Still no Anthony Rendon in Washington Nationals’ lineup for series opener in LA...

Out of action since last Friday, when he fouled a pitch off his left big toe, Anthony Rendon was once again out of the Washington Nationals’ lineup for Friday’s series opener against Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez has been keeping reporters updated as the 27-year-old third baseman waits for the pain and swelling to subside after he underwent a minor surgical procedure to relieve the pressure that built up in the toe earlier this week.

“He’s progressing very slow, but he feels better,” Martinez told reporters on Tuesday.

“Yesterday he actually was out, had his spikes on walking around, so that was good news, so we’ll see how he feels after the game today, and see what happens.”

Before Wednesday’s series finale with the New York Mets, Martinez said the toe was still an issue for Rendon.

“He’s feeling better, still sore,” Martinez said, as quoted by MASN’s Byron Kerr.

“But he is progressing and feeling a lot better. We’re hoping to get him back here hopefully by Friday.”

In 14 games before he suffered the injury, Rendon was 16 for 56 (.286/.355/.411) with four doubles, a home run, six walks, and eight Ks in 62 plate appearances coming off of a big .301/.403/.533, 41 doubles, 25 home run, 84 walk, 82 K, 6.8 fWAR campaign in 2017.

According to Martinez, they decided against putting the infielder on the 10-Day DL because he was showing signs of progress.

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“He constantly kept saying he was getting better and better,” Martinez said, as quoted by MASN’s Mark Zuckerman before last night’s game.

“And he was trying to do things. So we felt like he’d probably be ready this weekend. ... I’m pretty confident he’ll play this weekend.”

The Nats’ skipper said Rendon actually tried to hit in the batting cage in Citi Field during this past Wednesday’s series finale with the New York Mets, but things didn’t go as they hoped.

“It bothered him, so I said we didn’t want to use him. But he feels a lot better. The day off really helped. He came in today feeling pretty good.”

Will Rendon be back in the Nationals’ lineup tonight? Should he have gone on the DL so the Nats’ bench wasn’t short over the last week?