Leaving the comfort of the road

The Nationals come back home from a lengthy 10-game road trip happy to see their families and excited to return to their home clubhouse. No team will ever say it would prefer to play its games on the road. That just won't happen. But the Nats sure play like a team that doesn't mind hitting the road for a while. They're a remarkable 41-23 on the road this season, which already gives them more road victories than the franchise has had in a full season since 1994. They've outscored their opponents by 90 runs on the road. They haven't lost a road series since all the way back in late June, when they dropped two of three games to the Orioles at Camden Yards. Since then, they're 6-0-2 in series away from Nationals Park. They've won 14 of their last 17 road contests. They have seven more road wins than any other team in the majors. Heck, they have three more road wins than any other team has home wins. The Nats have fared well playing in the District, going 32-22 at home. But for whatever reason, this team just excels away from the comforts of the nation's capital. You can bet they'll be enjoying today's day off, this after playing 16 games over the last 15 days. Ian Desmond will use the day off to take part in a simulated game at Nats Park, which will serve as his final test before possibly being activated from the disabled list. Desmond has now missed 24 games with a tear in his left oblique, but he's nearing a return. Today, he'll get some at-bats under the watchful eyes of Nationals coaches. Chien-Ming Wang is expected to throw during the simulated game, this after suffering another setback with his right hip injury recently. Don't expect Wang back anytime soon. Desmond, on the other hand, could be returning to his Nats teammates on Friday. Hopefully they won't mind being back in D.C. all that much.