Desmond impressed by team depth and pitching as he readies for second half

The longest-tenured member of the Washington Nationals helped to preview the second half and tonight's key series opener against the N.L. West first-place L.A. Dodgers. The Nationals are in first place as well, 48-39, two games ahead of the Mets. The series with the Mets begins Monday. Shortstop Ian Desmond said the team has made some important steps in growth during the first half despite all the injuries. "I think in every facet," Desmond said of the improvements since opening day. "You've seen a lot of growth in our bullpen. We started out the season with some young guys with the great stuff (who) are starting to kind of find their way. Our bench has been unbelievable. Our starting pitching is what everyone expected. We're figuring out a way to score runs." Desmond was asked about the Dodgers and having to facing Clayton Kershaw and Zack Grienke in back-to-back games starting Saturday. "Obviously there's going to be some good pitching coming up," Desmond said. "But I don't think it's anything beyond what we can handle. We've got some good guys going too. We'll see. Usually when they think it's low scoring it ends up being real high scoring. Try to get us on the high side and them on the low side." But the injuries are still critical to where this team is right now and where they could be come October 4. Front line starters Denard Span (back), Ryan Zimmerman (foot), Jayson Werth (wrist), Anthony Rendon (quad) and Stephen Strasburg (oblique) are still not available for this series. "We love our guys, the guys that aren't in there right now," Desmond said. "We've got a pretty good team, with the 25 guys that are running out there on a daily basis. This is the big leagues and the guys that have stepped up to fill roles have done a great job and we believe that this is our team. Not waiting for anybody to come back. When those guys come back we'll greet them with open arms but the team that we run out there tonight is our team." Desmond did not spend his All-Star break thinking about his .211 average. He instead used the distraction to take a deep breath and wind down a bit. "It's hard to get it out of your head," Desmond said of the baseball season. "I had a good break. Kids had fun. Good to have some family time, recharge and see how we go." And the team is still 48-39, good for first place in the N.L. East. But those numbers are not what Desmond thinks about each day. "We know that we are continuing to get better and that's where we draw the confidence from and not necessarily wins and losses," he said.