No doubting Drew Storen

The Nationals have been sizzling, with a 19-5 record over their last 24 games. Drew Storen has collected saves in nine of those 19 victories and recorded a win in another. He picked up his National League-leading 14th save in yesterday's 4-1 win over the Phillies. Storen has only allowed two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings (0.98 ERA) this season.

Jose Lobaton has been behind the plate for five of Storen's 14 saves. He gave the obvious answer when asked about his thoughts when Storen enters the game in the ninth.

"I just see that we're going to get the save," Lobaton said, laughing. "I think he's got confidence because he's been throwing strikes, he's been throwing good every time (I've been) catching. You want the ninth. You're like, 'OK, we got Drew.' He's our best pitcher now. Kinda like, 'Yeah, just make the ninth winning and we're going to win.' That's what you want. You want a closer like that."

Storen has blown one save attempt this season, but Yunel Escobar picked him up with a walk-off homer against the Cardinals on April 21. This is coming off a 2014 campaign where Storen was lights-out while only surrendering seven earned runs in 56 1/3 innings.

Nationals manager Matt Williams has attributed a lot of Storen's recent success on the right-handers devastating curveball.

"The big thing for me is being able to throw it for a strike but then throw the good one down in the zone that looks like a heater for a majority of the way," Storen said. "That's when you get the good swing-throughs because anytime you got a loop in it, you're gonna have some trouble with it. Being able to locate it for a strike has really, I think, been the most important thing."

Storen's save yesterday preserved the win for Gio Gonzalez. After the game, Gonzalez credited his strong outing to Storen for offering some key advice before the start.

"I always try to stay out of the way a little bit," Storen said. "But I saw a couple things and I said, 'Hey, it might be worth trying.' You know, I'm a guy that I like to twist and kinda throw similarly like he does but from the other side obviously. I just told him a couple little things to think about. I didn't really know if he was gonna go with it or not, but he did and it seemed to work out all right. So I guess that's good."

Good is right for Storen, who is thriving back in the closer's role after losing it despite saving 43 games in 2011. Storen will unfortunately be judged on his postseason struggles. But if the Nats stay on this pace, Storen will undoubtedly find himself in the spot to clean up his reputation in October.