Harper gets day off; Baker explains (start delayed)

Bryce Harper is not starting tonight's series finale against the Mets. That may disappoint fans who have tickets to this game, but there could've been even more disappointed fans Tuesday because Dusty Baker initially planned to sit Harper for the Nationals' Independence Day game.

"It was planned," Baker said. "I was planning on doing it yesterday, but we talked about it and he loves playing on the Fourth of July. It's like his birthday, he said. So I told him I'll give you the next day off."

Consider this the latest attempt by the Nationals manager to strike a balance between giving his star players regular days off while also appeasing their personal wishes. It's not an easy job for any big league skipper, but Baker takes pride in the manner in which handles such situations.

Knowing his team is on the back end of a stretch of 17 games in 17 days - that came on the heels of a stretch of 20 games in 20 days - before the All-Star break, Baker has tried to ensure each of his key regulars sits at least once early this week.

He did so by sitting Daniel Murphy on Monday, Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon on Tuesday and now Harper this evening. (Baker said he intends to play everybody straight through the upcoming four-game series against the Braves that wraps up the season's first half.)

Baker has been doing this for more than two decades as a major league manager, and over that time he has developed a system. That said, he still must adjust his system to the personnel on his roster.

"If you have the kind of team that you're going to have a drastic fall from your starters (to your reserves), then it makes it a little tougher," he said. "When you've got a good bench, it makes it easier. I've learned that most of the time if you don't give them a day off, or you don't trust the guys on the bench, then you end up playing your regulars too much and you end up hurting them. And then you're kind of stuck with the guys you might have been trying to stay away from in the first place. So I try not to have a stay-away-from-a-guy attitude, so I can try to put them in a situation where they're most likely to succeed."

Baker plans days off well in advance, but he also makes adjustments based on what he sees with his own eyes.

"You have to kind of judge when a guy's hot, when a guy's cold, when he's getting tired," he said. "And you've got to remember what it was like when you played. Because the hardest thing is, the farther away you get from when you played, to remember slumps and the heat and being tired and stuff like that. You have to continue to remember what it was like. But it helps if you have the personnel to do it."

Time was when prominent regulars across baseball played in all 162 games a season, or something awfully close to that. That's not the case anymore, with today's stars recognizing the long-term benefits of days off.

"Guys are more receptive to taking days off, because the chances of you taking a day off and a guy having a great day and you losing your job is becoming less and less," Baker said. "Because there's less competition for your everyday job. And money's a big factor in keeping your everyday job. ...

"One of the worst things a manager can tell you is: 'Take another day, cause this other guy gets four hits and one more day won't hurt you.' And then the next thing you know, he has your job. It's changed. That's what's changed."

Update: The start of the game has been delayed due to rain.