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Washington Nationals’ lineup for tonight’s series opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates

Washington and Pittsburgh start a three-game set tonight in the nation’s capital, weather permitting.

By Patrick Reddington
MLB: Miami Marlins at Washington Nationals Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports

Davey Martinez talked after the second of three in Philly about the atmosphere in the first 11 games of the season, all of them against the Washington Nationals’ NL East rivals from New York and Philadelphia.

“This has been good,” Martinez told reporters in Citizens Bank Park. “It’s a fun atmosphere, coming here and playing the games like this and playing against the division rivals, it’s fun, it’s a lot of fun, and I know the boys are up for it, we’re all excited about it, and we’ve got a whole year of this, so let’s keep it going.”

Martinez’s club wrapped up the season-opening stretch of games against their divisional opponents with a 6-5 record after a blowout win in the finale with the Phillies. Fun as the season-opening stretch was, and as tough as the two teams they played are going to be over the course of the season, the second-year skipper said that his squad has to bring a similar approach to all of their opponents.

“I think for me every time you step on the field you’re competing, no matter what team it is,” Martinez said. “We’re going to come out and compete every day at the highest level, that’s what I tell the guys, and do what we do best. I don’t worry about the Phillies, I don’t worry about the Mets, I worry about those guys that are in our clubhouse right there and if we do our job we’re going to compete.”

It’s hard to believe, with all the drama, and excitement of the first few weeks of the season, that’s it’s only 11 games into the 162-game campaign.

“There’s still so much baseball left,” Martinez said on Wednesday night.

“We joke around amongst ourselves and say, ‘What game is this today?’ And it’s Game 11, so there’s a lot of baseball left, and we’re going to enjoy them, we’re going to enjoy all of them, and we’re going to play hard every day.”

Will there be a letdown in the first games outside of the division? Martinez and Co. need to come out strong on the six-game homestand, which starts at 7:05 PM EDT tonight, weather permitting.

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE 1ST OF 3 WITH THE PIRATES:

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