Desmond on sweep by Mets: "Pretty devastating"

To gauge how much the 5-3 loss and sweep at the hands of the New York Mets affected the Nationals clubhouse, just go to the longest-tenured Nationals player, shortstop Ian Desmond.

"Pretty devastating," Desmond said. "Put ourselves in a good position coming into this series. Obviously not where we'd like to be, but we gave ourselves a chance. Obviously, a lot more optimistic coming into this series than exiting it.

"Is it over? No. Until the numbers tell you it's over it's not over. We still got jobs to do and prepare for tomorrow and try to put our best foot forward tomorrow."

The Nationals bullpen struggled in the series and was one major reason for the sweep. The Nationals were tied 5-5 in the seventh inning on Monday and led 7-1 in the seventh inning on Tuesday. The game was tied 2-2 with a man on in the eighth inning on Wednesday night when Drew Storen was called into pitch. He allowed a game-changing two-run homer to Yoenis Cespedes to make it 4-2 Mets.

After the game, Desmond was not going to pass judgment on the how the bullpen performed.

"I've never pitched in my life," Desmond said. "So for me to give advice on anything out there, I'd be kind of out stepping my boundaries. But this is a cold game. You got to keep your head and keep on moving forward. You just got to keep on battling and believe in yourself and the things that got you hear."

Can he understand what Storen is going through right now? Storen allowed a run in each of the last two Mets rallies.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean I feel for the guy, but like I said, the game doesn't stop for anybody," Desmond said. "I don't care how good or bad you are. The game is going to keep on moving on so you just got to keep your head up and keep on pushing forward because otherwise it will just swallow you right up."

Desmond said the deficit the Nationals face with a limited number of games remaining doesn't change his focus for Friday's game at Miami.

"Every day, I come to the ballpark, I come ready to play," Desmond said. "Try to bring my best for the organization, for my team and for my family and I don't see that changing."

Despite the heartbreaking series sweep, there were solid performances Wednesday from Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper.

Strasburg allowed three runs over 7 1/3 innings, striking out a season-high 13 hitters.

"Stephen threw the ball extremely well tonight," Desmond said. "Went to his changeup late. Usually, he shows the changeup a little bit earlier than tonight, he only threw a few of them. But he threw the heck out of curveball and he was locating his fastball. Coming off the year that he's had, that was a big-time performance."

Harper crushed two homers and a double, scoring three runs with two RBIs.

"Kid's showtime. He rises to the occasion," Desmond said of Harper. "It's fun to kind of watch his maturity over the last few years. He's turned into quite the beast."