three from San Francisco’s Giants, before splitting two with the Los Angeles Angels, Dusty Baker’s Nats wrapped up the nine-game stretch with a 35-25 record at home in the nation’s capital this season.

“It went well,” Baker told reporters after the Nationals’ 3-2 loss to the Angels in the final game of the homestand, “but you tend to remember your last game. 7-2 sounds better than 6-3, but we’ll take 6-3, so now it’s time to go back on the road and hopefully play as well as we have all year on the road.”

Away from Washington this season, the Nationals are 36-22, good for the second-best road record in the NL (behind only the LA Dodgers, 34-20), and third-best road record in the majors (behind only the Dodgers and Houston Astros, 40-21).

Baker talked after yesterday’s game about the contributions the Nationals are getting from their starters over the last few weeks.

So far in August, Washington’s starters have put up a combined 3.60 ERA (3rd lowest in the NL), a 4.31 FIP (5th), and a .216 BAA (the NL’s lowest).

“The rotation is coming around the way you want it to,” Baker said, “and Tanner [Roark] is throwing the ball great, and [Edwin] Jackson is throwing the ball well too.”

The Nationals are likely to get Stephen Strasburg back from the DL this weekend as well.

The 29-year-old right-hander hasn’t started in the majors since July 23rd.

“So like I’ve said,” Baker continued, “to have winning streaks you have to have 1-2 times around with your outstanding pitching.”

“If we keep getting that kind of pitching, then all of us know that we’re just due for a hot streak that we haven’t had all year long. We’ve played steady baseball, but haven’t had that extended winning streak.”

Washington’s longest winning streak this season is seven games. Their longest losing streak is four straight.

They’ve won seven of their last ten as they start a four-game series in San Diego tonight.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE OPENER WITH THE PADRES: