Clubhouse chatter after Nats finish 9-2 road trip with 2-1 win

There were a few tense minutes while Marlins hitters were crushing balls with authority in the ninth inning, but Rafael Soriano worked his way around a leadoff pinch-hit double by Reed Johnson and finished off a 2-1 Nationals win Sunday afternoon with his 32nd save.

The Nats end their final regular season road trip with a 9-2 record and have upped the win count to 91. Not too shabby.

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg worked seven shutout innings today, picking up his 13th win. He had to deal with a little bit of adversity early on in the form of a strike zone the size of a postage stamp, but powered through home plate umpire Paul Schrieber's inconsistency. Strasburg allowed only three hits, walked two and struck out five.

Though manager Matt Williams' Sunday lineup, which gave five regulars the day off, drew some criticism from the commenters on our blogs, the reserves came through in the fifth. Backup catcher Jose Lobaton doubled and scored on a triple by Nate Schierholtz, who was filling in for Jayson Werth in right field. Anthony Rendon later doubled to plate Schierholtz.

Here's the clubhouse chatter after the victory:

Williams on Strasburg's effort this afternoon: "Just again, pounding the zone. Some really good changeups, good curveballs early in the count when he needed a strike (and) pretty good fastball command, too. He continues to pitch well."

Williams when asked if he's decided that Strasburg will pitch the first game of the National League Division Series: "No, we haven't made any decision on that yet. We still got games left. We still have a lot of games left, seven of them, as a matter of fact. ... We haven't made any decision on that yet."

Williams on Strasburg reaching an innings total he's never achieved and still pitching well: "He's strong, he feels strong. That's the indicator. The indicator is that his body feels good, his legs are strong. He works really hard in between starts. The indicator for me is he's crisp, he's throwing strikes and he feels good about it. Any more than that, you couldn't ask for."

Williams on the double plays Strasburg was able to get in the first two innings: "Generally, the double play either comes from lack of velocity or location. The ball to McGehee's in, down and in, and it's tough to elevate that pitch. Perfect pitch in that regard. He doesn't throw a sinker, per se, but the ball does move a little bit, and if it moves, it moves down. That's why he gets the double plays that he gets."

Strasburg on how Soriano pitched in the ninth: "OK. Down in the strike zone. Certainly, the ball to left, (Bryce Harper) could have caught that ball. Big ballpark, (Reed Johnson) hit it a long way, but certainly catchable. The last one, McGehee squared up pretty good. But Harp made a nice play on it."

Williams on ending the road trip with a four-game sweep over the Marlins: "Really important, good road trip for us against some teams that had been playing well and especially here in a place they play very good at home. We won some close ones and the pitching was good."

Strasburg on his start: "A little squirrelly out there to start, but just wanted to stick with it and keep pounding the zone. Got some big double plays there in the beginning that kind of gave me a chance to settle down without any damage. I think it's just executing the right pitch at the right time. It's not going to always happen that way. The one thing you can't control is execution."

Strasburg on pitching as well as he has down the stretch: "Just trying to stay the same. I think over the course of hte seaosn you're going to have highs and lows and you just roll with them."

Strasburg on how much he's looking forward to his first playoff start: "I'm really excited, but at the same time, I'm trying not to focus on it too much yet. I'm trying to finish the season strong."

Lobaton on the way Strasburg is pitching: "The way that he's throwing right now, that's the way that everybody wants to see him (throw). Today, fastball command was pretty good on both sides. Curveball for a strike, curveball behind in the count, he got the curveball for a strikeout. Changeup was working. ... That's the way you want to be catching a guy. He's really fun to catch today and hopefully his games stay there."

Lobaton on the 11 groundball outs Strasburg got today: "I think location is very important for ground balls. He was throwing down, he was missing down a lot today. I think if you miss down, you're going to be able to get ground balls. ... In the first and second inning, I think every ball he missed, he was down."