Nationals, Jackson thumped by Dodgers in series opener (updated)

There was an undeniable buzz at Nationals Park tonight, with the National League's two best clubs opening a weekend series and drawing extra media attention and a boisterous crowd of 37,508 to South Capitol Street.

Three innings later, with the Dodgers up seven runs and Edwin Jackson taking an early trip to the showers, that buzz had devolved into a soft hum. That was the sound of a lopsided 7-0 result in a game that, truth be told, probably didn't mean nearly as much as everyone wanted it to mean at the outset.

Not that both teams weren't motivated to win. They were. The Nationals are trying to make a late push to catch Los Angeles and perhaps steal away home-field advantage in the playoffs (though they're now six games back in that pursuit). The Dodgers are trying to put to rest any doubts that cropped up during their atrocious 1-16 slump (though they've now won three in a row).

But neither are both teams throwing caution to the wind and pulling out all the stops in an effort to win this weekend and make some kind of statement. The Nationals are sending only one projected postseason starter to the mound (Stephen Strasburg on Sunday night). The Dodgers didn't line up Clayton Kershaw or Yu Darvish to pitch in this series, either.

So the result of tonight's game - unsightly as it was - shouldn't necessarily be read into much at all, and certainly shouldn't be placed into much larger context than what it was.

"It's kind of like recon," Jayson Werth said of this series as a whole. "It's good to see these guys if we do play them (in the postseason). Obviously, we're all locked up, and there's still games to be won and there's an outside chance to get home-field advantage throughout. But we're still out there competing and playing games. You want to win every game you play, so they're big games."

It was tough to make this a big game once the Nationals fell into a seven-run hole created by Jackson against a good Dodgers lineup that feasted on just about everything the veteran right-hander threw toward the plate.

Jackson served up three homers to the first 11 batters he faced, plus two more drives to deep right-center. He was roughed up unlike in any of his previous 10 starts, ultimately surrendering seven runs while recording only seven outs.

Over his last three starts, Jackson has now allowed 19 runs in 11 1/3 innings, serving up seven homers.

"Unfortunately, these last couple starts, they've been terrible," he said. "I haven't really given us a chance to win any games, which is what I'm not here to do. I have to clean it up, quick, fast and in a hurry."

Justin Turner's solo homer over the left field bullpen on a 3-2 fastball in the top of the first got things started tonight. Yasiel Puig's leadoff homer to right-center in the top of the second kept the ball rolling. And Corey Seager's monstrous, three-run blast way over the center field wall later in the second put a final stamp on Jackson's evening.

In between all that, though, was a bizarre moment that might have altered the course of at least that inning. When Andre Ethier sent a high fly to right field and Werth held up his glove and didn't move from his position, the crowd assumed a routine flyout was about to occur. Until everyone realized the ball was 40 feet behind Werth, careening off the wall while he stood helplessly looking up into the twilight. It went down officially as an RBI double, but it will be remembered as one of the strangest and ugliest plays of the season.

"It was probably like four or five minutes of just a real purple sky, which is usually pretty tough," Werth said. "We knew anything going up was going to be tough. And when it went up, I ran to a spot that I thought I'd at least be close so that if I saw it coming down, maybe I can get to it. But at that point, I was in kind of deke mode to get them not to run, which kind of worked, but kind of didn't. It's a helpless feeling, obviously. You want to make all the plays, and I put Edwin in a bad spot."

If there was a bright spot for the Nationals tonight, it was the collective effort of their bullpen. Sammy Solís, Matt Grace, Joe Blanton, Enny Romero, Shawn Kelley and Austin Adams combined to toss 6 2/3 scoreless innings after Jackson was pulled. (Again, it was notable that Dusty Baker didn't use any of his top five relievers in the game: Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler, Matt Albers and Oliver Pérez.)

Baker did send his entire healthy lineup out there to face Alex Wood, and that did not go well. The Dodgers lefty scattered three hits over six scoreless innings, rarely needing to pitch out of a jam. Los Angeles' bullpen then shut the door on any hope of a stunning comeback, sending the Nationals to a lopsided loss in a game that may have felt like an important measuring stick but in reality equated to a September version of spring training.

"They had a pretty good lead, and they were hitting the ball out of the ballpark on us," Baker said. "That gave them a comfortable lead, where (Wood) could throw almost anything at any time and (be) confident throwing it. He's had an excellent year over there with them. So we'll see him again, hopefully."