Washington Nationals’ lineup for series opener with Philadelphia Phillies + Dusty Baker on road trip...

Things didn’t start so well on the recently-completed road trip, but the Washington Nationals, after dropping three of four in Milwaukee, bounced back with a sweep of the three-game set in Miami that gave them eight-straight wins over their NL East rivals. Nats’ skipper Dusty Baker was asked after the series finale what, if anything, being able to sweep two straight series from the second-place team in the division told him about his team.

“That just means that we were hot and they were cold,” Baker said. “We did a pretty good job of holding their big hitters down, especially [Marcell] Ozuna and [Christian] Yelich, and I think we kept [Giancarlo] Stanton in the ballpark, I think he hit one home run this series and one home run in our series, so we got some good pitching and we had some timely hitting from some guys.”

He did, however, like the way the Nationals bounced back after a tough series with the Brewers.

“You know every series is different,” Baker told reporters in Miami, “... and we had a little tough time in the Milwaukee series, but these guys responded by acting like Milwaukee never happened, and that’s how you have to take them, series per series, because you can’t bring Milwaukee back but you’ve got to go forward and that’s what we did.”

Now the Nationals start a long homestand with a strong shot at clinching their second straight NL East title and fourth in the last six seasons at home in the nation’s capital.

Fans in D.C. will also get to see the debut of Washington’s top outfield prospect, Victor Robles, who was called up today with Brian Goodwin reportedly experiencing a setback in his recovery from a groin injury and Jayson Werth dealing with a shoulder issue and Bryce Harper continuing to work his way back from the Disabled List.

If this is the first you’re hearing about Werth’s shoulder, Baker elaborated on what’s bothering the veteran outfielder last night.

“He’s okay,” Baker said.

“He got hit down in the minor league game, and his shoulder has been barking so, he played today cause we had a left-hander, and he’ll probably be off tomorrow and get some treatment.”

Let’s not worry about that right now. He’ll be fine. Harper will be back. Everything is coming up Milhouse for the Nationals these days...

HERE’S THE NATS’ LINEUP FOR TONIGHT’S GAME WITH THE PHILLIES: