Melancon records another save; Harper on strategy prior to homer

Mark Melancon made the ninth inning quiet. That's what he has done since he arrived.

Melancon now has 40 saves, 10 with the Nationals, as he pitched a scoreless ninth in Saturday's 3-0 win over the Phillies. Manager Dusty Baker discussed the acquisition of Melancon after the game, a move that came at the end of July.

"That's why we traded for him, him and (Mark Rzepczynski) both," Baker said. "They've really solidified our bullpen, especially because it was in kind of disarray before they got here. This guy, he quietly goes about his business, you don't know he's hardly around the clubhouse and I asked him the other day, 'are you enjoying it here?' and he, in that same tone of voice, 'oh yeah I'm really enjoying it'. That's what we want our guys to do, especially the new guys that are coming in, to fit in with the team and he's a big part of our success.

Bryce Harper had the three-run shot to lift the Nationals offense. He noticed how Baker left starter Max Scherzer in the game in the seventh despite a high pitch count.

"That just goes to show that he's got faith in all of our abilities, to really play it out," Harper said. "We've got the heart to go out there in any given spot and any given situation and give it to the best of our abilities. Our staff having confidence in us and us having confidence in them, it definitely shows how much of a family we are in here and it's a lot of fun."

Harper displayed some resiliency on Saturday as well. After striking out three times against Phillies pitching, he bounced back with a tremendous late at-bat and cranked out a game-winning three-run shot.

"I took some good swings against (Jerad) Eickhoff, the pitches just weren't getting to the plate," Harper said. "I just gotta tip my cap to him. He struck me out three times. That doesn't really matter when I hit a homer to win the ballgame. I was standing in right field thinking to myself, 'well, you struck out three times, so hit a homer and everyone will forget about that.' Look what happened. Why not?"

Programming Note: Sunday at 12 noon is "Nats Insider" live on 106.7 The Fan with special guests Tripp Keister, manager of the Potomac Nationals, and Bill Ladson, Nats beat reporter for MLB.com.