Reds Take on the Washington Nationals

The team that finished with the best record in the National League last season visits the Reds, who finished one game off the pace as the second best team.

"The Nationals made it tough on us last year," Dusty Baker said.  "They beat us more than we beat them."

The Nationals won five of the seven games between the two teams last season.  Three went to extra innings. In fact four of the last eight games between the two teams have gone to extra innings.

"All the games were close.  We know its going to be tough," Baker said.  "They have an excellent pitching staff.  They have speed. They added (Rafael) Soriano to an already tough bullpen."

The Reds are covering for thirdbase coach Mark Berry, who is being treated for cancer while the Reds are on the road.

"Miguel Cairo will be handling certain duties when Mark's not here," Baker said.  "He's a student of the game. He played for Joe Torre.  He played for myself.  He picked up some things from everybody.  Miggy pays attention.  He has a different feel of things from being a player.  He is always in the game. Miguel has been the liaison between me and the players, coaches last year."

Jay Bruce is taking some extra swings to try to get his swing together.

"Hitters and pitchers too need a lot of reps.  Jay has a lot of moving parts in his swing.  If something is out of sync, he needs more reps to get confidence in his swing," Baker said. "Good reps lead to positive thoughts and positive actions. Jay needs more reps than a lot of people.  When they're in sync, it is why they are so hot. Jay knows it and I've told him. He fouls off a lot of pitches he should put into fair territory and that puts him in a hole, then he's prone to strikeouts.  The other night he had a pitch he could hit.  Jay should be getting to the point now that these bad streaks should be minimized.  He knows that.  He's not a kid anymore.  It's his fifth or sixth year now.  We need him.  Almost every at-bat he comes up with runners on base.  That's why when he's hot he mounts up a lot of RBI,  When he's cold it increases the pressure."

Davey Johnson the Washington manager will turn his speed guys loose but expects them to be smart.  He has a problem with one of his young stars, Bryce Harper, who tends to be overly aggressive.

"Harper I wanted to kill the other day," Johnson said of his 20-year old player, who tried to steal third in a game earlier this week. "That's Harper.  He thinks he can always make it. You have to me a little smart. He's a pretty quick study. He knows when he makes a mistake.  He's like a lot of young players with talent. Sometimes they expand the strike zone.  They expand running the bases.  They just try to do too much to win ballgames."