LOS ANGELES -- Jayson Werth always wanted to hit a home run out of Dodger Stadium when he played two seasons in the venerable ballpark. His latest attempt came close with a 450-foot blast into the upper reaches of the left-field pavilion.Werths homer helped break open a one-run game in the ninth inning, moving the Washington Nationals within one victory of taking a postseason series for the first time with an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five NL playoff.Heck, he even tied Babe Ruth with his 15th career postseason homer, good for 11th all-time.Ever since Dusty (Baker) moved me into the two-hole, I just felt like my job is to get on base for the animals behind me, said Werth, whose three hits tied a postseason career high.Four relievers combined for 4 2/3 shutout innings, putting the Nationals in position to wrap up the NL Division Series on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.They work quick and theyre not afraid to go after anybody, said third baseman Anthony Rendon, who hit a two-run homer in a four-run third that chased Kenta Maeda.Werth added, It gives us confidence. I feel like the bullpen is going to hold up and that might not have been the case or the feeling in years past.NL East champions for the third time in five years, the Nats were unable to advance during their two previous trips to the postseason. They lost in the Division Series to St. Louis in 2012 and San Francisco in 2014.Im hoping this is our year, Werth said. Were battle-tested, were playoff-tested, and weve got a good group of guys. Weve been playing together a long time now, so I feel like this is our opportunity.Now 37 and with his 2008 World Series championship in Philadelphia long behind him, Werth senses time encroaching on him.Obviously, I cant play this game forever, he said. So I feel like this is our chance and I also feel like maybe this is my last chance to do it.The franchise has won one playoff series -- the Montreal Expos beat Philadelphia following the strike-shortened 1981 season before losing to the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series.The team moved from Montreal to Washington before the 2005 season.Playing 23 hours after the Nationals tied the series at home in a rain-postponed Game 2, the Dodgers again struggled against left-handed pitching, a problem throughout the season when they had a major league-worst .213 average against lefties.Four Washington lefty relievers stymied the Dodgers in the first two games. Facing lefty starter Gio Gonzalez in Game 3, they got three runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.The only Dodgers hitter with proven success against Gonzalez was catcher Carlos Ruiz, and he came through with a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the fifth that cut their deficit to 4-3.I made one bad pitch, but the bullpen was incredible, Gonzalez said. Its tough to go on the road and win in the playoffs. I went after them but I wish I had that one pitch back.After that, the Dodgers mustered just a pair of singles off a Nats bullpen that included lefties Sammy Solis and Oliver Perez, and didnt advance a runner past first base. Solis wound up with the win.Now, the four-time defending NL West champions are facing elimination.Were not afraid of this, rookie manager Dave Roberts said. Theres no quit in our guys. Well be ready tomorrow to win a baseball game, I can promise you that.It was still 4-3 when Werth homered on a 1-0 pitch from All-Star closer Kenley Jansen leading off the ninth.Ryan Zimmerman added a two-run double that bounced off right fielder Josh Reddicks glove at the wall -- the hit scored Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper, who both walked.Jansen, the teams all-time saves leader, was yanked. Los Angeles used all seven of its relievers in the game.Maeda gave up four runs and five hits in three innings. The Japanese right-hander who won a team-leading 16 games is one of seven rookies on the Dodgers NLDS roster.Kenta was missing and getting behind, Roberts said. His fastball leaked back behind the plate and they made him pay. It was a good game until the ninth. Thats baseball.Maeda retired the side in the second, striking out two, before wilting in the third. He opened the inning by giving up four hits in five batters.Werths RBI double in the right-field corner tied the game 1-all. Harper hit an RBI single and Rendon followed with his two-run shot to the left-field pavilion for a 4-1 lead.Dodgers rookie Corey Seager continued his first-inning success in the series, hitting an RBI double off the wall for a 1-0 lead after homering in the first inning of Games 1 and 2.HIT `EM HERENationals SS Danny Espinosa got hit by a pitch from Maeda in the third inning, the third time hes been hit, which is the most in NLDS history. He trails Shane Victorino, who was hit four times in the 2013 ALDS against Boston for most in a division series in major league history.UP NEXTDodgers rookie Julio Urias (5-2, 3.39 ERA) is scheduled to start Game 4, but the Dodgers could bring back Game 1 winner Clayton Kershaw on short rest with their season on the line. Urias made two starts against the Nationals this season. He allowed two runs and six hits in five innings of a no-decision at home on June 22. The left-hander allowed one run in four innings on July 21 at Washington. The Dodgers won both games.The Nationals have yet to announce their starter. Its possible RHP Joe Ross would start Game 4 and Game 1 loser Max Scherzer would take the mound if Game 5 is necessary.The game will start at 5:05 p.m. EDT. The teams had to wait until San Franciscos 13-inning win over the Cubs ended just before 3 a.m. EDT to find out when first pitch would be -- Los Angeles and Washington would have begun at 8:08 p.m. EDT if Chicago had won. Nike Vapormax Belgique . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. Vapormax 2019 Homme Pas Cher . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. http://www.vapormaxpascher.be/ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Vapormax Plus Femme Pas Cher . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. Vapormax Off White Pas Cher . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Mike Krzyzewski can still picture the whole scene. Its one of his favorite stories to recount from his time in international basketball, how he looked back over his shoulder in his first Olympics as Team USA head coach to get a handle on all the commotion behind him before a semifinal game in Beijing.In the tunnel, not in the view of any spectators, was the Argentina team, Krzyzewski said, dancing together and showing spirit.It was beautiful. And thats how they competed.I love them, Coach K concluded.That was a widespread and unavoidable sentiment on a bittersweet Wednesday night at the Olympic basketball venue, where two titans of the world game -- Manu Ginobili and Luis Scola -- played in a major tournament in the light blue and white stripes for what probably was the last time.Brazil might not seem like a storybook setting for a couple of Argentines to walk away from the sport they changed, but you fell for these two all over again in Argentinas 105-78 quarterfinal defeat to the United States. Even on enemy soil.If not your heart, Ginobili and Scola and their countrymen always won your respect with how hard they played, how together they were, how proud they will forever be to have worn their countrys colors. The nation responsible for plunging USA Basketball into the deepest of self-examinations, resulting in a total overhaul of the program and, yes, the hiring of Krzyzewski as coach, is irresistible to a hoops lifer.First of all, we beat an outstanding ... not just a team, Krzyzewski said. Theyre what I call a program. An amazing culture.Congratulations to Argentina and the magnificence theyve shown the world for the last almost two decades.I know, I know. You want to talk about Spain. You want to talk about Team USAs looming rematch with the Spaniards in Fridays semifinals ... one round earlier than usual at the Olympics. You want to talk about whether Spain, with wins over Lithuania, Argentina and France by a combined 94 points, has indeed supplanted Australia as the hottest team in the tournament.You surely want to know, most of all, if Team USA is going to lose in the semis.Later.We still have time to get into all that.This was a night to pay tribute to Ginobili, Scola, Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino.The last four holdovers from the seminal 2004 Argentina squad that, after failing to qualify for Sydney in 2000, stunned Team USA in the semifinals and somehow won the gold medal in their first try together.Truly amazing, said Kryzewski, who will never forget the achievement because he otherwise might never have had this job.So both Krzyzewski and Team USA veteran Carmelo Anthony, who was just a 20-year-old on the roster in 2004, made sure not to leave the floor without letting Ginobili, now 39, know how honored they were to scrap with the Argentines for all these years.Im not going to say the exact words [they told me], Ginobili said. They were just very cool and important displays of affection and respect.It all added up to some scene inside the Carioca Arena 1, just two hours after Ginobilis dear friend Tony Parker played the last game of his international career in a heavy loss to Spain and wound up being applauded by the worlds press on his way out of the interview room after pouring his heart out at the podium.USA/Argentina, in similar fashion to Spains 92-67 cruise, was realistically over as a contest in the third quarter, but the Argentina fans serenaded their heroes with song and dance and chants for the entire fourth, making this building shake and paying tribute to the Class of 04 in the only manner they know.And there was Ginobili, after a 27-point pounding in the one country where hes usually unwelcome, shuffling off the floor as a hero, with the game ball tucked under his arm and tears in his eyes.Scola, for his part, didnt outright say it was the end as Ginobili and Nocioni had, but couldnt help joke when someone asked abbout the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo: Ill be 40.dddddddddddd. Ill be happy if I can walk.It was emotional, Ginobili conceded. I didnt want it to be. I was hoping just to sneak out and go to the locker room and do what I had to do there, but everybody conspired against it.Said Scola: It was fun. The whole [tournament] was fun. We knew it was going to be special, going into South America and playing close to home, but I dont think nobody had an idea its going to be this cool.Several of the Americans on the court had a similar takeaway, mesmerized by a noise and atmosphere they had never experienced.I love it, man, Anthony said. Theres nothing like being in front of Brazilians and Argentinians at the same time.Said teammate Paul George: This was amazing. We couldnt understand what they were saying, but the environment was just amazing. Im happy they sent Scola and Manu off on a great note.Even in the land of green and gold, celebration was the only option. With their flex cuts, their toughness, their brotherhood, Manu & Co. won the only gold medal in mens basketball to elude the United States in the six Olympiads in which NBA players have been allowed to participate.It has been a frequent lament in this cyberspace that there appears to be little in the pipeline to continue Argentinas success in the new millennium, but Scola refuses to see that as a tragedy.The [truth] is, in 70 years of basketball history in our country, for 60 years -- or 55 years -- we were between 10 to 20 [in the world], Scola said. That was our range.And now all this happened and we happened to be top three for 10 years, 12 years, 13 years. You know reality says theres a strong chance we come back to where we were before. Just because, along our history, thats what weve been.We happened to have this generation of very good players and we jumped to top five. ... Do we see Ginobilis and Nocionis in our [young] guys? No. But [did] people [think] in 99 or 98 that were gonna be winning a gold medal in 2004? No. Nobody. People would laugh [at that].Our goal in 99 ... the whole goal for our whole careers was just to make it to the Olympics once. Not winning, not make it to the quarterfinals, not make it to the semifinals, not making a medal. Just be there. One time. Thats all we wanted. And that was 99, not 81. That was five years before we won the gold medal.Golden Generations can do that.Just dont ask them to explain where it all came from in a country whose young sports dreamers long to be Maradona or Messi.Nobody really knows, Scola says. It just happened.Just give them their night. Give Manu and Scola and Chapu and Cabeza their moment. Friday afternoons semifinals are a rematch of the gold-medal game at the last two Olympics, but the focus on Spain can wait.Today I go home with a bag full of emotions, Ginobili said, having exited with 14 points, seven assists and one perfectly Manu-esque reverse layup when the underdogs were building an early 10-point cushion.But ...We left, I think, a footprint in FIBA basketball. Proud of it.For a moment we thought we could compete with them, Scola said, hearkening back to the 19-9 lead Wednesday night that quickly became a 47-27 deficit after a tidy U.S. run of 38-8.But this is a fair game. Theyre just better than us now. We know that. They got more athleticism, more talent, bigger. Were OK with it, because its just the way it goes. There was a time where we could compete with these guys. And actually there was a couple times we beat them. Were not there now.Not that Scola sounds terribly discouraged by the prospect of Team USA, despite its recent struggles, beating Spain in a third successive Summer Games and snagging gold once again.If nobody else beats them, Scola said with a smile the other day, then were the last ones who did. ' ' '