Baker updates Taylor, Kelley, Glover and day game record

Nationals manager Dusty Baker has Michael A. Taylor back in the starting lineup for Saturday's late afternoon tilt with the Reds. It will mark Taylor's first start since June 20. He has missed the last few games due to an undisclosed injury. Taylor pinch-hit and struckout late in Friday's series opener against the Reds.

"He's doing better," Baker said. "He's in there today. We decided it was better to keep him out and he hit yesterday in the cage. Much to my surprise I didn't know he had hit that much. He said 'I hit a lot'. I said, how much is a lot? He said, 'well...'. I didn't want him to overdue it so he said he's OK today."

Baker reports right-hander Shawn Kelley (right trapezius strain) and right-hander Koda Glover (lower back stiffness) are making progress.

"Shawn, I hadn't heard much about because he's just been getting treatment," Baker said. "Koda they say is getting better daily. Far as when he could be ready, we don't really know. He has a smile on his face, him and Shawn, so pretty good indication. They don't hide their emotions very well. You can sort of see it on their face when they are feeling better."

Left-hander Sammy Solís (left elbow inflammation) has made four rehab appearances for Triple-A Syracuse. His last one was on June 21. The Chiefs host Buffalo tonight at 7:05 p.m.

* Last night the Nats beat the Reds 6-5 in 10 innings for their 19th comeback win of the season. Baker said the club's ability to make comebacks has a lot to do with their overall talent. The Nats were down 4-0 in the first inning and 5-1 in the fourth before chipping all the way to tie at 5-5 in the seventh on a Brian Goodwin solo shot.

I asked Baker why is the club so calm and confident when they face deficits in games? Is it overall talent or his managing?

"I always tell them we are looking for an edge," Baker said. "Sometimes you do the slow walk on them. Slow walk is when you go 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4 or sometimes you do the beat them up: like six runs in the inning. You can't always (do that). You are looking for a break: a walk, error, or something.

"Now the one thing I would like us to do better is our winning record at home number one, and then number two, tighten up our defense, tighten up our base running, and then, above all, we don't play good in the day time. I don't know what it is but it's not good."

The team is 19-14 at home and 25-15 on the road. They 13-18 in day games and 31-11 in night games. They are 7-1 after a day off.

Can he answer why the club doesn't play well during the day?

"I think age has something to do with it," Baker said. "You don't rebound as quickly. Sleep-walking because these odd game (times) don't help either. One's a swing shift game, one's a morning game...we can't do anything about that. But I just try to combat that with a fresh team. I think we got an 11 a.m. on (July) Fourth, 4 p.m. today, 1p.m. tomorrow. Some kind of way we're going to figure this out."