Some morning notes and quotes

LOS ANGELES - The division lead is back to seven games. Only 26 games remain on the Nationals' schedule.

You can do the math. The Nats' magic number is now down to 19.

When is it appropriate to start talking about what a division leader's magic number is? I asked a fellow reporter that question last night.

He said when the magic number dips below 20. I say when the calendar has reached September.

Both of those qualifications have now been met.

Any combination of 19 Nats wins or Braves losses, and Washington has earned its second National League East title in three years.

Center fielder Denard Span has been a big part of the Nats getting to this point. We've talked about that at length, about how his batting average and on-base percentage have shot up over the last few months, about how his baserunning and defense have made a major impact on this team.

But how about this power surge of late?

Over the course of his first 559 plate appearances this season, Span had one home run. Over his last 20 plate appearances, Span has three home runs.

You can't predict ball.

And his second:

What's the explanation? Span didn't have one for me when I interviewed him on the field after last night's win, saying that homers tend to come in bunches for him, much like stolen bases. But between then and his interview with a group of reporters outside the Nats' clubhouse a handful of minutes later, Span had found his answer.

"Last night, I did eat Roscoe's chicken and waffles," Span said with a smile. "So I think that might have helped a little bit tonight."

Nats staffers might need to have a few more orders of chicken and waffles shipped to Dodger Stadium this afternoon.

One negative note from yesterday's win over the Dodgers was that first baseman Adam LaRoche needed to leave the game after his back started acting up again. LaRoche has been dealing with a tight back for a little while now - it flared up in Philadelphia at the start of this road trip and has been an issue since.

He's now 1-for-23 on this road trip.

"It's been tight for a while," LaRoche said. "Last couple days, it's gotten tighter late in the game. In the fourth, fifth inning, it starts really tightening up from just standing around. I've had it before. I hope it's quick, a day or two. But again, you never know.

"It's one spot in my lower back that locks up. I'm able to get pretty loose to get going. The further along the game gets, the more standing out there at first, defensively, is when I feel it the most. Yesterday was really sore, and today the same thing."

LaRoche has dealt with this issue in past seasons, so he knows how to manage the discomfort. He said that he's started to take some medication to try and calm the back down a bit, and he hopes that will do the trick.

"I'm not concerned that this could drag out for a while," LaRoche said. "I don't know that I'll be able to play through it right now. I tried today. Yesterday was rough. Today, the game plan was start the game, hopefully finish, worst-case get a lead and find a point to come out and get some ice on it."

"It's never a good time to have it happen. But it's nice now we got some reinforcements in with call-ups, to where I'm not handcuffing the skipper with having to make a tough decision. Day-to-day right now."

LaRoche said that he doesn't think this is the type of injury that could be cured by a couple days off, and is fairly confident that the injury won't worsen by playing. That said, with left-hander Clayton Kershaw taking the mound for the Dodgers tonight, a day off for LaRoche might not be an awful thing.