Rachel Levitin: Storen showing 2012 collapse behind him during latest turn as closer

For three consecutive days, the Nationals have not only beaten their National League East opponents and whittled their magic number to 10, but relief pitcher Drew Storen has found himself closing out games and tallying saves. It's nice to see him back in that role after the rough end of season he found himself a part of in 2012 with the Game 5 collapse during the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Since 2012, the Nats have invested in multiple bullpen arms and even went as far as to get closer Rafael Soriano. But when opportunity arose recently as Soriano continues to strengthen his pitch arsenal, Storen rose to the occasion. The end of the 2012 season, especially for Storen, seemed to be rough on a mental level as a player. After pitching to the best of his ability, he got rattled in one of, if not the most high-pressure baseball situation he's ever been put into. In Storen's defense, the Cardinals aren't a team that will just let any old ballclub walk all over them in the playoffs. But at the same time, his final appearance in the 2012 playoffs is unfortunately the reason Washington went from being a few outs way from advancing to not advancing at all. That's why the 2014 season, most particularly the past three days, has been a treat to watch. Storen's a competitor and it appears as if the playoff experience of 2012 has become a learning experience from which the right-hander has grown. Call it cliché or call it something else, but a little bit of adversity never hurt in the long run, right? Sure, it stinks that the Nats didn't make it further into October in 2012, but when you stop and think about it within the scope of a bigger picture, 2012 is the furthest the Nats ever made it before. It was the team's best season to date. But this is 2014 and there's a slightly different team in Washington making a run at one-upping the 2012 run. That's why it's nice to see Storen back out there in the closer role, even if it's only for a few days at a time at this point. There's no sense in living in the past and it looks like he's utilizing those previous experiences to maximize his output while closing out games this week. Rachel Levitin blogs about the Nationals for We Love DC. Follow her on Twitter: @RHLevitin. She will be sharing her observations about baseball in the nation's capital as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.