Washington Nationals’ lineup for 2nd of 3 with the Chicago Cubs in D.C.

While acknowledging that it was tough having to say a lot of goodbyes, and realizing that when he came to the park now, some familiar faces would no longer be in the clubhouse, Davey Martinez, as always, tried to stress the positives following the Nationals’ fire sale at the trade deadline.

“I try to look at the positives out of all this as you know,” Martinez said, after the club traded away seven expiring contracts (and a year-plus of Trea Turner) in the previous 24 hours, “... and we got some depth moving forward. We got some pretty good players, excited about that. And we still got a lot of baseball left, so we got to go out there and compete today.”

“I still got to put a roster together, but we got to go out there and compete today, and go 1-0 today, and just keep plugging along and move forward.”

The makeshift lineup Martinez constructed clashed with an equally upended Chicago Cubs’ roster in the first game of three in D.C. last night, and the Nationals came out on top, with a 4-3 win which saw those players that are still in the nation’s capital step up and produce for an enthusiastic, paid crowd of 33,882 fans, many of whom were still processing the team’s deadline moves.

“It’s awesome,” the manager said of the support they received from Nationals fans.

“I told you before, these fans, our fans, they’re tremendous. I mean, they really are, and they showed tonight they’re going to stick with us, and we’re going to do the best we can to go out there and put on a good show and come out with a victory. So we appreciate them, and I know I appreciate them very much.

“It’s been a tough few days, but we’re going to battle, we’re going to battle every day, and we’re going to try to go 1-0 every day.”

Last night, they did, go 1-0 that is, at the end of a long, emotional day for everyone in the organization.

“Hey, a win is good any day,” Martinez told reporters in his post game Zoom call.

“The guys, like I said, we talked about this earlier, these guys are going to come, and they’re going to play hard, and we’re going to continue to play hard and we’re going to try to go 1-0 every day.

“I believe in these guys and they know that. So they’re going to go out there and play with good intensity, good energy, and good effort, and you saw that tonight.”

Will we see it again tonight?

HERE’S THE NATIONALS’ LINEUP FOR THE 2ND OF 3 WITH THE CUBS: