Injuries to Span, Escobar and Taylor take luster off of Nats' gutsy 4-2 win

The Nationals dropped the Padres 4-2 Thursday night behind strong pitching from Joe Ross and home runs from Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman.

But news about three injured players - center fielder Denard Span, third baseman Yunel Escobar and center fielder Michael A. Taylor - made it feel a bit like a loss rather than a joyous series-clinching victory.

The worst news involved Span, who is heading back to the disabled list with left hip inflammation. He was activated from the DL on Tuesday and played two games before the hip injury that could end his frustrating season, which will include three stints on the disabled list.

"Denard's had a setback," Williams reported. "He's had issues with his back again. It didn't react well at all after the two days."

Williams said Span now is having an issue with his hip and was placed on the disabled list with left hip inflammation.

Williams was asked if he thought Span was done for the season.

"It's 15 days," Williams said. "We have to make sure that we're mindful of him and his back and his hips. It's unclear right now. I would imagine it's going to be very tough for him to get back."

Zimmerman can empathize a bit with Span's quandary, having gone through injuries to his shoulder and foot the last couple of seasons. You want to help your club, especially when you believe they aren't playing up to their abilities.

"It's tough," Zimmerman said. "Everyone's different, it's a different case-by-case basis. It's hard to talk on someone else's behalf on anything like that just because only he knows what he's going through - not the doctor, not us, not anyone. It's frustrating for him, it's frustrating for everyone because he obviously makes our team way better.

"But at the same time (Span's) played 150 some games every year, you'd think he would know what's going on with his body and it's not like he's not a tough guy. You got to be to play 140, 150 games every year like he has."

Williams reported that Escobar has a right hand contusion. Escobar was hit by pitch that plated the first run of the game for the Nationals in the fifth. The ball got him in back of the right hand. X-rays were negative. Escobar had a light wrap on his hand in the clubhouse.

"Got some swelling, he's day-to-day. We'll see how he is tomorrow," Williams said. "We'll see how it reacts in the morning."

Taylor suffered a right knee contusion while going after a Melvin Upton Jr., drive in the seventh inning. Taylor crashed hard into the fence, his spikes tearing out a portion of the padding before his knee made contact. Williams said Taylor is also day-to-day.

"He ran into that wall had, full-speed as fast as he could go," Williams said. "It got him on the right knee pretty good. He didn't feel very good after."

Werth had the best view of the play as he came over from left field.

"I kind of saw the whole thing happen," Werth said. "I ended up backing up the play. When it was hit, I figured it was going to be that type of play. It's tough to see a teammate go down. He plays hard. He's a good kid. He comes to the park, he prepares.

"He does all the things that you want a young player to do. He's going about it the right way. Unfortunately, that might have gotten him dinged up tonight. He's part of the family in here. We got a great group of guys and he's no exception."

This season, the Nats have become used to playing without key players.

"It's kind of how this year's gone," Zimmerman said. "But we got to play through it. We got to find a way to keep winning games and keep winning series like we have this past three. Just find a way.

"Every team goes through a lot. Obviously we've had more than our fair share but that's excuses. We've had guys that are capable to come up and replace them. We got to find a way to keep winning games like we have and keep putting pressure on the other team to win and that's all we can do."

Said Werth: "We are going to have to find a way to overcome it. You're going to have to overcome a lot of things to win. We've had our fair share of things to overcome, but we just got to find a way."

But Werth also said the gutsy performance by a club down three players showed something to him.

"Hopefully, we can build on that, too," Werth said. "Obviously, you lose a couple guys and you play short like that and you end up winning, it's a good day. We'll see where we're at. It's a tough one to lose Denard and then with Mikey going down, we'll see how he is. Hopefully, Yuni's OK. Most importantly we got the win. Hopefully we can build on that and we'll see where we're at when we get here tomorrow."

Now Williams is left to look out at a team that now must make another move as the injuries continue to plague the club this late in August.

"I don't know if I ever seen anything like it," Williams said. "But it is what it is. Mike keeps playing hard. Yunel's playing hard. Denard, when he was able to, played hard. There's not much you can do about it other than do what I tell you guys every day. We'll forget about this one, prepare for tomorrow."

"It's never easy," Werth said. "You go through the season there's a lot of ups and downs. You run into all kinds of different things. But regardless, you got to find a way to win. You got to find a way to overcome it. We are in it right now and I think everybody in here believes we can do it. We haven't lost hope."