Baker gives Harper "mental day off" vs. Marlins

MIAMI - Nationals manager Dusty Baker decided to give right fielder Bryce Harper a day of rest in the opening game of a three-game set at Marlins Park.

Baker expects his cleanup hitter back in the lineup Tuesday against the Marlins' Jose Fernandez. Harper has struggled at the plate recently and Miami sends out left-hander Wei-Yin Chen tonight. Since September 10, Harper is just 1-for-18 (.056).

"Everything is fine," Baker said. "I could see his concentration waning some so I thought I give him a mental day off. I wasn't going to give it to him tomorrow against Fernandez. I wasn't going to give it to him the next day because he's had pretty good success against (Tom Kohler). I wanted to give (Chris) Heisey some at-bats in there too. So everything just pointed towards today."

Baker was also asked about Harper's defensive positioning and whether or not he has been playing to shallow in right field.

"Yeah, I talked to him about it," Baker said.

Did you talk to him about where he stands on defense?

Yeah, but it's not public knowledge, but I did talk to him about it," Baker said.

WIth just 12 games remaining in the regular season, Baker explained how concentration level can be related to fatigue this time of the season.

"You can just see a difference in a person and most times it's concentration," Baker said." Sometimes you get a little tired, you have trouble concentrating or at least holding that concentration for a long period of time. It's just time."

Is there a balance between being emotional in the game or letting it get out of hand?

"I haven't figured that out," Baker said. "I was kind of like that too."

Second baseman Daniel Murphy is out of the lineup with left leg soreness. It's the second game in a row the top hitter in the National League is getting rest. Baker believes the soreness might also be related to playing so many games and being on base a lot.

"You saw him the other night when he slid into second base," Baker said. "That's what he said it is and I told him that I thought that it would be good to take today off and maybe even tomorrow to get that well because if this lingers your not going to be able to give him days off much after tomorrow so you got to use this time to get him well. Just glad that we do have the lead (in division race). You never really comfortable with it but now is the time to do it."

Baker asked Murphy about it and the second baseman said part of the reason is the 140-plus games that he has played all season. At his locker, Murphy called it "left leg discomfort." He did not take batting practice today. He said the level of soreness in his leg is about what you would expect after playing a whole season now into late September.

Baker shared why Jose Lobaton hasn't played in a few days.

"He was supposed to play the other day," Baker said. "His ankle is bothering him some. He was supposed to play the other day that's why a caught (Pedro) Severino. There's something wrong with almost everybody out there."

Right-hander Stephen Strasburg (elbow) played catch today but Baker did not have further details.

Good news for one of the other Nationals starters. Baker said the plan is to have Joe Ross start in four days following Sunday's first game since July 2.

"Tomorrow is the throw day, tomorrow is the soreness day, the pitcher feels most soreness, so we'll see how he comes out," Baker said. "We are very pleased on the day he had yesterday."