Washington Nationals’ lineup for 3rd of 4 with the Los Angeles Dodgers

With back-to-back losses and another player bitten by the injury rat, this time the red-hot Kyle Schwarber, you would understand if Washington Nationals’ skipper Davey Martinez’s unflappable optimism wavered, but that’s just not his style.

“You’ve always got to think positive, you know,” Martinez said after the Nationals’ 10-5 loss to the LA Dodgers in D.C. last night, when asked if the Nationals needed to bring up a new outfielder after Schwarber tweaked his right hamstring in the second inning of the second of four with Los Angeles.

“Yeah, we got to stay positive,” Martinez reiterated. “It’s a long season, I’ve always said that. So, we’ve been kind of down and out in the past and we survived, and we’ll do it again, and like I said, I’ve got all the confidence in the world in the guys that we have here to step up and help us win games, and tomorrow, we’ll try to go 1-0 tomorrow, with the guys that are available, and we’ll go from there.”

Coming off a 19-9 month of June that took the Nationals from 21-29 on the year, 6.0 games back in 5th place in the NL East, to 40-38, and 2nd place in the division, 2.0 games out on June 30th, and with the history of 2019’s run from 19-31 to the World Series championship, it’s understandable that Martinez believes it’s never over until it’s over.

But there is a lot to overcome right now. The list of injuries is long. But Martinez and Co. in the nation’s capital have games to play, including tonight’s matchup with the Dodgers.

“Right now you’ve got to weave and bob and trust the rest of the players to go out there and do their job,” Martinez said before last night’s game.

“And that’s all we can do. We’ll put things together. We feel like we can compete today, and that’s basically the bottom line.”

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE 3RD OF 4 WITH THE DODGERS:

NOTES: Alcides Escobar is starting at short after the Nationals acquired him from the Royals today in exchange for cash considerations. No update on Trea Turner yet, but he apparently couldn’t go tonight, after missing the first two games of the series. Also, Yadiel Hernández and catcher Tres Barrera are back up, with Alex Avila going on the 10-Day IL with bilateral calf strains.