No drama, only a convincing victory for Nats in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO - The best revenge is living well, and Dusty Baker knew that well in advance of tonight's game against the Giants. Would there be retaliation for Hunter Strickland's intentional plunking of Bryce Harper 24 hours earlier? No, not if the Nationals manager had anything to say about it.

"The best thing for us to do is beat up on them and win tonight," Baker said.

The Nationals didn't entirely beat up on the Giants, but they made an early statement with some quick offense against Jeff Samardzija and then rode strong pitching from Gio Gonzalez, Matt Albers and Koda Glover en route to a 6-3 victory that felt particularly sweet given the circumstances.

"I liked it a lot," Baker said.

If there were any lingering fears the extracurricular activity from Monday's series opener would resurface tonight, they were put to rest early. Neither Gonzalez nor any other Nationals hurler threw anything other than typical inside pitches to members of the Giants lineup.

The umpiring crew didn't issue any warnings pregame, but none were necessary.

"There was none of that in my mind," said Gonzalez, who tossed 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball to improve to 4-1 with a 3.03 ERA. "It was just go out there and try to win, try to pitch your game. I think that was done after yesterday."

The only evidence anything out of the ordinary happened at AT&T Park the previous day came every time Harper stepped to the plate, when the crowd of 41,266 suddenly decided the 24-year-old Nationals slugger was public enemy No. 1 in these parts.

Harper, who is appealing the four-game suspension he received from Major League Baseball for charging the mound after getting plunked by Strickland, had a rough night on the field, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Strickland, who is appealing his six-game suspension, did not appear out of the San Francisco bullpen.

"What happened yesterday is over," Baker said. "I just hate that everybody's making Bryce the culprit. He was really the victim. Things will subside."

The Nationals put pressure on Samardzija from the get-go and didn't let up until the right-hander departed four long innings later. Even so, they missed countless opportunities to inflict some major damage against the veteran right-hander.

Back-to-back two-out hits from Ryan Zimmerman and Daniel Murphy produced two runs in the first. Gonzalez's RBI single up the middle in the second brought homer another run. But that's all the Nationals managed against Samardzija, even though they made him throw 100 pitches in four innings of work.

They did tack on three runs in the fifth against reliever Bryan Morris, the big blow coming in the form of Michael A. Taylor's two-run single to center. But again, they missed opportunities to tack on, going 1-for-5 with a walk in an astounding six plate appearances with the bases loaded in the game's first five innings.

Overall, the Nationals went 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

Those squandered chances could have come back to haunt them, but Gonzalez did his part to make sure they wouldn't, delivering an effective performance. The left-hander pitched with men on base most of the night - he didn't author any 1-2-3 innings - but the only run-scoring hit off him was Orlando Calixte's two-run double in the second.

Gonzalez perhaps raised a few eyebrows with some diminished velocity - most of his fastballs registered 87-89 mph, down several notches from normal - but he mostly spotted them well and used his off-speed pitches to get the job done.

At 102 pitches after six innings, his night might have been over. But Baker decided to give his starter a chance to pitch the seventh, a decision that didn't go as well as planned. Two batters, one double and one loud out later, Mike Maddux made his way to the mound. After a conversation, the pitching coach made the unconventional move to signal for the bullpen, something Baker has always done in his two seasons here.

"I gave Mike the option to take him out," Baker said. "He thought that was enough, versus wasting a visit. But Gio was good."

As was Albers, who entered and (after giving up a quick RBI single to Buster Posey) induced a pair of popups to end the seventh with a 6-3 lead intact. And given the opportunity to re-take the mound for the eighth, Albers delivered again with three strikeouts.

Glover then finished things off with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, giving the rookie closer seven saves in as many opportunities since taking over the job and giving the Nationals a drama-free victory on a night when some thought there might be drama.

"I think the Bryce and Strickland thing kind of settled itself," Glover said. "It's over with. We're here to win. We're here to compete. And that's what we're going to do."