Well, if you don’t take the fourth and seventh innings into consideration, the Nats played okay. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Dodgers 14, Nationals 2: Alright, there’s four series left in the season. The Nationals, having little else to play for the rest of this season, should take the next 13 games and just try to win more than half. You know, baby steps to a better ballclub. Well, that meager goal didn’t get off to the best start last night. Two six-plus run innings buried the Nationals, and the Nats suffered their worst loss since a July 25th drubbing against San Diego last night. The boys from L.A. were red-hot during the fourth and seventh innings, beating up several Washington pitchers in the process, notably Livan Hernandez (8-12) and Saul Rivera. Meanwhile, Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda looked nearly unhittable. Adam Dunn did smash his 38th longball of the season — and with it, a great chance to be the only guy not named Soriano to post a forty-homer season in a Nationals uni — but that was the only mistake that Kuroda made in six stellar innings of work, so even without the huge innings, the Nats were swimming upstream from the start. Winless wonder Ross Detweiler will attempt to stave off the odometer clicking over to 100 losses tomorrow.