Baker on facing Dodgers without Scherzer, Harper and others

Seeing the Nationals fall to the Dodgers 7-0 and 3-2, with Edwin Jackson and A.J. Cole starting, some wonder whether the Nats are holding back a bit, perhaps waiting to step on the gas until they can turn Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Tanner Roark or Gio Gonzalez loose on the Dodgers in October.

Manager Dusty Baker offered that one might analyze the Dodgers in the same way. After all, the Nats are missing Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish in this series.

"Well, I don't know what their rotation was going to be coming in here. They can say the same thing about us, not seeing Scherzer and not seeing Gio, but the way our rotation just came around, you can't just set your rotation like you can in the playoffs. So, yeah, we haven't seen Darvish. I don't think we've ever seen him. I've never seen him in person."

Back in June when the Nats faced the Dodgers, they had Gonzalez, Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg going. The Nats won two of three in that series and led in Game 3 before falling 2-1. Strasburg allowed one earned run in six innings. In that series, Nationals starters surrendered only three earned runs in three games.

"There is an advantage if you haven't seen a guy," Baker contended. "There's not much advantage if you've seen him with your own eye. Nowadays everything is pretty much out in the open. They used to like to hide guys in the back and you didn't even know who's starting. They don't do that anymore because they release it a couple days in advance who they're going to be facing."

Second baseman Daniel Murphy believed the Dodgers deserved some credit because they have demonstrated in this series the pitching depth that has guided them to the best record in the National League.

"We're still trying to win baseball games, there's no doubt about that. But that also is a really good ballclub over there," Murphy said. "Alex (Wood) threw the ball well yesterday. Rich (Hill) threw the ball well today. Hats off to A.J. Cole, who threw the ball well against that lineup, as well. As far as facing (Tony) Watson right there, I have at-bats against him."

Can it help to face a playoff team and see what they've got on the eve of the postseason?

"As far as gathering intel, that is nice, but if the season ends today we play the Cubs first," he said. "So if I see them again, I'm sure both of our ball clubs will be pretty excited about it.

But in the bigger picture, the Nats have gone 1-4 since clinching last Sunday. Does Baker worry the Nats may have lost a little touch of their want-to with the division in hand?

"I don't like to lose, ever," Baker said. "You're not trying to lose; sometimes they beat you. The Braves beat us up pretty good, and (the Dodgers) beat us up pretty good last night. If anybody was worried, it was the Dodgers because they lost 15 out of 16 and they've come back and won, like, three in a row. I remember San Francisco a couple years ago when they went to the championship and had, like, a terrible August or something, then came back and got it together.

"I'm not worried. I just don't like to lose. Doesn't matter where you are in the season."

The offense did not produce the runs Baker would have preferred. But in Game 2, they did punch back, cutting the lead to 3-2 with a chance to tie it in the eighth and ninth frames.

"Well, you know they're leading the league in ERA," Baker said. "They got a good pitching staff, so you know it's usually going to be a pretty close game. We had more energy today, and we played with more life today, and I think the big crowd really helped us too, even though about 30 percent of them were Dodgers fans. All these factors help when you're searching for answers."

Programming Note: Join me at 6:30 p.m. on 106.7 The Fan for Nats Insider with MLB.com's Jamal Collier and the Nats' Mike Shane. We will take your phone calls and have special updates from Jayson Werth, Ryan Zimmerman and others.