WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals begin their final homestand

WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals begin their final homestand of the season Thursday night when they host the New York Mets.They’ll play seven games over seven days against the Mets and Marlins http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-nathan-eovaldi-jersey , but the stakes are much lower than in previous years. They won’t be clinching a playoff berth or setting a rotation or auditioning players for a post-season roster spot.Washington (77-75) sits seven games behind the Braves in the National League East and 6 1/2 behind the Cardinals for the second wild card. A best-case scenario would seem to be staving off mathematical elimination until they end the season with three road games in Colorado.Article continues below ...The homestand may be the last for All-Star outfielder Bryce Harper, a free-agent in the offseason.“I haven’t really thought about it,” Harper told the Washington Post. “I think it’ll really hit that last game I guess, running off the field or something like that. I’m just trying to enjoy it and see what happens.”After a rough first half, Harper enters the final 10 games hitting .247 with 34 homers and 97 RBIs. He has never driven in 100 runs.The Mets (70-82) long ago became a non-factor in 2018 and are already looking ahead to next season when they could boast arguably the best starting rotation in the East.On Wednesday, they announced they were shutting down right-hander Zack Wheeler (12-7, 3.31 ERA) for the remainder of the season, with Corey Oswalt taking his place in the rotation.Wheeler, who didn’t pitch in the majors in 2015 and 2016, had a shortened 2017. This season he’s gone 9-1 with a 1.68 ERA over his last 11 starts but has pitched almost 100 more innings than a year ago.“We’re really excited about the year he had http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-daniel-robertson-jersey , and we feel like we’d probably be taking the best care of him we can if we shut him down at this point,” manager Mickey Callaway told mlb.com.Left-hander Jason Vargas (6-9, 6.47 ERA) starts Thursday’s opener for the Mets.Vargas has also enjoyed a strong finish. His ERA was in double digits back in May and after an Aug. 7 loss it was 8.75 to go along with a 2-8 record. He’s given up two earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts, including last time out when he beat the Marlins, allowing two runs over six innings.Vargas is 1-3 with a 0.83 ERA, in six games (three starts) against Washington.Right-hander Max Scherzer (17-7, 2.53 ERA) starts for Washington. Scherzer has 277 strikeouts coming in and needs eight to top his career high of 284, set in 2016. He has 16 double-digit strikeout games on the season.In his last start, Scherzer was roughed up by the Braves, giving up six runs on seven hits over four innings Matt Andriese Jersey , his shortest start of the season as he seeks a third straight NL Cy Young Award.“I just couldn’t get into a rhythm where I knew where those balls were actually going to end up. I couldn’t control my misses,” Scherzer told the Washington Post. “I was pitching out of the stretch so much. I never found a rhythm out of the windup to be able to take it to the stretch to be able to execute clean innings.”Scherer is 9-4 with a 2.34 ERA in 16 games (15 starts) against the Mets. NEW YORK — The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets have been going in opposite directions for a month. The last chance for the Phillies to begin reversing their slide might arrive Friday night, when they visit the Mets in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field.Phillies ace right-hander Aaron Nola (15-4, 2.23 ERA) will look to continue building his case for the National League Cy Young Award when he opposes Mets left-hander Steven Matz (5-11, 4.20).Both teams were off Thursday after playing series-deciding games Wednesday. The Phillies fell to the host Miami Marlins 2-1 while the visiting Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-3.Article continues below ...The loss for the Phillies (73-66) extended their streak of series without a series victory to nine. Since a four-game sweep of the Marlins from Aug. 2-5, Philadelphia has gone 10-18 while losing eight series and splitting another.The only thing to go right for the Phillies over the past four weeks is the inability of the Atlanta Braves to take full advantage. The Braves, who were 1 1/2 games behind Philadelphia on Aug. 5, have gone just 17-15 since. However, first-place Atlanta beat the Diamondbacks 7-6 in 10 innings on Thursday and lead the Phillies by 3 1/2 games in the NL East.With only 23 games remaining, the Phillies are running out of time http://www.raysfanproshop.com/authentic-c.-j.-cron-jersey , and they realized Wednesday was a squandered opportunity. The loss to the last-place Marlins came hours after the Braves blew a six-run lead in a 9-8 loss to the Boston Red Sox — a game most Philadelphia players were watching in the visiting locker room at Marlins Park.“I think we all knew what was going on,” Phillies starting pitcher Nick Pivetta told reporters after he took the loss by allowing two runs over four innings. “I think what’s more important is to focus on the game that we have at hand. They lost, that’s great. But at the end of the day, I’ve still got a job to do. We’re trying to win baseball games over here. That’s a game I personally really needed to step up, shut it down. But it’s how baseball goes sometimes.”Baseball has been going a uniquely Mets-ian way lately for New York (63-76), which has gone 18-12 while winning or splitting eight of its last nine series dating back to Aug. 6.Of course, it’s way too little, way too late for the Mets, whose playoff hopes were erased during a June in which they went 5-21. But at least the late-season run is an indication New York might be laying a foundation for 2019 under rookie manager Mickey Callaway.“It’s real gratifying,” Callaway told reporters Wednesday night. “We spend a ton of time trying to work on the right things with these guys Jesus Sucre Jersey , and I think it’s all paying dividends.”Nola took the loss in his most recent start Sunday, when he allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings as the Phillies fell to the Chicago Cubs 8-1. The four runs were the most surrendered by Nola since he gave up four runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 17. Nola is locked in a three-way battle for the Cy Young with the Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer, the two-time defending winner, and Mets ace Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to pitch the series finale Sunday.Matz didn’t factor into the decision Saturday, when he allowed one run and struck out a career-high over seven innings in the Mets’ 2-1, 11-inning win over the San Francisco Giants. He has given up four runs over 19 innings in his last three starts.Nola is 5-1 with a 3.29 ERA in seven career starts against the Mets. Matz is 0-2 with a 4.97 ERA in three career starts against the Phillies.