Roark, LaRoche and Span after 4-2 win over the Mets

The Nationals recorded another victory, their 92nd on this playoff-bound season, 4-2 over the Mets. But after the game, concern turned toward center fielder Denard Span, who crashed hard to the ground and into the center field wall after making a diving catch to end the third inning. He left the game and was replaced by Michael A. Taylor. "It's all right, a little sore," Span said. "Banged it pretty hard when I came down, also scraped it pretty good, too. So just a little sore, iced it a couple of times. Feel like I got all my strength in it, so we'll just see how it feels tomorrow." Span made the catch on a long drive by Matt den Dekker and thought he was OK after the crash landing. "When I first got up, I felt fine," Span said. "Then when I took three or four steps trying to jog in, that's when my knee felt a little funny." Winning pitcher Tanner Roark, who went 6 1/3 innings for his 15th win, had confidence that Span was OK. "I knew he was fine," Roark said. "He's a tough guy. He's always making great plays like that. That's why I waited for him after everybody went in. He's fine. Just a little scraped knee, should be good." Span will take at least Wednesday's day off to rest the right knee. Will this be a problem for a few days? "Too soon (to tell), we'll see," Span said. "If a couple days goes by and it doesn't feel good, then I will be. But being able to walk and put pressure on it, that was a good sign for me." Roark allowed only two runs on five hits and notched one out in the seventh. Afterward, he was pretty pleased with his fourth straight quality start. "It was good. Fastball's sinking, sinker was sinking really well tonight, using both sides of the plate," Roark said. "Denard made that great catch, that really got us going. Scored some runs, Rochy's big home run. It was a good team win." First baseman Adam LaRoche absolutely crushed a three-run shot in the four-run fifth inning, where the Nationals ended up doing all of their scoring. LaRoche said Bartolo Colon was on target early, making it difficult to string hits together. "Man, he was throwing good," LaRoche said. "I don't know how many hits we had, didn't feel like a bunch. We had the big blow in the fifth inning. That three-run homer helps out." LaRoche and his teammates realize they are close to clinching home-field in the National League, but they haven't yet. That is why plays still have to be made, and Span made the play, but got hurt in the process. "There's a fine line. We don't want to shut down just to keep guys healthy," LaRoche said. "We've still got to go out and play, just to keep that adrenaline, that momentum, the grind we've been in for six months, you really don't want to shut it down for a long period of time. Guys need to keep playing. "But when something happens, you definitely hold your breath for a minute because it's obviously not the end of the world to drop a game right now although we're still fighting for home field so we want to keep the guys out there. Luckily, I think he's fine." LaRoche's homer was his 26th of the season, and he now has 91 RBIs. He said it is great to have this kind of a season after a rough campaign for him and the team in 2013. "Last year was just frustrating all the way around, individually, collectively as a team, just nothing went well," LaRoche said. "I felt like I was kind of swimming upstream the whole year (last season while) this year to be able to bounce back and contribute more. Again, at the point where we're at in the season, I still feel like I've left runners out there. I feel like there's still some things I can improve on. So continue to try to do that." A crowd of 30,714 welcomed the Nationals onto the field with a huge applause and also gave a standing ovation to Roark as he walked in from the bullpen. "It was really, really cool," Roark said. "I had a huge smile on my face, I didn't wipe it off. It was very, very cool. Nothing that I've ever had before. We have great fans, and they are always loud." What is the key to his amazing consistency? Pretty simple strategy, not easy to carry out every game. "Just keep throwing strikes, get ahead of guys," Roark said. "I'm sure I bore you guys to death with the same old answers I give you. It's really what it is - get strike one, keep the hitters off-balance. Keep attacking, don't give in to anybody."