WASHINGTON -- It was clear going into this season that starting pitching would be a strength for the Washington Nationals, who won the National League East division in 2012 and 2014.In the midst of an even-numbered year, what may be a surprise is that the Nationals have become a Murderers Row of sorts on the offensive side of the equation.The Nationals enter Saturday nights game with the last-place Cincinnati Reds -- who have a 5.45 team ERA and a battered bullpen -- with an NL-most 107 home runs this season.The challenge of trying to shut down the Nationals on Saturday will fall on right-hander Dan Straily, who is 4-5 with a 4.38 ERA this season in 17 games (14 starts).One of the reasons I think he is capable of being successful is because his arsenal is complete even when he is behind in the count and that is a difference maker, Reds manager Bryan Price said. He has had stretches, recently, where he has lost command of the strike zone.Straily, in his only appearance against the Nationals, gave up two runs and two hits in seven innings and did not figure in the decision as the Reds won 6-3 on June 4 in Cincinnati.He made his big league debut in 2012 with the Oakland Athletics.He will oppose Joe Ross (7-4, 3.30), who did not pitch when the Nationals played in Cincinnati a few weeks ago. Ross, called up to the majors in June 2015, has never faced the Reds.While Ross pitches Saturday, the starter for the Nationals on Sunday is up in the air. It could be Stephen Strasburg (10-0) if he comes off the disabled list or rookie Lucas Giolito (0-0), who made his big league debut Tuesday.I talked to Strasburg yesterday and he said hes feeling pretty good. Hes expecting to take it, but we will see, manager Dusty Baker said Friday.Washington receives pop from throughout the lineup as shortstop Danny Espinosa hit two home runs and first baseman Ryan Zimmerman hit one in a 13-4 thrashing of the Reds on Thursday.They have some components that are good, with one of them being Espinosa hitting eighth with 15 home runs, Price said Friday.The Espinosa two-homer game came one night after second baseman Daniel Murphy hit two homers against his former team, the New York Mets.The Nationals have six players with at least 10 homers: right fielder Bryce Harper (16), Espinosa (15), Murphy (14), catcher Wilson Ramos (12), Zimmerman (11) and left fielder Jayson Werth (10).Murphy has already tied a career-high for homers in a season, set last year when he was with the New York Mets. Ramos got the night off Friday as Jose Lobaton made the start at catcher though Ramos did enter the game as a pinch-hitter.In order to keep Ramos productive, we have to give him days off, Baker said.The Nationals hit .276 as a team in June with a .346 on-base average and a .465 slugging mark. Washington scored 149 runs in the month (5.5 per game) and gave up 112.The Washington pitching staff has allowed just 77 homers while the Reds pitchers have given up 137.The Nationals are at the halfway point of the season after they played game 81 on Friday against the Reds. They are in the midst of a 10-game homestand -- the first of more than seven games this season. Cheap Los Angeles Clippers Jerseys .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. Cheap Golden State Warriors Jerseys . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. http://www.cheapnbaoutletjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-toronto-raptors-jerseys .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Cheap New York Knicks Jerseys .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. Cheap Cleveland Cavaliers Jerseys . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. BERKELEY, Calif. -- With the clock running down and the game on the line, California coach Sonny Dykes trusted his much-maligned defense to deliver.The defense responded with six stops from inside the 10 to seal the win.James Looney stopped Zach Moss from the 1-yard line on the final play of the game to give the Golden Bears their second straight home win against a ranked opponent, 28-23 over No. 18 Utah on Saturday.Im really proud of our defensive players, Dykes said. Those guys have taken a lot of criticism from people. The good thing is they didnt listen to it. They kept working and kept getting better.Dykes declined to use any of his three timeouts late in the game as Utah (4-1, 1-1 Pac-12) drove for a possible winning score, believing a defense that has struggled to stop opponents all season could come up with one key stand for Cal (3-2, 1-1).Im glad Coach Dykes put the faith in us, Looney said. He always has. Its not like its a new thing. He just told us to go out there and play. He knew we were playing well and he put his faith in us and we came through.The Utes had a first-and-goal at the 9 with about 2 minutes left. Dykes considered starting to use timeouts to save time for his high-powered offense that had built the lead behind four TD passes from Davis Webb but decided against it.A pair of short runs and a sack, left the Utes facing a fourth down, but a pass interference in the end zone against Marloshawn Franklin Jr. with 14 seconds gave Utah three more shots from the 2.Moss ran for 1 yard on first down, Troy Williams threw an incomplete pass on second down before Looney ended the game by wrapping up Moss before he even got back to the line of scrimmage.I had a chance to make a play, it was my play to make and I made it, Looney said. It was about time. I need to make those. Im a leader of this defense and I need to make those plays.That set off a wild celebration for Cal and sent the Utes home in disappointment following their first conference loss.A tough ggame to lose but proud of our guys for how they hung in there and fought back, just like weve done many times previously in the season, Utes coach Kyle Whittingham said.dddddddddddd Were just one play away there.THE TAKEAWAYUtah: The Utes came into the game wanting to limit Cals chances and did just that by running 97 plays on offense and holding the ball for 42:01. Utah had a 21-play scoring drive in the first half that took 9:08 and kept Webb off the field.We didnt want to get into a scoring contest with them, Whittingham said. Thats their MO, thats not our MO, and thats exactly how it went down is we did not let that happen.California: The Bears were not their usual selves on offense as they struggled to run the ball and went more than 30 minutes of game time with just one first down. But Webb was good enough the rest of the game, throwing for 306 yards and a pair of scoring strikes to Chad Hansen and Demetris Robertson to give Cal the win.TIMEOUT DISPUTE: A key factor on the final drive was a disputed timeout by Utah. With the clock stopped with 14 seconds left, the officials granted the Utes a timeout they said they never called. By using the teams second timeout there, Utah felt forced to throw on second down from the 1 because it was out of timeouts and Whittingham wanted to make sure he had three shots at the end zone.It limited how many times we couldve run the football, thats what it did, Whittingham said. That was a huge factor.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Utes will likely fall out of the poll following their first loss of the season, while the Bears will need to do more work to get into the rankings for the first time this year.UP NEXTUtah: The Utes return home to take on Arizona next Saturday.California: The Bears seek their first road win when they travel to Oregon State on Saturday.---AP college football website: collegefootball.ap.org cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '