After 7-2 West Coast trip, no break for jet-lagged Nationals

LOS ANGELES - They left Washington 11 days ago, embarking on one of the longest West Coast trips they've ever experienced, taking a full tour of California and playing nine games against three opponents before heading home.

Along the way, they saw their biggest star get into a brawl, get a four-game suspension, have that suspension reduced to three games on appeal and endure his first slump of the year.

They saw their ace toss a complete game in San Francisco, then strike out 14 batters in only seven innings in Los Angeles.

They saw the league's best hitter in 2017 add to his overwhelming numbers with four homers and 10 RBIs.

They saw their veteran leader land on the 10-day disabled list with a bruised foot.

They saw their rotation post seven quality starts, a 2.90 ERA and strike out 66 batters in 59 innings.

They saw their new closer go 3-for-3 in save situations and others step up when called upon.

And, above all else, they saw their team go 7-2 to further establish itself as one of the best in baseball.

"It's huge," Bryce Harper said. "Coming out west is always tough. Being able to come out and win some ballgames in San Fran, Oakland and coming into L.A. and taking two out of three, that's huge."

It may be the Nationals' most impressive road trip of the season to date, but it's actually not their most successful. They went 9-1 during a late-April jaunt through Atlanta, New York and Colorado.

That this trip ended on a bit of a sour note - a 2-1 loss to the Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers that was there for the taking if not for some late-game mistakes - perhaps gnawed at some in the clubhouse. But few could argue that the result of the entirety of the trip was somehow spoiled by one loss in the finale.

"If I told you we were going to go 7-2 before we left, I think everyone in here would be pretty happy," said Ryan Zimmerman, who homered four times on the trip and now has a league-leading 17 on the season. "Obviously when you have a chance to beat a guy like Clayton, and when Stephen (Strasburg) threw the ball the way he did, you always want to try to win those games. But he's a tough guy to beat, and they have a good team. It's hard to come in here and take two out of three. I think we're really happy with how the road trip went."

A trip of this length to this side of the country usually precedes a well-deserved day off. And that's how Major League Baseball originally scheduled the week for the Nationals.

But rewind back to May 11, when fear of a long night of rain made the Nationals postpone their series finale against the Orioles, and guess what happens now. Yes, that game must be made up tonight on South Capitol Street, leaving the Nats in a stretch where they're now playing 20 days in a row and 37 out of the next 38 days leading up to the All-Star break.

"I wish we had that off day," manager Dusty Baker said. "Now I'm very remorseful that we didn't try to play that game, because that's making it (20) in a row. But you can't bring it back."

A highly successful road trip is over, but for the Nationals there's no time to reflect on that, not with more challenges awaiting them.